A Coach's Role

Last night was the conclusion to our athletic year. We had our last banquet of the 2009-2010 school year. We celebrated and awarded all of our spring sports-track, tennis, golf, baseball, and softball. It was a great night. Coaches talked about individual and team success, the highs, and the lows.
Each time we have an athletic banquet I am reminded of why we do what we do. Why we coach kids. We coach because we have the opportunity to have a helping hand in the development of a young person. We get to take athletes from where there are, to some place they never imagined they would be. Some don’t even recognize that they have grown; which makes it even sweeter. I am not just talking about physical development, but I am talking overall personal development. Coaches can change a person’s life, change who they are, change what they can accomplish, and even change who they will become. Coaches and teachers have to be the second most influential person in a young person’s life, only second to their parents, and in some cases the replacement to an absent parent.
I had great parents growing up, they taught me lessons, they loved me, they nurtured me, and they grew me up. I also had coaches who influenced me for the good and aided in my development. I was not an easy person to coach. I thought I knew it all and was afraid to work hard. My coach never gave up on me. He could and I don’t think anyone would have blamed if he did give up on me, but he didn’t. I am thankful that he didn’t; I owe a lot of who I am to my coach. Even today, those who know him and me would say we are a lot alike. Just the other day I was visiting Coach and we went to church together, a man at church came up to him and me and asked if we were brothers because we have similar profiles. I guess I have even started to look like him. It was kind of scary.
Coach taught the importance of hard work, he taught to be on time, he taught me to compete, and he taught the truth of God’s word. Coach was the first person to have a bible study with me, he cared about my soul. I think that is the main reason he never gave up on me. He saw what I could become, he took me from where I was, never said to me I can’t help you because your not at this point, instead worked with me to get me to another level. Isn’t that what coaches are suppose to do for their athletes? I am a coach now, I am a husband now, I am a parent now, I am deacon now, and most importantly I am a baptized believer.
My parents played the biggest role in my life, but Coach also had a large role in finishing me off. I have disappointed him, and I have disappointed my parents at times; but they continued to love me. That type of love might be the greatest lesson I ever learned. I try to be the coach and teacher that my coach and teachers were. Thanks to all coaches, and a special thanks to Coach.