When I tell people that I work with athletes, their first thought is usually they think it is cool because they imagine we are working with professional athletes. Yes, I would love to train LeBron James, but unless you have broken into that niche you probably are working with young athletes.

Most coaches love working with athletes of all levels. Some might be more challenging to coach then others, but you don’t get into coaching because you need money to pay the bills. You do it because you have some sort of love helping kids achieve their athletic dreams.

You form relationships with these athletes. You learn that you get along with some athletes better than you do others. I don’t mean that in a negative way. It’s just some athletes are finding themselves and may be very quiet and shy and you just don’t engage with them too much beyond training them.

The athletes that we have a good relationship with, we get a general sense of how they view us. If they have been successful, these kids either have told us or we know that our knowledge and coaching has been appreciated.

To be honest, those athletes are still a smaller fraction then you think.  

What I want coaches to be aware of are the many other athletes who we impact that we don’t even realize. Our words, our actions, our non-verbal communication, all those things can influence these athletes positive or negative. Just because they don’t show it or say anything to you, don’t think you aren’t having an influence.

I have been invited to client’s graduation parties, birthday parties, weddings, cookouts, received gifts, and been invited on trips. A lot of those clients, I knew them well and knew the impact that I had on their lives.

This past spring, after having been an assistant coach for my daughter’s track team, we received coaches’ gifts that the kids all chip in for. But, I also received several individual gifts from some of the athletes. A couple of these athletes, I worked with, they didn’t set the world on fire, but I don’t recall having the interaction with them that I had with other athletes.  

Yet, I made an impact on their track season and they felt they had to show me some appreciation.

It is easy to forget about an athlete who is quiet and reserved. You don’t know if they are having fun, hating life, or what. Continue to be positive with that kid. Maybe your actions will help this kid want to continue the sport next year.

It is just as easy to dismiss a kid who happens to be somewhat of a troublemaker. Yes, you have to instill discipline, but don’t hold a grudge. If the athlete attempts to be better at practice and not act up, coach him. That kid might say you were the coach that got his/her act together.

Remember, we are adults who have gone through a lot and words sometimes just slide off of our backs.These are kids still trying to figure a lot of things out. A simple off-handed remark not meant to be harmful, could be taken a completely different way by a young athlete and have devastating ramifications.

You might not care one way or another. The kid might be useless to your team or a bad apple.  

Is that why you got into coaching? To make a decision that could impact whether this kid wants to play this sport awhile longer? No one gave you that right to impact this kid’s choices in athletics.

You got into coaching probably because of the wonderful experiences you had playing sports. Or maybe you had awful coaches and wanted to be better than that. That is your job. To provide experiences that will last a lifetime for these young athletes.

 

Take that into account the next time you joke around about this athlete or that. These kids are playing a sport because they love it. Let’s try to cement that notion for them and most of all, make them have FUN!!

Photo courtesy of Jim Larrison on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/larrison/