Coaches are often asked why do you still coach? Or what keeps you coming back every year?
Well, I am no coach but I hope to be a coach of a very successful team one day. But in one of my favorite television shows, One Tree Hill, the coach Whitey Durham said the reason why he kept coaching was to make a difference in the players' lives. But the things that kept him up at night was not the behavior of his players or the games he never won, the thing that kept him up at night were the college jobs he never took. He referred to those jobs as "could-have-beens."
A lot of coaches probably have those same things that worry them too, but I see a coach as more of a parent or guardian figure.
"Coaches do and can make a difference in Blytheville. Kids, believe it or not, they look for structure and they want it," said Blytheville Chickasaws athletic director David Hixson. "I'm not necessarily saying they don't always get it at home but sometimes they may not. And we, I think, provide more than anything that structure or fatherly figure that's going to make them accountable for what we expect them to be."
I think there are many reasons. Most coaches make sure you're fed well, you get to and from practices or games, and they're always there to lend a helping hand or ear.
Duke's men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said, " In high school, in sports, I had a coach who told me I was much better than I thought I was, and would make me do more in a positive sense. He was the first person who taught me not to be afraid of failure."
In sports, it's important to know it is okay to fail at least once, because if you didn't fail you would've never known how to become successful.
"I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed," said Michael Jordan, who would go on to be inducted in the NBA Hall of Fame, win six NBA Championships, one NCAA Championship, and is now the team owner of the Charlotte Hornets.
Another reason I believe coaches continue to coach is so they can make a difference in the kids' lives. Some coaches have the challenge of kids coming from bad neighborhoods or some not ever knowing how to play the sport.
"I've been here (Blytheville) long enough to see generations and generations and generations, I'm coaching kids or being around kids that I've coached their fathers and you know the beauty of it, I think is the people in our community has grasped that," said Hixson."That's a great support system for us and our kids."
Coaches have told me the best feeling is when a kid comes back later down the road and tells them the difference that they made in his/her life growing up.
"Our measurements of what it takes to be a young man or a young lady is good enough and a good script for them to follow and kids don't always know it at the time...," said Hixson." I get more satisfaction out of this than I do trying to wear a ring or whatever, because I never did that, it's having a kid come back three or four years after and say coach you made a difference in my life, and if it had not been for you or a coach in that sport."
A big thing that also keeps coaches going are the kids on the court. Sometimes they are the only kids they'll ever have or will get to see for days at a time.
Durham would later have a part where he's watching an old clip from his high school years and he says "I suppose, a fella just wants to fit in; find a good girl, maybe, one day, do great things. I'd like to have a boy of my own one day. Maybe lotsa kids. I'd like to try to teach them; right from wrong, good from bad. I'd like to let them teach me. I think I have something to offer them. Well, I hope so. I guess only time will tell."
However, the only kids that Durham will ever have were the ones that came through his gym or Tree Hill High School.
Coach Keelan Newsom, Gosnell Lady Pirates head coach, said he likes coaching in small town/ school because he gets to know what they like and getting to know the parents.
"I see these kids walk in the halls everyday, then I see them for practice or at games or on bus trips. I've got two kids of my own and by the time I get home on most nights they're about ready for bed," said Newsom.
Investing time in becoming a coach is what makes you an even better coach.
"We get to know them inside and out," said Hixson. "You try to get to know them more than inside their operational day of when they're in there with us; you really have to want to be involved with them."
What makes the best coach and ability to get the most out kids is a support system from the parents or fans.
Newsom said his favorite movie quote on wanting to be a coach comes from Will Ferrell's movie Semi-Pro, "Everybody love everybody."
Hixson also added: "Of course winning is great and that helps but impacting kids is what makes it worth it."
jfondren@blythevillecourier.com