Written by We feel and we perceive like any other normal functioning human being. We are the ever inwardly optimistic brigade of finding the next olympic hopeful with heads swirling in big dreams and emails and parent concerns and committee meetings and planning and researching and what to put in next week’s newsletter … our to-do list is an unceasing one. We are the ones who continue to love our sport more than some of the athletes we train. We give even if in vain: we give when met with resolute resistance, but we do not stop giving in our mission to entreat the same joy that we have. Though we may only have signed up as a volunteer or for a small amount of hours each week, we will give our all just so we can inspire and quietly celebrate in the knowledge that at last Johnny managed to breaststroke kick for more than 5m: it’s all about the small wins for us too – the olympic medals of elite athletes are not of the same world as most sports coaches.
No brownie points for guessing I am about to fly a huge flag for all sports coaches globally and, as one myself, this article may not read as objectively as it possibly could. Before you read on, I predict you can count on your hand the number of times you as a parent/ committee member/governing body have reached out to your sports coaches over the past year – not to ask for advice or to do something, but just to talk and ask them how they are; how they are filling up their day – you know just talked to them like a regular human being.
During this past year, it seems all social media pointed to the lost hopes of our youth athletes: how they will never make a return to sports; how their achievements/training would have been for nothing; how they will not make qualifiers for XYZ; … yada yada. This is the voice of the simpleton grabbing headlines without a full understanding of what sport brings to most and, as I will in full record playing mode (yes I remember vinyl) keep reminding everyone, it is not for the shiny trophies. Yet as lockdown dissolved sport, coaches were still quick to get online and get creative over Zoom to keep engaged with their athletes – who basically wanted to do anything but be on Zoom, and many coaches were left wondering how they went from being a coach of sport to a cooking demonstrator overnight (I myself politely refused in case you are wondering where you can get a copy of that clip).
Somehow having the label of ‘Coach’ lights us up like some impermeable solidifying force and the more senior either in years or position within your coaching team the more this magically radiates ‘I am ok – I can deal with everything the worlds throws at me’. Wrong – we are like just most people: sentient beings and though we do not seek accolade, this is not to be confused with the idea that we do not seek or need support.
A coach is the lynchpin to any sport – yet throughout the lockdowns over the past year the pin that once held everything together, and was the one person youth athletes engaged with most all week, has felt forgotten and ofttimes not supported by governing bodies or club committees. Why you rightly ask am I highlighting coaches have feelings? Our role (think back to paragraph 1) is an expansive one and if you think we need to only focus on getting athletes back to sport – have you given thought to sports coaches having to start over from where they left off? They may well be feeling despondent and concerned to return to an environment where they gave everyday, but for the past 12 months have had little contact with either their respective committees or governing bodies.
Coaches are the ones who inspire others around them, but if they are suffering from the affects of long-term apathy a successful return to sport to help better others is going to be a huge mental hurdle for many coaches. I have not yet seen much in the way of guidelines in the UK on helping coaches make a return – but I have seen a gazillion for athletes particularly focusing on their mental wellbeing. I am not saying that this article is a true refection of my own personal experience or that coaches have not received any support, but it certainly reflects the feelings of many coaches here in the UK. I do also appreciate sport club committees have also in part felt isolated by their own governing bodies. However when you are involved in a role of the ‘giver’ day in day out, and your athletes see you as some unfailing super human, I argue it is doubly important to recognise the necessity for the provision of personal support to coaches. No-one wants to feel sidelined by insentience: remember we are human too …