If you have been here a while, you know that we are passionate about the impact that coaches can have.
We believe coaches matter greatly.
And with the growth of youth sports in America the importance of high-quality, high-character coaches is only increasing with time.
Reverend Billy Graham once commented that “One coach will impact more young people in one year than the average person does in a lifetime.”
That’s a huge statement! Both a little bit scary and very encouraging as a coach at the same time!
I recently attended a coaches retreat for coaches of all types of sports. One of the things that I find a privilege from these retreats is hearing guest speakers.
While all of the speakers at this particular retreat were awesome, one of the comments that stood out from a certain speaker was about the potential to have a generational impact on the players that we coach.
WOW!
While I often think about how coaches impact players, I don’t typically think of it in terms of a generational impact.
Kinda cool to think about.
I recognize that this could put enormous pressure on a coach to have their players experience life changing events. So we have to be a little bit careful here.
While I do believe that we should be intentional in teaching life-lessons and character-building to our players, my goal is not to make us uptight and try to “manufacture” impact on our players.
Drastic player transformations certainly CAN happen, but it is probably more typical that our interactions on a daily basis will have the greatest influence on a players attitude, thinking, and belief in themselves.
For example, perhaps you have a player on your team whom lacks confidence. Through your encouragement they gradually become more confident in their ability to play the sport that you coach.
More importantly they develop more belief in their value as a young person. Their confidence then begins to grow over time. And this could be something that has an impact on their own children years later.
Sometimes it might be a few simple words at just the right time. And your player carries those words with them for the rest of their lives.
Another way that coaches make an impact is in the type of culture that we encourage on our teams.
Do we do team building or activities that promote a spirit of unity? Does the type of environment that we facilitate help our player-leaders impact their teammates?
Once again, high quality, high character coaches are so important!
Impacting generations. One more reason why coaches matter.
