Warning: the following is a personal story about coaching youth sports. No names are mentioned, no identities compromised, but all the same, read at your own risk. If you are bored by reading stories by some guy writing about his own experience coaching 10 year olds, don't say you weren't warned. Last year, when told there were no volunteers to be the head coach of my oldest son's spring flag fb team, I volunteered to do it. The learning curve was steep, and early in the season my inexperience in that league was evident. I had little idea how to devise schemes that were age appropriate, and didn't really know what we were going up against from the other teams in the league. We took some lumps for the first half of the season, and by the second half had progressed considerably. By the end of the year, we could play with anybody, and usually came out ahead.
So I was excited to come back and coach in the same league again this year, although out of 20 players only 3 were with us last year. We're basically starting over, but I learned so much last year that I expected things to go much, much more smoothly this time around. In most ways they have, with one main exception. Last year's group was a fun group of kids. They got along really well, and honestly, I feel like the way we coached them helped them get to that point. We had only very minor issues with attitude and effort, and I felt great about the season we had. This year's group of kids are also a lot of fun. The thing is, at times the fun crosses the line of goofy and loose, and ventures into disrespectful and detrimental. The problem is this - I know they're kids, and I want them to have a good time. Otherwise, there's no point in any of us being out there. At the same time, I need to figure out how to communicate to children the difference between goofy and disrespectful. I think I also need to "lighten up" in a pretty big way. I don't want to be what I was at times last night - a crabby taskmaster. That attitude of mine resulted in some of the more focused kids taking my lead and saying things like, "Come on guys, we've got to be serious here!" Well, yes and no. We don't really need to be "serious" here, you're a bunch of kids playing a game. At the same time, a healthy dose of respect and focus is certainly going to help all of us play better and enjoy the season more.
I want to nip this in the bud, and so some attitude adjustment on my part, along with some newfound awareness on the part of the kids are probably both in order. I know I need to find the right balance between fun and focused, and help these kids find it for themselves as well. In the long run, that could end up being a pretty cool skill for them to develop in their lives. I pray I can keep that in mind the next time some kid decides to be Mr. Funnyman at practice.
80's Lyric
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