Coaching -
I spent a number of years coaching at the varsity level and walked away from the sidelines of the game I love almost three years ago. I was realizing how fast time goes by and the importance of family over work. Little did I realize that I would be called to return to the sidelines and facing an entirely new challenge, youth soccer at the U6 level.
This time however, I would have the opportunity to being coaching a team my son plays on. This would not be the challenge to create a learning opportunity, the challenges would come from the five-year-old perspective of fun and the game.
My new goals would not be to win a Section VI title, but rather to instill a love for the game into the heart of each player. This was more challenging than I could have imagined. My competitive drive pushed me to focus too much on poor performance and was overshadowing the joy they were receiving from being on the field.
Their first GOAL was a groundbreaking event. It was followed by a chorus of cheers, "high fives", group hugs, and more joy than you could imagine.
The learning I received from this experience was immense. I had to learn to focus on small rewards that brought tremendous intrinsic value. I found out that accomplishments and achievement can come in many different ways. My sense of purpose had changed from just coaching in a way that promoted my perception of achievement to coaching in a way that brought brought personal levels of achievement and happiness to those who were participating in the sport.
Thank you RYS for the opportunity to learn new ways to love the game.
I spent a number of years coaching at the varsity level and walked away from the sidelines of the game I love almost three years ago. I was realizing how fast time goes by and the importance of family over work. Little did I realize that I would be called to return to the sidelines and facing an entirely new challenge, youth soccer at the U6 level.
This time however, I would have the opportunity to being coaching a team my son plays on. This would not be the challenge to create a learning opportunity, the challenges would come from the five-year-old perspective of fun and the game.
My new goals would not be to win a Section VI title, but rather to instill a love for the game into the heart of each player. This was more challenging than I could have imagined. My competitive drive pushed me to focus too much on poor performance and was overshadowing the joy they were receiving from being on the field.
Their first GOAL was a groundbreaking event. It was followed by a chorus of cheers, "high fives", group hugs, and more joy than you could imagine.
The learning I received from this experience was immense. I had to learn to focus on small rewards that brought tremendous intrinsic value. I found out that accomplishments and achievement can come in many different ways. My sense of purpose had changed from just coaching in a way that promoted my perception of achievement to coaching in a way that brought brought personal levels of achievement and happiness to those who were participating in the sport.
Thank you RYS for the opportunity to learn new ways to love the game.
GO TIGERS!!!!!
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