The First of 40

I have been coaching at Homer High School since the end of September. I started in the middle of cross country and am currently in full effect with winter track as we had our first meet last Saturday. I am loving coaching and plan on doing it for the next 40+ years. It allows me to impact students on a much more personal basis. It also is not as challenging because most of us all have the same goals. The reason why I say most is because some of the kids I coach really do not like to give their very best each and every day. That is my project for next semester. To have 100% commitment by each athlete on that team. I feel I have already started connecting to those kids because at the meet I was writing down their splits and when they were done breaking down the whole race and showing them where they can improve. The reason for this is now I am giving them something to think about to improve on in practice and races which in reality is increasing their effort without them even knowing. The thing I like best about this job is that I am training with the students and suffering through the workouts each day just like they do. Last Wednesday I assigned them 8x400 with 2 minutes rest and I really wanted them to hammer it. The Monday before I was explaining to them how they need to not only mentally but physically prepare for the workout and not bring excuses. They did exactly what I asked and brought a huge smile to my face after the workout. Everyone hit the exact splits that I asked and most importantly everyone was absolutely spent after. I really felt like for the first time in my short coaching tenure I did exactly what was planned to make these athletes better, not to mention I got a good workout in as well averaging 67.5 with the top guy. In high school it was always days like that, that would bring my teammates and I so much closer because we all wanted to accomplish the same thing and we all achieved it together.
To verify my winter track hours I had the head coach write a short letter to show that I have been helping out with the team.
I am looking forward to what the next 40 years have in store for me in the coaching world.