Being a coach is a lot different than being an athlete. There is more you do behind the scenes, and more logistics. As an athlete your job is to execute the game plan the coach puts together. Being an athlete your focus is on being the best at your position, while being a coach you focus on how to utilize each athlete so your team can have success. This series will explore both sides from the personal experience I have developed.
Current Position:
I am currently coaching at a company in the after school program, and the summer camps they put on. I will be working with 6-18 year olds.
Athletic History:
As an athlete I competed in four different sports: football, basketball, baseball, and track and field. I did basketball and baseball from six-years-old until I was 13. I started playing football at eight-years-old until my senior year of high school. I started running track and field in 6th grade, and continued competing through college.
Through the almost 20 years of competing in at least in one sport, I have had some amazing life lessons taught to me, and some awesome coaches that impacted my life. I have also had some coaches that I did not enjoy. (We will go into those lessons and coaches throughout the series.
Coaching History:
The first major coaching job I was able to land was when I was junior in college. I coached two track and field teams during the summer. One was 6-14 year olds, (head coach) and the other team was high school kids because their season got moved to the summer due to COVID-19 (jumps coach). That summer, I was able to coach a lower level semi-professional football team. I was promoted to offensive coordinator half way through the season. I the summer after my senior year of college coaching at camps for 10-18 year olds in track and field. I then was able to volunteer coach at the college I competed at for the jumpers for a semester before taking the job I currently have.
Through the three years of coaching, I have had to learn multiple ways to coach from different age groups, to different levels, and different kind of athletes. Each athlete responds differently to criticism. The biggest thing I learned so far is that, no matter how knowledgable you are, how intense you are, or passionate you are, if you do gain trust/build relationships with the athletes, you will not get their full effort. I will explore that more later down the road.
Goal of this series:
In this series I will talk about my experiences from my past and talk about the lessons I have learned at this new coaching opportunity I have. The goal is to relate to coach’s and talk about ways to connect and impact athletes we come across!
For more articles from BSP, click here.
