Essential #3 - Coaches Push You to the Top

Michael Jordan had Phil Jackson, Rocky Balboa had Mick, and the Karate Kid had Mr. Miyagi… Without a coach, these legends would have struggled to reach the Top. 

Coaches teach you the essential principles of your sport or business.

Coaches help you close the gap between your performance and your potential. 

And most importantly, coaches believe in you, even when you don’t believe in yourself.

Throughout our lives we’ve all been inspired by a “coach” at one level or another. But why? Why, did someone else’s belief in us, inspire us to act so bravely?

When I was in 7th grade I tried out for the middle school basketball team. Now, I was a pretty good baseball player in those days but terrible at basketball.

My art teacher, Mr. Olis, who I liked a lot, was the coach and he convinced me to try out for the team. 

This was terrifying stuff! When you hit 7th grade, you get mixed in with kids from other grade schools - so there are a lot of kids I don’t know at this point. And I know I stink. I mean, sure I was tall and good at sports but not this sport.

Anyway, Mr. Olis must have seen something in me that I didn’t see and put me on the team. I was shocked.

So, it’s the first day of practice. We line up for the classic “lay-up” drill. You start with half of the guys on the right side of the basket. They dribble a few paces, make a lay-up and the guys on the left side rebound the ball and pass it to the next guy in the shooter’s line. Everything’s cool. Everyone can make right hand lay-ups. BUT now we switch to the left side. 

And to my amazement, the better players were all acing left hand lay-ups. Now, when you shoot hoops on your driveway by yourself, you sure as heck aren’t doing left hand lay-ups! At least I wasn’t…

So now it’s my turn… everyone is watching. I can barely dribble with my left hand as I stagger toward the basket when I suddenly FREEZE… I can’t even make my hands do the thing. I come to a full stop and then awkwardly shoot a right hand lay-up off the left side glass. CLANK! I’m now totally mortified. My teammates are all laughing and I can feel the red flushing in my face.

This ain’t good. 

But what happened next was the most surprising thing. Mr. Olis grabbed the ball and dribbled over. He goes, “I can see some of you don’t know how to dribble and shoot with your left hand. I’m going to show you how to do it and we’ll spend the rest of the day practicing.” 

I was saved! Sort of. Now, I would like to go on and tell you I mastered the left hand lay-up and rallied the team to a state championship but this isn’t one of those stories. In fact, to this day I’d struggle to make one, but I could make ONE! 

See, Coach Olis didn’t leave me hanging. He didn’t let me start getting down on myself. He did the one thing only great coaches can do - believe in you, even when you don’t believe in yourself.

But he also took action. He created that teachable moment at the perfect time.

When we start doubting ourselves we shake our confidence, and when our confidence is shaken, we can’t live up to our full potential. 

But great coaches can snap us out of it. They can help us push past the obstacles, pain and fear. To help us become something more. 

“A coach is someone who can give correction

without causing resentment.”

- John Wooden, one of the most beloved 

college basketball coaches of all-time