Well said! I'm fairly confident in saying that folks like you and I can spot them a mile away.
There are definitely people who seek power for all the wrong reasons and sadly many do achieve the status that allows them to adversely impact others.. But others sincerely work tirelessly to positively impact the lives of their players...
I am a coach and take a lot of pride in being one and in helping kids/ young adults become most importantly better people while they pursue their athletic dreams. I think for some people, for me and a lot of coaches that I know, it is about loving what it means to be a coach and impacting in incredibly important ways the lives of others... And watching them have success and grow is a real blessing. Getting to touch other lives really, I think, is why we are given life..
A great coach is someone who recognizes what your version of success is and goes out of his or her way to help their athletes achieve everything they are aiming for but also in that process allows the athlete to discover just how limited their vision is and helps them want to chase the new vision that you help them see.
I’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of special coaches in my sports career growing up but there are two in particular that stand apart in my mind. Harry Hopman the great Australian Davis Cup coach and David Farmer who had 3 wins over Bob Lutz formerly #20 in the world in singles and Stan Smiths doubles partner and as a team ranked #1 in the world.. Both helped me become a very solid player playing collegiately at FSU and playing against guys in the top 35 in the world..
I won't elaborate on them except to say that they helped me become someone who has been able to help a lot of young people become better human beings and 65 have gone on to play at schools like Texas, Texas Tech, Illinois, Virginia, Kentucky and NC State.. I have also seen two of my players play for NCAA Championships with one winning a team championship at Virginia.. That player also won an Orange Bowl Championship and achieved a National #1 ranking briefly and another obtained a #1 National Ranking in the 14's and was given a wild card entry into the Easter Bowl in the 16's at Indian Wells California...
Someone said that having a great coach is crucial for every athlete and team whether or not they are serious about pursuing the sport to a collegiate level or beyond. They are someone who will believe in you but push you to test your limits. They’ll show you new strength you didn’t know you had, and that is a special gift.
There are in essence two broad categories into which development falls.. Strength and Conditioning i'e. energy system based elements and tactical and technical elements or information processing based elements.. Both categories are very involved.. For example sequencing strength and conditioning must occur in certain ways and must accentuate certain attributes.. And both enhance the athletes ability to self regulate during competition
Concepts like max aerobic speed and anaerobic speed reserve are utilized as well as technical assessment protocols that provide needed direction in building programming for athletes and the other elements, in essence the information processing based elements, together along with the building of the right psychological processes build successful athletes.. And there is a huge difference between an athlete that is fit to play and one that is conditioned to perform...
Coaches have different tool sets and differing abilities to use those tools.. Very good to great coaches understand that the environment that they work in requires different tools than are effective in standard work environments... Coaching is in many ways a learning process, not a teaching process. Many of the teaching tools we regularly use can’t be used in coaching. Really good to great coaches have a different set of tools in order to teach. And it is easy to see the coaches who understand how to apply those tools to their players and teams.. The results are readily apparent for everyone to see..
These tools flow from a coaching mindset and use a coaching skill set in order to empower the players learning and mastery of their sport. Tom while talented has yet to learn what allows a player to be optimally conditioned to perform and Urban understands this very very well and has proven it where ever he has been.. JC Santana says he believes the biggest and fastest adaptation to intense training is resetting the human will, and that is a spiritual transformation, not a physical adaptation. This is the real gift that great coaches give to their players and this is what currently is missing from Texas...
