We have had a chance to do some reading and thinking about our favorite subject...this profession, the thing we call coaching.
Thinking back to how we got started, why we keep coming back, why we keep at it, what exactly do we think we will get from it...
We don't have any conclusions at this point but we do know it is intriguing...and we don't seem ever to be able to figure it all out...once in a great while we seem to have a grip on it and then, bingo...it slips away...
It might be a training plan that goes sideways or an athlete that melts down unexpectedly...
Or it might be a swimmer who breaks through to a new skill level when something clicks for him or her...
We have come to at least this partial conclusion...it is helpful, maybe even imperative, to be comfortable with the uncertainty of it all...
And it helps to have a set of professional standards on which you do not compromise...
No two people coach the same way but there are certain guidelines which seem to make sense...they include in no particular order:
A sense of fair play - A mutual respect for teammates and coaches - A group dynamic of striving for excellence - A belief in positive outcomes - A willingness on the part of all involved to take risks - A belief in knowing that we don't have all the answers
This list is perhaps pages long but once the core is identified it makes it easier to live with the uncertainty. And we believe that much is critical....living with the uncertainty...
Got a few more weeks to go this season...it's going to be fun and supercharged all the way to the end...and we will have a big smile working on that last day - thinking about both what just happened and what is coming down the road, because we aren't anywhere near being done yet...
No comments:
Post a Comment