Coaching…Is it Overrated?

September 26, 2016

Everybody remembers their youth sport coaches, primarily the good ones but also includes some questionable characters. The good ones you liked as people and the bad ones yelled at you too much. I don't want to go into what characteristics make a terrible coach. I am sure the list is long for many. I will never forget the strange coaches that felt inclined to play their child ahead of others who were far more deserving and more talented.

I am bringing up the overrated coaching argument because we expect a lot of the coach, and they take way too much blame for losing and too much credit for winning. Coaching is essential as a progressive path as athletes age and move up through the levels of their chosen sport. The coaches handling the youngsters in the early stages of their venture into organized sports are so influential. Many youth coaches don't realize how much impact they have and can either enhance the experience or sour the fun for kids. I am not talking about whether they bring juice boxes to the dugout or sidelines but how they teach and motivate them.

Nowadays, many coaches do the yeoman work of being a child psychologist, adult therapist, equipment manager, fundraiser, umpire, referee, doctor, and policeman. It is a challenge that sometimes takes a squad of adults and coaches to get the job done when it once took one or two adults. Youth sports today are taken more seriously, and if the coach is not handling things perfectly, I am sure they will hear complaints from many parents. I feel for those coaches who don't deserve the criticism.

When a child climbs the ladder of sporting competition and the pool of talent is refined, the coach needs to change to more of a mentor and teacher. This is where good instructional coaching is needed more than ever. There is a shortage of quality coaching in the teenage group. A successful coach at this level can elevate a child's performance and perhaps prepare them for the next step.

If a child is still playing organized sports into their late teens, they have been taught well and groomed for the next level, collegiate and professional. Coaching is less critical in this age group, and the athlete needs to take a survivor mentality to keep rising the ranks. Good player management and instruction are always required, but no one will care more if you succeed than yourself. No one is to blame at this point, and the motivation has to come from within.

At the highest level of coaching and managing is where one has to perform more like a game strategist and less about teaching. In some sports, such as professional basketball, the coach has minimal influence on team members and their performance. Players are getting paid, and if that doesn't motivate them, they will probably join the rest of us in the day-to-day working stiff grind. Coaching at the pro level is a slippery slope. You are only as good as your talent, and if you don't win games soon, it's goodbye. Professional coaching is about instilling a system and a strong strategy for winning, and it can only be successful if the players can execute.

Is coaching overrated? It is overrated when coaches take the brunt of the blame for poor performance unless a full-blown mutiny rises against them. When a team flat-out rejects a coach, he usually doesn't handle the various egos with sensitivity. Like I said earlier, having the gift of molding the mixed bag of personalities into a cohesive unit will at least make you popular. If a coach can do that and win on the field, you have the recipe for being very successful. If it were easy, there wouldn't be a shortage of youth coaches. Every athlete should coach once in their life. At first, the rewards will appear slowly and especially the monetary aspect. One thing you will soon realize when we step into the shoes of all the others who tried, you will think twice about throwing rotten tomatoes at the coach.