District Introduces Staff to '3D Coaching' Education

The Lauderdale County (Miss.) School District on Tuesday introduced coaches and staff to the 3D Institute's "3Dimensional Coaching" program to better their performance as instructors on and off the field.

As reported by The Meridian Star, the 3D Institute was established in 2014 as a means to educate coaches on how to influence their players in three key areas: fundamentals, or physicality; psychology, or mind; and spirit, or holism. Tim Moore, athletic director for the LCSD, said the goal was to introduce the district’s coaches to the 3D Coaching program so they could later take an online certification course designed to improve how coaches interact with their student-athletes.

Challenges facing student-athletes include increased pressures brought on by sports specialization, as well as societal pressures exacerbated by social media.

“Coaching has changed,” Moore told the Star. “Coaches used to just have to deal with getting athletes physically ready to play and motivating them from the perspective of what’s going on, on the field rather than what’s going on outside of the realm of the playing aspect. Athletes today are dealing with so much more than just things (previous generations’ athletes) dealt with before.”

Southeast Lauderdale football coach Calvin Hampton said he left Tuesday’s lecture with a greater appreciation for impacting student-athletes from beyond the field and that he's looking forward to taking the certification course.

“Society is so caught up in wins and losses and doesn’t look at the foundation (the coaches) have laid for the kids as far as being productive citizens in society,” Hampton said. “There are a lot of skills kids learn through athletics that they don’t learn from anywhere else.”

Clarkdale baseball coach and athletic director Scott Gibson took the online certification course prior to Tuesday morning’s lecture and said the course was well worth the time.

“You hear nowadays that kids aren’t tough anymore, but there are so many pressures on them nowadays that you have to be more well-rounded as coaches,” Gibson said. “It puts emphasis on not neglecting the coaching of physical skills but also coaching them mentally and developing their heart, emotion and spirit.”

Gibson told the Star that he’s glad the LCSD provided its coaches with resources to improve their understanding on how to impact players through the 3D Coaching program.

“I think it’s really going to benefit the Lauderdale County coaches,” he said. “I’m glad the district chose to do this because it gives you framework and strategies to implement in your program to help these kids. With travel ball and year-round sports, there is a lot of pressure on these kids, so we’re trying to prevent burnout and over-usage. One statistic they said was that by age 12, close to 70 percent of kids quit sports, and that’s when it should be fun for them.”