Coaches, why do you coach?

[KCM]

Why I coach?
I do it because every young girl that comes to my teams needs a positive, fair, decent role model in their life. Of course some get it from their parents but many do not.
I coach to push the athlete to the next level with knowledge and advancement in the game. I coach so when the athlete goes to their next team the new coaches will be impressed of their skill. I coach to get them to the next level in their life. I am not worried about the trophy that can be won today but worry hoping I have made a change in the young lady's lives to hopefully when they will go on to do positive things for others and the sport. I coach for tomorrow not today. Today is for instruction for how we should live tomorrow.
I tell the parents that I coach softball but teach principles of life for how they should behave with respect to all but fear none attitude. I have had girls tell me they wish their Dad was like me or have called me Dad (got a player her Dad passed away 3 months ago and she basically lives here at our house with my daughter on the weekends).
I coach because I want to make a change for the kids that come through my programs.

 

[CoogansBluff]

‘Why we coach’ is a critical question for each of us to ask, but it’s not one that we always answer honestly. Some of us lie to ourselves.

I’ve never heard a coach say, “I coach to give my DD every opportunity, fair or unfair, to be a star,’’ or ‘’I coach because it’s an outlet for my competitive needs.’’ Yet we’ve all seen coaches with those motives as top priorities. If I’ve been guilty of those, I’m not going to admit it, even to myself. I’ll rationalize it in some way.

I’m currently in the bleachers as a non-coaching parent, but if I coach again, I hope that I can say that I’m doing it to serve kids, and to provide a platform for them that might not exist if I didn't volunteer. I would want to do it because I thought I had something valuable to offer.

To do that, I have to be in tune with what kids really want from softball, why they’re playing, what is age appropriate in terms of their motivations. IMO, this is where coaches with good motives most often get off track. They have this idea of what a team should be without consulting their players or trying to understand what it's like to be 9-years-old, or 11, or 13, and why they are playing.

I could write an essay on this, but I’ll oversimplify it by saying that too many coaches make winning and competition too important too soon. Too many are too serious too early and take the fun out of the game for kids who play it. Too many coaches see and value the kids they coach as athletes and not people. They fail to see softball from a kid's perspective.

 

[Slappers]

Every coach is a role model though maybe not in the sense that we are raising the kids but in the sense of how kids should expect to be treated by authority figures. I can think back to my playing days and the hard rear coaches I had and how that effected me. How we talk to and treat the players is very important.

I sure as hell don't want my DDs husbands yelling and screaming at them to get what they want like some coaches do. My compassion for the kids is my biggest weakness yet my greatest asset in coaching.

I'm not trying to impress anybody. Wanting to learn the game isn't a reason to coach. I can think of a thousand different ways to learn the game outside of everything gunner posted in his first post.

 

[Slappers]

I understand exactly what you are saying and agree with it. Well most of it. When I say I'm compassionate it is in the sense that I am not going to belittle a kid for making a mistake. I don't agree with yanking a kid mid inning because a ball went through their legs. I don't see what the point is of doing that. I'm not out to save the world but to treat the kids that are busting their butts for me with the respect and temperament they deserve. The situation dictates what is said and how it is said.

I feel learning is an effect of coaching not the cause to do it and the good coaches want to learn.

 

[marriard]

I coach because I am good at it and I love sports of all kinds. I am qualified, experienced and I enjoy it immensely. I have coached for 20+ years in multiple sports at every age from 6U all the way up to DII college and had a good deal of success. I have multiple coaching certifications in multiple sports and organizations - some easy to obtain, some not. I played sports at a high level (D1 basketball), was successful at this level and could have played professionally in my home country if I had gone back. I have also officiated at a high level (up to DII Basketball).

I like the feeling of accomplishment coming from hard work - no matter what it is - and seeing that same feeling on the faces of the kids I coach when they have success. I like to see kids I coach get the same sorts of things out of sports that I did.

I started coaching softball and continue to do so because my daughter plays and it is her choice of sport... and I enjoy it enough that I will likely coach softball when she no longer plays. I use skills coaches to teach high level skills where my gaps are and learn from them things to pass on to other players. I spend countless hours watching games, listening to other coaches and places like this forum to build my knowledge so I remain qualified to coach at the level I am coaching.

One day I will hopefully turn my DD over to someone who is a better softball coach than me but I wont turn her over to someone who is not. In our area and in her current age group there is only two I would trust - but as their teams are too far away, until something happens I expect to coach for the foreseeable future. Maybe when she reaches the HS level and the 16U/18U mix this will happen as there are a number of coaches I do respect in the next age group up.

This all might sound a little egotistical or arrogant or whatever but it is at least in my mind fair, and no one can say that I haven't worked hard to make it true even if they disagree with me. I have put in the thousands of hours over the years to make it a fair assessment.

 

[Coach Zoomy]

I like working with the kids, My daughters most of all. And when their is no coaches willing, sometimes I who am not the most qualified, for softball am better than No coach and team. I agree better qualified coaches need to be used but they also need to step up and do it.