In the world of sports, coaches often remain the hidden gems behind an athlete’s performance and life.
A coach’s influence can make or break the game and sometimes even the athlete. For example, if a coach is always supporting players and constantly working with them to improve, then those athletes are going to excel at their sport, even when they are already at the top of their game.
If it was the opposite, and a coach is constantly degrading players and unwilling to help, an athlete will lack skill and won’t grow as much as his or her peers. A bad coach can stifle an athlete’s potential, whereas a good coach can make an athlete excel past preconceived expectations.
“My defensive line coach for football last year inspired me to become a better lineman and student, by always pushing me to work hard in the weight room, the classroom, and on the field,” Zach McGee said.
Now, this doesn’t mean that if a coach isn’t constantly in a player’s ear or asking them to stay after practice, they’re a bad coach. So, what exactly defines a coach’s reliability?
I think that a reliable coach is someone who the team can really depend on and feel comfortable around. If a player is scared of their coach or feels like they can’t trust them, that is not a good sign.
Another big factor would be the attitude a coach has. If a coach is engaged and sympathetic, then their athletes will have more fun with the sport and compete to a higher level. A coach should lift their players and not drag them down.
I’ve had both types of coaches, as I’m sure most athletes have, and the ones that I am still close with and talk with to this day are the coaches who would lift me and help boost my confidence.
A coach who celebrates with their team during the good and empathetically leads them through the bad is a coach who instills comfort and confidence in their athletes.
“My club coach last season was really good,”Layla Benson said. “She helped my confidence and made the season a lot of fun.”
Benson also agrees that a coach’s attitude and reliability can affect the environment of a team.
“A coach can affect a player’s confidence and love for the game,” Benson said.
Comments from coaches can also affect a player’s confidence. If a coach is constantly giving positive affirmations to their athletes, their athletes are more likely to meet expectations. If a coach is constantly degrading athletes and making derogatory comments toward players, their athletes will not be inspired to rise to their potential.
I can personally attest to the second statement. My club experience last year was a stark contrast to Benson’s.
Although we played the same sport for the same club, while her coach inspired her to be the best she could be, my coach left me in tears, asking my mother, “why does she hate me so much?”
Her attacks left me publically humiliated in front of my entire team.
Can a coach honestly affect a player’s love for the game? One hundred percent!
My season last year left me and a few of my teammates contemplating if we would ever play our sport again, in fear we’d have another season like what we experienced that year.
A coach has way more impact on players than most people realize. Players look up to their coaches, see them as mentors, and ultimately want to make them proud. When coaches don’t show any empathy or compassion toward their athletes, these players can start to feel as though they aren’t good enough and get into their heads.
When a player is filled up with so much pressure and negativity, it causes them to fall out of love with the sport, and it becomes more of a chore.
For athletes who have invested so much of their time and hang their self-value around their sport, having a coach who resorts to personal attacks on their character can make them question not only their values as an athlete but their values as a person.
“Every coach I’ve ever had has affected me positively or negatively,” Matt Neff said. “The most important job I have as Lakeland High School’s Athletic Director is to put great coaches in front of our athletes.”
In my opinion, a great coach is someone who teaches life lessons and is also tough on players when they need it but knows the difference between being tough on a student for their own good.
To all the coaches and inspiring coaches out there, please remember that you are not only teaching your athletes how to play a game, but you can make a long-lasting impression on your athletes’ lives.
Good or bad, athletes will remember the way coaches treated them forever and one day, these coaches can be the inspirational story or a cautionary tale they tell their teammates, friends, family or even their future athletes if they choose to coach themselves.
