It’s a question I often get asked: Why Do I Bother Coaching Football Teams? Answering it can often come down to a “well who else would do it?” but that’s not always the reason.
I write this after reading this “Letter from a Volunteer Coach” posted on the St John Bosco FC Facebook page.
It got me thinking. Why?
Why bother sending out hundreds of texts about training every week? Arriving early to get the gear ready? Arriving early to get the training session set up? Texts about matches every weekend? Making sure the gear is ready for the match at the weekend? Packing away the gear afterwards? Finishing work early to get to matches or training? Spending your own money on gear to try take the burden off your voluntarily run club? (I don’t list these as a ‘show-off”, more an example of a normal week.)
It made me think of just last Saturday. Sweeping out dressing rooms…cutting pitches…marking pitches…coaching at a match. Six hours spent in the soccer club. Do I do it to get a thank you at the end of it?
Sunday morning arrives and back to the soccer club 90 minutes before kick off – and 45 minutes before the players arrive – to make sure the dressing rooms are clean for the teams, making sure the kit is ready, preparing a warm up before everybody arrives and making sure the pitch and goals are ready for the match. Do I do it to get a thank you at the end of it?
Match one ends at 1pm and it’s a 20-minute drive to coach another team at another match at 2pm. The same thing…jerseys, cones, footballs, bibs, warm-up, bottles, first aid, 90 minutes of a match and the day is over…seven hours after arriving for the first match of the day. Do I do it to get a thank you at the end of it?
Whether it’s attending committee meetings for the voluntary committee that you and others sit on? Who give hours and hours to keep a football club going… Do we want thanks? Do we want a handshake at the end of the season? A small token gift to show appreciation?
I’ve been coaching football for as long as I can remember. I still remember, and wont ever forget, the first match I ever helped coach at. It wont be forgotten nor will the coach, Peter, who got me interested in the first place. A true football man who has taught me so much.
Fast-forward ten years and do I do it for the thanks? Or the appreciation? Or even the glory of managing a winning team?
Of course everybody wants a thank you. A handshake. Or a simple ‘fair play’.
You might not always hear a thank you toward a coach, but I do. A parent sending a text after a match. Or a player thanking you after a game. A former player keeping in touch and never forgetting where they’ve been or where they started. Or another coach complimenting your team. It’s there. We don’t always hear it with so much going on…as is the busy nature of football clubs.
But that’s not why I do it. Every coach and club volunteer has their reasons…I do it because I love football. I love the club I coach at. Working with the people I coach with. Seeing your teams enjoying their training and matches. Doing my bit to keep the place ticking over. I love that a community run club provides so many people with the opportunity to play football. What’s not to like about that?
But there’s no harm in sending your coach, or your kids’ coach a “thank you” every now and again. It can go a long way to that coach who’s maybe wondering that same question I’m always asked…
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