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Wise
Words for Coaches
When I first started coaching, six years ago, I was all idealistic, and
said "You know, winning doesn't matter."
To which a more experienced coach
replied: "It doesn't matter to you, but it matters to them."
Scratch one naive assumption.
Most people translate "winning matters" into "winning is
the most important thing" or, even worse, "winning at all
costs."
For me, the list of accomplishments
needs to be, more or less in order of importance:
(1) Give maximum effort
(2) Improve your individual skills
(3) Improve your teamwork and team play
(4) Learn to lose with grace
(5) Learn to win with humility
If the first 3 things are done, then the
winning will come as a natural by product, assuming you are placed in a
competitive mix athletically. If you win all the time, then you need to
keep moving up until such time as 4 comes into play.
These kids aren't dumb; they know the
reason they lose is most likely some kind of combination of 1-3, all other
things being equal. So focusing on those three things, and not on the
winning per se, will lead to a sense of accomplishment, the fun that they
are all in it for AND an appropriate share of victories. |
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