Viking Coach

Brian Bordwell was a great coach, is still a super friend and is even a better person. He and I were assistant coaches together when we first came to Pelican Rapids and he eventually was my assisstant for a couple years before he moved to Brainerd. He was famous for being a "shouter" and one of his favorite saying was "I yell because I care!"

This really hits the nail on the head when it comes to why I yell as a coach. Although I am constantly aware of the fine line between constructive criticism and the possible destructive aspect of being critical of my players, I still feel that there are times and places where yelling is needed in the arena of sports.

Most people would be surprised at the number of times that coaches actually say positive things to their players versus being critical. The reason you probably hear about the negatives or remember being "scolded" yourself is because it seems to be human nature for humans to latch on to the negative. We often remember those negative situation more than the times where a coach might say. . ."that was a good decision.", "great hustle.", "Hey, great job in practice tonight", etc. . .

Negative comments stick in our mind because they are an attack on who we are. . . we all want to believe that we are doing what we should and doing it well! As a coach, one of my challenges is to push the girls farther than they think they can go. We have to challenge them to go beyond their comfort zone. For me, yelling or being critical is like "highlighting" something important, much like you would do when reading a book.

Often times the player gets frustrated with the coach. I can recall that at one time or another I did, in fact, REALLY DISLIKE MY COACH! When I go down the list of coaches for whom I played, I can remember specific times for each of them when I really didn’t care for them as people, or as coaches.

Now, when asked if I disliked my coach(es), the only thing I can think of right now is…NO…not ONE of them. In fact, it was their combined caring and effort that led to who I was as an athlete. They made me do things I didn’t want to, when I didn’t want to do them. They demanded performance when I didn’t want to give it. They taught me techniques that I didn’t think would work, but really did. They did their job, which meant that sometimes they had to sacrifice being popular for doing what was necessary to create successful athletes, me being one of them.

Today, I LOVE each of my coaches for helping me get through all of those rough days.

When you experience tough days with your coaches, please understand that they are really trying to help you become successful. It’s their job to pull from you the effort a “sane” human doesn’t want to give. It’s their job to make you do things you wouldn’t normally do. To reach expectations that a teenager doesn't think possible.

The author of “Raising An All-American: Helping Your Child Excel in Athletics (And in Life)" Has a great chapter that addresses this aspect of coaching. I added a web-site in which you can order this book to my contact list. I really want to encourage all parents to purchase this book. The author does a great job of explaining aspects of sport participation and gives a path in which a parent can help their child be a success. Like the title indicates this is not just about athletics. This book is also about being a success in LIFE! You may even find that you can apply some of his same principle to your life.