NWCA: IT's NOT JUST FOR COACHES ANYMORE

For the Successful Coach

Coaching Leadership
By Stan Zeamer

You can accomplish significant things if you don't care who gets the credit - serving others

How can a Coach not care about awards and who gets the credit? How can a Coach look beyond the needs and wants of their own program? For me it?s not a black or white situation - it is an AND proposition.

So what am I suggesting, that you abolish the highly competitive win-lose competition? No, competition sharpens skills, exposes poor effort and motivates us to be the best we can be. But what is missing in our win-lose sport is a spirit of cooperation and creativity. A feeling that it is more important to help a student-athlete develop his or her potential as a human being rather than scoring points and adding another win to the victory column.

I am suggesting the wrestling coach becomes a leader coach and thinks in a broader sense of true leadership that is earned by serving others. How do leaders influence and earn respect? By making sound decisions, admitting their mistakes, and putting what's best for the team members and the school ahead of their personal agendas.

A servant leader takes care of his/her people. The coach takes care of his/her wrestlers; the employer takes care of their employees and those important to them. The individuals you are leading can only be effective when their needs and the needs of their families are met; the leader-coach understands this and is sensitive to it. Serve your athletes, their friends and families.

This may sound soft and touchy-feely to some hard-driving, self-reliant, turf minded, goal oriented coach, but it is truly the ultimate hard nosed formula for success. The soft-stuff is really the hard-stuff, because very few want to do it.

Considering your standard coaching system, what would happen if you transitioned into a leadership development strategy that included the soft-stuff? In addition to competing against others you would serve others. Here are what Leader/Coaches do in serving others.

1. They influence people years after they have died? Christ

2. They lose the right to think about themselves.

3. Their responsibilities increase.

4. They take care of their followers.

5. They give power away.

6. They invest time in others.

7. They do not change who they are.

8. They always remember where they came from and

9. They do not care who gets credit.

Also, the Leader/Coach understands that student-athletes are coming from a society where many people are dissatisfied with their social and spiritual lives. Families no longer sit down together for meals, they barely talk to each other, the pace of life is faster, people work more and enjoy it less, fathers and children spend less than six minutes talking together per day. People need to believe in something larger than them, and need a connection to others. Employers want individuals who have successfully moved into woman and man hood.

The Leader/Coach has the platform that may bridge these social gaps as they guide wrestlers into adulthood. Participating in wrestling may help a male or female make sense of the changes and confusion that take place during the stage of puberty. Wrestling can provide a socially accepted outlet for their large quantities of hormonal changes that trigger physical features and mood changes.

The platform adds a challenge to the coaching responsibilities in guiding the journey of a student-athlete through the key passage. Adulthood.

From the win-lose philosophy to Winning is Giving and Serving. When a Coach transitions into a Winning is Giving and Serving mentality; winning is:

Giving your best self away
Serving with grace everyday
Looking for the best in others
Helping someone who's down
Sharing a smile instead of a frown
Giving your wrestler a hug when they win or lose
Giving 100%
Respecting every color and creed

In summary, if you don?t care who gets the credit and winning means serving others your goals will be achieve without sacrificing values or character. You will inspire and sustain commitment in athletes, to give their best, build upon teamwork and celebrate success. The final outcome may be that you personal passion and meaning in your work.

The next article will focus on open honest candid communications.

InterMat: Inside info from the N.W.C.A

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