Coaching 20 teenaged girls is EXHAUSTING. Not because they are jerks or mean but because they are precious humans in their teens having real life experiences. Because they are perfect and wonderful and fragile and strong and OPINIONATED all at the same time. Because they bring joy to my life and I want them to have every wonderful opportunity available to them. I want so much for them. I want their youth to be enjoyed and not grow up to fast. I want them to not have to go thru some of the crap jack things I had to go thru. I want them to be happy.
I am so in awe of parents. Your job is so much harder than mine. I only have them a few hours a week.
And yet I take my job super seriously. I am responsible for my actions and behaviors. I am responsible to teach them good things. I am responsible for their safety. I am responsible... LIKE A PARENT.
THAT IS CRAZY! JUST WHAT?!?! If you would have told me 8 years ago that I would start a junior league, one of the first two EVER and help create a board and more teams til we had 7 teams with 100 skaters and to help other leagues/people start other junior leagues and well, I would have said you were crazy yourself. And yet here I am.
This GEEKS ME OUT! I am not a parent. I am 42 and didn't have kids and all the sudden I have so many kids. OKAY - it wasn't sudden but sometimes I think, this is not not my beautiful house, this is not my beautiful wife, HOW DID I GET HERE?!?! (if you get the reference, you are old too.. HA HA)
A few years before I became a coach I was at a little league game and I asked how much they got paid. I was shocked to find out they DIDN'T GET PAID! And I could not fathom why on earth anyone would give up that kind of time to help kids especially those coaches who didn't even have kids. I am super forgetful but God has me remember that as though it just happened. It is so fresh in my mind that in less than a decade I went from someone so selfish and misunderstanding to a person who understands "civic duty" - who loves my sport so much I want to share it with the world and make sure there is a future in it. A person who can care so deeply for someone who is not my kid, or sister or cousin but a kid I coach.
There should be a special word for it. Something that sounds better than a "kid I coach". I have recently just started posting on Facebook calling them "my kids" and then I thought I might geek out some parents or confuse some friends. What would that word be? Derby Kid? Derby Daughter? Brat?
This year I have been put in a position of standing up for them and what I think is right. I am so glad I did.
Truth is - doing the right thing isn't always easy. It may mean giving up something, a dream, something. But doing the right thing... no matter how hard is always the RIGHT thing. It's only been a few weeks and I still wonder if I made the right choice. I second guess myself a lot - wish I didn't but I do. And as hard as giving up one dream because it hurt the kids I love... well. new dreams are coming true and the kids and families are all so super supportive. I don't want to go into detail about what I had to do but trust me. Apparently I have MAMMA BEAR INSTINCTS. Don't mess with my kids.... or any kids for that matter.
Anyways. It is a true joy in my life. I am so blessed to be a coach.
Even on the days they stress me out - totally worth it.
Kids are more precious than gold.
If you ever get the chance to coach a kid - especially junior derby - embrace it. And do the best you can.
It is SOOO worth it.
(For new coaches I suggest this book - Positive Coaching -
http://www.amazon.com/Positive-Coaching-Building-Character-Self-esteem/dp/0982131704
That is until I write my own....)
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