What makes a great coach in sports?

Jake Yono

JY Journalism

4/11/23

“Beyond every world class athlete is a world class coach” Nick Symmonds Former Olympian

Hey guys today I am doing a new series in my journalism where I will be talking about topics that I am passionate about in the world of sports. Today my first one will be about what makes a great coach in sports and what separates a good and a bad coach. I’m going to be comparing this to world class athletes and ametur athletes such as myself.

Nick Symmonds was and is a runner, I also am a runner in the sport of track and field and cross country. Lots of people say coaches do not matter in individual sports such as running, skiing, Golf, etc. But they do because in Nick Symmonds book he writes (A good coach inspires you to be great, they see potential in you even when you don’t see it in yourself, they are patient and selfless). I really like this because even in individualized sports a coach inspires you to do all of these things. For example if you run track and field and your coach everyday just told you to run a certain amount of miles and that’s it with no real guidance that is a bad coach. But if a coach told you to run 3 miles with every half mile going easy and hard and pace yourself with him or her, then to do these stretches and cool down at this time, that is a great coach. Other examples vary from sport to sport.

Now let's talk about where fans actually respect coaches and this is if you haven’t guessed it already team sports. These sports such as Football, Basketball, Soccer, and Hockey have designed offenses and defenses that are most of the time made up by the coach. These coaches know what every player can and cannot do and utilize this to help them win and create a dynasty. Examples of this are Phil Jackson, Coach K, Bill Bellicheck, John Wooden, and Vince Lombardi. All of these men had very talented athletes on their teams and they knew how to use them and their surrounding players. Such as Tom Brady, MJ, in college sports the ability to win and keep recruiting athletes with the right fit is mostly done by the coach. In summary a good coach can bring the best athletes possible to a team and coach them and make them the best players they can be on the field or court. 

I want to acknowledge a little bit of different types of coaches and these are the ones that make their players want to work and win for them. This could be from bringing in a former player such as Steve Keer and Dan Campbell both of these coaches were former players and by this and their attitude their players want to work and win for them more.

For my last paragraph I will be talking about coaches at the ameteur level (Middle School and High School). In his book Nick Symmonds talks about that at this level by saying that the choice is out of your hands because a coach is brought in by the athletic director at your school and if they are a bad coach to find a way to communicate with them to maximize your performance to the best of your capability. In Middle School I tried many sports but the ones I stuck with were Cross Country, Basketball and Track. In running the coches were all the same and they were great, they led me to championships and took my body to where I thought it could never go. They did this by pushing us and motivating us by running with us in practice. In basketball for the most part my coaches were not all that great. I’m a highschool athlete and I did not like my Cross Country coach that much but I do like my track and golf coaches.

In summary a great coach inspires you to be great, they see potential in you even when you do not see it in yourself, and they are patient and selfless. Bad coaches make you feel worthless, they try to burn out that flame inside of you, they are often insecure or self-absorbed. So coaches matter in an athlete's performance at all levels in any sport.