Find a Coach!

I never envisioned myself as a coach, but one day my spouse volunteered me to be an assistant coach for my son’s AYSO U-10 soccer team.  I had fun and next year I volunteered myself to be head coach.  In AYSO, everyone plays, essentially equal time.  A big part of my job was planning rotations, to help ensure that each kid not only got equal playing time, but also that kids could try different positions. Formations were basic, with only seven players, including the goalie: 3-3 or 2-2-2. With nine players, in U-12 I believe, you could field a 3-3-2, a 4-2-2, or something more adventurous.  In general, things ran smoothly, unless one of the better players did not show up last minute, and I had to rebalance the lineup and rejigger the rotations. Throw-ins were always an issue, as were untied cleat laces. Suffice it to say that I got a lot a practice retying laces those years.  Each week, usually after watching a YouTube video or two and/or a soccer match, I drew up a few set plays: short corner kicks, quick throw ins to catch the other time off guard, one touch passes followed by a shot on goal. Once in a while, these were executed flawlessly, poetry in motion.  While I did rotate, usually I put one of the stronger players at center back, to my mind the most important position on the pitch, the field general directing the other fullbacks and the midfield as well, while communicating with the goalie. Put simply, strategy and tactics existed, but, to be sure, did not abound. If we were down, I rallied the team. If we were up by at least 6, I instructed the kids to go into “passing mode”, consistent with AYSO rules and, more importantly, to avoid demoralizing the other team.  The kids were great, the parents usually so. A few of the coaches for the other teams got a bit heated (yes, even for U-10), but generally it was civil and enjoyable. I retired after my second U-10 season, on advice of my spouse, who convinced me (wrongly, I might add) that my knowledge of soccer, gained through playing the sport as a kid, was insufficient to coach U-12. Regardless, I attended some of the U-12 practices and ghost coached a game or two.  On the weekends, I still play soccer, for fun. My favorite position to play is still center back, for the reasons stated above. 

There are a variety of coaches: team, individual, etc. I address the team coach construct above. The individual coach paradigm is, on one level, quite simple as well. Think Yoda to Luke Skywalker.  Your personal trainer, if you have one, creating and supervising a workout program for you.  Today, there are a variety of coaches: leadership, executive, life, career, etc.  Unlike mentors (more on this later), coaches are not necessarily members of your profession or in your field of work.  In many cases, individual coaches require specialized training, memorialized via certifications. In general, individual coaches can offer a different, diverse, and objective perspective, strategic and tactical advice, a game plan (or plan of attack), and other benefits.  Coaches should be able to see the field, if not multiple fields, to help guide one to the desired outcome, once that is fully elucidated.  In an increasingly complex and uncertain world, one cannot go at it alone, and a qualified guide or sherpa may be required. 

As intimated above, a mentor can do many of the same things, but usually the mentor might be a more senior member of the same profession, someone who has done a particular job before, etc.  I have mentored a number of law students and young lawyers, and it has always been satisfying to share my knowledge, experience, and network.  Sometimes, the coach and mentor concepts are conflated.  Recall, perhaps, a Seinfeld episode where Jerry has second thoughts about dating a woman whose mentor (really, coach) is dating Kenny Bania, a goofy hack of a comedian. 

Last, but not least, is the executive sponsor concept, the Sam Rayburn to LBJ, the Belle Moskovitz and Al Smith to Robert Moses, etc. These are individuals who put others under their wings and through the sponsorship and positive association open up doors that would almost never be open to others.  A deeper dive into this powerful concept will be probably be found in a later post. 

In summary, consider the benefits of being or finding a coach (or mentor or sponsor), and let me know what you discover.  Good luck and comments welcomed.