How a High School Coach’s Vision for Greatness Can Stick With You
Go!
My tightly laced Nikes toed the starting line on our high school's indoor track as I readied myself to run 600 yards. “GO,” the coach shouted in a commanding voice that scared and motivated me at the same time.
Like so many high school coaches who endure long hours and low pay to inspire kids, Wayne Steffenhagen had a vision for me I could barely imagine. These unsung and often unappreciated heroes teach insecure teenage kids in thousands of educational sports settings that belief combined with hard work can make them winners in the race called life.
A coach’s words are powerful when spoken directly to your face, especially if those words are about who you are and who you’re capable of being. The words I heard that day stuck in my brain and adhered to me like a lifetime of Gorilla Glue stuck in my gut. If you played high school sports, you might have had a similar experience.
Lessons learned in sports
Some argue that America’s public schools should focus exclusively on academics and leave sports to private clubs and community leagues. I don't see it this way. This country’s system of affiliating sports with schools has paid incalculable dividends, and not just for athletic stars recruited by colleges.
The lessons learned on competitive high school sports teams are applied to the academic competition of college and, later, the global competition we face in our careers.
High school sports can be a religious experience because thousands of coaches like Steffenhagen make kids believe in themselves and each other.
Some contend that coaches should never raise their voices to athletes, especially impressionable children. They say legendary professional football coaches like Tom Landry never yelled, and the greatest college basketball coach of all-time, John Wooden, rarely raised his voice above a whisper.
