As an adult figure in a young athlete’s life, everything one does as a coach has an impact in the development of an athlete. Thus, it is important to embody the characteristics necessary for the athlete to become a respectful, hardworking, and passionate individual. Aside from the child’s parents, an athletic coach has the most influence over an athlete. The coach’s mentality and stance on certain issues such as setting standards, dealing with losses, and being as fair as possible will carry with the athletes into not only future athletic endeavors, but every aspect of life. Therefore, it is important to understand just how important it is to be the best coach possible both through knowledge of the sport and one’s outlook on life principles.
Other than sports being fun in general, most athletes compete to win. Every coach has a drive and a will to win, but it is important to have boundaries set for different levels of play and recognize the team’s attitude towards winning as a whole. The key to having a reasonable intensity level is to be balanced. Everyone should want to play their given sport because it is simply fun for them. Winning a close game is exhilarating, and in its simplest form: fun. Naturally, this makes winning a priority and a main goal. Winning is great, but only if it is done fairly. A coaches job is to make sure they are teaching the team the proper techniques and giving them the tools, both mentally and physically, they need to win. This is to be done morally. Any skill a coach teaches their athletes will translate into the skills they take away with them into the real world. If you teach a team that it is acceptable to cheat to win a game, that means that cheating on academic exams and lying to possible employers is also justified.
Starting at the JV and Varsity levels, winning through the implications of morality and hard work should be the approach taken by a coaching staff. I am a firm believer in hard work being more important than talent- meaning that every athlete on the team needs to work hard to get playing time. Those who are naturally more talented than their counterparts have to show the same amount of determination, hard work, and will as their teammates. A coach should never be afraid to take a chance on someone who works hard and earns a chance to prove themselves. Since there is an emphasis placed on winning and winning should be the main goal, the coach should be able to show disappointment when the team loses, but this should be done appropriately. A coach should always show good sportsmanship towards the opponent, build off of a loss, pair negative points with positive points when reviewing the game, and never ever scream at or degrade a team based on a poor performance.
A coach should want to have a positive impact on athletes. Not only should they want to be someone who helped create winning teams and talented athletes, they should want to create young individuals who have a love for sharing their success with others and become leaders for the rest of society. Coaches should want to be the role model that has taught them how to apply all of the lessons sports has taught them into the real world- where they work hard, push others to be great, and achieve success.
The ideal coach is someone who can balance and perfect every aspect of coaching. The perfect coach however, does not exist, but there are many people that come close. Any coach that combines expert sport specific knowledge with the supreme complexity of being a mentor to others to the best of their ability, is the ideal coach. A coach should want to be a role model; help young athletes realize their passions, and make the youth fall in love with sports. But most of all, they should want to have a positive impact on others while illustrating their love for sports.
