Discovering Your Frame
Culture and Background
Exposure
My parents believed that exposure to a variety of sports and people would help develop myself into the best man I can be. They did so by signing me up for a wide variety of sports, including but not limited to: baseball, football, and Gaelic football. Because of the wide variety of sports that I played, I was often very interested in the greatest athletes of each sport, and my family reminded me that the legends of sport were not only revered for their talent but also their dedication, hard work, andperseverance.
Work to Win
The ability to maintain focus on the sport in the highs and lows is something that my parents truly taught in the household. They also insisted that I wasn’t just playing the sport to show up with a poor attitude or not trying to win. We developed a mantra in our house that we called “Working to Win.” Not just in sport, but in common activities, we didn’t just do them to get them done, we did them at a rate that couldn’t be paralleled by others, we were constantly working to win. in Winners Never Quit, Mia Hamm said “The person that said winning isn’t everything, never won anything.”
Outside Influences
While sports were important in our household, they were not at the forefront. My family believed that education was going to open more doors for me and my sister than sport was. Because of this, my parents incorporated sports into reading even at a young age. To this day, my favorite book is Casey at the Bat, a poem that captures the highs and lows of sport and taught me that success isn’t guaranteed but that hard work and humility are essential for long-term achievement.
Sport Experiences and Goal Setting
Past and Present
Growing up, sport was about competing and as discussed before, working to win. Today, our youth’s are constantly influenced by exposure to social media and the impact it can have on a young person’s confidence. We played a game to compete, be around friends, and have fun, we didn’t play a game just for likes on Instagram or for a highlight real on X.
Experiences
Goal Setting
Goal setting was a central part of my athletic experience from both my parents and my coaches. This technique helped us as young athletes to not only focus on ourselves but what did we want to achieve for the team at that time. It set a road map for ourseason and potentially even further for our lives. McCarthy and Gupta said “Goal setting means establishing a target that you want to achieve. When your goals are specific, achievable and challenging—you feel motivated” (McCarthy & Gupta, 2022).
Coaching with Trust and Cohesion
My Core Values of Coaching Youth Athletics
My purpose is to be the best coach that I could’ve needed when I was a young athlete. This career in education and coaching is a calling, not a job that anyone can do. My core values are the foundation of not only what I do for a living, but how I do it. These values are integrity, authenticity, respect, discipline, dedication, and family. If I am to be the best man, husband, father, and coach that I can be—I hope that my athlete’s know that I am doing so with regards to my core values.
Coach and Athlete Trust
Transparency is key in athletics, and in today’s world with accessibility to endless amounts of information and social media. While there is definitely a line of professionalism, being transparent with my athletes has lead to an unbelievable amount of trust in my relationships with young people. It has opened doors for communication that leads to stronger relationship building and a stronger foundation for the coach-athlete dynamic.
Cohesion
When you have the ability to build trust amongst yourself and multiple student athletes, you begin to develop a sense of cohesion amongst your group that you coach. With one of my titles being the offensive line coach, I don’t believe there is another group in sports that needs a tighter relationship than the five offensive linemen. By investing in the trust of athlete’s as individuals, and investing in them as a whole person, I have built deeper connections with these athletes, fostering a sense of cohesion and belonging within the team.