#189 - MW

What makes a good coach?  Someone who knows how to win or someone who knows how to motivate?  Someone who is your friend or someone who draws a line between player and coach?  I feel like I was fortunate enough to have a high school coach who was all of the above.  She coached me in volleyball and softball for most of my high school career.  Sometimes as assistant and sometimes as head coach.  When I think back to these times, I do not remember her as being super athletic or super skilled.  I do remember her trying to be tough, but always ending up smiling and laughing with us.  I remember organized practices and work-outs.  Nothing fancy...just the basics.  I also remember winning.  A lot!  This may be mostly my imagination, but I always remember having really good teams.  We won several state championships in both sports and it seems like we were always one of the top teams to beat.  I remember #189 driving the team bus.  I remember her hitting the Huey P. Long side rail!!!!! AHHHH!!!!  (Maybe this is why I don't like to ride over that bridge today!?!)  I remember her teaching me how to take stats for softball and volleyball.  I remember her showing me how to do the math to get the numbers so we could analyze #'s of spikes, aces, digs, double plays, hits, walks etc. etc. etc.   Several years, we would have coaches who were probably "better" and had more experience and skill, come in to help our our teams.  It's funny because I don't remember as much about them as I do about #189.

My kids are old enough to have had a huge number of coaches.  Each brings a different personality and philosophy to the table.  Some I liked and some I did not like, but such is life.  While reflecting about this blog post, I searched for an article about good coaches and found this site.

Basically it says that good coaches stress the following:
1.  They understand their players and what motivates them.
2.  They are tough...but fair.
3.  They teach life skills along with sports skills.
4.  They stress teamwork.

On the other hand (or glove)  bad coaches:
1.  Focus on only a few players.
2.  Yell or put players down.
3.  Coaches who can't teach, or do not give their all.
4.  Coaches who forget that sports are supposed to be fun.

To me, #189 had the first four qualities and did not have the latter four.  That makes her a good coach in my eyes.