At some point in your coaching career, you will doubt yourself. Feeling that you are not as good as others, that everyone else knows more than you do. The one mistake you made was proof that you are an imposter. This feeling is called imposter syndrome and occurs far more frequently in coaches than most people care to admit. It happens after a bad session, a loss, after watching another coach that oozes confidence and charisma. Suddenly you are doubting everything, questioning if the things you say, the language that you use, the techniques that got you to where you are now are not good enough. What you need to know is that coaches that care the most, have the most reason to experience imposter syndrome. They are the type of coaches that over analyze everything. They think about their sessions after they are done, wondering whether the players got the key messages or if they enjoyed it. Coaches that do not feel this way are usually not growing, or at least not progressing as their peers. The main problem with imposter syndrome is not the fact that you feel this way, but the actions that you take as a result. Some coaches will try to control everything in their sessions and environment to reduce the chances of feeling like an imposter again. Others will try to copy others to gain confidence from being someone else for a moment. Certain coaches are willing to go to any lengths just to achieve results that prove their worth as a coach. A few stop experimenting with new approaches and simply repeat the same routine, aware that it may not be sufficient yet finding it comfortable. None of these reactions are beneficial to the players or the coach going through them. Even the best coaches on the planet can still fall to these emotions. In all likelihood, they continue to wrestle with self-doubt on a regular basis, yet they have learned how to manage it and refuse to let it interfere with their sessions or their players. They achieve this by measuring their own progress against principles instead of peers, keeping their attention on the people they support, and recognising that growth is never a straight line. A coach is not defined by the answers, but by the questions. If you are feeling like an imposter, be the coach that truly cares about the people that you are working with and not about what others might think of you. You are not alone and in all likelihood, you are at the perfect place to begin to grow. 📸: DiamondFootball