As has been the custom for the last 10 years or so, our league doesn't schedule any games during the long Thanksgiving weekend. This was done at the start in order to allow those team who had a significant amount of players participating at club national championships to avoid having to field weaker teams. In essence this was the case with 1 or 2 teams in our league but after all, it actually turns into a positive to have an extended period of no games pretty much in the middle of the season, just before must student-athletes hit the busy mid-term period of the semester. As a coach, I appreciate as we can give our athletes 4 consecutive days off to let them get away from the team and recharge the batteries.
For me, as a coach, it also signals the stretch run of the season, 3 weeks and 6 games left in another season. This year is a little different than a majority of the most recent seasons ( except perhaps 2012 and 2014) in that we are really in the thick of a playoff race, in full control of our own destiny. However that isn't the main crux of today's post. The reality is that as I get older and seasons pass ( I am not in my 16th at Concordia and 27th year of coaching overall), the reality is that there is less road ahead of me in my coaching career than there is behind me. As each season starts to come to a close, the thought of how many more do I have remaining does creep into my thoughts in one manner or another. The reality is that this mirrors the situation on my work life overall. Coaching is not my full time position but the thoughts of retirement are much more a reality with each passing year. Retirement is a little further away most likely so trying to imagine what life might be like when I don't have to go to work hasn't really started to happen, however life after coaching is a something that is of significant consideration. I still see myself involved for a few more years, but I am also realistic that things change and while hopefully I can decide when I stop coaching, that might not be the case. The one thing that is certain is that when my time at Concordia comes to a close, so will my coaching career. I have spent time and energy in this role, it has become an important part of who I am that I could never consider starting over anywhere else. I sometimes wonder what it will be like after I no longer coach... hard to imagine but I try. I would assume it is really similar to what any person involved in sport will go through whether you are an athlete or a coach. Athletes are trained to push through pain, ignore hardships and endure sacrifices – it’s the price of victory. As an athlete, I was taught it, and as a coach, I preached it. The trade-off of the time, energy and effort that we involved in sports put in is the shared experience with the other members of our team but also with coaching peers, competitors and anyone else associated with our sport. We are introduced to it slowly through when we are younger, acclimatized to the pressure, and supported by our passion for our sport. But what happens when it comes to an end. Does our training and experiences help or hinder us in preparation for life after sport? For many involved in highly competitive sport, we have worked hard to be the best, we are competitive by nature and expect our efforts to be rewarded with positive outcomes. Many of the sensations of success but more importantly the feeling of being part of a team striving for something bigger than just ourselves is hard to replace I imagine. As my time in coaching come closer to an end, I have spoken with former peers in the coaching ranks who have moved on but also experienced first hand former athletes of mine who have stopped playing and how they have made the transition and adjusted. Granted in the case of the athletes, they are often younger and at different places in their lives. In addition, having pretty much only coached female soccer, their is a gender reality that is different between my former athletes adjusting to life after sport than mine. For anyone involved in sport, its our passion and many of the experiences we have gone through in our lives and the confidence we have gained are closely intertwined with our sporting lifes. Speaking for myself, I know that as my work career moved into more senior management roles, how I dealt with many situations where clearly linked with a skill set I had developed as a coach. The reality is that I was put in a position leadership via coaching much earlier than it happened in work. So what happens when this thing, this huge part of our lives that has influenced so much of who I have become as a person will no longer be there. As a coach, of course I had to adjust to new team and players, always be adapting to changing situations, be responsible for making decisions that will affect a group of individuals and having them expect me to get it right. However, when it came to coaching sports, it was an environment I was comfortable in. Even at its toughest and even most frustrating moments, there was always a positive because I was involved in my passion. I considered and still consider coaching to be a privilege and I never took it for for granted. However, at the base of it all, once coaching stops, there will be this significant amount of time that is no longer filled, a void of human interaction that I have become accustomed to. How will I replace this? One thing that I know is that I have to plan for the transition. The hardest thing is going to be finding an activity or passion that can replace the sensations that I get from coaching. Coaching at the highest level is about planning, season planning, recruiting athletes, looking ahead, creating an environment. setting expectations etc. Like many things, it is easier when we are doing it for others, but how will I be able to do this for myself? For the record, I do have passions and activities outside of soccer and many are impacted by lack of time to pursue them so yes, some of these will fill the void. I assume there will be a period of missing the coaching and team dynamic, and I wonder if I will follow the exploits and results of the team or if I will simply walk away and not look back. For most of us, anxiety about change is simply a fear of the unknown. For anyone involved in competitive sport, this is amplified by a comparison to an environment that is unique and where are part of a fairly select group and portion of society in general. As individuals focusing on performance but also the routine that comes with a competitive environment can make the fear of the unknown seem worse. Refusing to take action and admit the reality of your future is just procrastination, a way of protecting yourself and living in the past. Learning from the experiences of who have gone through it before me, will hopefully give me the knowledge and confidence to step forward and experience a future where I can derive some of the same sensations that sport provided for me.
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AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
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