The Impact of Coaches on their Athletes

If you know me at all, you know I can be persistent and also quite stubborn. I tend to reach for my goals on my own and I rarely let others tackle them with me. During my gymnastics career I realized that without the help of a coach, the goals I had in the sport weren’t going to become a reality. Expectations in gymnastics sometimes are extraordinarily impossible yet judges and gym owners expect you to exceed them. The difference between success or failure can sometimes come down to the simple fact of how much your coach cares for you and your success.

One of the moments that opened my eyes to the truly unreachable expectations coaches, judges, and gym owners put on their gymnasts happened to me when I was in eighth grade. After a tough day in the gym during the middle of competition season my coach pulled me aside to tell me how lazy and unmotivated I was acting at practice over the past few weeks. She told me that I wasn’t committed to my team or my gym even though I had placed top three in a meet less than a week before. This stung for many reasons but the main one being that she didn’t put in even a little effort to get to know me well enough to figure out what was wrong. Instead, when she looked at me she saw imperfection. She saw a problem and decided yelling and harsh words would fix it. Later that month we found out I had an iron deficiency and it was making me exhausted all the time and causing occasional dizzy spells.

On the other hand, there are coaches that ask you to reach for the stars and then help you build the rocket-ship to get there. I had a coach in seventh grade who genuinely cared me and about my well being. She used the phrase “You CAN do it,” frequently and with obvious belief that we could. Her goals in the gym did not just revolve around winning every competition, they revolved around us. She helped us improve our individual skill level, she kept us focused without yelling, and she increased our confidence in and out of the gym. She taught us in a way that earned her respect without inducing fear.

Coaches in every sport are important. To quote Todd Brown, “It’s amazing, the influence of a coach...a coach can build a spirit or break it down.” He really knew what he was saying. The impact of a good coach can inspire someone to pursue a career in the sport of their choice. Being a gymnastics coach myself, I have to constantly remind myself that even though it may not seem like it in the moment, every little thing I say to the girls in my classes could be the thing they remember about me. To coaches all over the world, remember the impact you have on the children you teach.