The nicest compliment a coach can get
I was talking to the mom of one of my students tonight, a girl named Lauren, and she told me one of those stories that makes me glad to be a coach.
Lauren had her high school tryouts last week. When she came in for her Monday lesson she was kind of down. She didn’t feel like she had done well and was a little concerned about her chances. We had a pretty good lesson, I gave her a few words of encouragement, and she went home.
Tonight her mom told me it was just what she needed. She woke up Tuesday morning all pumped up, and went in and nailed her tryout.
As coaches we spend a lot of our time working on the mechanics and physical skills. We sometimes forget about the mental part. Boosting a player’s self-esteem can sometimes do more for them than a whole boat full of drills. It’s important to remember that that’s a big part of the job. And when you’re successful it’s a great feeling!
Posted on March 10, 2009, in Coaching, General Thoughts. Bookmark the permalink. 3 Comments.
Life in the Fastpitch Lane 
I totally agree with you on this one Ken. The real pay for a coach is to see that you have a positive influence in an athlete’s life whether on the field or in their regular life.This is what makes coaching so rewarding and that give us that addiction to it.Little things do matter and I like how you re-emphasize the idea of working on self-esteem – not just drills, drills, drills.Marc http://www.softballperformance.com
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last week, one of my players (who just joined the team a couple of months ago) thanked us for making her love softball again. -to be able to make a difference in these girls lives… it’s the most rewarding thing.of course I got all sappy and cried. lol.
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That is so awesome, Faith! Congratulations on a job well done. They don’t give out trophies for it, but they probably should since it’s worth more than winning a tournament while making every kid on the team feel bad about herself!
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