By James Durand
I’ve coached kids for a while now. I love getting out on the trails and instructing on mountain biking skills with the next generation of rippers, and I’ve also been coaching my son’s lacrosse team for the last few years.
I have loads of experience participating in both sports and I’ve coached mountain biking since the mid 90’s, but lacrosse is a different animal, so taking my player’s skills and my limited assistant coaching in the senior ranks, and transferring them to coaching kids has been a steep learning curve to say the least.
It’s hard to tell if the kids on a mountain bike ride, or on the lacrosse floor are even listening, or just blasting around having fun with their friends. And in the end, does it really matter?
Well, it matters a bit to me. As a driven guy and someone who loves to compete, I take coaching seriously and try my hardest to find that balance of instruction, so the kids can improve as they age into more competitive levels, and keeping it fun at the same time.
We add in games to build skills, little bits of competition amongst the players or riders, and offer up some rewards for big efforts. (A couple of Tim Bits are more motivational than I ever imagined.)
Last night I was chatting with the head coach for all of BC minor lacrosse and we were laughing about how fun it is to coach, but also how frustrating it can be trying to hold the kid’s attention for more than 15 seconds.
Then he said, “I’ve coached every level and every age group and it doesn’t matter if it’s five-year-olds, or 25-year-olds, the frustration never goes away, but we’re making a difference, so hang in there.” Then he let out a big laugh.
I often wonder if I’m actual coaching, or just herding cats around and doing my best to entertain them. To be honest, I don’t think I’ll ever find that answer, nor do I need to.
As long as the kids are smiling, I feel like we’re winning.
I’m James Durand and I’m Goin’ Ridin’…