To wonder if kids sports coaches do it for the glory?

[BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz]

Pondering as the only experience of coaching kids I've had has left me wondering if this is the case.

Dd's basketballs coach used the phrase "you guys are only here (at a match) because of me. I put you here"

The fuck?

Ds' swimming coach literally keeps one eye on the parental audience, directing all jokes to his audience. He puts on a show as task 1, coaching their technique etc is secondary.

Don't get me wrong - I imagine there are some who do it for the love of the sport and the love of the game. But I'm not seeing that.

We oay sufficient subs for these sports that the companies can afford to pay the coaches - I'd care a lot less if they use parent coaches and it was all nominal spend for membership.

Not my experience at all - might be worth trying a different club.

If you knew how much was involved you wouldn't probably say this
Of course their will be a few idiots but many do it and it takes up a lot of their personal time etc

Sounds like you have some weird/crappy coaches!

DS does rugby, tennis, gymnastics and swimming. I can hand on heart say that if any of them are doing it for glory, they need to change professions

Both of DS’s rugby and swimming teachers clearly just love little kids. The gymnastics and tennis coaches clearly love gymnastics and tennis and this is how you make a living in those fields if you aren’t Beth Tweddle or Andy Murray. None of them seem to be under the impression that junior school sports are their path to fame and glory.

What glory?! Hours in the rain, weekends and holidays given up, huge amounts of personal time, dealing with annoying, ignorant parents? As a football coach for my son's team, there's no glory. I do it because if I don't no-one else will.

When I was a gymnast they were sadists or paedophiles. Not doing it for the glory but to have access to vulnerable young girls.

Don't get me wrong - I imagine there are some who do it for the love of the sport and the love of the game. But I'm not seeing that

My DH did it because he wanted to support our (and other peoples) kids. But he was a volunteer, so I guess motives may be different for some paid coaches. That said, I don't really recognise the type of coach you are describing. Our kids swimming coaches were always lovely - friendly, approachable, encouraging, professional.

Perhaps you are just unlucky. Maybe try a different club?

Depends on the level I assume - my leisure centre gymnastics club was nothing like that, and DS’s coaches are two girls who seem to be about 20 and came up through the club themselves and switched to running the kids lessons.

i’m sure if you are a TeamGB candidate paying a private coach it’s very different, but OP sounds like she is talking about normal afterschool club level, not elite sports.

Paid coaches do it for the money, just like everyone else in every other job

I'm totally fine with that. That's not what I mean.

Well, I’m not surprised you think that if you have heard coaches say stuff like that!

But I think most paid coaches are there because they are getting paid.

And the unpaid coaches are there because they have kids of their own they want to exhaust before going home or understand the benefits of volunteer work (and there is very little glory there).

I have never heard our dc coach say anything like that.
Aside from coaching full time doing something he really loves, he competed for GB, has medalled in the sport at international level but was injured before olympic selection.
Knowing his dream of reaching the pinnacle as a player had gone, his new goal was/is to get a player to the Olympics. One of our club players is now GB 3 in his category but a few of the younger players are where he was at their age.
Not for the glory, but for the achievement.

Not my experience at all. My daughter has been involved in many different sports (equestrian sports, athletics, figure skating, football, swimming, rock climbing, dance etc). She also does horse riding at competitive level. I have never witnessed any of her coaches not take their role seriously or care about putting on a show for parents. That's very odd and you should change clubs!

My daughter's riding coaches are very strict and care about the sport and the horses a lot more than they care about parents (or people in general 😀). No coach has done anything to try to win me over, but I have on several occasions been told off by coaches for various misdemeanours. And riding is an expensive sport! But they don't seem to care how much I pay.

Her athletics coaches were unpaid volunteers, but extremely serious about coaching kids and barely acknowledged parents' existence before/after class.

If there was so much glory in it, everyone would be doing it. Grassroots sport produces the stars of tomorrow. It’s back breaking, thankless work.

That sounds very 'old school' @BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz. If you're paying for professional sports coaches, as opposed to relying on keen parents, you should absolutely look for ones you are happy with, it's a service industry like any other.

DS is a sports coach and a PT, he suggests you look for a different club for basketball (not easy, I appreciate, as there aren't that many of them around to choose from) as it really should be about the children, not the coaches. The attitude that the coach is the important person rather than the children is a red flag.

FWIW, DS says the enjoyment comes from seeing a child progress, or complete a task they couldn't previously manage, or succeed through perseverance. Yes, it's lovely to have the occasional potential superstar but the satisfaction of the job doesn't come from that really. Much like being a school teacher or a music teacher, I guess, you want the children to get better and, of course most of all, enjoy it.

In my experience of volunteer football coaches, yes, they do it entirely for the power. It only seems to be about encouraging kids to be active and part of a team if it’s with kids that can win trophies and get them cheap glory.

Leaders of all the other sports and hobbies I’ve come across all do it for the right reasons though.

Even paid coaches earn very little
friend coaches a national team and went to Tokyo / less than minimum wage in reality (they live it). They did get a lot! Of kit !

That’s not been my experience of coaches. DS’s swimming coaches cared about knowing the kids and improving their performance. The head coach wasn’t all about the glory either - and that’s probably why he had some really successful swimmers. Being busy concentrating on doing your job well is the best way to (try to) achieve ‘glory’.

DS’s rugby coaches (mostly volunteers) seem to do it because they live rugby and want the boys to love playing it too.

theres not much glory or glamour to be found in junior swimming or rugby coaching. Overheated pools at 5am and muddy fields in the rain are not enormously glorious locations.

Oh good yes, power-crazed volunteer football coaches! The club which runs in our local park has competitive trials for the U6 team FFS. Way too much pressure for a bunch of four and five year olds.