I think the most important thing when you’re doing a sport or just learning in general is relationship to the teacher/coach. They are the one who should motivate and support you the most. But there is a chance that you might not get along with your coach and unfortunately it can affect your attitude about the sportier task. But you can’t forget that maybe you don’t have a problem with the whole thing, you just have to find another person who you feel better with and who can help you develop. 

Now I want to share my two different experiences with a really good and a not so good coach and I hope my experience can help highlight how important the teachers role is. 

As you might already know I played volleyball for five years and those years were my best experience in doing a sport and that’s all because my coach and the other players. I was 10 years old when I started it and first I didn’t want to. My parents said that I should start to do a sport because I liked to move and they said it’s important to do something more often. First I said no and now I don’t really remember the reason I had for refusing. But they convinced me to at least try it and if I don’t like it I can stop and leave it. So i started. Our coach was a professional player in the Hungarian first division. I was a bit weak and also a small kid so in the first weeks it hurt when I hit the ball because sometimes you have to hit it really hard to sent it over to the other side. Especially when you open a new play round. But she taught us that sometimes (most of the times) you have to use technical moves instead of hitting hard. I started to enjoy the sport so I wanted to continue. As time went by I felt that I can share everything with my coach, if I had a bad day I could talk with her, she knew all of us so well and let us know her well too so we didn’t feel uncomfortable talking to each other. And it’s affected our motivation to go on the trainings and play better as a team and as individuals too. 

But as I said I’ve had bad experiences with a coach too. Now I have to mention that she wasn’t really a bad one, nothing serious happened it could be much worse. It was just not what I wanted and what I needed. So after I finished playing volleyball I started to go on wall climbing trainings just all by myself, just as a hobby. But I started to really enjoy it and became more interested in the sport and in the whole mountain climbing thing. I had a really good coach but he left for a new job so I had to find a new one. So I decided to find a trainer who can help me doing it in at a more serious and professional level. The new one was a kind young girl but she just recovered from a surf accident and got back to the training one month ago before she started to train me. So from the very beginning she just trained herself to get back her condition and barely trained me. She just created a route for me what I had to climb while she can climb too and asked me to tell her when I finished. Because I was left alone of course I didn’t learn too much techniques from her. After one month I finally realized that it’s not okay and I should leave it. I continued wall climbing but I lost a lot of motivation and after some months training myself I gave up the goal that I can do it professionally. Of course I still had the choice to look after another coach and don’t give up but unfortunately I can lost my motivation easily. Today I regret not trying to find someone else to help me. 

So if you’re in a similar situation and you still love the sport, don’t give up and find someone who can give your their maximum. As long as you have someone who cares about you and puts your wellbeing first, the rest usually falls into place. 

Comment below what you think makes a good coach!

Next week we will talk more about what signifies a good teacher. Then we will look at I from a more professional viewpoint and try to learn from the absolut best.

Until next time! 

// Stay safe, Emoke