They Ask Me Why I Coach?

We, as many school districts do, had two salary schedules. Schedule A, as it was called, was a salary schedule that was about classroom teaching while Schedule B was the extracurricular schedule. I may be somewhat unfair but some of us coaches always felt Schedule A took precedence over Schedule B. It was the negotiations centered almost exclusively on Schedule A.

Again, I may be not being totally fair, but it seemed like our negotiators were not very concerned with Schedule B. In fact at times, if we expressed any displeasure over our coaching salary, the response from those not coaching seemed to be .... if you don't like the pay, quit!

Now there are a number of good reasons to quite coaching. Stress, fatigue, and being under appreciated certain come to mind. I don't believe I knew anyone who coached for any extended period of time that did it only for the money. At the same time, coaching circumstances can easily make you feel the time and effort you are putting in is not worth it. An inadequate salary can become another factor on the side of not coaching as you consider your options.

If you are a fairly inexperienced coach or you are reaching the point in your coaching career where you are starting to question whether the demands are worth it or not, consider these thoughts:

"There's block out & then there is lock out!"

1. Does your administration support you?

2. How does your spouse & family feel about you coaching?

3. If you are a classroom teacher does your classroom responsibilities come first?

4. If you have the courage, ask your

seniors to evaluate you and the coaching staff they worked with.

5. Are you looking forward to next season? Why or why not?

6. Are you feeling "pressure" and where do you feel it is coming from?

7. Have you evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of your staff?

8. Do you have a list of potential candidates should you get an expected or an

unexpected vacancy on your staff?

9. If you are planning on coaching next season, what do you want to do better? Do

you have a self improvement plan?

10. Examine as soon as you can next season's practice schedule and game schedule.

11. Do you feel you are making a difference in the lives of your athletes?

I had the incredible experience of hearing John Wooden speak at a coaching clinic. What you see is what exactly you got from Coach Wooden. No magic sets or intricate breakddown of his famoust 2-2-1 press. He sat in a chair on a slightly raised platform and spoke to us much like you would hope your Grandpa would have. His

message really could be summed up in one word. That word was "balance." The last season I coached we had a Senior class that was burdened for many years with very high expecations. It was almost an assumption this class would lead us to the state tournament. Often during their season, I reminded them that we were only playing a game and it was not life or death. unfortunately, for us, we lost in the section finals that season. I hope all members of that team were able to keep things in their proper persective.

It can be difficult for a coach to keep things in their proper perspective especially during the season. The game, the season, your team are parts of your life. But you also have family, your teaching job, communitity activ ities, etc. Try to keep them in the proper balance.