When you make the decision to get into coaching you will have a great opportunity to influence other people, teach the game you love, experience the thrill of competition, and help another individual realize their potential and you will be able to accomplish goals as part of a team that may be near impossible in society at large. One of the most important things that you can do is to have fun coaching and the rest will follow seamlessly. You will feel giddy like you bought tickets below face value to the Super Bowl.
No matter what level you are coaching at, teaching the game correctly is one of your most important tasks. No matter what the game, there are fundamentals that provide a base for success in that game. In basketball, you have to teach how to dribble, pass and shoot appropriately or your players will have a hard time succeeding against teams that have mastered these skills. You also have to learn to teach the basic tactics that will allow your team to work together appropriately. Using basketball as an example, you have to teach your team to play team defense in order for them to win. These basic fundamentals are your responsibility to learn and to teach to your team. If you don’t know them or understand them, then get some help, from a more experienced coach. Or maybe even purchasing some discount tickets online and watching how a professional coach teaches his team to perform the fundamentals of a game. There can be no doubt that teaching the game you coach is one of your most important tasks.
Another great thing about coaching is the opportunity to work with people, both parents and kids in a situation that hopefully everyone wants to succeed. A coach has the chance to be a positive force in the lives of everyone involved in the team. When it comes to the players on the team, a coach should provide proper role modeling on how to deal with everything from winning to disappointment. You will have the chance to help adults build a better relationship with their kids through sports. You can do this by encouraging parents to become involved in team events in the right ways. Giving parents a role to play allows them to feel like they are part of the team, and someone who is a part of the team is not likely to undermine what you are trying to accomplish. You can put your parents in charge of team meals before important games, or even have them organize a team trip. Perhaps you can help them find a way to get tickets below face value to a local sporting event or concert.
Being in a competitive environment is one of the best things about coaching. In the “real world”, there are not a lot of sanctioned events that allow you to experience the friendly competition you can coaching a team. It is like you are playing a board game that only a few people are allowed to play and many people come to watch you play. There are only so many of these opportunities to display your talent at this game. You get to use strategy, in preparation and in game performance. If you do your job well you will experience success. Since it is done within the team concept, the feeling is better than any individual accomplishment, because all involved realize your ability. You can’t get that type of satisfaction buying discount tickets online and watching the Miami Heat play.
Helping someone realize their potential in any arena is a great experience. Allowing a young person find abilities in themselves that they didn’t previously know existed is indescribable. Sometimes players have never had the opportunity to achieve something, sometimes coaches, parents or teammates have unwittingly placed limiting beliefs into them. Providing someone with the opportunity to realize their true potential and grow as a person is the most rewarding thing about coaching. This feeling of accomplishment will make a player feel like they just scored tickets below face value in a luxury box at the World Series.
Lastly, I think one of the great things about coaching is that you get to teach life lessons to kids in a relatively safe environment. There are few places that you can learn how to work with others quite like the team environment. You get an opportunity to be a leader in some instances and a follower in some others. You learn the lessons involved when things don’t go your way. You can quit or you can move forward. You can learn that you have the inner strength to push yourself both physically and mentally beyond what you believed you were capable of. You can teach someone how to accept disappointment and come back the next day and double your efforts to find success. Whether you are teaching someone how to shoot a basketball properly or to buy discount tickets online, the thrill of coaching should not be taken for granted.
