Coaching: A Naturally Dynamic Career

Coaching is a naturally dynamic career. It requires one to constantly keep adapting their strategies and approaches to every unique batch of students. Therefore, describing who I am as a coach might prove difficult because I am constantly changing like my students. This is the part I love most about coaching; no one team is like the next. Further, every squad that I teach leaves me a better coach and person.

Currently, I am learning to adapt to every new student that I have the pleasure of coaching. It has been a difficult task learning to appreciate and manipulate the strengths and weaknesses of every team member for the benefit of the team. Nonetheless, I work each player individually while helping them and myself understand and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Ergo, when they finally work as a collective, their abilities complement each other. Because I am able to work around a person’s abilities, a majority of the team gets playtime. Nevertheless, this does not take away from the fact that I push my players to win. I motivate them rather than an illogical and obsessive push to win. If we lose, we work out where the problem is and how best to overcome it. I nature their self-worth and ego to ensure they remain positive and ambitious; always looking for a win.

I am interested in coaching because I have always wanted to be part of something greater. It gives me a purpose in life that I have not felt elsewhere. I want to be a coach because I fell that being part of a team helped me onto the path I am today. I played basketball in my younger days and I always felt like I was part of something; also keeping me off bad company and influences. I would like to facilitate this for other persons despite their reasons for joining. However, more than anything, not only would I like to teach and guide my students to be better athletes, but also guide them to be better people. I like to think that a coach is a teacher, accelerator, guide, and mentor. Not only do I coach the athlete, but I also coach the person. I take an interest in the lives of every individual off the field because what they are going through also affects who they are on the field. I do not view their outside lives as hindrances to their performance, rather, I use them to create a relationship with the student. I understand that if these elements are controlled masterfully, they will help mould a performer on and off the court. The greatest reward is to see the students win on the court and at life.

I like coaching because it keeps me on my toes. I have to remain flexible so that I can best adapt to every new squad of students I acquire. Every new team and individual presents a new struggle. For example, a new team might have better shooting guards than forwards. Therefore, I have to change my game strategy to a shooting game rather than a driving game; same applies if I have a height-challenged team. Still, various logical approaches such as the aforementioned might not necessarily apply to every team. It is therefore my duty to find the best strategy that would get the best out of the team. Further, I learn new approaches with every passing squad because they present new and undiscovered challenges. This makes me better equipped and informed on giving the best to my team.