Teachers Make the Best Coaches
I'm biased; I'll admit it. When it comes to most things in life I usually listen to both sides of an argument and don't really come out and choose a side or take a stand. However, when it comes to sports and coaching I usually know where I stand and I'm not afraid to give my opinion. I know my lane, and I typically stay in it. So when it comes to finding, hiring, advocating, or just describing who makes the best coaches, I will always give a huge endorsement to teachers.
Teachers make the best coaches. If there was a Mount Rushmore of college basketball coaches it would have to include the likes of John Wooden and Dean Smith, two men who I greatly admire and have done a lot of reading and research on. Both of those men not only have the highest winning percentages in the game of basketball, but they also have teaching in their blood. Wooden was an actual school teacher, and Smith's parents were teachers and he himself taught in his early days.
So am I arguing that you have to be a trained teacher to be an effective coach? Not necessarily. There are many coaches at extremely high levels that have never had any sort of educational training. All of their training came from coaching mentors and coaching experience. Just like teachers, they have had many learning experiences and moments that have shaped how they go about their jobs. They have dedicated their lives to coaching, which is essentially teaching, and have impacted so many people just like teachers do. However, as the age of the players increase, the need to be a true teacher lessens. College and pro coaches are dealing with young men and women who don't always need as much instruction, guidance, or supervision as young athletes. Those and and some of the reasons I'm about to go into are why I would always take a teacher as a coach over anyone at the high school or youth levels.
1. Objectives
From the moment teachers start taking classes and crafting lessons, they are constantly trained to be made aware of the objective. What do you want your students to accomplish? How are going to accomplish this? How are you going to assess if your students truly understand what you intended? Teachers go to bed thinking about these questions and wake up the next day focused on them. The translation as a coach is just as natural. Coaches write practice plans in the same way they right their lesson plans. Everything done at a practice is intentional and scripted. Teachers don't allow for down time at practices because they know that will either lead to problems or won't push their players towards the intended objective. Teachers also know and understand the importance of setting realistic objectives, and celebrating the not just the victories but also the growth along the way.
2. Handling Behavior Issues
No offense to John Q business owner who is giving up his free time to coach his son's sports team, but they rarely have any understanding or idea of how to handle the kid who refuses to listen or wants to slam down equipment when frustrated. If not handled quickly and appropriately, these kinds of issues can become the primary issue that you deal with at every practice and game. For teachers, these are the things we encounter and endure every day. We are trained and made aware of the behaviors exhibited by kids with certain conditions or circumstances. We are either trained or quickly learn how to handle a wide variety of situations that can derail an entire class or group of kids. Those that cannot handle this do not last long in the profession. In youth sports, you are guaranteed to have kids with emotional issues, not being able to handle failure, pouting when something does not go their way, challenging the respect level of a coach, isolating or calling out teammates for mistakes. How the coach handles those situations can make or break those teams, and as parents we're all watching from the stands to see how the coach is handling it too.
3. Understanding How to Share Knowledge
All teachers have said, "If I only had a dollar for every time I have to repeat myself." In fact, the government must think that we do get those extra stipends from our students based on our pay. Unfortunately for teachers, we know that repeating the same thing over and over again is part of the job. Just because you said it once doesn't mean that your students heard you, and more importantly it doesn't mean that they understood you. Effective teaching and coaching means saying and doing it as many times as it takes for them to understand you. Teachers understand that just because it was in your lesson plan one day for 40 minutes, that doesn't mean that every kid understands the concept of can retain the concept. Good teacher understand that the concept must be reviewed constantly and integrated into other things. The same goes for coaching. This is what make teachers such great coaches. Teachers that are coaches understand that you must constantly review things with your players. Too many times coaches throw their hands up or yell at a player for something that they swear they should know. Good teachers that coach often times ask themselves why the student or player doesn't understand before getting frustrated. Teachers also understand that learning is a process and information dumping is not learning. Students and players can only handle so much at once; so again, the non-teacher will yell or get frustrated when their team or a player makes a mistake on something we talked about for 10 minutes 3 weeks ago. We have all probably seen or experienced the coach who had tremendous knowledge about the game, but the only way they knew how to share it with their players was by yelling it at them during the games.
4. Pacing
Everything teachers do has a rhythm and pace to it. We spend hours creating and analyzing pacing guides for our curriculum. Teachers have to be sure that everything is being covered. We are not allowed to spend and infinite amount of time on one area, because we have to see the big picture. The same goes for when a teacher is planning a practice. Everything has a pace to it. Teachers know that know matter how frustrating it might be in the moment, we cannot dwell on just one aspect of the game for too long. If we do that then we cannot accomplish all of our goals. More importantly, we will lose the interest of our kids. How many times have you been to a practice and observed a youth coach going over the same exact thing for way too long and the kids are completely checked out, disinterested, or even screwing around with each other? A teacher knows that at that point it is time to move on and re-engage the kids. Teachers know that you can always come back to a concept later, but if you don't keep the pace of a practice or drill moving, then you will likely lose the interest and intensity of your players.
5. The Big Picture
Teachers don't always dwell on the moment like other coaches might. Every coach wants to win every game, don't let anyone fool you. It doesn't matter what level you are coaching at, every coach feels better about themselves and their team after a win. However, teachers understand and preach a growth mindset. Teacher understand that it takes a while to build to where you want to be, and that sometimes victories are not measured by the final score. Teachers see the growth in their kids and praise them for their progress. The same goes for the results on the field. A coach who has a teaching background recognizes the little things that each player and the team are getting better at. They praise the team or the player for their improvement over time. They see beyond a victory on the scoreboard and recognize when things weren't done correctly. Report cards and scoreboards make things easy to understand for a casual observer, but teachers see everything that goes into those final marks and scores. Teachers understand that a student can earn a B- and that is reason to celebrate, just like a when a team loses but can feel good about their performance. Teachers also understand when a player or student is getting by with bad habits that will eventually catch up to them. Teachers don't see and reward success based on natural ability, but would rather praise those who have given their best effort and maximized their ability.
6. Dealing with Parents
Just like with teaching, parent support or lack thereof can make or break a coach. I'm not suggesting that non-teachers cannot handle parent, but teachers deal with parents every day. Teachers understand the importance of communicating with parents and being pro-active with your communication. Teachers know how vital it is to have clear policies and procedures written down for their students, players, and parents to understand. A teacher knows how to establish boundaries with a parent and when to call in others to help deal with an individual when needed. Teachers also know how important it is to document all interactions with a parent or student/player. Often times coaches who are not teachers find themselves struggling with an overbearing or obnoxious parent because they have not establish boundaries or documented behaviors. If you're coaching an independent sort or team, then you are on your own, but if you're coaching for a school or a larger organization it makes things much easier when you get your superior involved with a trail of documentation.
7. We're Not Appreciated, and That's OK!
Teaching and coaching are two occupations one should not enter if they want to get a lot of praise. Teachers live in a world where if you get your students to pass a test or get a good grade then you've done the job you're paid to do. However, if your students fail or don't pass those important tests then it is all your fault. You are asked what you could have done better or why the students weren't prepared. While there are so many things out of your control as a teacher, it is your responsibility to control and take as much ownership over them as possible. The same goes for coaching. Rarely after a game does anyone say what a great job the coach did in preparing their team or in their in game strategy. Yet, after a loss fans and parents can quickly point out things that the coach could have or should have done. It's not often that fans or parents point out the mistakes of the players. If they do, those are mistakes that the coach should have prevented or recognized. But don't feel sorry for us. Teachers know this is the deal when they enter the profession, and we quickly develop thick skin when dealing with students and parents. If not, you don't last very long. The same thing goes with coaching. Coaches who have a teaching background tend to have the necessary thick skin to deal with the parents, players, officials, and other coaches. Also, teachers are used to putting in long hours that go unnoticed. While the workday for most is cut and dry, teachers and coaches are constantly working, researching, or preparing. There is so much work that goes on behind the scenes that people never know or realize how many hours a good teacher or coach puts in. Often times I tell people that the games are the most relaxing part of the week, because it's the only time you're not spending preparing for the next day or practice.
In no way was this blog meant to suggest that parents or business men or women cannot be and are not good coaches. I have seen plenty of good youth coaches that are not in the teaching profession. However, if I was a parent looking for a youth team to place my son or daughter on, I would always want to find a coach who has a teaching background. The same goes for high school sports. I cannot stand it when athletic directors hire a coach that is not a teacher. Teachers understand the culture of the school and the kids. Too many times in recent years I have seen schools hire a coach who has a nice resume of playing and coaching experience, but things don't translate through to the program.
Teachers know the value of hard work and planning for success, which is what every player has to have instilled in them if they want to achieve their goals.
