I started as an Assistant Coach at a high school when I was barely 22 years old, and served there for 8 years. I never thought much about whistles back then, other than referring to our school's Head Coach as the "Big Whistle". Over the past 6 years, I haven't been on the field coaching a whole lot. But last week, I was given a powerful reminder of the power that Coaches have over people. I was blessed with a chance to work at a 3-night football camp for boys from 3rd-8th grade.
This might sound a little weird, and if you've been coaching for a while you have probably gotten used to having your athletes follow your directions at practice. But here I was, going through drills with groups of boys who had never met me before, and all I had to do was blow a whistle to get them to do all kinds of wacky things they probably wouldn't be inclined to do on their own. Chopping their feet in place, shuffling around, rolling on the ground, running at maximum speed even when they were tired, and more. It was kind of incredible when I thought about it. For many of these boys, they probably wouldn't do this stuff at home if a parent told them to. But having me introduced to them as 'Coach' and hearing that whistle was all it took.
There's power there, man. Being a Coach enables us to have the ability to get our players, and sometimes even strangers, to do whatever we say. It's a big deal, to have that power. What are we going to do with it?
80's Lyric
I knew all the time that she'd go
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