Youth Sports Is Hurting Business
As many people know, I've been coaching boy's volleyball on and off for many many years. I have been amazed in the past few years of what is actually occurring in our youth sports.
I wrote this article because I think it speaks directly to coaching in the corporate workplace. Let me make my point with a little obnoxious, Irish humor. Can you imagine a parent telling their child,
"Son, I want you to get into work today, and if you can trample over your coworkers to get that promotion that's okay! If anything, your mom and I will be very proud of you!"
Now, you must think I'm crazy but let's think about that for a second. Youth sports has now become entrenched in our society, with clubs or AAU, fostering a dream of both parents and kids for athletic scholarships. The statistics reveal this is not a likely situation for most families.
We talk about engagement in the workplace all the time. The definition I use most frequently is: Working together for the betterment of the organization using discretionary effort by going above and beyond the call of duty. How can a kid whose parents have pitted them against their own friends and teammates because it's all about them mentally even come to a place where they could even think this way?
Enough is enough! Coaches in youth sports and in the business world are invaluable. I share this not because it's what I do because I also value my own business coach, Scott Rasmussen. He challenges me, he praises me, he shares with me, etc. A coach is a person who invests in other people!
A coach is not a lame-duck waiting for parents to unload their individualistic perceptions of what should be done to position their child to have an advantage.
Jeff Weiner from LinkedIn, who has guided the company to incredible growth literally says he sets aside roughly 40% of his time to coach people. Look at the results! Can you imagine Jeff's reaction if every one of his employees said who cares about the company or the team turned to him and said, "Jeff what about me?"
Loss Control Director at West Bend Insurance Company
7 年I agree with Monica. My two older children have played AAU sports since their youth. They have made life long friendships with coaches and players (from their own team and others). Sports have taught them hard work, dedication, dealing with success and failure and the team work that it takes to succeed in life and the professional work environment. Sports have also been a great deterent from drugs and alcohol. Just like in the working world, if your not happy with your sporting experience than you need to change teams.
Senior Product Manager at Guardant Health
7 年So true! As I watch my daughters basketball team play, a group a very skilled and talented girls. They once were a great team and suddenly have been losing. As we endured each loss I would just watch and finally it dawned on me, they all want to be the hero. As these girls get older they somehow learned the horrible trait of being the one man team! I watched other teams beat us and finally during one game, the light bulb went on, the girls on the other time played well together and hey passed the ball to tire us out. The took advantage of their open players and it didn't matter who made the shot. What mattered was that the shot was made and they scored . They also used the lack of team work to their advantage. Very hard lesson to learn! Great article !
M3 Insurance | Risk Management & Insurance | School Safety | Specializing in Schools & Municipalities
7 年I'm sorry this is your experience. The kids and parents from my son's teams emphasize teamwork and supporting their teammates. In team sports, the team is only as good as the players play together. The kid who hits the double needs someone behind him to hit the ball so he can score.
Procurement and Contract | Turnaround and Plant Change (TAPC) | MBA | Chartered Member CILT (UK) | MBOT Panel Accreditation and Technologist Assessor | HRD Corp-TTT Certified Trainer |
7 年Thanks for sharing Tim!
OPEN TO WORK Customer Success Leader ? Customer Engagement & Retention | Account Management & Growth | Sales | Voice of the Customer | Project & Program Management | Account & Contract Renewals
7 年The coaching process is beneficially for many students - not just athletes. ??