Coach’s Corner: Coaching — Values and Coaching — Final of Series — Part V
Posted at 5:30am — 8/4/2012
Coach’s Corner: Coaching — Values and Coaching — Final of Series — Part V
Values and Coaching
The last few years are full of well-documented accounts of mercenary behavior by coaches at high profile universities and professional venues. Self-serving actions by a few have brought increased skepticism upon the profession.
The young novice, working hard to become a career coach, will be engrained by standards of ethics in hundreds of high level university coaching courses across the nation. After employment, educational systems will clearly present to coaches ethics requirements and accepted standards. As a condition of employment many will then sign off on a district’s ethical guideline statement.
Ethics include behaviors directed toward the primary recipient of coaching, the player. The astute young coach either realizes or is made aware of the profound affect a coach can have on a student/athlete’s life success, one way or another. As such the player must come first, that is not to say that the player gets his/her own way, far from this.
Ethics involve tough decisions that affect not only a single player, but also an entire team. Young coaches frequently must overcome favoritism, politics, power struggles, threats, and even bribes to achieve ethical behavior. On the whole, coaches are very ethical, regardless of the high profile transgressions of the few.
Most coaches are in the profession to make a positive difference, not only in athletic skill level but also imparting accepted life-skills needed for future success. Athletes are very successful in careers due in large part to lessons learned being a part of a team structure and the coaches that impart the advice and wisdom. Athletes can compete, athletes can keep poise, athletes can work within a group structure, and athletes have success-oriented behavior. When a parent sends an athlete off to practice or a game, it is the hope of the parent that the coach serves as a model of good parenting, going well past the common moniker of role model.
Outcomes of Good Coaching
The best coaches are frequently the best teachers, and student/athletes who experience the best of both worlds from a premium coach will look back and identify this professional as an important influence, perhaps the most important, in their personal development and eventual success.
On the athletic field, the good coach turns potential into performance. The good coach lives by non-negotiable precepts such as loyalty and commitment. They know that the road to success is not easy, and there is no easy way, and that hard work pays off. Such precepts trump athletic benefits.
Good coaches cause everyone on the team to experience acceptance. Importance status of participants is not grossly tiered toward the benefit of a few to the detriment of the rest. The master coach practices inclusion, not exclusion, and accepts the collective group as meaningful members with value and purpose. In return, the entire squad can perceive what is going on and will run through the wall for a coach, or coaches, the players so admire.
For some, wins are the primary destiny and ultimate definition of successful coaching, for others respect, appreciation, and the achievement of former players are the hallmarks marking a successful career. Years later at reunions players certainly remember games and moments, but even more so, players remember the fellowship, comradely, and closeness that are never extinguished.
So, the next time daydreams wander to the glory of coaching success, think about what has been discussed above. Is coaching worth the limitations and impediments that the vast majority of under the radar middle school and high school coaches face? Most will look back and answer yes; some will have bitterness traveling the difficult road of coaching. It is important to acknowledge that not everyone can be a successful coach and demonstrate appreciation for those who have the skill and provide the sacrifice to undertake this important role successfully for the benefit of what should be the primary stakeholder, the typical student-athlete.
Just a reminder, you must be a member to participate on the free Message Board. Here is the link for the registration page for those people interested in becoming a GBMWolverine member of our message board. GBMWolverine Register.
Please comment on our GBMWolverine Message Board about this article and read what others comment.
You can contact us at our e-mail address: GBMWolverine
Please follow us on Twitter: @GBMWolverine
Written by GBMWolverine Staff — Doc4Blu
Go Blue — Wear Maize!