Ego. It can be good
or it can be devastatingly bad. It is
defined as the “image of oneself” or “self image, self esteem”.
Why do I bring that concept up here in this article? We all have an ego. Your ego can make you or break you. I think you’ll agree that this issue has a
big flashing neon sign all around it when it comes to coaching kids. I will be the first to acknowledge the thrill
of coaching. But I will also be the first
to ask you the source of your ecstasy—which part thrills you?
I have a philosophy in which I very strongly believe. For me, it was the ultimate issue that I had
to resolve before I could relax and approach coaching in a manner suitable to
my conscience. It took an unforgiveable
mistake (on my part) to help me determine exactly what was that philosophy.
I want to be perfectly clear as sometimes my words are
misinterpreted and I leave confusion rather than clarity. The issue with little league sports is how to
marry the competitiveness (winning/losing) with training, education, learning,
and enhancing a player’s self-esteem.
Here is where the sport offers the young athlete training that he or she
can get nowhere else; and you, as the coach, have an awesome opportunity to
provide your players (and the parents) that learning. It is truly humbling!
Why are you coaching?
Let me suggest an answer for you to digest. You SHOULD BE coaching to stimulate your
players’ interest in playing NEXT YEAR. Yes, you read that right.
How does that happen?
How do you, as the coach, have that power? Here is where confusion sometimes begins.
I want you to make the experience fun for your players and
for their parents. Understand that there
can be many levels of “fun”. I know
there are some of you reading this right now that are interpreting what I just
said to mean no work, no correcting them, no stress… You can have fun at a picnic. You can also have fun accomplishing a goal.
So, work them hard.
TEACH them the sport. Correct
them when they do it wrong and celebrate with them when they do it right—just
as passionately in both cases! Do not be
afraid to be yourself—don’t play the role as coaches in your past have done.
What about winning?
Isn’t that what it’s all about??
No, it’s not just about winning.
And those of you that concentrate on winning are in for a huge let-down
and so are your players.
Now, I’m about to say something that will make you think I’m
nuts. Let me assure you, I may be
varying degrees of nuts but I am very clear on this, the crux of my
philosophy. Winning is much more fun
than losing. DUH. However, please allow me to suggest the
appropriate way to bring winning into your program.
Convince your players (and instruct their parents) that your
concentration MUST BE ON DOING WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN. I repeat, you should be emphasizing DOING
WHAT IT TAKES TO WIN. How do you
convince them? You live it on the
practice field, during games, and in all of your dealings with players and parents. Think about it… If you’re always doing what it takes to win,
the winning will take care of itself.
What if you don’t win?
WINNING wasn’t your goal anyway.
Doing what it takes to win is your goal.
Sometimes, even when you are doing what it takes to win, you will end up
on the wrong side of the score. Isn’t
that a part of it too—to learn to come back and continue to work on what it
takes to win?
Notice that I didn’t say “sometimes you’ll end up
losing”. If you accomplished your goal
of DOING YOUR BEST TO DO THE THINGS IT TAKES TO WIN, you didn’t lose—you won!
There is a very fine distinction here and I hope I’ve
explained that distinction. Athletics
are inherently competitive and it is impossible to legislate the
competitiveness out of athletics. But
set your players up for enhancing their self-esteem. You don’t have to always be on the long end
of the score to do that.
No comments:
Post a Comment