Why am I coaching?!?!!?!

So I finally joined the AVCA (American Volleyball Coaches Association) so I can become a better educated volleyball coach. As I'm just getting my feet wet in the "coaching" life, I have been observing and learning the game at a whole new level. I am very fortunate to have these opportunities of growth.

As I walk into Jeff's office (assistant coach for Wichita State Volleyball) I pick up the latest issue of the AVCA coaching magazine and an article titled "The Phases in a Coach's Life" catches my eye. The article was written by Terry Pettit, the former head coach at Nebraska. Pettit has a theory that there are four stages in a coach's career. Beginning, developmental, master, and mentor. Beginning coaches are driven by passion and pure love of the game; however, their weakness is that they don't know what they don't know. These coaches realize the coaching aspect of the job, but don't realize all the behind the scenes work such as scheduling, recruiting, system theory development, and such. The developmental coach is still driven by passion, but they know what they don't know. It is at this stage where growth is crucial. Fear is what motivates coaches at this stage, fear of wondering when everyone will figure out that they don't know what they are doing, fear of not winning enough games.

I find myself in the developmental stage right now as my fear is that my players aren't learning enough. What I mean by that is that being the coach you know what is correct and how things are supposed to look and be done. Coaches are judged based upon how correct their players perform skills. That is a problem in my eyes because I believe there are so many great coaches out there who get stuck with players that don't give them a chance. In the volleyball club scene, you also have parents that don't give coaches a chance because there isn't "immediate success". Well if these coaches aren't getting the support they deserve, whether it be the players or parents, then why bother carrying on?

My very first official coaching stint happened at a university in which it's program wasn't very strong. No matter how strategically I would plan out my half of practice it seemed the girls just didn't understand why we practiced certain drills and techniques thus leading to the "half ass" mentality. Towards the end of the season I felt like I've wasted so much time and energy in the past 4 months, until senior night. Our opposite hitter had a tendency to predetermine where she was going to hit the ball before the set was even made, thus leading to many roofs for the opposing team. No matter how many times I would tell her the tip behind the block is wide open she just wouldn't adapt. We were down 5 match points and our opposite tips the ball for a kill. She was so happy that she finally got a kill and didn't get stuffed. I was so happy because my player was finally happy. It was at that point that I mentally retracted my thoughts about how I wasted my time for the past 4 months, and instead of being happy that it was the end of the season, I was wishing the season went longer. All this after a kill off a tip!

So why do I do it?? I do it for the feeling after the tip. Ya, many people may think it sounds stupid to get so stoked about one change a player finally made at her senior night, but to me it was all I wanted. Pettit may define that as passion. But I don't think words can accurately define or describe that feeling. I'm sure my parents had dreams of me becoming a doctor or pharmacist. But that feeling is something I crave for, and that is something you can't learn through med or pharmacy school...