9 Quintessential Life Lessons Taught by Coaches

Think of the most inspiring people in your life. Who comes to mind? You might picture family members, teachers, or faith leaders, but what about your childhood or high school coaches? Whether you were involved in football, soccer, or debate team, lessons from these athletic mentors have shaped both your personal life and your endeavors in the professional world.

Coaches deserve a lot of credit. Yes, they help children and adolescents gain a variety of athletic skills, but that's only the beginning. They also teach young athletes about the value of hard work, determination, and teamwork. In an effort to pay homage to youth sports coaches, we've highlighted a few of the most important life lessons these amazing professionals provide:

1. Leverage Your Strengths

No two athletes — or people in general — have the exact same strengths and weaknesses. Unfortunately, many focus exclusively on what they lack without considering whether these very weaknesses may lend them some significant advantages. Coaches understand how to leverage these unique abilities to ensure that each athlete is able to make a discernible contribution to the team.

In real life, this lesson can pay off big-time during a job search or at work. The sooner you grasp the following reality, the better: you cannot be all things to all people. While you can master a variety of skills to be a well-rounded professional, you'll still find that you excel in certain areas. Identify these strengths and make the most of them, just as a coach would when making a game plan that takes a wide range of athletic abilities into account.

2. Preparation Pays Off

High-level athletes consistently explain that they didn't reach the upper echelons of the sports world by relying on natural gifts. Rather, success in athletics is dependent on hard work and extensive preparation. While some athletes are committed to putting in the time and effort from the get-go, many find inspiration in their coaches, who hold them accountable even when they'd rather skip practice and relax at home.

Althetic mentors know that the amount of time put into practice doesn't exclusively determine whether an athlete is successful. Rather, smart preparation should be relied on to produce impressive results. This means planning practices to ensure that athletes will make the most of each allotted minute. Strategic preparation makes athletes feel ready for game day without getting burned out.

Outside of organized sports, this concept can be applied in college and early work experiences. Aspiring professionals should understand that every textbook they crack open or internship task they complete is another step on the path to their personal form of victory: landing and succeeding in their dream jobs.

3. Organization And Time Management Are Essential

Youth sports can be a huge time commitment. Athletes dedicate long hours to practice while also continuing to attend school or even holding down part-time jobs. If they fail to manage their schedules accordingly, they may find themselves falling behind in multiple walks of life. With help from their coaches, many discover how to implement time management strategies that fit their unique abilities and priorities. These will look a bit different from one athlete to the next — but in general, consistency is key.

As important as organization is for a student athlete, it's even more vital in the work world. Professionals would be wise to remember what their mentors have taught them about organization: it makes life a lot less stressful, thereby ensuring that work is more productive and time off is more enjoyable.

4. Healthy Habits Make a Difference

Coaches understand even the most talented athletes will struggle if they make little effort to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Healthy meals and quality sleep are some of the most essential components of wellness — and the best mentors let athletes know that these habits are just as important as working hard at practice. Quality mentors also prioritize mental health, whether that means encouraging athletes to meditate or meet with counseling professionals.

5. The Value of Grit

Grit is a buzzword in education and parenting circles these days, and for good reason: it plays a huge role in determining both short-term gains and long-term development. This valuable quality involves a blend of passion and perseverance, both of which are crucial to success in sports and many other areas of life.

Athletic mentors have the unique opportunity to help their athletes develop grit early on. Their guidance allows team members to discover the role of tenacity in helping them live out their passion on a day-to-day basis.

6. Know Your Limits

Yes, grit is important, but it's also important for athletes to understand when they need to step back. Simone Biles' Olympic experience provides the perfect example of this lesson — one she no doubt learned, in part, from her talented coaches, Cecile and Laurent Landi. Had Biles not paid attention to her body and her mental state during the 2021 Olympics, she could have been seriously injured. Today's inspiring athletic mentors believe strongly in this concept and make a point of helping athletes discern when they can push themselves and when it's better to ease up.

7. Independence: The Coaches Can't Do Everything for You

Coaches may be heavily involved in leading practices and planning strategies, but they can't take care of everything. It's ultimately down to the athlete to demonstrate leadership when it's crunch time.

Skilled coaches understand when to let go and let their athletes soar. This ability to step back grants young athletes much-needed confidence, which they can carry with them as they move beyond sports to tackle personal and professional challenges. At work, for example, athletes who have worked with great mentors will know when to look to supervisors for assistance and when to take initiative.

8. Emotions Are Acceptable — But They Should Be Channeled

From the thrill of victory to the crushing blow of defeat, athletes experience a wide range of emotions. These should not be stifled, but rather, channeled productively. By doing so, athletes can work with their natural human emotions without compromising their mental health. Coaches lead the charge by validating athletes' feelings but also helping them learn coping mechanisms and strategies for improvement.

For example: the disappointment of unexpectedly losing a game may help teams develop more creative strategies to ensure they perform better in the future. Later, professionals can draw on this experience to allow themselves to fully experience difficult emotions before putting them to good use.

9. Fun Is a Valid Goal

Coaches want their players to work hard, of course, but they also want them to have a good time. These ideals need not be mutually exclusive. They teach athletes that hard work can be fun in and of itself, so long as it's framed in the right manner. This lesson can prove valuable as athletes take on new challenges in their personal lives and the professional world, where a variety of seemingly mundane tasks can become surprisingly fun with the right attitude.

Coaches deserve our endless praise and appreciation for the many ways in which they shape talented young athletes into productive members of society. Take some time to thank the past and present athletic mentors in your life — and live out their most important lessons as you go about your daily life.

If you are interested in learning more about coaching programs offered at University of the Cumberlands, contact an admissions counselor or request more information today.