The Coach: Leadership for Excellence /The Successful Coach, an Exploration
The Coach: Leadership for Excellence /The Successful Coach, an Exploration
Designed and Produced by Peregrine Press for the Amateur Softball Association
Author: Dr. Peter S. Pierro Narration: Dr. Robert Grupe
Copyright © Peregrine Press, 1987
The Successful Coach, an Exploration
Have you ever wondered why some coaches are so successful; their teams win games, but over and above that, they have that knack of coming up with good players, year after year, those players who are highly motivated to work hard, and to play hard, and above all, seem to be enjoying themselves as they walk away with the trophies.
What really mystifies us is that those coaches don't know any more about the game than do the coaches of losing teams. They don't run the bases any better. Their kids bat the same way. They throw the ball with the same motions. What is the difference? What did Johnny Wooden do at UCLA that Joe Doaks who used to coach at State U. didn't do? And what did Vince Lombardi say that made the Packers so determined to play their best.
We have heard it said that Coach Wooden was a master psychologist and that Coach Lombardi was a master motivator. That seems to explain why their teams were so successful except that it really explains nothing. What does a master sports psychologist do? And how does a master motivator motivate? And remember that they were successful even when the scoreboard showed that the opposing team had more points at the end of the game.
The Pursuit of Excellence
If, in fact, you can be a successful coach even though your team doesn't win every game or every title, then there must be some goal that is higher than winning. We are not going to downgrade winning in this program. On tape number 6, The Joy of Coaching, we are going to examine winning and express the opinion that having a choice between winning and losing, we'll take winning every time.
There are two goals, however, that exceed the goal of simply winning the game; they are the pursuit of excellence and the realizing of your potential. It is easy to point to Johnny Unitas, Jack Nicklaus, and from our own Hall of Fame, Harvey Sterkel, and show that they didn't win every game, or tournament, or title. But they always worked toward excellence in performance and toward fulfilling their potential as athletes.
Perhaps better examples would be Ernie Banks and Billy Williams of the Chicago Cubs. Both of these excellent players, members of the Baseball Hall of Fame, were denied the honor of being on a pennant winning team and appearing in a World Series. And staying in Chicago for a moment, Walter Payton of the Bears, setter of many records including career total yards gained, played his heart out every play of every game and it was not until the twilight of his career that his team got to and won the Super Bowl.
We could go on and name many other great athletes who didn't reach an ultimate goal; Sam Snead who never won the U. S. Open. Jim Ryun, the greatest miler of his time being jostled and knocked down in a qualifying heat and never winning the 1500 meter run in the Olympics, the frustrations of Glen Cunningham in his pursuit of the 4 minute mile, and who can forget the tragedy of Mary Decker falling in the finals at the 1984 Olympics. Were any of these great athletes losers? Of course not. They pursued excellence, they worked diligently to fulfill their potential as athletes and they have left a mark in history on what the human quest is.
Next week - We will examine the qualities that great athletes have exhibited in their pursuit of excellence so that we can get some insight on how we should deal with our youngsters.
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