During this national obesity epidemic, it’s more important than ever for coaches to be excellent fitness role models for the young athletes under their stewardship. If kids don’t see this exhibited by the adult with a whistle around their neck, where else in society will they?
Look at successful men like Steve Wright at Marion High School or Don Montgomery at E&H College who, despite rigorous coaching and teaching schedules, can often be seen working out. They’re walking advertisements for the value of sports participation, and look like they could still play long after other adults have spent years on the couch. Every day, without saying a word, they show their players what a real sports champion looks like. Their talk of hard work, sacrifice and rebuilding from the ground up rings true in a way that no cartoon character ever could.
Let’s challenge our school systems to put the educational value back in kids’ sports experiences, stop obsessing over “winning” and “losing” and realize that the greatest victory occurs when a student develops a life-long love for sports participation and good heath that lasts long after graduation. The will be a winner by having a long, fulfilling life years after district and state championship trophies have been resigned to dusty display cases.
While we’re at it, let’s minimize the pressure outside interests exert. Let the players play and the coaches coach and perhaps we’d see an end to the seemingly endless revolving door of prep coaches needing to leave to “spend more time with their families” and less need of “rebuilding.”
Ned Johnson
Marion, Va.
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