My Father's Influence With Sports

The first time Greg ever coach me was in 5th grade football. l didn’t know what to expect. Over the season I grew to like him more and more. Finally by the end of the season I was glad to hear that he was going to coach our basketball team during basketball season. Basketball that year was just as good as Football. During basketball is when my dad and him started to hang out more and more. It came to be where he was over multiple times a week.

But when I look over it's not just any coach it’s my dad looking back at me. Talking with his brown eyes telling me that he believes I can do it. This moment still hits me, when I looked

Growing up, my dad made sure that my brothers were involved in sports. Because he thought that football was too rough for them at a young age he signed them up for baseball. From then on out, we became a baseball family. Everything we did, all of our family friends were because of the sport. Even though, I did not play the sport, I still loved the game. It was the beginning of my seventh grade year when my dad informed me that it was mandatory that I participate in an extracurricular activity and because my dad was the authoritarian saying “no” to him was not a question. It was then that I decided to join a softball team.

Sports have been a huge part of my life ever since I was about five years old. It has impacted my life so much. The biggest challenge that I faced was with my injuries during basketball and soccer season. I recently had to quit soccer and basketball, which was difficult for me.

Finally, outside influence plays a key role in determining athletic success. Athletes must be motivated to push away negative influences, peer pressure and what others want. It’s important to have a good coach who cares about the athlete’s success and hones his skills. Coaches can mold an athlete’s physical and mental maturity and play a critical role in helping develop the athlete while putting them in a better position to handle success.

Parents often have concerns for how coaches treat their young athletes, but most coaches are the best character role models that a child will have. As David Brooks, author of the article “Organized Sports Can Benefit Children”, says “Coaches have become the leading moral instructors in America today.” (Brooks). Groups like The Positive Coaching Alliance exist solely to keep coaches doing their job of creating mature and respectful athletes (Positive). Children need these positive role models in their lives. Even if a child has great role models as parents, it is even better to have one outside of the family. A coach can serve as someone that kids should admire, love, and respect even though they are outside of their family; this will prepare children for their future of dealing with

I think my dad was extraordinary in sports. He taught me everything I know about softball. He played baseball in college so he knows a good amount about it. He played every position so he can teach me what I need to do to get there. I think my dad can get me ready to play at the University of Tennessee.

I was lucky enough to have him by my side for all 17 years of my life that I’ve lived. He’s truly a role model and has been through many obstacles and had to overcome adversity. On January 25th of this year, my mom died in a car accident. She was a diabetic and was under a lot of stress. After dropping my dad off at the hospital for work she had low blood sugar and ended up having a heart attack behind the wheel. That took a toll on me. It was the worst day of my life. I never pictured myself growing up without having both a mom and a dad. It hit me so hard that I didn’t want to go to school again and i was strongly pondering quitting football. My whole football team wanted to be there for me and I’d have to say thats one of the reasons i didn’t quit. The biggest reason i stuck with it is because I knew my mom would want me to. She knows that since i was little i’ve wanted to be a football player so now, i do it in her name. Moments like these in my life have made me the strong, hard working individual that I am right now. Last year, during my junior season in the Spring game I tore my rotator cuff and my labrum on my right shoulder completely. I had surgery and now I am healed and ready to get after it my senior year. So far, I’ve been talking to schools like Illinois, Illinois State, Arkansas State, Central Arkansas, Idaho, Miami, and

Softball has always been a significant part of my life, but without my Dad I would have never discovered my indispensable passion for it. I still remember the exact moment when I realized that softball was going to have a special spot in heart. The only problem was that when I decided that, I was the scrawny little fourth grader who was stuck on the bench cheering on my RARA team. That year was going to be my last year of playing, but my Dad told me to keep at it. I told him if I were to do that, I needed to become as good as all of the other girls. He told me I needed to become better than them, so we set a day each week in addition to our team practices to become a better player.

basketball, soccer, and tennis. I loved each and every one of these sports in a

Overcoming the fact that one day you will not be able to play your sport is one of the hardest things all athletes must one day go through. It is a fact of the game that one day your eligibility runs out or if you are one of the lucky few who play professionally, your body’s years of health do not last forever. Coaching just to be around the sport and spread the joy that sport gave you for so many years. My coaching philosophy relies extremely heavily on this information. I have always been a person who is passionate about the things I love because I do not believe in not putting your whole heart into something. The most critical component to success in whatever sport you love lies in honoring the game that so many before you loved and excelled at. Excelling and honoring the game means having respect for everyone involved with the sport. Giving respect to your coaches is something I learned from the beginning. Being respectful and having a positive attitude learned at a young age is something completely taken for granted until you have adults who can neither adapt nor be flexible when something does not go their way. Sport is a form of education in that it teaches you similar life lessons that will be useful for far longer than the amount of time that you spend actually playing it.

With the right influence, communication and skill development is the key to a valuable coach. Without my two outstanding high school coaches, I wouldn’t have the love for basketball and track the way I do today. They have taught me everything I needed to know for the present, along with tips for the future. Coach Lewis and Coach Kohler have done more for me than what I’ve ever deserved and I will never be able to pay them back for all their help and encouragement. But I hope they have understanding of how much of a change they can make on someone's life, someone's life like my

I have had many coaches throughout my life, some coaches have been good other not so good. My sports career started when I was three years old so I have had many different coaches coaches, my favorite coach I have ever had was my high school soccer coach. He is different from all the coaches I have had and he’s my favorite coach because of the relationship we built and because he believed in me from day one.

How many youth and high school coaches serve as a father figure to their players? How many mothers look to the coaches of their son’s football team as the last best hope to show their son what it means to become a man – a real man? More than we’ll ever know. Coaches teach us boys the lessons of life that very often they learn from no one else. Coaches have the kind of influence in our schools,

My dad had a passion for sports just like me. Also, he loves coaching because he gets more inside of while I’m playing. And he always takes off work to coach practices. I honestly love my dad being a coach. I am always on a team no matter what.