There are very few professions or hobbies that can satisfy as much as being a coach. Like politics, the road is sometimes bumpy and treacherous, but I've never had so much fulfillment in my life as being called "coach". The path to coaching often comes from former players of a sport or perhaps spectators might see it on TV and say, “I would like to do that". There is no sure fire path to success. I've seen coaches that never played the sport they coach have great careers. I've seen former, very good players, have a rough go of it. In my mind the coach that can get the most out of his player's abilities and reinforces fundamentals to their specific sport is someone that will have the potential to be very successful. Because when they get better athletes on their teams, they will be fundamentally sound and will work hard & compete hard. I've seen fantastic coaches with weak players have decent seasons and I've seen phenomenal teams on paper and they've had bad coaching/direction and well, bad seasons.
Whether your goal is to coach professionally, college, high school, youth or rec sports, coaching is the same. Let me repeat. Coaching is the same. Corrections, practices, drills, etc. don't change much from any level. Knowing how to get your team into position to win comes with more experience. There are many young coaches that have had early success (wins) and get a false sense of their abilities. So many old coaches after 20 or 30 years coaching realize how much they really don't know about their sport. Striving to give back, learn more and teach or mentor younger coaches coming up is also disappearing. We need to get that back!
I think that the coach is one of the last positions in society that encourage and delivers discipline, requires kid's maximum effort, and requires teamwork. A coach that can make every player feel they're part of something special and each player is important to the task, is something we need bad in today's sports climate. I very rarely give my opinion on sports teams or there outcomes. The coach of that team knows his team more than anyone. There seems to be a growing trend of giving one's opinion on social media or in the stands. I've found that these opinions are silent team killers. The best advice I ever got was talk a little after the game and once you're in the car no more talking about the game, unless your child brings it up. I think as parents and or a coach we sometimes over react and do more harm than good.
Coaches can be that person that motivates a struggling young person that hits the fork in the road to stay on the right path. A coach can motivate to get better grades. A coach can be a conduit and like a favorite aunt or uncle can be a parent's best resource or best friend to help raising a child today. We are losing too many coaches due to unreasonable time demands, unrealistic goals, and too much outside interference. The demand to win now or at all costs has made cheating and stretching the rules to win a reality that hurts the overall value of coaching.
If you can give a little of your time volunteering to coach a team and help young people, you might find "you've had the time of your life". Also, think about doing something nice for your child's coach. Gift card, help at snack bar, tell them there valued. They have such an impact on your child so let them know they're appreciated.
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