I blame Ol' Roy: Continuing to reflect on "coaching"
I was watching some old running movies and listening to what the coaches were saying. It was "Go." It was "Catch that guy." It was "You can do it." By the time the race is in progress and similarly by the time the game is being played there's not much a coach can do. There are personnel decisions, but we'll ignore those for this reflection. Coaching takes place behind the scenes, in the preparation. When it's game time, coaches become cheerleaders. Less so in football, perhaps, but in the fluid sports, the only chance a coach gets to coach the whole team is during the breaks, timeouts, half-time, commercial. There they get to make adjustments, make recommendations, but they can't teach new skills and they can't reach a team that isn't listening. And that I decided is what really defines a coach. Is anybody listening? If they are- coach. If they're listening and they're talented- coach of the year. I don't mean to question the value of a coach- they teach, motivate, adjust. Coaches change people's lives, but a coach can't do any of that without players that respond. So, why do I blame Ol' Roy? Because the only time I hear about coaches are when they are out there in the big game. The coaching is nearly done by then. It's one last little push (perhaps a bigger push at the higher levels, but relative to all those months and years the coach has put in, it's little.) Pushing on...