I am…A Coach
I am a coach. I absolutely love it. I think it has kept my head on straight a few times in the past years, having something where I’m making a difference when I’m going through rough spots, it helps me realize what life is about.
I remember how much my coaches meant to me when I was a kid. One in particular, my cross country coach, kept me on the better vs worse paths. I did not always choose the best path, but without him, I think I may have. I want to make the same kind of difference to these kids now.
I started coaching a recreational volleyball team for 8 year olds in 2012. They responded well to me, they did well and I had fun. At that age, none of them had ever touched a volleyball before so I was taking them from knowing absolutely nothing of the sport and teaching it to them all around. And I was hooked. For the recreational league, there were two seasons a year. I did that for six seasons.
While I was doing that with my daughter, she was also playing softball. She was good at that as well and after getting beyond rec with softball, we decided to put her in a competitive softball league. They needed a coach, I thought why not. I was in over my head with that one. It was BEYOND competitive and they must have needed to combine divisions because most of the girls were on the team were older than her so, she was playing up which meant I was coaching up. That was a long season. After that, I vowed to only coach my rec. volleyball team.
When it was time for Arianna to move up to a more competitive volleyball team, I specifically put that I did not want to coach. It was with the same league that I failed miserably at softball coaching and just did not know that I could handle it. We also moved my older daughter to that league because we were unhappy with the league she was playing in and the coach she was playing for at the time. I was planning on just being the mom – just a spectator there to watch her kids play. Arianna’s team needed a coach. I didn’t want to say no, I enjoyed it, I accepted. Two days later, I find out Kylie’s team needed a coach as well. This was also during my sixth season of coaching rec. – Arianna was going to do both so I could keep coaching there and she could play more. Three teams. Two leagues. And I wasn’t even planning on coaching two of them.
I had a 4th grade rec and competitive team and a 6th grade competitive team. I was in complete shock at the difference between rec and competitive teams from the beginning. Practicing with them, seeing how much better they were then a rec team from the beginning, I was scared to see what the other teams were like and had flashbacks to softball. They won their first game, they won their second game, their third game was a little closer but they swept that one as well. They had eight games that season and won every single one of them. They went 23-1 in sets, only dropping one. And that one I think they dropped because their parents got in their heads. It was towards the end of the season and that was the only other undefeated team and all the parents had told their kids that. The kids could not stop talking about it during the game.
That 4th grade team went on to win the league championship which was the start of a great string for them.
The 6th grade team was a little different. They lost their first game and it did not look good as a whole for them. They were lacking in some skills and did not all fit in as well together. They started growing on each other throughout the season and climbed in the standings each week. They came together well. They could have gone far into the playoffs, but they all got nervous and felt the pressure and fell apart a little. But they were a good team.
I was even more addicted to coaching at that point, though. I loved it. I loved teaching the kids, I loved seeing them learn, I loved seeing get the appreciation for the game. I looked into year round leagues to see if we could keep going. I found one. I took both teams over to that league.
All my plans are made around coaching now. We’ve been there for just over a year now and my younger team has won every season’s championship. They only lost games their first two seasons in the new league and there were different rules and playing was a lot different so they were getting used to it. Five out of seven seasons, they went undefeated.
The older team did well from the beginning. They were trying to progress their skills by this point and had to get used to a few new players because there were not as many of them on the team to start with. They let the playoff pressure get to them again that first season and the 2nd season, they played shorthanded in the playoffs which means you play with a ghost rule. The ghost rule is one of the most horrible rules in volleyball – this rule states that if you have less than six players on the court, when that missing person, the “ghost”, rotates into server position, the other team gets point and serve. Essentially, when the missing player would be serving, it is like they automatically miss their serve. So points are given up without anything the team can do about it and they’re already shorthanded. We came within two points of going to the championship game that season which not having that ghost could have prevented.
Since then, that team has won two league championships and taken second twice. It was a learning experience for me the season Kylie took off so I was coaching a team without my daughter on it for the first time. Now, I’ve moved both those teams up to the next level. The season is still early at this point but I have taken on three teams again because I did not want to leave the girls that I’ve been coaching down at the lowest level while I moved everyone up to the next step. I am coaching a team without my own kids on it again and I think that’s good for me, too.
This season is a learning experience for me. And I am enjoying it so far. The kids are all responding differently to the changes. It is harder on some of them than others. But I am a coach. I take that very seriously and I am going to make sure they all get the best possible experience. Having three teams makes for an exhausting schedule but I would not have it any other way.
I am a coach and I will do anything for the kids I coach. I want the best for them, I want them to learn and grow and understand and develop a love for the sport, whatever the sport may be. I hope to be able to continue evolving as a coach and maybe expand on what I can do for the kids.
I am a coach. I absolutely love it. I think it has kept my head on straight a few times in the past years, having something where I’m making a difference when I’m going through rough spots, it helps me realize what life is about.
I remember how much my coaches meant to me when I was a kid. One in particular, my cross country coach, kept me on the better vs worse paths. I did not always choose the best path, but without him, I think I may have. I want to make the same kind of difference to these kids now.
I started coaching a recreational volleyball team for 8 year olds in 2012. They responded well to me, they did well and I had fun. At that age, none of them had ever touched a volleyball before so I was taking them from knowing absolutely nothing of the sport and teaching it to them all around. And I was hooked. For the recreational league, there were two seasons a year. I did that for six seasons.
While I was doing that with my daughter, she was also playing softball. She was good at that as well and after getting beyond rec with softball, we decided to put her in a competitive softball league. They needed a coach, I thought why not. I was in over my head with that one. It was BEYOND competitive and they must have needed to combine divisions because most of the girls were on the team were older than her so, she was playing up which meant I was coaching up. That was a long season. After that, I vowed to only coach my rec. volleyball team.
When it was time for Arianna to move up to a more competitive volleyball team, I specifically put that I did not want to coach. It was with the same league that I failed miserably at softball coaching and just did not know that I could handle it. We also moved my older daughter to that league because we were unhappy with the league she was playing in and the coach she was playing for at the time. I was planning on just being the mom – just a spectator there to watch her kids play. Arianna’s team needed a coach. I didn’t want to say no, I enjoyed it, I accepted. Two days later, I find out Kylie’s team needed a coach as well. This was also during my sixth season of coaching rec. – Arianna was going to do both so I could keep coaching there and she could play more. Three teams. Two leagues. And I wasn’t even planning on coaching two of them.
I had a 4th grade rec and competitive team and a 6th grade competitive team. I was in complete shock at the difference between rec and competitive teams from the beginning. Practicing with them, seeing how much better they were then a rec team from the beginning, I was scared to see what the other teams were like and had flashbacks to softball. They won their first game, they won their second game, their third game was a little closer but they swept that one as well. They had eight games that season and won every single one of them. They went 23-1 in sets, only dropping one. And that one I think they dropped because their parents got in their heads. It was towards the end of the season and that was the only other undefeated team and all the parents had told their kids that. The kids could not stop talking about it during the game.
That 4th grade team went on to win the league championship which was the start of a great string for them.
The 6th grade team was a little different. They lost their first game and it did not look good as a whole for them. They were lacking in some skills and did not all fit in as well together. They started growing on each other throughout the season and climbed in the standings each week. They came together well. They could have gone far into the playoffs, but they all got nervous and felt the pressure and fell apart a little. But they were a good team.
I was even more addicted to coaching at that point, though. I loved it. I loved teaching the kids, I loved seeing them learn, I loved seeing get the appreciation for the game. I looked into year round leagues to see if we could keep going. I found one. I took both teams over to that league.
All my plans are made around coaching now. We’ve been there for just over a year now and my younger team has won every season’s championship. They only lost games their first two seasons in the new league and there were different rules and playing was a lot different so they were getting used to it. Five out of seven seasons, they went undefeated.
The older team did well from the beginning. They were trying to progress their skills by this point and had to get used to a few new players because there were not as many of them on the team to start with. They let the playoff pressure get to them again that first season and the 2nd season, they played shorthanded in the playoffs which means you play with a ghost rule. The ghost rule is one of the most horrible rules in volleyball – this rule states that if you have less than six players on the court, when that missing person, the “ghost”, rotates into server position, the other team gets point and serve. Essentially, when the missing player would be serving, it is like they automatically miss their serve. So points are given up without anything the team can do about it and they’re already shorthanded. We came within two points of going to the championship game that season which not having that ghost could have prevented.
Since then, that team has won two league championships and taken second twice. It was a learning experience for me the season Kylie took off so I was coaching a team without my daughter on it for the first time. Now, I’ve moved both those teams up to the next level. The season is still early at this point but I have taken on three teams again because I did not want to leave the girls that I’ve been coaching down at the lowest level while I moved everyone up to the next step. I am coaching a team without my own kids on it again and I think that’s good for me, too.
This season is a learning experience for me. And I am enjoying it so far. The kids are all responding differently to the changes. It is harder on some of them than others. But I am a coach. I take that very seriously and I am going to make sure they all get the best possible experience. Having three teams makes for an exhausting schedule but I would not have it any other way.
I am a coach and I will do anything for the kids I coach. I want the best for them, I want them to learn and grow and understand and develop a love for the sport, whatever the sport may be. I hope to be able to continue evolving as a coach and maybe expand on what I can do for the kids.