“Why didn’t you box out?” “Why didn’t you run faster?” “why can’t you do things right the first time?” These questions are questions that I have heard my entire life. These are the degrading words that truly make me ask myself, ‘why am I still here, if I’m not wanted’? And for me these experiences have only happened with coaches, which brings me to ask the question-How far will a coach really go to get their team to the top? A lot apparently, now not every coach is like this, there are those significant few that see the game as it truly is, a sport to have fun and really learn what it means to be a team. But for others all they see is that prize at the end of the road and they will do anything to get that prize for themselves. Selfish much?

    One of the major aspects many coaches use to ‘motivate’ their team, is putting fear in their players and making them feel neglected. While this may seem like a reasonable tactic for one player, you get a completely different result from another. The feeling of neglect is one of the worst feelings a person can experience, no matter how hard a shell a person has. It has a way of getting to a person when someone flat out tells them all of their flaws and that they aren’t worth it.  

    Another thing I hate is how coaches have this singular mindset that winning is the only thing that matters and that if they don’t win, then it’s the end of the world. This was the main reason why I quit basketball, because instead of making fun and learning from my mistakes the main priorities, they chose winning over everything. I truly believe that coaches and mentors mean well, but if  they lead with  negative attitudes then that can only result to a negative outlook to everything for a student or player that does not learn that way.The beauty of all people is the fact that everybody is different, there are some that can take rough criticism very well, and then there are some like me that don’t take criticism lightly and would rather die than hear a coach scream at them all of the things that I did wrong whether they knew it or not.

   At the end of the day I just believe that there moments that need this kind of motivation, and then there are moments that don’t. And I strongly believe that the attitude a person leads is the line between a great coach and a really bad one. So if you’re at the point of breaking really ask yourself, is this really worth it, and if it’s not ,then I think it’s time to move on and find that thing that truly makes you smile.