The Best Teachers.

I must have received this image a hundred times from my mentor. The message is so simple, yet I am so quick to forget this. Not too long ago, a graduating senior approached me and asked me to help her create a four week program to complete her internship hours with our soccer program. She told me that she was feeling overwhelmed and didn't want to mess it up. She said that she was told generally what to create for those four weeks by the head coach, but had no idea how to program especially taking into account work to rest ratios or what kind of ball work to include at the end of the session. Her whole life she had played soccer and said it shouldn't have been difficult for her to come up with activities to do with the ball, yet her mind had gone blank. More importantly, even if she knew what activities to do, she didn't know what to look for while coaching them.

Empathizing with her, we sat down and went through what the head coach was asking her to do. I've been in her position before and knew what it felt like to be overwhelmed, confused, and have little guidance. I quickly learned early on in my coaching career that I could have come up with the best practice session in the world, but it was far more important to know when to stop an activity as well as what my coaching points were or if I should stop the activity at all. I didn't want her to come away feeling the way I felt, and so I helped her come up with activities, asked questions to help her learn as we went along, but then gave way more information as to what to look for than was needed. I walked away feeling like I had helped her. But then I was reminded of that quote. I later realized that I deprived her of a learning experience by telling her what to look for. While I may have wanted all the answers right away when I was first starting out, it has been a process as a young coach that I needed, and still need, to go through.

I've had a number of conversations like this with her for the past year. I see so much of myself in her and I felt for her in our most recent conversation. The truth is, I can't say that I still don't have those conversations with my own mentor. I do love to hear her speak because I am reminded that I am not the only one who feels that way. There was another occasion during the season when she was asked to lead a warm up. She wanted to play a fun game, but didn't know how to incorporate dynamic stretches into it. Quickly, I made a few suggestions without changing the game as to how she could go about that. It turned out better than I had thought. I later used that game and continued making alterations to it which I also found to be successful.

Not too long ago, I would've struggled, as she did, to come up with creative solutions. It has gotten much easier as time has passed and I've been able to watch, learn, and experiment on my own with different groups. However, I still struggle and get frustrated. During COVID-19, a player asked me to create a fitness program for them to complete. I had done plenty of them as a player myself, but to create a six week program for them made me feel overwhelmed. Like the player I spoke about earlier, I didn't want to mess it up. What I am learning when it comes to programming is that it is ok to experiment, it is ok to try something and tweak it and try it again. As much as I really want there to be "one right way," the reality is that there isn't. On the one hand, I hope that I can reach a point in my life where I feel confident about what I am prescribing and creating, but on the other hand, I hope that I can continue questioning what I come up with so that I can be a better coach for the athletes I work for.