In anticipation of the season I have been reading a book that I saw on a commercial sometime back. it's called Inside-out Coaching By Joe Ehrmann. That name might ring a bell for some as he was a former NFL defensive lineman. Even though I've only gotten through the first couple of chapters, because its more fun to play video games than read, it has really made me stop and think about the upcoming season and how I will be as a college coach.
The premise of the book is to be a transformational coach rather than a transactional coach. A transactional coach coaches for what he/she can get out of it or to make the players have the results that the coach desires. This is in direct contrast to a transformational coach. A transformational coach has a much deeper reason to coach. A transformational coach is "dedicated to self-understanding and empathy, viewing sports as a virtuous and virtue-giving discipline....Believing young people can grow and flourish in sports in a way that is more liberating and instructive than can be achieved through almost any other activity." In other words a transformational coach coaches their players to seek to transform their sense of their own worth, talents, and values. A transformational coach is dedicated to 5 basic principles: 1.) Nurturing Community, 2.) Classroom like instruction, 3.) Empathic Communication, 4.) Joyful competition, 5.) Spirituality of ceremony.
Through all of this I began to realize the true nature of my impact over the past 6 years with the high school girls i have been working with and now how that moves onto the college girls I will work with. I'd like the think that over the years I have done a decent job of transforming the lives of my players. I have tried, without not it, to be a transformational coach by using the sports I coach to teach greater lessons to my players and help them see greater things that they may not other wise. I have even had some parents tell me they were grateful for my coaching in the way and teaching their daughters more about character and life lessons through sports. To me that is just a confirmation that I have done things the "correct" way. I see it like this. God would not have blessed me with the opportunities I am getting if I weren't doing it the "correct" way. And although I have not always coached at schools where I could bring God into basketball, I'd hope that by my actions and the way I coached they could see Him there without me saying.
I don't say of all that to "toot my own horn" about what I good great i was or to pat myself on the back for being a transformational coach. I do it simple to remind myself to keep doing things this way. God has so blessed me with coaching opportunities that I could never have imagine or gotten on my own. He has rewarded me by allowing me to be able to take this next step to me dream. This reminds me to keep doing it that way and He will continue to bless me so that one day that dream will come to a full reality.
My favorite quote so far in the book is " Sports don't build character unless a Coach possesses character and intentionally teaches it." That's the legacy I hope I have left to my high school girls and the legacy I hope to continue throughout my coaching career.
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