Too Many Coaches Muddling Up The Team

I was umpiring recently, and the head coach of one of the teams stopped by to chat as we were changing for the second game.  We asked how things were going, and he made a statement that really had an impact on me.  He was talking about the struggles the team was experiencing and he commented that it was increasingly difficult to work with athletes in our society today because of two big factors.

First, he expressed that today's athletes and their parents seem to have a heightened sense of entitlement.  The idea of earning a particular contributing role on a team seems very distant.  Instead, players enter a season expecting to be given the role of his/her choice.  Also, the athlete is more inclined to only be interested in his/her desire to play his/her specific role rather than accepting the role that the team needs.

Second, athletes today seem to have multiple coaches.  In terms of softball, they have hitting coaches, pitching coaches, and performance coaches...none of whom ever contact the school team's coach to determine how best they can help their clients fulfill the needed role that the team needs out them.  And these "personal coaches" all make a lot of money and have their own personal agendas regarding their clients.

So now athletes and the parents are paying personal coaches and committing serious time to personal training sessions, which has led to more problems for school coaches.  And what is the athlete suppose to do?  Do I listen to my school coach, do I listen to my parents, or do I listen to my personal coach that I'm paying $50 an hour for personalized instruction?

Here's the deal....the school coach is THE coach.  And all other "personal coaches" should in fact be working with THE coach in order to be helpful.  Why would I want to spend $50 an hour on personalized training that is different than the methods/instruction provided by the THE coach?  Now I'm actually spending money to screw up my athlete's chances of providing a meaningful role to his/her team and having a positive experience.

Ugh...may the force be with you school coaches, because it appears that more and more forces are working against you.

Let's today try to do one thing to simplify the lives of our children.

JBiz