I am up at Salto Gymnastics in Edmonton, Alberta Canada doing a clinic. Last night after the “gym” part of the clinic I had an opportunity to sit down with the gymnasts and let them know HOW IMPORTANT they are to their coaches. That after a coaches immediate family, the coach probably spends the most amount of time thinking about THEM. As coaches we may may feel unappreciated sometimes but the girls last night really took it to heart.
It has been great working with all the coaches and kids up here. I look forward to more clinics up here and the there is the possibility of a Gym Momentum Camp- Canada in 2014.
There is no doubt in my mind that the rewards of coaching are the intangibles. I know it is not championships and records, those quickly fade away, the real rewards of coaching are seeing young boys and girls grow up to be responsible self sufficient men and women. Some of those young men and women when they were athletes could not remember to bring their grips to competitions, or their floor routines but over time they learned. Now those young men and women are parents, some are coaches, some are professionals and they are applying the lessons they learned in gymnastics. Yes as coaches we coach a sport, but more importantly we coach people who do the sport. Coaching gives us an opportunity to influence young people like no other profession because of the intensity of the competition and the demands of day-to-day training. Don’t get so caught up in the technical aspects of coaching that you forget to enjoy the growth you see in your athletes as people. Just like we ask them to focus on the process we also should focus on the process.
