Musings of a Newbie Coach: Entry 1

This Spring sports season will include a few personal "firsts": my first paid coaching position after years of volunteering with my children's baseball, soccer and basketball teams, as well as my first assignment coaching at my school of employment, and to top it off, my first coaching this (Track & Field) particular sport. In an effort to mix-up my blog posts, I'm hoping to blog regularly about the ups-and-downs (hopefully more ups!) over the next two months of this new coaching experience... here we go!

In just one of a succession of recent pre-season faux paxs, yesterday I inadvertently mis-calendered what I thought was to be my first formal meeting with the other coaches of the Springs Modified Track and Field team. After spending roughly twenty minutes attempting to locate the "Training Room," only to find out the meeting was not this Wednesday, but next Wednesday.. DUH!

I made my way to my car a little embarrassed for bothering some of the phys ed teachers in my quest for the non-existent meeting, and worse, no more informed about just which events (not sprints or throwing events, anyway--already spoken for) I will be coaching or how I should begin to prepare for. Truth is, as I'm coaching at the modified (seventh and eighth grade) level, I've been given the impression that I shouldn't make it such a big deal out of it--the goal of the program is to hook kids by having fun and sharing some basics of the sport, which sounds very reasonable... and achievable.

I reckon I'm just a little nervous... and really looking forward to getting started!

Breathe in, breathe out… YOU AND I ARE ALIVE!