The Teacher-Coach 643.3
While helping to draft the CHARACTER COUNTS! Arizona Sports Summit Accord in 1999 – a declaration of ethical principles for youth and collegiate sports – John Wooden, one of the greatest coaches of all time, inserted language that declared “a coach is, first and foremost, a teacher.”
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This anchor concept has greatly influenced our Pursuing Victory With Honor sportsmanship campaign and spawned the term “teacher-coach.”
Although Coach Wooden was an extraordinary basketball skill-builder and strategist as well as an intense and passionate competitor who always wanted to win, his teaching domain went beyond athletics. He never measured the success of his coaching in terms of wins or championships. He understood that his unique relationship with his student-athletes gave him both the power and responsibility to shape their attitudes about honor, integrity, and fair play.
His highest goal was to bring out and enhance the best in the young men who played for him. Thus, he continually sought to instill in them a rich array of values and virtues associated with good character.
Today’s sports environment is so preoccupied with winning that teacher-coaches like Wooden seem to be a breed on its way to extinction. Let’s face it. Collegiate coaches are paid huge sums of money, and it’s not because they’re superb educators or character builders.
Millions of youngsters play sports. Think how much better they and society would be if they’re lucky enough to play for a teacher-coach. We shouldn’t settle for anything less.
This is Michael Josephson reminding you that character counts.
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Comments
Many teachers have to coach us because if they don't, they won't educate us. Some teachers don't care about the students. They just wait for their next pay check to come in. Some teachers care and make it easy for the students to escape. This one teacher in my school isn't mean, he is nice. All the teachers make fun of him, even the students. Even when he tries to act tough on the kids, all the students laugh at him. I would tell him if he wants to act tough, he has to get the person who disturbs the class because he or she may be the problem to the class. All the teachers have to be strict with the students. Since I'm at 7th grade, 3 out of 5 teachers are strict and all the students are all quiet but the rest of them are noisy. So the teachers are our coaches at school.
Posted by: Gabriel Benitez | November 3, 2009 6:01 PM
Yes, Coach Wooden should be an example to us all...after all, as parents, we too are teachers. Thank you.
Posted by: mama chang | November 3, 2009 7:41 PM