Thursday, August 26, 2010

Coaching Philosophies

As a Sports Information Director it is sometimes easy to get wrapped up in the to-do list, the everyday tasks dealing with wins and losses, or the statistical achievements of our teams. 

Over the past week I have gotten the tremendous opportunity to sit down with several of our fall coaches and talk to them about their coaching philosophy.  Segments of those interviews will soon be available as part of our revolutionary new video sport guides.  I can't wait for you to get a glimpse of these guides, but in the meantime I wanted to give you a preview of some our coaches philosophies and why I am so impressed and honored to work with some of the best in the business.

Sports – even at the college level – can be as cutthroat of a business as any other.  The only thing that tends to matter is wins, losses, and money.

I am comforted by the fact that we have coaches that care deeply about winning, but care even more about being "successful" in the long-term project of developing young men and women of character who will impact future generations positively.

Here is some evidence of that:

"The most important thing for me is 10-15 years down the line, what kind of doctor, lawyer, teacher they are going to become.  In the end the X's and O's of the games are important, but not near as important as what they become later in life." - men's soccer coach Tavi Mounsithirj

"Our life journeys often times teach us so many things.  I always viewed my coaching as an opportunity to share my testimony with players and to truly find a way to define God to the world." - women's soccer coach Thavisith Mounsithiraj

"My favorite part is the interaction with the kids.  Win or lose, the interaction of watching the players come in and get better, learn to work as a team, and then see an end result is what I enjoy." - volleyball coach Jim Routhier.

Look for more on these coaching philosophies in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, look for the wins and the losses to matter, but count on the lessons learned from both to be the most important thing 10-15 years down the line.

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