All the great coaches will tell you that the reason they coach is because of the relationships that they develop with their players and families. I can't help but think if you can correlate success on the field of play with the relationships that are built off of it. Often teams will comment that they are a close nit group, that they all hang out together or that a coach is like a second father. While I am not naive enough to believe that the only factor in success is great relationship I do believe that along with desire and talent it is a part of the equation. I also believe as a coach and parent the most important and maybe most time consuming job we have is to build a relationship with our team or children.
I was sitting in Church recently when the Pastor brought up a verse that really drilled this point home to me. The verse comes from 1 Corinthians 13:1 and it states "if I could speak all the languages of the earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or clanging cymbal." Wow if that didn't wake me up out of my pew then nothing would. Basically it is saying that regardless how well we coach, how well we can talk to others, how well we think we know how to parent or teach that if we have not first built a relationship with those that we are trying to reach all they are hearing is loud noises. The point that we need to consider as a coach or parent is to first show those that we are working with that we care for them and their well being. Then we can begin to get our message across and really start to make a difference. All to often I hear form coaches that the message just doesn't appear to be getting through the first thing I ask them is do your kids know that you care about them. Because if they don't all they are hearing is a clanging cymbal.
Waterford Athletic Department
