As a former athlete, coaching the sport you played is bitter sweet. You eat, sleep, breath the game you love and once played. So now as a coach you want to sometimes relive what you once had through your athletes, this I call the “Obsessive Coach”. Like obsessive parents, obsessive coaches are ones who wish it was still them playing instead of coaching, and will get highly upset if things are not done exactly like how they once did them. There is no reasoning with their methods because their way is the only way. There is nothing wrong with having a bit of the obsessive coaches disease, but only if it is for the love of the game.
I know from experience that I am an obsessive coach. I want my athletes to understand the game and perfect the technique so bad that sometimes I forget about how old they are. My athletes play in a 12 and under division, so a lot of the skills and technique that makes volleyball so awesome, they struggle to understand. So I constantly fight myself to pull back so that I can effectively coach them in a way to understand and perform the skill. This is very important and hard to do, especially when you want them to play like you are able to play. Just like how the love of the game keeps me expecting more of them, it also reminds me to coach them according to their skills and ability so that I will get more from them. Again bitter sweet.
One of the reasons good athletes quit sport is because they are afraid to make mistakes. Being that obsessive coach, you will get annoyed really quick with what seems to be simple mistakes. Just remember, they have to learn just like you once did. Coach your athletes up to love the sport in a way that making mistakes won’t drive them away. Coach them to love the game. In a blog that I read called “Can you teach “The love of the game””, the author wrote three things that can influence an athlete in developing the love a the game.
- Quality time
- Respecting the game
- Having fun playing the game
If you allow your athletes to have these components, they will someday eat, sleep, breath the game like you and perhaps play like you (or better).
References:
1. O'Sullivan, J. (2015). Why Kids Quit Sports. Coaching, Problems In Youth Sports.
2. Bledsoe, J. (2013, January 24). Coach Up. Retrieved from http://blog.coachup.com/2013/01/24/can-you-coach-the-love-of-the-game/
Great blog! It is so true that you cannot teach passion and love for a game. And that is a hard concept to accept when it is the sport you eat, sleep and breath. I know I fall under the obsessive coaching disorder category!
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