Athletes are not the only ones who need coaches.
Sometimes parents need coaches too.
However, athletes and parents need two different types of coaches.
The word “coach” is used a lot these days. And it actually has a couple of meanings. Do you know these two different kinds of coaches?
The most common meaning of coach is the one that affects you as a sports parent: a person who trains an athlete or a team of athletes. This type of coach directs the team, strategizes the game plan, and teaches character and discipline.
This is the coach that you see all the time in youth sports; it’s the coach I’m married to who coached for 29 years; it’s the coaches who worked with my kids during 22 years of being a sports mom.
The second type of coach often has a description attached to it: nutritional coach, fitness coach, parenting coach, marriage coach–the possibilities are endless. These type of coaches are people who advise clients on how to solve problems and reach goals in any given area.
In this second category of coaches are a unique group who call themselves life coaches. Life coaches can be described as part consultant, part motivational speaker, part therapist and part rent-a-friend. They work with people to help them define and achieve their goals — career, personal, or most often, both.
Life coaches have the ability to view things objectively with a broader perspective and thus can shed new light on a client’s situation. And they do this by asking a lot of questions to help the client process and think out loud.
- They can act as sounding boards when someone is facing a tough decision.
- They can help sharpen skills, and motivate.
- They can help you get unstuck when you feeling you’re not progressing in an area.
- They can help you face challenges and fears.
- They can help you figure out specific things like time management, relational issues, and career problems.
I’m a certified life coach who’s been trained to listen well and ask questions that will help my clients find answers to their problems. I love to help parents and sports coaches work through the challenges they face in youth sports.
Quite honestly, I think everyone could benefit from some coaching every now and then in their lives. Even life coaches! As a life coach, I’m being coached and it has been a very impactful experience for me, giving me direction in areas that I’m struggling and helping me to take some important steps forward.
Listen to what one mom said recently about her coaching experience with me:
Before I started working with Janis, my mind felt like several yarn strings mangled together. I didn’t know where one string started or ended and how to untie them. Having worked with her for a few months, I didn’t turn a 180 in my life but she did work with me to create my own tools to unravel things little by little. During the process, I realized that I need to have less strings to have balance in my life by creating boundaries and margins for myself. I’m a work in progress but I do feel that, at least, I have the tools to use to work on myself.
I’m most definitely not a miracle worker, but I can help you figure out a way to see through the challenge you are facing.
Is your child frustrating you with a lack of motivation?
Are you feeling angry at a coach who isn’t doing the job you think he should?
Do you feel stretched too thin and like you don’t have enough time in the day?
Are you having problems in your relationship with your child?
These are just a few of the things I can coach you through. For 7 years now I’ve been giving you tips about how to give your child a positive youth sports experience. And while that has been valuable for many of you, I believe that coaching you will go well beyond tip-giving and help you to discover insights about yourself as well as tools to use to face any situation you may face.
Here’s one more comment about how life coaching has helped someone:
The best part for me is having someone in my corner at all times, who will never judge me and really SEE me & my highest self especially on the days I can’t! Such a fantastic gift!
If you want to identify and change those areas of your life which you find unfulfilling or unsatisfactory, then find yourself a life coach.
I’d love to help; email me at sportsparents@rcfamilies.com and let’s talk.