This Week in HS Sports - January 18, 2010

Coaches and Their Impact
B y Brett Mills

I have a saying, "A good teacher makes a difference and a bad teacher makes a bigger difference." This is especially true for coaches. Coaching, when done right, can be an extremely powerful tool in helping mold young men and women into successful adults. Every athlete who had a positive experience can point to a coach's impact on them. Good

coaches teach players to be competitive while remaining a good sport, to deal with loss (something they face the rest of their lives), how to set goals and how to reach those goals, the art of time management, and most importantly the fact that anything worth while is worth working hard for.

Coaching gone bad can be devasting. The world of sport is filled with martinets, petty tyrants, selfish and self-centered coaches whose impact is akin to a meteor strike. For these types of coaches it is about self-promotion or all about the "sport", forgetting that there is a very real human factor involved. How many guys have played for the "factory" coach, where the player is just a number, another cog, which can be easily replaced or tossed on the heap? These type of coaches take away the joy of sport and replace it with dread and loathing.

As a case in point, I remember when my oldest son began his football playing career. As young boy it was impossible to contain his enthusiasm and excitement for what promised to be a wonderful eight years. I also remember how this same enthusiasm was crushed by coaches who were insensitive, did little to teach the technical skills needed, and showed favoritism. While my son would later go on to a fanastic football career (marked by 1st team all-state honors), he never rekindled his passion for the game and demonstrated a lack of trust in those who coached him later on.

Have I succumbed to the forces of political correctness? Absolutely not, I believe it is critical for coaches to maintain good discipline, demand excellence, and to push the physical limits of their athletes. However, they must do so while always remembering that they are dealing with human beings. A coach must be flexible and adapt to the modern era. So often I have heard the complaint that modern players are whimps, lazy, and self-centered - if they could only return to the old days, blah, blah, blah.... A good coach looks for ways to overcome these obstacles by understanding his players and finds the tools that will motivate them.

One of my coaching heroes, Coach John Wooden, coached during the turbulent 1960s, when all of society was complaining about how  worthless and out-of-hand the younger generation was. How then did Coach Wooden win all those championships with that generation? He treated his players like men, set expectations, demanded excellence, all while maintaining his own self-control. Wooden understood that while "the times may be a changing," people never do. To understand players as people translates into success, and when it is done in a positive, rather than manipulative fashion, it is magical.

My hope is that our young coaches look to the past and use men like Wooden as an example, remembering the positive difference they can make in a young person's life, while at the same time understanding the impact they have if it is done wrong. This type of coaching is not politically correct, but the key to success. Wooden demonstrated that contrary to Leo Durocher's comment, "Nice guys finish last", in fact, nice guys win championships (Wooden won 10 NCAA championships in 12 years). So heres to coaches who make a difference - a POSITIVE difference!

 Previous stories : August 15, 2009  August 20, 2009  August 26, 2009  August 31, 2009
                                 September 8, 2009  September 16, 2009  September 18, 2009  September 25, 2009
                         September 28, 2009  October 5, 2009  October 7, 2009  October 15, 2009
                         October 19, 2009  October 23, 2009  October 25, 2009  November 2, 2009
                         November 9, 2009  November 11, 2009  November 18, 2009  November 25, 2009
                         December 5, 2009  December 8, 2009  December 19, 2009  December 27, 2009
                         December 30, 2009  January 9, 2010