This Is Why We Coach

After one cheerleading practice in the fall, my co-head coach, best friend, and roommate turned to me and said, “This is why I coach.”

You see, we had one of those practices – actually, a string of three practices – where we realized that we’d done it right.

Sure, we are only three practices into our cheerleading season. But we’d done it. Our girls are motivated, hard workers, positive, and excuse-free. To put it simply: it’s a team that is a joy to coach.

After 5 years of coaching, I think we can both say we’ve picked a fantastic squad. We’ve weighed personality with skill and dedication with desire. We took the time to ask hard hitting questions in order to mold a team that fit our standards and where the team members would also feel like they had a place, a voice, and a home.

That week reminds me of moments I’ve had in the past; where I realize why I coach at the end of a season (both earlier in my coaching career and also more recently) or after attending a great lecture on coaching.

Sure, there will be tough times throughout the season. Dramatic times. Angry times. There’s no way to get away from any of that unfortunately; not when you’re together as much as a college team is, anyway.

The important thing is to learn from mistakes, change going forward, and teach our team to do the same. 

And that is why we coach.