Anything but leadership

Is the thought of being a leader repulsive? It is but only if by leadership I mean an inordinate amount of responsibility and service that inspires those I lead. Discipline is not welcomed by many athletes because it’s restrictive by nature and seemingly where there is no capacity for restraint, perhaps leadership becomes the dreaded enemy.

I coach players to lead without actually saying that word a whole lot. Why harp on a nebulous term when you can teach the the traits that accompany it. The problem is, however, that young athletes have never been young before. They’ve never been in what they would call the “prime” – athletic, carefree and nearly an adult. They’re interested in the prestige of sports but as a coach I can never tell if they’re absorbing leadership rather than being taught it.

It’s difficult to discern why or how young athletes perceive leadership because just when you think they’re getting it, one of your players is cited for being drunk in public. Another player avoids practice while yet another simply never works on the skills needed to play their sport. Consequently, there’s a break down on so many fronts that leadership is clearly and intentionally avoided. A coach is the vehicle that transports the players to a destination but you could argue that the coach can only transport passengers for whom leadership is not an obstacle. My job is to disguise the obstacle of leadership as an obligation/opportunity.