Coaching Commute

30 minutes there but usually 45 to 55 home in rush hour. Kids I coach and people I coach with make it worth it but it's getting harder as my kids get older and more involved in their own stuff. Going there for long runs on the weekend isn't so bad because there is zero traffic and I can be home by 10:30 am.

Shoot. I only drive 5min. Can't imagine doing more than that.

S tanker smells real bad wrote:

Shoot. I only drive 5min. Can't imagine doing more than that.

Same here. HS coaching is something I really enjoy, but since there isn't any real money in it, I can't imagine commuting for it. Plus, where I live, I could pretty much pick the school I want to coach at, unless I wanted to be a head coach (which I don't), so there is no reason to commute for it. I live in a densely populated area, though.

*Coaching is time consuming!

*It takes up all of your free time...including Saturday practices and/or invitationals.

*Remember, the summer running starts in June or beginning of July. You have to be there for summer running. They will NOT run on their own.

*The season ends in mid-November.

*The pay is simply TERRIBLE.

*Kids come up with a thousand excuses to avoid practices (esp. Saturday practice). Shin splints. Dentist appointment. Band concert. Forgotten running shoes. Etc.

Oh, parents! They´re nuts! The emails. The emails. The emails.

*If you´re going to coach, you simply must commit to it for a couple of years! The revolving door of coaching is oh-so unfair to the kids.

*The risks are huge, professionally & personally. Two words: PARENTIS LOCO.

*Cover your butt! Have an attendance policy. Have a Rules for the Road form too (i.e. run single file, run against the flow of traffic, don´t get in cars with strangers, etc.). Have the student-athletes AND parents sign BOTH forms!

*You are there to coach, not train yourself! If you think you´re going to run everyday, think again. You´re there to coach! Oh, you might get to run with the slowest kids or double-back with the kid who needs to use the restroom. (Meanwhile, there are whole debates on LRC about whether or not a coach should ever run with the kids.)

*Finally, very few kids care about the sport as much as you do. They like their friends, hanging out, being social. They don´t know Pre. They don´t care of VO2 Max. They aren´t going to get up early to stream a marathon on their computers.

You brought back my own memories of coaching. I faced the same things without question.

1. Needing huge numbers in order to win is a myth! Spend time with each kid and make them feel special. Get to know them and you may be able to help them with something outside of the sport.

They will run through a brick wall for you after that.

2. Ask your fastest kids to recruit. They have less to lose and might bring good kids in for you.

3. Teach. Teach. Teach. I think that if I changed one thing I would do more teaching. Every situation can be a teaching moment.

4. Keep you head up after a bad meet and make sure your kids do too. Tell them they have 5 minutes to feel bad about a race and then they must move on. Model that yourself. Be nice to the parents at the meet even if the team ran poorly. An overnight sensation takes years to develop.

Give yourself, the kids, and anyone else the same benefit. We are not perfect.

5. Yes, consistency in coaching is a high priority. Even ex-championship coaches need time to

develop a team. If you do not have time in your life to give this some years then get out. Do yourself and everyone else a favor.

6. Get excited when they do well! If they do poorly~~~SEE #4. Then later during the week, teach them.

7. Be positive. I had a coach who rarely spoke but by golly when he did it was usually positive.

He is a Hall of Fame coach in CC and T&F in our state. I'm not saying be like him and we are human and are not always positive but get ready each practice to be positive even when they screw up.

8. They will screw up more on a losing team than a winning team. You have to teach them how to win. See #3.

To "Don't do it,"

If you are still coaching or are planning to return let me tell you this. You are the man in the arena. If you think someone else can step in and do a better job with kids, you should know that is probably not correct. They will have the same problems at first. However over time many problems can be made better.

There is an old saying "If you get one, you'll get two, if you get two, you'll get three, and before long you will have a winner in cross country." Now that process might take you a few years but you do not need many good runners to win in cc. If you have three very good runners and four not-so-hot you can make a fair showing in most meets. Perhaps one of those kids makes it to state. That provides fuel for the rest of the community!

"You don't know what you don't know." That is also a old saying we need to keep close when working with people. It applies to the A.D. as well as your most vicious parent. Listen and learn what you can.

"Easier said than done." "Better lucky than good."

As coaches we all face the same issues. Those that handle it best have a decisive advantage over those that don't.

otter wrote:

As coaches we all face the same issues. Those that handle it best have a decisive advantage over those that don't.

^Brilliant insight.

Plato reborn wrote:

otter wrote:

As coaches we all face the same issues. Those that handle it best have a decisive advantage over those that don't.

^Brilliant insight.

10/10 LOL!!!

otter wrote:

As coaches we all face the same issues. Those that handle it best have a decisive advantage over those that don't.

That is certainly not true. Does the senator from Missouri face the same issues as

the ones from Texas?

otter wrote:

As coaches we all face the same issues. Those that handle it best have a decisive advantage over those that don't.

It's quite a different thing to come into a program that is already winning to one that has been among the bottom teams for years. Although I think that schools with lower populations can defeat the big schools certainly there are some very important differences in their situations.

Culture, politics, economics, demography, and many other things are different from school to school.

Yes, all coaches face many of the same issues but one school may have more pronounced problems or advantages over another. I think we should have gotten more than two sentences from Mr. Otter on this subject and maybe a little less of a generalization!

Not that this discussion isn't valuable, but it's a little off-track from the original question.

I don't think of a 30 minute commute as being far. Apparently, some people here do. If everything else about the job is good, I'd say go for it.