The Joys of Private School Coaching

For a little over a month now, I've been volunteer coaching at a local Christian Private school as a track coach. A family friend has kids who compete on the team and told me that they lacked someone who could adequately coach the long jump and triple jump; the events that I made my track career on. I was a top-5 jumper nationally in high school, went to Georgia Tech on a full track scholarship, and became an all-ACC and national recognized jumper in college. Now that I'm no longer competing and have settled into a professional life, the least I can do is give back. One thing I underestimated is the culture shock of heading to a small, private school. Being the product of a public school in a fair-sized city (I'm from Charlotte, NC which is bigger than most people believe), I'm used to a certain level of talent, coordination, and athleticism. it's a little different at a small private school. But to an extent, I like the change. I'm an optimist and working with these kids who can not simply rely on their natural talent, they're very inclined to listen and try as hard as they can. That's the most you can every ask for as a coach. I'll take a less talented athlete who listens and works hard over a supremely talented athlete who doesn't listen or work hard any day. As easy as it is to let your competitiveness compel you and compare them to my former self, that would be futile. I'm trying to get them completely our of the habit of comparing to others and get them discovering what they can do and strive towards progress. None of these kids seem headed to be college athletes or win awards for their sports accomplishments. Nonetheless, individual sports like track are great for building self-esteem and work ethic because you get to directly see your hard work reap rewards through improvement in times and jumps. I'm still working on getting the full potential out. But I'm determined to unlock improvement and thus self-confidence in a relatively untalented and athletic but receptive group of jumpers. Stay tuned...