Listen up, coaches

November 30, 2018

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In high school, sports are supposed to be fun and competitive. Winning isn’t the only thing but is important because everyone wants to win. At the end of the day, the team with the highest score on the scoreboard is going to win every time.

Every coach wants the best for each individual player and the team as a whole. Everyone wants to win and succeed in sports, and if you aren’t there to get better or to win, then what is the point? Coaches teach us a lot and we don’t always realize the impact they have on us. They teach us leadership, determination, and work ethic.  Coaches have an enormous impact, so they need to be positive and remember that.

There is something that some coaches don’t understand though: there are seasons for a reason. One sport isn’t the only sport in high school and coaches need to respect that because multisport athletes are the best athletes. Coaches shouldn’t play favorites with students who only play that sport, and punish students who play multiple sports.

Coaches also need to respect their athletes. It’s not fair to force students who have games all week as well as academics to work on, then on Sunday make them go to an “optional” practice when they need to rest from all the games they already played. Rest is important as well for athletes.  Playing and practicing for multiple sports at the same time can be too much for some athletes. Coaches need to remember to stop and ask: is this too much?

Not every season is going to be perfect. Sports have their ups and downs. Teams can be amazing one year and then be horrible the next. Sometimes it is necessary to rebuild that legacy and bring it back like it used to be. If one sport is rebuilding or is not as successful, that doesn’t give coaches the right to try to make their sport priority over all those less successful programs.

The bottom line is that yes there is preseason and postseason, but that you have to respect the other sports that are going on at the same time. The sport that is in season takes priority over the sport that is in preseason. Period.