What we are seeing today in big time professional and collegiate sports is no surprise to me. It is the result of a broken sports system and a society that has comprised basic standards of behavior. As coaches and sports administrators we are responsible for what we are seeing. Sport does not exist isolated or separate from society.
I know gymnastics is “different” than some of the other sports but the lessons learned are still important. I firmly believe that WHAT we teach is WAY more than just gymnastics. Gymnastics is a metaphor for life. As coaches we often proudly point out that our sport is a microcosm of life, if that is the case should we be surprised by the aberrant behavior we are seeing in top athletes?
Some sports have created several generations of athletes with a distorted sense of their importance, not to mention never having to account to any semblance of reality in regard to their behavior. They begin the process young by entitling the stars, allowing them to miss practice and violate teams rules as long as they deliver performance in the game. It gets worse in the recruiting process where immature youngsters are wined and dined and pumped full of inflated opinions about their self-worth. This all coupled with the decline of the family makes what we are seeing very explainable.
This does not make it right or acceptable. As coaches and athletic administrators we need to put development of the person above winning. We must stop accepting this deviant behavior as normal. We need to hold the athletes to a higher standard. A standard of behavior that is expected of a good citizen in the normal world not the distorted world of big time sport.
As gymnastics coaches we are artists. Before we can create the masterpiece we must prepare the canvas. We are in a fairly unique situation where we can work with the same group of athletes for a decade or more. The lessons they learn while they are young are lessons that will stick with them for life.
If you want your gymnasts to be HARD WORKERS- They must see you working hard.
If you want your gymnasts to MANAGE THEIR TIME- You must be on time and organized.
If you want your gymnasts to be GOOD TEAM-MATES- They need to see you work with your coworkers.
If you want your gymnasts to be RESPECTFUL- You need to show respect to them.
If you want your gymnasts to be SMART- The gymnasts need to see you spend some time on your own education.
If you want your gymnasts to understand the importance of a PROGRESSION- You need to be organized and teach them each step.
The list goes on.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE.
