People ask all the time, ‘why coach?’ Kids don’t respect anyone anymore, parents are unbelievably hard to deal with and there is no support from higher ups. Well I think the answer (for me, at least) is really simple, and in today’s world, may seem naïve. I coach because I LOVE the game.
I love the sound of shoes squeaking on a hardwood floor. I love the sound of a ball bouncing. I love the sound a net makes on a swish. I love seeing a smooth low crossover. I love seeing a center make a sweet up and under move. I love the drama of being down by two with :40 seconds left and pulling out a win on the road. I love the atmosphere of a home crowd chanting as the starting line ups are announced.
But sure they’re things I hate.
I hate seeing the sport I love cheated by empty gyms. I hate hearing stories of a coach/parent telling a player he/she wasn’t good enough. I hate seeing seniors crying their eyes out after they lost their final game. I hate having that pit in my stomach after making a coaching mistake. I hate overthinking things after a loss. Did I play a kid enough? Would a zone have worked better than man? But none of that matters when I think of all I absolutely adore about the game and coaching it.
I adore the rush you get after pulling an upset. I adore the excitement in kids eyes when they accomplish something others said they wouldn’t. I adore the relationship I get to have with these kids for the rest of my life, just like the relationship I still have with my coach. I adore seeing something as simple as splitting a trap, go from words to action to working out perfectly in a game and then seeing a kid look at you with absolute trust because something you taught them worked out exactly how you said it would. And in that moment, something in their life worked out flawlessly. Those are the little moments I live for as a coach, because you don’t know if that child will ever experience that again. That’s why I coach!
That’s what I want out of it! For a child to feel like he/she accomplished something, and that their hard work paid off. That when they chose the “hard right verses the easy wrong”, good things happened. Too often we get caught up in wins and losses (yes, they’re very important), but we lose the full aspect of what a simple game can teach someone. I’ve learned a lot from the game. I want to pass the joys it has brought me on to others.
So again, that’s why I coach. Why do you?
