Consider Coaching

from Gallup Journey Magazine - April 2023

The Ancient Way Café

By Lynn Isaacson

Many years (and dozens of pounds) ago, I refereed a true boatload of recreational and high school soccer matches. At the time, attendance at a preseason high school rules clinic was mandatory. Although it was repetitive, every rule clinic included a presentation by an NMAA official on the benefits of extra-curricular activities for high school students. We were informed that those who participated in high school activities had GPAs that were almost a full point higher than their non-participant peers. Their referral to discipline was almost non-existent. They graduated at a much higher rate. Their attendance rates did not even compare to the attendance rates of non-participants. I think you get the point. NMAA made it abundantly clear that by refereeing, we were providing a huge benefit to a significant number of young people.

But there is never a need for referees unless others step up to the plate to coach. And as much as I enjoyed my time as a referee, I enjoyed my time as a coach as much, or more. I was lucky; I started my coaching career (in 1989), when parents were willing to step up and help, regardless of their experience or abilities. I vividly remember when the first team Craig Pirlot and I coached, the Sunwest Bank Amigos U-10 Gallup Soccer League team, took the field at one of the Ford Canyon Park fields. We had coached for all of two weeks, and thought we were ready to pace the sidelines and exhort our team to victory. Then the referee came up and asked us to put our team into their positions. I looked at Craig. He looked at me. We both realized we were clueless. Neither of us had ever played soccer before, never even gone to a soccer match. So, this idea of positions was pretty foreign to both of us. All we knew was that we needed a goalkeeper, so we assigned one player to that position and told everyone else to have fun. You may be surprised to read this, but we had a perfect season that year: the Amigos went 0-9 (we undoubtedly would have gone 0-10, but we had a weather cancellation the last match of the season).

Craig and I went on to coach together for another 14 years. We attended every coaching clinic we could sign up for. We ultimately obtained our national coaching licenses and ended up coaching our daughters to a thirdplace finish at the New Mexico Open Cup. That team was the culmination of a tremendous amount of hard work by the players, and Craig and I always marveled at their commitment. We practiced every Saturday afternoon and every Sunday evening for two-and-a-half hours (we did take off for Christmas weekend and Easter Sunday). The team attendance rate at practice exceeded 90% over the course of the year. I cannot imagine a better statistic to prove that 17 girls found that the time they spent in practice was a price they were willing to pay to get better.

I took a break from coaching after my youngest son graduated from high school. But then I came back out of retirement several years ago to put in a few more years on the sidelines helping that same youngest son with his son, my grandson. It was definitely a bit harder on the knees and ankles, but still well worth the time. As I look back from this vantage point (i.e., knowing I have laced up the “boots” for the last time and there will be no more swan songs), I realize that coaching gave me much more than I ever gave it. It allowed me quality time with all three of my kids. It allowed me to develop a relationship with, and I believe have an impact on, hundreds of their classmates. In fact, one of my former players, with whom I now interact on a professional basis, still calls me “Coach.” He and I would never have had that relationship if I had not decided to just take my kids to soccer practice, come back to pick them up when practice was over, and watch a game or two. It was worth the time. It was worth the energy. It was worth it. My church believes that Christians are called to certain vocations. And I think one of the highest vocations a parent can have is that of coach and mentor, not only to their own children, but to other children as well. I think kids need a positive mentor now more than ever, and there are few places as rewarding to mentor a child as on the fields of friendly strife. Kids learn a lot about life, and themselves, when they have to come out of their comfort zones (or, stated differently, put down their devices) and step onto an athletic field. And that is never possible if everyone takes a passive “someone else’s parent will to it” role. Step up, for your kids, and for yourself. I can tell you from experience---you will never regret it.

The first team to travel out of Gallup to play soccer (it was a tournament in Farmington in either 1989 or 1990).