Myself, I have been coaching athletes for over 30 years and I have been teaching in a school either as a classroom teacher or as a school level administrator for the past 25 years. Needless to say, I love what I do, it would be sad to be in the same profession as long as I have and not be content with your life. Actually, in my opinion, I don't believe there is a higher calling than to teach someone else what we have been given as knowledge. Whether we teach someone how to do long division or if we teach that same person how to bake a cake or how to fix a leaky faucet we are all teachers. Same concept applies in coaching. I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to coach wrestling and volleyball for the past 30 years. Coaching athletes to love the sport they are participating in has always been job one for me, and then to coach up my athletes to get the most out of their potential as possible win or lose is a close second as a goal for me as a coach. In life more people might feel like a teacher, but not near as many would feel like the title "coach" fits the description of what they do on a daily basis. I assure you if you work, live, or spend time with other people you are a coach. I profess to you today that the two words are interchangeable and the two titles are actually one in the same.
I say we are all teachers/coaches in life because we all have the responsibility to "teach" those we have been placed over such as our children, our coworkers, our students, etc.... and in that teaching we are tasked with the responsibility to "coach" them up along the way, guiding them, showing them the way, leading them into the "game", and then being there in support win or lose to prepare them for the next competition in life. The comparison between the two titles makes the names interchangeable. Let me explain.
A coach strives to take an athlete from where they are when they begin and take them to a higher level of performance. A dear friend and fellow coach, Doug Swint, preaches to our athletes "Progression not Perfection" constantly. The mentality he is trying to develop in the volleyball player's mind is that none of us will ever be perfect, but we can all constantly be progressing and getting better at what we do. That holds true in the classroom as well. We do not teach students one set of skills and then say "Well you know everything now so you are finished", we teach them that one set of skills is necessary for the next step in the progression of learning new and more complex principles. It is a progression for sure.
The teacher should always be a source of encouragement regardless of what condition his or her "team" is when they receive them each year. We should be coaching them up and finding the answers to the challenges that face our team during the upcoming season in the classroom. Coaches spend hours studying film of not only their opponent, but also of their own team to see what they can find to correct or "reteach" before the next competition or test as the case may be. During class a coach will find the mistakes his players are making and reteach them and practice them so that the next time they are asked to perform they will be able to carry out their responsibilities on the court, field, mat, or classroom wherever the competition is taking place.
As I stated in the beginning of this week's post, I have had the opportunity to coach and teach for over 30 years and I have been blessed to have the opportunities I have had. It is my firm belief that as a coach/teacher we must do everything we can humanly possible to teach our athletes/students/ children/coworkers to never give up and to never quit. If we can instill in those we teach that concept then life will always be about what is next not about what happened in the past. During a volleyball season a couple of years ago I had a team that actually lost 42 straight sets in volleyball. I had taken a younger less experienced group of players and played them up in a league in nearby Knoxville, Tennessee. This team never gave up, working harder than any group I had ever coached, and constantly improved, doing so with a positive attitude along the way. Good sportsmanship and hard work characterized this team from beginning to end. At the end of the season the director of the league and the other coaches and referees presented me with a plaque as the "Best Coach of the Season". The guy that coached the team that didn't win a single set the whole season?? The director explained that everyone there was so impressed with the way the girls handled the adversity, the way they went about their game on the court and how they showed outstanding sportsmanship after each loss. And they all made note of how far the team had progressed during the season getting better at their overhand serves, passing, and other components of the game. The "Best Coach Award" wasn't really about me in the end, it was about how our team had performed and grew. That plaque is more dear to me than any of the championship trophies my teams have garnered over the years because this group was recognized for something they can take away from athletics and apply to life. That is what teaching and coaching is all about. Proverbs 22:6 instructs, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Whether you work in a school, coach your child's little league team, or if you are a supervisor on the job, or possibly you are a parent raising your children we each have the responsibility to "coach'em" up! Coaching and teaching have one fundamental similarity that weaves the two together. We all want to see our team succeed. Success is not measured on a scoreboard or in how many championship trophies we acquire over the years. It isn't compiled in how many of our students graduate high school or even college. The true measure of our success will be in how many of our "athletes" go on to help others, teaching them and coaching them up in life. Go out and be a coach today! You are a teacher just be careful what you teach. Hard work, positive attitudes, diligent practice, and always progress over perfection in life! Play hard and live life! Enjoy your life you only have one to live!
Coach Carter
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