Coaching makes the difference. The coach is at the hub the athletic experience. The coach’s primary mission is to provide a successful experience and create an atmosphere where success is inevitable in both sport and life. A coach will start out as a guiding light or a beacon and evolve into a mirror for the athlete to reflect off. Good coaches foster independence not dependence on the part of their athletes. It is not about you, the coach, it is about the athlete, they are the ones who do the work, they perform.
Sport is a vehicle for self-growth for both the coach and athlete. Sport provides the opportunity to learn about self-expression, self-control, and commitment. Strengths and weaknesses will soon be discovered. Sport allows us to increase our self-awareness. It requires conscious thought, sensitivity, willingness, an openness to receive cues, and an attempt at honest detached objectivity. We must be tough and demanding with ourselves as coaches and be compassionate and firm with our athletes.
As a coach you is a leader. Coaches lead through their words, actions and presence. A coach is a teacher. Unlike the classroom teacher you get immediate feedback as to your effectiveness. Your work is on display for everyone to see in every game, match, or meet.
Who are your role models? Who do you learn from? Do you coach the way you were coached? Coaches choose the level of achievement by setting their level of expectations. In coaching there must be a willingness to do whatever is necessary within ethical bounds to get the job done. Coaches and athletes become excellent by doing ordinary things consistently and with care.
A coach learns from EXPERIENCES. Too much is made of experience. It is possible to have one experience many times or to have many and varied experiences. Experience is not what happens to a man, but rather what he does with what happens to him. Seek out new experiences, keep learning and growing. Challenge yourself, the same way you challenge your athletes to get better at what you do every day. Remember, coaching is not something you do, coaching is something you are with every fiber of your being.