The reason is because the real game is played outside the the lines.
“There isn’t a better resource for our kids than a self-aware, emotionally engaged coach, who understands the big picture.
There are many wearing hats & blowing whistles, oblivious to the fact that the actual games is played outside the lines without jerseys on.
Pour into them.”
Ray Zingler on X
I love Coaching.
The X’s & O’s.
The Program.
Coaching Technique.
Getting into the weeds of the Details.
Troubleshooting.
The Trials.
The Errors.
The Tribulations.
The Frustrations.
Making Adjustments.
The Breakthroughs.
Seeing the Progress.
I love every damn bit of it. Everyday.
But as much as I love the tangible coaching process, I recognize that if I solely focus on the above, I lose.
I lose in the sense that I will have misused and opportunity to impact a life beyond my “coaching discipline”.
Learning and performing squats correctly is important. Just as understanding cover 2 defense, bunt coverages, and final seconds in bounds plays are.
But in the grand scheme of things, none of these things matter.
What matters is our ability to not only recognize this, but as coaches, use our impact levers (the sport/discipline we are coaching) to travel far beyond the x’s and o’s of sport.
And this takes a tremendous amount of self-awareness and intentionality as it is very easy to get lost in “our thing”.
We must remember “our thing” isn’t their thing, it’s just something that they do.
I don’t care how passionate a kid is about training, baseball, or soccer.
They aren’t lifters. They aren’t baseball players. They aren’t soccer players.
They are Jimmy and Sarah, who lift weights, play baseball, and play soccer. They are merely something that they do. The above activities aren’t who they are.
Because so many are oblivious to this notion (adults), many kids struggle with identity issues because we’ve led these kids to believe these activities they participate in with finite lifespans are who they are.
It’s nonsense.
We must use what we do to nurture their LONG-TERM growth and development.
It’s not baseball. It’s commitment.
It’s not early morning workouts. It’s discipline.
It’s not soccer. It’s overcoming adversity.
With youth athletes, whatever you’re coaching is going to be highly basic and fundamental by nature. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to get kids coached up and if you think it does, you’re more than likely doing it wrong.
Give them the base x’s and o’s and then pour into them well beyond them.
It’s the only way our platforms as coaches have any real long-term value.
