Kids’ amazing ability to inspire
For many of us who coach youth sports, this time of year is bittersweet. The work of organizing a team for the fall season has ended, but a vacuum has opened up in the schedule.
For seventeen seasons now I have coached a running team. Our team has amassed a huge number of personal records, charted incredible improvement, developed kids who were sitting on the bleachers into runners who are beating older athletes (even better: older sibling athletes), and we have handed out dozens of trophies. Our team has taken an outsized portion of the top spots at the races we have entered. At one race we were honored with the first ten racing numbers — numbers typically reserved for the top seeds.
One of my favorite accomplishments, though, is the ridiculously large “Team Spirit” trophy we received, because that sums up how we built the successful program we have.
I should mention at this point that the team I coach is made up of second through fifth graders. Do not let their ages fool you. They practice for ten weeks to prepare for one 3.1 mile race. Being able to keep themselves focused on the goal of a 5k for ten weeks reveals just how serious these young runners can be.
I have no delusions. I know that Olympic and college-level athletes are incredibly rare. But I do not see it as our goal to turn out the next generation of gold medalists. Our first goal is to nurture a love of running because running is hard, but it is one of the few sports you see adults doing well into their later years.
Our second goal is to turn out the next generation of volunteer coaches. Coaches who will try to foster the best in their young athletes on and off the field. As a child, I had a few great hockey and soccer coaches whose voices still echo in my mind. It is their words I find myself repeating to my team, and their enthusiasm, positivity, and love of the game that I try to emulate.
What always surprises me, no matter how many times I see it, is how mature the runners on my team can become in the moment. Sure, they want to hit the swing-set after a hard run, or make a joke that has a funny noise as the punchline, but I have seen fifth graders run to the aid of a teammate. I have seen fourth graders express concern about a teammate’s mood. I have seen my fastest runner stop and go back to run with a teammate who had a disability.
Our fifth graders are in charge of nominating runners for recognition at each practice. I call them the “unofficial leadership council,” and they take it very seriously. Often they will pick someone because they ran more than they usually do (which is a great thing for fifth graders to notice and for the team to recognize) but what impresses me most are the more subtle reasons: “I think she needs a boost,” “He got hurt at recess today,” “I don’t think he wants to be here,” or “It’s her first day on the team.”
It is amazing, when you give children a chance, how they can grow into the roles you give them. There are not a lot of leadership opportunities for elementary school children, but I have seen them mature years in five short minutes when presented with the opportunity to lead, and their leadership inspires me to do my job better.
Every season, after we have finished our last race, totaled up our times, and handed out our trophies, there is a moment that comes when the clock rolls around to practice time and I am not heading out the door to meet the team. In this moment I feel bereft of the opportunity to see these young runners do something extraordinary on an otherwise unremarkable Monday afternoon.
As I enter the off-season with a few extra afternoons back in my schedule I want to thank the coaches that inspired me, to thank the athletes that I coach for continuing to inspire me, and to thank all of you that also seek to inspire — and find inspiration in — our kids.
Fall coaches, enjoy your break and Happy Holidays!