It ALL Matters...

Observed a man the other day in the "trainers only" section of the gym he was working at. He was managing the fitness of two middle aged female clients at the same time. He would look down at his phone and then go to one and show her what he wanted her to do. In this case, she sat on a chair with her back against a wall and spread her arms out against the wall and moved them up and down. While she was doing this, he looked at his phone again and went to the other woman whom he had start doing a version of 'supermans,' putting her left foot up and leaning forward with her right hand and then alternating. At no time did he check on the form or even whether the two ladies were doing the exercises he prescribed. He gave no feedback, no help and just kept looking at his phone for his next exercise to fill his hour slot.

Emblazoned in bold white block letters on the upper back of his red logoed work shirt was the word COACH.

Often lost in the frustrating work of coach developers  was a recent post on a social media account:

These coaches are  lifelong learners, working to get better each season, each practice, each drill, each interaction with players and parents. Often times, their egos don't demand attention and it's only after a players career has concluded that the athletes realize how integral that coach was to their success. 

For a modern world of instant gratification and acknowledgment, this idea becomes so inconsequential that striving for  a lot of coaches, those interactions becomes a waste of time and energy.

Unless, of course, you are one of their athletes.

One outside hitter, an All-State selection  her sophomore year on isn't playing into college. She's a dynamic 5-10 athlete that can pass in serve recieve and is a good blocker. She would have added value to any school she chose. 

But being the go-to player on a team with bad leadership can be more of a curse than a blessing. Every loss was pinned on her effort and mistakes. Close wins were her fault because she couldn't carry the team on her back. She began to get naseaus before matches in both high school and club and would sometimes get sick. After matches, win or lose, she felt depressed and relieved. Why, she asked herself, would I want to put myself through this for four more years.

Her coaches had gutted her passion and ripped from her captaincy her self esteem. She was the excuse, the reason for failure, the one that could never reach the potential cast upon her by short sighted coaches who thought "pushing" her was healthy and the best option.

Another player, an All-State selection in the northeastern US had this to say about her coach. “I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. I was constantly reassured that I was going to be a 6-rotation player who rarely sat the bench. Instead, I was a 0 rotation player who rarely saw the court. If my own coach didn’t believe in me, why should I keep playing? I eventually realized I didn’t want to play, I just wanted the truth.”

“I remember seeing my coach during highschool season. She’d say ‘Great game Ally, I can’t wait to have you as my go to outside!’ I was ecstatic. Come to find out she’d said the same thing to 3 other girls.”

This player also walked away from offers, her self effacy bullet riddled. Another player who walked away from opportunty because an egotistical coach had blindly made decisions without any idea of the repurcussions.

Coach is an often used title in a lot of organizations. Life coaches, sport coaches, mental coaches, nutrition coaches. All with a purpose but how many have the credentials to claim legitimacy? In the US, coaching is a hobby for most. There are coaches on the sidelines of your daughter's volleyball tournaments that have not studied training ideas and methods, they don't have a coaching philosophy and maybe don't even use science to help them decide practice regimen, drills and recovery. For so many parents, they just don't know because they don't do the research on clubs and coaches. They listen to the stories told them about the scholarships and grandeur ahead and jump on board, only to find out the Titanic is equipped with a net.

We will leave you with this parent letter. It is both alarming and helpful if you are a parent looking for coaching qualifications in your athlete's upcoming season. 

"I have no idea of who or even if this message will be seen by anyone. However, I still want to get my perspective out there. I am a parent of 3 girls who played volleyball even into college… I am now a grandparent of a granddaughter who wants to play volleyball. My perspective is that nothing has changed in the qualifications/vetting process of coaches in all levels of volleyball. I watched a simple game in an Anthem league today and saw the same issues that were present when my 38 year old daughter played . Coaches are not trained and are not for the kids learning the game but winning. Something needs to change, especially in the training/vetting of coaches. My daughters had some wonderful coaches, and some truly awful coaches and human beings. One was definitely a pediophile  and I was the only parent on her team that was not ok with him. This was a 14 -1 team that went to nationals. My daughters played at various levels but we experienced such awful coaches at all levels. I would love to see standardize coaching.

We have 9 grandaughters and we have offered to pay for tennis and golf and anything other than volleyball for them. How sad especially since 2 of our granddaughters have a 6’4’ inch dad and a mom who is 5’10” and played at nationals at least 4 times. 

My husband and I literally had PTSD watching this simple league today and the awful coaching.

My daughters still love the game of volleyball but they  know that it comes with some absolute awful not vetted coaches both in club and schools and they dont know if they are willing to put their daughters through what they endured."

Coach, you matter. Club Director, it DOES matter who you put on the floor to coach your athletes. Parents, be picky and do your homework. 

It ALL matters...