Doc’s memory bank: For me, that was powerful!

I remember a very tense moment in class, as we were still trying to grasp the information and finding our feet in this coaching business. Before we could even crawl, Mr Ngomane told us, “You, as a coach, you need to come up with solutions when things are tough and not going according to your plan.” I didn’t understand what he was trying to achieve, prove or get out of us because, at the time, we didn’t even know what challenges coaches come across. Years later, I realise that as a coach, if two of your players suffer from diarrhea a night before, in camp, are you going to ask for the game to be postponed? How will you manoeuvre your way around that disappointment and still go out there to get the result? A coach has to find a way around problems that they never anticipated instead of complaining. You need to come up with a solution and that’s exactly the point instructor Ngomane was driving home. He also taught us not to be the coaches who start preparing their training sessions at the robot, as they are driving to training or when you get to the training field and see players getting dressed. You prepare for a weekly programme and there is a word for that, which all the coaches know. You also have to know what to do when three or so of your players are not available for a particular session that they were an important part of. You need to change the session to accommodate those who are available. As a coach, you don’t complain that your players are not available and therefore you can’t train or play. That is not a coach, and that’s the kind of education we went through with instructor Ngomane. For me, that was powerful!