The responsibility of coaching

I get at least 50% of my volleyball coaching ideas while reading about or watching baseball…though I don’t know why. Perhaps it is the quantity of statistics generated? Maybe it is the pause that exists between plays so that there is no continuity and the rotation of players which is similar to a batting order.

I dunno.

Anyways, this year was the final year as an umpire for Joe West, the man who has umpired more baseball games than anyone else in Major League History. When asked about his retirement and his thoughts, West answered:

“Your first responsibility is to the game of baseball. That might not mean the commissioner’s office. It’s the game itself. Your second responsibility is to your profession. That might not mean the [umpire’s] union. The third responsibility is to do in your heart what is morally honest and correct. If you do that, you won’t be wrong.”

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He isn’t wrong and those words can be applied to other sports. Let’s do a little paraphrasing:

Your first responsibility is to the game of volleyball. That doesn’t mean your supervisor (commissioner, club director, athletic director, or head coach). Your second responsibility is to the profession of coaching–that does not refer to coaching associations [the AVCA for instance]. Your third responsibility is to do in your heart what is morally honest and correct. If you do that, you won’t be wrong.”

How’s that?

I like the last part–it fits with my philosophy of “Ask what’s in the best interests of the young person and follow that answer.”

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He’s right on the rest of it though. The problem is that a majority of adults in sports are not thinking about their responsibilities beyond winning on the scoreboard. In pursuit of victory on the scoreboard, a majority of the coaches I know sadly subscribe to the NASCAR axiom “If you ain’t cheatin’, you ain’t tryin’.” How does this serve the sport?

Doesn’t our responsibility to the game itself mean we MUST follow the John Kessel mantra of ‘grow the game‘? (A much shorter but valuable link here) –do we do that by playing to win on the scoreboard at all costs? Do we need 16 person club rosters…why not two teams of 8, more playing time for everyone? Could this result in reduced profits? Sure. Lose more on the scoreboard? Sure. So? Are those actually important compared to helping kids become better adults and human beings?

Responsibility to coaching. Great. How many do this? Do you know head coaches who abuse their players or assistant coaches–emotionally or physically? Yes…but does anyone with evidence ever bring it forward? Nope…for fear of being blackballed from jobs. Just as important, a head coach has an obligation to train her assistant coaches to become head coaches, to think and act independently…and if mistakes are made, to teach rather than punish. This matters at lower levels especially–varsity coaches often just use the JV or F/S coaches to enter freeballs rather than do real coaching. Shouldn’t we evaluate the quality of coaches by their ‘coaching tree’–and what their staff and players go on to do after leaving “Program X”? Ask someone at the AVCA (unofficially) about where donations to their scholarships come from–you could be surprised…or maybe not. The increase in pay at higher levels has turned a lot of coaches into Ferengis.

(I’m gonna indulge in a brag here–it is my blog after all–40+ of my alumni at LLCC have gone on to coach including 12 at the college level…if you’re going to talk about responsibility and helping others, you owe it to others to try and live it)

The last one–doing what is right in your heart. I agree but when I think of what I’ve seen over the years, I despair. Paying players under the table, providing improper benefits–the obvious ones. Club directors withholding access to certain players unless the 4-yr coach steers other recruits to that director’s juco team…yup, seen that. Club directors telling kids to avoid jucos because that isn’t good volleyball–but then bragging up that kid when they go juco and then get a full-ride to a 4-y school…yeah. Coaches changing uniform numbers in a Final Four to confuse a different team and mess up the scouting report–hey, as long as you win, right? Protesting a match when the score is 15-12 in your favor in the third set, having won the first two sets 25-10, 25-13? Faking sweat on the floor, untying shoes intentionally to cause a delay…are those really the right thing?

I think West’s last point is what gets me. Once you justify a single short-cut, the next is easier to justify and once you’ve cut several, what’s any of it matter, right? …except…of course, kids are watching. They pay attention. When they see adults act in unethical fashion and get away with it without suffering consequences, they learn that they can do the same thing. They learn ‘the end justifies the means’ * That’s cheating the kids. Doug Glanville’s words on cheating are perfect: “Sports is not about the end result. It is about the journey.” What happens along the way–whether it is the work required, the sacrifices, or the friendships you make–how much damage is done in pursuit of victory on the scoreboard?

Ultimately, I know where I sit onthe issue. You’re likely a coach if you’ve read this far–where do you fall on the spectrum? Does what Joe West refers to as ‘your heart’ tell you that you’ve done the right thing with your decisions?

Here’s the thing–if you’ve stubbed your toe in terms of your coaching ethics/morality–that’s fine. Everything above, it is in the past. Today is a new day, tomorrow, too. There is NEVER EVER a better time to stop and say “Here I stand”** than right now. A good lesson in that is here. Be responsible to the sport, your colleagues, and just as important, to yourself.

*The phrase ‘the ends justifies the means’ isn’t the full phase. That’s the way the Catholic Church edited it to make Machiavelli look like the bad guy. If you read a good translation of Machiavelli, you find “if a virtuous leader came along to overthrow a tyrant by force, that the ends would justify the means, that they would be judged by the results, not the action of overthrowing”, thus sanctioning revolution and uprisings…you can see why that phrase as a whole would cause concern for 16th Century Catholic Church and the wealthy ruling families of Italian city-states.

**Since I’m whipping out history quotes, ‘here I stand’ is from Martin Luther. The full quote: “Here I stand, I can do no other, so help me God. Amen.” I believe the original German is “Hier ich stehe. Ich kann nicht anders.”

If you are interested in more ramblings on coaching, check out Like Heck She Isn’t a Volleyball Player. 27 essays, $4.99…less than 50 cents an article…what are you waiting for?