Part 3 in a series on coaching
Do you ever stop for a second to ask yourself, ‘why do I coach’?
Is coaching what you wanted to do when you were a kid?
Remember the teacher asked you at an early age, ‘what do you wanna be when you grow up’?
How many actually wrote down they wanted to coach? I know I didn’t…
The reasons for coaching vary. Some enter the coaching profession because they enjoy teaching; to me coaching is teaching. My first boss at the Division one level at Saint Peter’s College in Jersey City, New Jersey Bob Leckie once told me that he “was a teacher and the gym is his classroom.” Good point.
Men’s basketball coaches like Scott Drew at Baylor, Pat Knight at Texas Tech, and Danny Hurley at St. Benedict’s in New Jersey were raised by father’s who were/are coaches. So they got a taste of it at an early age. Some people played the game at the high school or college level where they played for an inspiring coach that piqued their interest about the business. Some have nothing else to do after their playing career’s are over, some want to stay close to the game and some want to give back to the game.
The love for the game is another reason people coach. Their willingness to share their knowledge. Their passion for being around the game, being around athletes and their peers also factors into one’s decision to coach.
Dean Smith once said not to chase the money when coaching. When it gets right down to it, money is a factor, but shouldn’t be the overall reason for coaching. Prestige and fame are two reasons why you shouldn’t coach.
Maybe someone gets into coaching because their son or daughter play for their local team and the need for coaches is there. School teachers at the middle school/ high school level join the coaching ranks, some folks even take on jobs outside the school in order to coach high school.
I know some who have been Team managers at the college level with aspirations of coaching and after spending a couple of years behind the scenes decide that is the path they want to explore.
Growing up in Brooklyn, New York I had inspiring coaches that taught me the game. They took the time to teach me how to play but most importantly they tried to teach me how to act off the court. It took a while, but their message finally sank in and the ‘light’ eventually went on.
I had the opportunity of working for a great coach at the high school level in Ray Nash. It was there I met a few college assistant coaches who at the time were recruiting some of our players. All of this exposure led to getting an opportunity to work at Michigan State University under guys like Tom Izzo, Tom Crean and Stan Heath. Watching those guys each and every day instilled in me the desire to coach at the college level.
The competition, preparing for an opponent, the ability to lead and inspire an entire team are enticing to coaches. Watching film, recruiting, working on the court with your players are areas many enjoy; so coaching is their calling.
There are people who want to make a difference in someone’s life. They want to give. Now the level you want to coach is all in your motivation-where do you want to go and why? I know a lot of good high school coaches that can coach at the college level but they enjoy the security they have along with their teaching job. Plus their lifestyle in their local town, they are content with. I know guys that chase every job that comes open because they want to keep climbing higher and higher.
To conclude, some feel it’s their calling in life. To lead, inspire and getting people to places they never dreamed possible. The coaches who really care about the profession engage their players to be the best they can be. A coach can be a major influence on someone’s life; just like a teacher, sometimes even more-so. If you love the sport, love helping kids, want to give to the community, get involved. You may find the experience highly rewarding. Just make sure you get into it/are into it for the right reasons.
I was sent the following story on coaching by a good friend, Coach Ray Lokar. Here’s his website
Why They Call You Coach
The small, 14th-century, Hungarian village of Kocs is located on the main road along the Danube between Vienna and Budapest. These two great cities needed well-built, fast vehicles that would carry more than two people over the bumpy roads of the day in as much comfort as was then possible. So in Kocs they began to build superior wagons, carts and carriages.
One of the best of these multi-horse carts was called, in Hungarian, “kocsi szekér” or a “wagon from Kocs”. Its design was so compact, elegant and sturdy that the design spread throughout Europe. The German-speaking Viennese started to call this vehicle a Kutsche, which is how they heard Hungarians saying the name of their little carriage-making town. From Vienna these lively vehicles traveled to Paris and the French, adapting the Austrian word, called it a coche. When it arrived in Rome in Italian, it was a cocchio. Eventually, the English called it a coach. When Anne of Bohemia married England’s Richard II in 1382, she brought carriages from Kocs, Hungary with her to England. Wealthy squires had their servants read to them as they drove in these coaches about the countryside or on long trips into a nearby city.
So the first coaches took very important people from where they were – to where they wanted to go. And many of them learned along the way.
Are we taking kids where THEY want to go? And are we teaching them other valuable life lessons in the process?
Why do you coach?
-Coach Finamore
Hoops135@hotmail.com
(Next: The Connection-How Do I Get Into Coaching?)