article "Coach"

[Ram]

“Sticks and stones will break my bones, but words will never harm me”. Well, that’s not totally true, words do invoke a response from us, maybe not an outward response, but we, as people, are emotionally affected by the words that are said to us. Of course, the above commonly used quote was meant as a way of teaching us a lesson about not responding the wrong way to being called names, but lets look at a not so derogatory name we may be called - Coach.

Lets start with a little background before we get into what the word means: think back to what coaches that you know did for you. I remember fondly that my high school football Coach helped shap me as the person I am today. My high school coach taught me responsibility, self-motivation, self-control, accountability, leadership, and to be a team player; he taught me to be a man. Now, at the time he was my Coach, I really didn’t realize any of that, I thought I was just playing football and he was a control freak. Years later, while speaking to him on the phone, we were talking about the great things young men learn from playing football and I told him that there were three men that made me successful in life: Jesus Christ, my father and him. I graduated high school 21 years ago, but me and my Coach speak on the phone almost monthly. I can’t say that about any other teacher or person from my high school years. When we talk on the phone, he calls me by name, I call him simply “Coach”.

I have read on Bluegrasspreps lately of a special coach that his players only called him by “Mister” and his last name. That is a show of respect, but it struck me as odd because I have always held the title “Coach” as one of the most prestigious of names to be called. I think this because some experiences that I have had. I began coaching in our schools Junior Football League many years ago, the young players called me only “Coach”, I never thought a thing about it. That’s what kids do, and after all, I was their Coach. The second year I was coaching, I was walking though the school parking lot and I saw one of my high school assistant coaches, who was now the Head Football Coach. I waived to him. He yelled across the parking lot, “Hello ‘Coach’ Johnson”. I smiled and continued to walk, about two steps later I realized two things: 1. He was the first adult person to ever call me “Coach”, 2. I was a “Coach”. Those seem simple, but I started breathing faster, I had a rush of thoughts go though my head. “I’m a coach” was one of them, and being a coach meant a great deal of things. Up to this point I thought I was only teaching kids to play football, but now I realized that I had a great deal of responsibility. I was responsible for teaching kids how to be young adults, I was responsible for teaching kids to act appropriately, I was responsible for teaching kids all the life lessons that my “Coaches” taught me. I started thinking, what did I get in to, I can’t teach anyone the great lessons my coaches taught me, I’m not as great of a person as those coaches that shaped me. I’m not that important. See, with the title “Coach” you have a great deal of responsibility, and none of them involve winning football games. I started evaluating myself based on what those great coaches in my life did, would anyone ever look back on their experience with me and think the great things that I think about my coaches? Would any of my players quit the sport and blame me, their Coach, for that? Would any of these young men ever think back to me and remember our time together? What will they think of me in 21 years? Will they remember me in 21 years? More importantly will they remember the life lessons I tried to teach them?

We say it all the time, “Coach”, sometimes to people who were “our” coaches, sometimes to people that are in the position but never personally coached us. Is it just a “name”, or a “title”? Is it a sign of laziness in saying “coach” instead of a person’s name? Is it a form of disrespect? Hopefully, people will see the title “Coach” for what is. When calling someone coach you are not substituting their name for a word, you are replacing their name with a title that has a great deal of responsibility. Coaches are not only teaching young people to play a sport, they are shaping, forming, and mentoring our young people to be teachers, mentors, parents and leaders for young people of the next generation.

Please share your “Coach” stories. Stories of things a Coach taught you, things that a Coach did to shape you, things that you look back on as “Coachable” moments.

[Ram]

A recent picture of me and my high school football Coach, Bill Tom Ross.

 

[ChiefSmoke]

A recent picture of me and my high school football Coach, Bill Tom Ross.

 

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We had some great battles when I was at Paris. His demeanor never changed. He was always positive, professional and first class. My hair would be on fire and he always kept the game in perspective. Great person and coach!

[sweet16]

Great article. Still talk to my HS and college coach on a regular basis and they will always be Coach to me. I have former players that not that much younger than me that still call me Coach and it is something special.

[Ram]

We had some great battles when I was at Paris. His demeanor never changed. He was always positive, professional and first class. My hair would be on fire and he always kept the game in perspective. Great person and coach!

I agree, truly a great man that was doing things for his players that they never knew he was doing. I loved him as a coach, but I love him much more as an adult.

[I4C]

Nothing tugs at my heart like seeing a former player and he still calls me coach. Makes me feel like I did my job in helping to form these young boys into fine young men. Quick story, when I was 10 years old, I played baseball for a man that coached for 40+ years. He actually coached my father when he was a little boy and was now coaching me at 10 years old. He was just a solid, outstanding man that I admired as a kid and I never wanted to let Coach down in practice or games. He instilled great qualities in me that I still cherish today. I stayed in touch with Coach over the years, not as much as I wanted or should have but I had a family of my own that was keeping me busy. I got a phone call from Coaches son one day, coach had passed away. As we talked and reminisced about the "good old days", he said you know Dad coached for many years and he always said you were his favorite player. Brought tears to my eyes. He said he really wanted you to speak and be a pall bearer at his funeral. As I sobbed like a 10 year old I mustered out that I would be honored to be a part of his funeral service. I did it with great pride. My coach made an impact on my life when I was 10, wanted me to be a part of his service 30 years later. I may of been his favorite but he taught me more about life than I ever knew at the time. Love that man and he will always be "COACH" to me. :thumb:

[Ram]

Great story I4C, love it. Sounds like you made as much of an impression on him, as he did you. Amazing that athletics can teach the coach as much as it teaches the players.

[CoachBuckett]

Great article Ram.

 

I played for Raymond Webb and he was the first man other than my Grandfather that invested time into me to create a man. I had played for many coaches that only cared that I was big and aggressive. Coach Webb cared for me the person. Some of my most important lessons occurred in his old pick up truck on the ride to and from practice. First lesson he taught me was him explaining the difference in sacrifice and winning.

 

"Son winning is the easy part of life because so many people can be a part of winning. But the road to victory starts with Sacrafice!"

 

At 14 it took a few more rides in that truck to understand what he was talking about. But the playbook he was using to teach me used a cross and not a bunch of X's and O's!

[Ram]

Thanks for sharing CoachBuckett, it sounds like Coach Webb was a "Real" Coach.

[stick1]

Coach Goldsmith changed my life forever as a player at Lawrence Co.

There is no opposing coach I respected more than Bill Tom Ross. We had some battles when I played. We marched 80 yds as time expired to win my Soph year. Went 11-0 and he was keynote speaker at our banquet. Lost 45-44 jr year. Got healthy and during regional championship Racelands team ran around the track carrying our flag. He wrote the team a tremendous letter during our final 4 practice week.

Sr year we were 7-0 on season. Rolled into Raceland and lost 3-0!!

As a coach now it has been a pleasure getting to talk ball with him a little. I have so much respect for Coach Ross!

[Ram]

Coach Goldsmith changed my life forever as a player at Lawrence Co.

There is no opposing coach I respected more than Bill Tom Ross. We had some battles when I played. We marched 80 yds as time expired to win my Soph year. Went 11-0 and he was keynote speaker at our banquet. Lost 45-44 jr year. Got healthy and during regional championship Racelands team ran around the track carrying our flag. He wrote the team a tremendous letter during our final 4 practice week.

Sr year we were 7-0 on season. Rolled into Raceland and lost 3-0!!

As a coach now it has been a pleasure getting to talk ball with him a little. I have so much respect for Coach Ross!

Those were some of the best games I remember, the Raceland/Lawrence County games were always spectacular. I remember the Raceland players going to the Lawrence playoff game and carrying the LC flag around the field. There was definitely a special relationship there.

 

Coach Goldsmith was one of my favorite opposing Coach, he interacted with us, which no other opposing Coach ever did. Some of my favorite times were during track season and giving Coach Goldsmith a hard time. Raceland, Lawrence County and Fairview would have always have a "Beefer Relay" a 4 x 100 relay of linemen. My senior year Coach Goldsmith thought he had it won for sure, he was bragging about how fast his linemen were. We line up and started the race with Lawrence County leading all the way up the final leg, I was anchor, I took off and passed Lawrence County up, when I crossed the finish line Coach Goldsmith was running around screaming "You all cheated, you all cheated" and fell to the ground, wearing the "head towel" the whole time, of course. Coach Goldsmith was always great to be around.

[oldrambler]

A recent picture of me and my high school football Coach, Bill Tom Ross.

 

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Great pic and a great thread Ram. 1st class thread and post.