I envy coaches who can handle and deal with the emotional and mental parts of their athletes lives, while also trying to help with skills and fundamentals of their sport..
I'm a coach to a junior varsity team. I have a lot of different personalities this time around. I have been coaching for 4 seasons and this season is probably my toughest. I have not really had to deal with the emotional and mental toughness as much prior to this year. The girls I have range from simple, sweet, quiet athlete to rambunctious, lively, and down right disrespectful atheletes. Skill level is up and down the charts and I believe that there really isn't a sense of guidance on the court for the team. We have 3 team captains and not one really has that role of a leader.
I have never really dealt with so many different types of attitudes before but this is a good lesson for me. I need to firm up a bit and deal with things sooner rather then later, nip things in the bud right away. I feel as if they want so many chances to do things and the girls have excuses for everything they do wrong or right. I give feedback and they question it, I have practice plans and they want to suggest all sorts of things that in my opinion don't need to be worked on. Individually we have great players with great skills... team wise, our energy is high starting off, but towards the middle or end of the game we tend to fizzle out. Lack of focus has a lot to do with it too... I give consequences and it still doesnt stick. I am trying to get through this season stronger then I came into it, but its a battle.
I am hoping the team turns around attitude wise and just hope that we can finish strong as a team. Skill wise we are fine, we have things we can work on, but we have 3 more weeks left... I hope I can hang!
