Coaching is moments that matter.
I was coaching a 14 year old.
He looked sad and flat and tired and I asked him how he was going.
He said, “I’m ok. I just wish I was more talented like Steve. He doesn’t train much and yet he keeps kicking my butt in races. It’s not fair.”.
I replied, “From where I’m standing, when I see you I see a tough young man, who never gives up, who always tries his best, who encourages his team mates, who turns up even when he’s tired and who works harder than any athlete I’ve ever known”.
He just smiled and walked away and started training.
25 years later I received a letter.
“Coach Wayne. You may not remember me but when I was 14 and was about to give up swimming, you told me how amazing you thought I was. I never really thanked you. You were the only person who believed in me. I have never forgotten you or your words.”.
My friends - THIS IS COACHING. We change lives.
We are all focused on helping kids to learn, to improve, to get better and to be successful in sport. That’s the nuts and bolts of coaching.
But do you know what’s even better?
Having the opportunity to say to a kid “I believe in you”.
In my long experience, sometimes you might be the only person in their lives who is giving them that message.
You might be the one person in their entire life who makes them feel that anything really is possible if they just believe it is so.
Have you changed a life today?
Wayne Goldsmith
