“I think there is a line between being too hard and being too soft on an athlete,” Lakeland sophomore Raygen Dutton said.
Hundreds of students at Lakeland High School participate in athletics every year. Lakeland has seen its fair share of success due in part to the work of its coaches.
“I think coaching affects the athlete a lot,” Dutton said.
Coaching plays a crucial role in how athletes perform and view the sports they participate in.
“Coaching has a good majority of effect on athletes,” Hunter Avriett said.
Avriett also said that the love of the sport fuels the athlete, and can be influenced by the team environment. This environment is impacted by the coach.
“I don’t think coaches can destroy the love for the athlete’s sport. The love is there or it isn’t,” Cyler Bauer said.
Many high school athletes have found their love for the game at a young age. Starting at a young age, most athletes move around teams and age groups so the coaches change.
Dutton believes that coaching has a significant impact on younger athletes. She believes that as athletes develop their love and knowledge of the sport, the coaching affects how they feel about the game.
Every coach has a different way of coaching that affects athletes in different ways.
Athletes find love in the game and they continue to improve their skill but sometimes some of the best athletes just quit out of nowhere.
This can raise questions like: Are they burnt out? Did someone push them too hard?
“There is a fine line between hard coaching and being mean,” Avriett said.
Avriett explains that he believes coaches need to find that balance. They can not be too mean to the athletes, causing them to burn out, but they also can not be too soft, preventing them from reaching their full potential.
Dutton believes that coaches need to find their line. She believes consistency in coaching is necessary to the team, from the coach and the athletes.
Lakeland sophomore Josh Caywood believes that athletes need to be physically pushed but not mentally beaten down. The coaches need to give constructive criticism, not just criticism.
70% of young athletes quit their sports before high school. The ones that continue to play are the ones that truly are invested in that sport. Coaches play a role in the student’s experiences with the sport and can influence whether or not the student stays with the sport.
Coaches have the ability to help you or hurt you in so many ways.
“Different coaching styles work for different athletes,” Caywood said.
They are there every practice and every game. They see you improve or you decline as an athlete. At the end of the day, coaches need to look at what they are doing and ask if it helps my team or hurts my team.
“Getting pushed to our limits teaches me endurance and perseverance,” Alyssa Ryckman said.
Ryckman knows her coach has good intentions with everything they do but sometimes the conditioning gets really intense.
They use conditioning as a punishment and after their loss against Coeur d’Alene, it was shown.
“We use that night as a scare tactic as we walk onto the court, we never want to run like that again,” Ryckman said, “We all took the running and yelling to heart and we will not lose like that again.”
The athletic director Matt Neff at Lakeland High School explains that he and the people he assembles go through and pick their coaches thoroughly.
“Coaching has a great deal to do with an athlete’s performance,” Neff said, “I want the very best coaches in front of our athletes.”
When a problem with coaching is apparent in front of him he communicates with the coaches. He looks out for his athletes and makes sure they are being treated and coached properly.
“I try to give the compliments along with giving constructive criticism,” head boys soccer coach Nicholas Haynes said.
He believes that the love for sports comes along with having fun and he wants his athletes to have fun while playing.
