I have always thought that a Coach for any youth sport was about bieng a leader and mentor more than any thing else. This weekend I got that really hammered home to me.
The story starts about 5 years ago when I had a Juniors Div LL team and we were headed to the State tournament for the first time ever for our town. It was a big deal because we had only one team and could not combine 3-4 teams like everyone else. We had a girl on our team that had never played before that year, She was pretty excited about being part of the team.
Now this girl would never have made the team anywhere else we just needed all we could get and we decided she was there all season so what the heck.
But the first day of practice for State she broke her ankle. She was devastated but I did all I could to Keep her spirits up. I told her that if this was the worst thing that ever happened to her She was truly blessed.
Well she didnt play Softball anymore after that year. And I forgot About her untill I saw her this weekend. I talked with her for about an hour and she said that The things I had said to the team really stuck with her And she thanked me and Said that what I had said helped her through what she called a "Bad Ordeal". We parted ways and I thought little of it.
Untill I ran into the girl who was her best freind on the team. It was then I learned that this girl had been abducted and held captive for a week all the while her captors threatened her with all kinds of bodily harm.
No she was not raped or tortured or any such thing she was let go unharmed and her captors arrested.
Now if what I said to her during Softball helped her through this then I feel pretty good.
I feel kind of stupid for not knowing that it happened to her though. It did not happen locally though.
I know this is kind of long and drawn out but I guess what I am trying to say is we are so much more than teachers of a sport or activity. These kids are really influenced by their coaches. Way more than most folks realize.
So when you see a coach that is a negative influence on some kid or team dont be afraid to say something Because Coaching is larger than Showing them how to play the sport.
The story starts about 5 years ago when I had a Juniors Div LL team and we were headed to the State tournament for the first time ever for our town. It was a big deal because we had only one team and could not combine 3-4 teams like everyone else. We had a girl on our team that had never played before that year, She was pretty excited about being part of the team.
Now this girl would never have made the team anywhere else we just needed all we could get and we decided she was there all season so what the heck.
But the first day of practice for State she broke her ankle. She was devastated but I did all I could to Keep her spirits up. I told her that if this was the worst thing that ever happened to her She was truly blessed.
Well she didnt play Softball anymore after that year. And I forgot About her untill I saw her this weekend. I talked with her for about an hour and she said that The things I had said to the team really stuck with her And she thanked me and Said that what I had said helped her through what she called a "Bad Ordeal". We parted ways and I thought little of it.
Untill I ran into the girl who was her best freind on the team. It was then I learned that this girl had been abducted and held captive for a week all the while her captors threatened her with all kinds of bodily harm.
No she was not raped or tortured or any such thing she was let go unharmed and her captors arrested.
Now if what I said to her during Softball helped her through this then I feel pretty good.
I feel kind of stupid for not knowing that it happened to her though. It did not happen locally though.
I know this is kind of long and drawn out but I guess what I am trying to say is we are so much more than teachers of a sport or activity. These kids are really influenced by their coaches. Way more than most folks realize.
So when you see a coach that is a negative influence on some kid or team dont be afraid to say something Because Coaching is larger than Showing them how to play the sport.
