In part 1 and part 2 of "What Makes a Great Coach" I talked about the importance of higher education and commitment to excellence. In Part 3 I want to cover what I consider the most important quality a coach can have, (unfortunately it's the one that most coaches lack).
When I was a kid I had a baseball coach named Kim Fors. He was a great guy. Just your regular guy who liked to play sports as a kid and decided to volunteer his time as a baseball coach when he was in his 20's. He was my coach for one season when I was 10 years old. Remember when kids only played baseball for about 8 weeks in the Spring and played a different sport as the seasons changed? That's a rant for another day...... I'm pretty short now at 5'6", (I try to make up for it with a lack of sensitivity). You think I'm short now, you should have seen me when I was 10. When I was 10 years old I was about 2' 8", 65 pounds. I was a pretty good baseball player, always made decent contact with the ball and started at all the infield positions except first base.. I remember getting up to bat one day and Coach says to me "Buck, you're gonna hit a home run". I was never even close to hitting a home run, and at my size, it wasn't even something I imagined myself doing. So of course I looked at him like he was out of his mind and said "I can't hit a home run". He said, "Of course you can, get up there and give it your best shot. I think you can do it!". So I get up to bat all fired up because Coach believes in me. The pitch comes in, I swing, and make the truest contact with the baseball I've ever had. The ball is sailing into the outfield, over the center fielder's head. Of course the center fielder is "playing in" because the little kid is up. Anyway, the ball is flying, and I'm running as hard as my little legs could carry me. I'm watching the ball.. Going, going.... Bam! It hits the top rail of the fence in the deepest part of center field and bounces back into play. (It only ends differently in movies, people. You didn't really think I was going to hit a homer, did you?). I end up with a triple. My first triple ever! Inches from a home run. I will never forget to this day how excited I was and how excited Coach was for me. He said "I told you you had it in you! That was inches from being out of here!". And I believed I had it in me from that day on. Kim wasn't certified. He didn't spend weekends away at baseball coaching camps. He didn't watch DVD's and read books about throwing mechanics. He didn't study the game. But he had the most important quality that a coach can have. Something that's not learned in a book, classroom, DVD, or the internet. He had the ability to get people to believe in themselves, to achieve at a level that they didn't previously think they were capable of. That's what separates a good coach from a great coach. I've had a ton of coaches over the years and Kim is the one I remember above all of them. I can't remember what I had for breakfast. But I will remember until the day I die that one hit and how Coach got me to believe in myself.
When I was a kid I had a baseball coach named Kim Fors. He was a great guy. Just your regular guy who liked to play sports as a kid and decided to volunteer his time as a baseball coach when he was in his 20's. He was my coach for one season when I was 10 years old. Remember when kids only played baseball for about 8 weeks in the Spring and played a different sport as the seasons changed? That's a rant for another day...... I'm pretty short now at 5'6", (I try to make up for it with a lack of sensitivity). You think I'm short now, you should have seen me when I was 10. When I was 10 years old I was about 2' 8", 65 pounds. I was a pretty good baseball player, always made decent contact with the ball and started at all the infield positions except first base.. I remember getting up to bat one day and Coach says to me "Buck, you're gonna hit a home run". I was never even close to hitting a home run, and at my size, it wasn't even something I imagined myself doing. So of course I looked at him like he was out of his mind and said "I can't hit a home run". He said, "Of course you can, get up there and give it your best shot. I think you can do it!". So I get up to bat all fired up because Coach believes in me. The pitch comes in, I swing, and make the truest contact with the baseball I've ever had. The ball is sailing into the outfield, over the center fielder's head. Of course the center fielder is "playing in" because the little kid is up. Anyway, the ball is flying, and I'm running as hard as my little legs could carry me. I'm watching the ball.. Going, going.... Bam! It hits the top rail of the fence in the deepest part of center field and bounces back into play. (It only ends differently in movies, people. You didn't really think I was going to hit a homer, did you?). I end up with a triple. My first triple ever! Inches from a home run. I will never forget to this day how excited I was and how excited Coach was for me. He said "I told you you had it in you! That was inches from being out of here!". And I believed I had it in me from that day on. Kim wasn't certified. He didn't spend weekends away at baseball coaching camps. He didn't watch DVD's and read books about throwing mechanics. He didn't study the game. But he had the most important quality that a coach can have. Something that's not learned in a book, classroom, DVD, or the internet. He had the ability to get people to believe in themselves, to achieve at a level that they didn't previously think they were capable of. That's what separates a good coach from a great coach. I've had a ton of coaches over the years and Kim is the one I remember above all of them. I can't remember what I had for breakfast. But I will remember until the day I die that one hit and how Coach got me to believe in myself.
I can't remember the name of the catcher that I was having a couple pops with here after the game, but I will always remember the day Coach Fors got me to believe.
I have yet to train the person at Dynamic that I don't have higher expectations of than they have of themselves. My primary goal, and the goal of all of the trainers at Dynamic is to get people to achieve at levels that they didn't think were possible. Not just in the gym. Hell, that's the easy part. I'm talking about the real world. When I see one of our clients take on a challenge like the Tough Mudder, or start trail running, or take up Cyclocross, or make a plan to start tackling all the 4000 footers in the White Mts I take great pleasure and satisfaction in knowing that what we're doing at Dynamic is starting to catch on in their lives outside Dynamic. Massive lifestyle transformations, better eating habits, more activities, accepting challenges they never thought possible. On average we see people about 3 hours a week. It's easy to make an impact on a person for 3 hours a week. I want to make an impact on the other 165. Those are the ones that matter to me the most. And they're the ones that matter most to my trainers.
In 40 years I'll still be telling that story to my grandkids about Coach Fors and how he got a little 10 year old to believe he could do something that seemed impossible. My mission and the mission of all of my trainers at Dynamic is to help all of you create the same kind of stories for your grandkids. That's what coaching is all about.
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