Bjcorbin's Blog

Professional sports organizations often possess the resources to hire an entire staff dedicated to assembling a competitive team. These groups can include Scouts – to identify talent, Recruiters – to persuade those individuals to be a part of their team, Managers – to optimize the arrangement of the various elements, and Coaches – to develop & inspire the players. On the other end of the spectrum, few amateur sports organizations have this luxury when putting their teams together. This generally means that the person designated as “Coach” is often expected to wear many hats, even if they are not particularly adept in each area of the process.

As one of four siblings, who grew up playing various sports, and as the father of four kids, who continue to play on multiple teams, I have noticed that there seems to be a lot more Scouts, Recruiters and Managers out there, than there are genuine “Coaches”. It appears as though most organizations are more interested in identifying the talent, corralling it onto their team and assembling a winner, than on teaching, developing or inspiring their players. In fact, just like pro sports, many of the most successful teams no longer bother with developing talent, they simply go out and accumulate players from other organizations. This is truly a shame, as the vast majority of those participating in amateur sports will never get beyond that level, and a great “Coach” can teach them things that will ultimately transcend the game and be of more value than any trophy.

Given the fact that many within the amateur ranks are unable to recruit their players, I believe that a coach’s value should ultimately be based on what they’ve done with what they’ve been given, as opposed to strictly looking at their win-lose percentage. Within my own experience, I was impacted a lot more by great coaches/teachers than by undefeated seasons.