Member-only story
The Dad Coach
How to properly coach your children.
When I first dated my ex-wife she played intramural basketball and asked me to coach and I told her no. She wondered why and I told her it was simple. I can be your boyfriend and I can be your coach but I can’t do both.
I was partially joking but like all jokes, it did come from a place of truth. I understood there was a vast difference between regular Daniel and Coach Clark.
The characteristics that make a good coach are the same characteristics that make a lousy boyfriend, husband, or father. (Coaches can be any gender I’m using the male gender because I’m speaking about my own experience)
I have found that many of the characteristics that made me a great basketball, baseball, and football player were also the reasons I had trouble socially. There is always an opportunity cost for everything we choose to do. Training to become the best athlete specifically a basketball player does also have its opportunity cost.
So as a Dad and having my child decide he wants to be the best basketball player he can be, how do I coach him? What's the best way to be the best coach I can be without being a worse Dad?
