It’s not just about winning.
To win at sports, we need coaches and mentors, those who guide us in life. Yes, one goal is to win, but good coaching/mentoring is more than that. Consider what it takes to be a ‘good coach’ in Pop Warner and any other youth league.
Courtesy National Alliance of Youth Sports
That’s an important matter, too. As we spend time watching high school, college, and pro athletes compete, we need to remember how and where those athletes began their athletic careers. It was in youth sports on fields all over America. There, coaches know it’s not all about winning. It’s primarily about athletic development, starting with helping young athletes learn the fundamentals, including the ethic of good play and what it means to participate on a team.
From the beginning through higher levels, the better coaches know the importance of sports psychology and how to practice it–player by player and with the team. And in scholastic sports, there is the academic side. Players are called student-athletes for a reason. Good coaches know and respect that status, and they never let sports trump studies. The two go hand-in-hand.
Good coaches also help athletes achieve their potential–not only on the field but in life. Sometimes that is an undervalued aspect of athletic competition. Learning how to be and do your best on fields of play can and should transfer to everyday life, personally and professionally, no matter what athletes do in life.
For all these reasons, I’ve always viewed coaching as mentoring, and considered sports an important pathway for success in life.
