Bryson Preddy is a U.S. Army Special Forces Green Beret with 23 years of service, assigned to 10th Special Forces Group in Fort Carson, Colorado. He has been deployed 13 times to 11 different countries on three different continents. About 14 years ago, he coached his son’s first flag football team and fell in love with it. Since then, he has pursued volunteer opportunities to coach and continued his education, all in hope of becoming a coach one day when he retires. Over the last six months he has been volunteering at LSU for one week each month during the 2022 football season. This December marks his last year of military service. 10th Special Forces Group will allow him to participate in multiple events with LSU football that culminate with a 6-month internship during the 2023 season as part of his transition timeline.
I realized that coaching experience would be my Achilles heel so I sought higher learning and found the Sport Coaching and Leadership program at MSU. My faith, a background in Special Forces, a MS in Sport Coaching and Leadership, and Soldiers To Sidelines all led me to a volunteer coaching opportunity with Louisiana State University football team.
What brought you to the SCL program and what did you want to do with the degree?
I was always aware that I lacked practical coaching experience. I believed if I combined my practical experience as a Green Beret with scholarly knowledge, I would provide myself with the best opportunity to be successful in coaching. I spoke with Dr. Andy Driska one afternoon and was immediately sold on the program. He convinced me that relationships between the professors and students in this online cohort would be second to none and provide me the education to supplement my life experiences. Online learning has its struggles, but from day one through completion of the program, I received all the support required for me to be successful.
What were some highlights during your time in the SCL program?
The evolution of my coaching philosophy was the greatest highlight during the SCL program. When I began the program, my coaching philosophy closely mirrored my leadership philosophy. Right, wrong or indifferent is what comprised of my values and a traditional way of thinking. My original coaching philosophy could be summed up as such; I develop confidence and trust to teach athletes to react which leads to a successful performance. Today, my coaching philosophy looks nothing like what it used to be. While there are still elements that were present, currently I use scientific theory as a lens to frame a problem, matching an appropriate pedagogy to a theory of learning which provides a rationale for the way I coach. As a coach, my success is based on my ability to develop and refine skills in athletes. Three questions provide the rationale for why I coach the way I coach. What outcomes do I want athletes to achieve? What techniques do I use to set the conditions to develop and refine skill? And how do I do this as a coach?
What was your favorite SCL class and why was it your favorite?
KIN 855 – Psychosocial Bases of Coaching was by far my favorite class. I was introduced to building mental skills that improve athletic performance and developing coping strategies for competitive stressors. For an athlete to perform at their highest level, they need the ability to regulate their emotions. This course explained mental skills, showed us coping strategies for competitive stressors, then let us put it all together in a project. This was mind-blowing and greatly opened my eyes. Far too often we as coaches focus on the physical traits and abilities of skill development and miss the opportunity to develop the mental skills that make athletes gritty and resilient. KIN 855 taught us just that – how to make mentally strong athletes perform at their highest by developing self-confidence and creating a positive mind-set through goal setting, positive self-talk, visualization, imagery, and self-efficacy.
How did the SCL program prepare you for what you are doing today?
Learning is a continuous process. Whether I’m a leader in the military or a coach on the sideline, never stop learning. The pursuit of excellence is an incremental process. Try to find one thing that can be done one percent better, then find 10 things that can be done one percent better. Keep going until we can find 100 things that can be done one percent better. This creates an incremental and cumulative advantage in performance and results. As a coach and leader, it is up to us to create a coherent learning environment in our coaching staff and inside the locker room.
What is the most important thing you learned during the SCL program?
The most important things I learned were to adapt, be a reflective practitioner, and have a rationale for why you do what you do. It’s no secret (and inevitable) that organizations, teams, coaches, and individuals will decline if leaders don’t prepare for change, especially when standing at the pinnacle of success. A reflective practitioner develops a continuous cycle of assessments and refinements to constantly evolve to meet – and conquer – the next big challenge.
What advice do you have for current or future students who want to make the most of their degree?
To be creative is to allow mistakes to be made. We all want to create something amazing in life. A successful career, a winning team, using sports as a vessel to positively develop athletes, to anything and everything in between. In this process, we easily forget how crucial it is to allow ourselves to make mistakes. We learn from mistakes, no question about that, but there’s something more important here – the will to try so hard, that we make mistakes. If we live in a state of fear, that we will fumble the ball or swing and miss, we never take the risk. We move through life with safety at the top of our mind. We will have countless misses and our fair share of faults, but we need to keep trying until we’ve reached our “art” as a coach and continue being creative!
Is there anything else you’d like us to know about your time in the SCL program, your work today, or for future students?
This program has initiated major growth as a sports coach because I now have a pedagogy that delivers an effective message to athletes, continue professional development because I am a reflective practitioner, and athletes are now empowered through effective communication. Traditional sport coaches use trial and error to justify a particular pedagogy. I used to be traditional, but today I adopt a contemporary thought process. I use empirical research as evidence to directly and indirectly guide different pedagogies that are associated with different theories of learning.