Beyond the X’s and O’s of the Game — Coach Blog Series, Part 3

Coaching at the collegiate level goes beyond just game strategy. This series explores the administrative side of running a successful program, with practical insights from Coach Mac, a former women’s volleyball coach.

Have a topic you’d like us to explore? We welcome and encourage you to reach out with suggestions for future sessions: [email protected]

Team Travel

Team travel can bring different emotions for both coaches and student-athletes. There is always excitement around the competition, but, especially for coaches, team travel can also bring stress. Oftentimes, this is stress surrounding preparation for the competition or game, ensuring the safety of each student-athlete, and making sure all needs are met by the team. Coaches may need to work with and communicate effectively across a large group of people, including student-athletes, staff, and outside companies, which can be challenging to manage. For some teams, you may have someone dedicated to handling all team operations, but for other teams, coaches are the ones creating the itineraries and making sure everything runs smoothly. The biggest aspect of the itinerary is typically meals and hotels.

When you are traveling with anywhere from 5 to 100 student-athletes, booking hotels and organizing team meals can be quite an undertaking. Here are a few important questions I turn to and consider before booking hotels:

1. How far away from the gym or field would you like to be?
2. What are the food options around the hotel or venue?
3. How much can you spend per student-athlete or per room per night?
4. Are the doors to the rooms interior or exterior?
5. Does it offer breakfast?
6. What is the parking situation? Does it cost? Are buses able to park in the parking lot or nearby?

Once you have answered these questions for the program, you can start your search for the right hotel for you. We live in a great world with lots of technology, so you can make quick and easy internet searches for hotels that fit your specific needs. Some colleges might have access to a travel agent or someone who can help compile a list of different hotels. It’s important to use your resources and ask other coaches within the department or the AD what is available for you to use. Coaches should try to call and talk to the hotel sales managers rather than just the front desk agents. While the front desk knows if there are enough rooms available for the team, the sales manager is better suited in helping you get the best rate, especially if you need several rooms. In my experience, they are all very helpful and can make your arrival much smoother. 

Providing proper nutrition on the road is sometimes difficult. You may be in a small town where there aren’t many options. If that’s the case, make the best of what you have and always bring your own snacks or food for the team. When you are in a bigger town or city, it’s helpful to do research beforehand and find food options that will be best for your team. That might be a sandwich shop, fast food, or even a sit-down restaurant. Whether you are dining in, grabbing food to go, or getting it delivered, most restaurants appreciate it if you reach out to them ahead of time due to the large group. Similar to looking for a hotel, you need to be aware of how much you want to spend per student-athlete. When doing your research, take a look at the menu and make sure there are multiple options for the student-athletes that are within your price limit. Coaches should always communicate with their team if there is a price limit that the student-athletes need to stay within. When getting a meal delivered to a hotel or venue, make sure student-athletes give you their order ahead of time. This will allow you to call the restaurant in advance and place the order. If you have the order already on a document, some restaurants, specifically sandwich shops, will want you to email the order document to them.

Yet again, SprySign makes this process incredibly easy. In your coach’s portal, you have the ability to customize meal order forms and send them directly to your student athletes. Once your student athletes complete the form you can compile the information and send it to the restaurant ahead of time to ensure everything runs smoothly.

In order to confirm that teams are able to get hotel rooms, coaches are encouraged to reach out and book the hotel rooms as soon as they know their schedule. The general rule of thumb, especially for bigger teams, is the earlier the better when booking. However, I recommend reaching out to hotels the week of the road trip or the week prior to double check that the hotel has your rooms for the trip. The last thing you need after a late game or a long day of travel is to arrive at the hotel and find that your rooms aren’t available. If you have a Type A personality, you can create general itineraries and begin looking at the food options for the team months in advance, but it’s not necessary. Researching food options and ordering doesn’t need to be done until a few days prior to the trip. 

Travel trips don’t have to be stressful. Coaches should be able to focus on the competition at hand without worrying about whether every detail of the trip is in place. That’s why it’s so helpful to be prepared and take care of what you can early, like during the off-season, to reduce added stress once the season begins. Creating a checklist of reminders and items to bring can also help keep everything organized and ease your mind. Ultimately, the goal is to approach each trip focused on the competition, confident that everything else has already been taken care of.