Still Need Ya, Coach

(Contributed by Mitch Greene)

I participated in a variety of sports growing up. I was a diver, a baseball player, and a tennis player. The one thing all of these sports had in common was a coach. Unfortunately, as I got older, I became less coachable, and I always tended to butt heads with them. I understood the purpose of a coach, but I just didn’t feel like any made much of a difference with me. I thought for a while that I would be better off on my own.  

Most recently, I’ve been enjoying a new sport – rock climbing.   One thing I love about this sport is that I am my own coach. I am responsible for improving and producing results. Recently, I was working on an indoor climb which was scheduled to be set up on the wall for 5 weeks. After that, it’s taken down and replaced by a new climbing set. I could not get through this climb no matter how hard I trained and practiced. The more and more I tried it, the more frustrated and discouraged I became. It seemed as if this climb was taunting me.

Before I knew it, it was the last day to be able to do the climb. It was 9 pm, and the gym was closing an hour later. I gave it one last try, and I got so unbelievably close but still fell. While I was packing up my bag, another climber walked into the room. He was the kind of guy that brightened the mood in whatever room he was in. He could make anyone smile, and he was always so gentle, accepting, and careful with the way he communicated.

Not that night.

He asked me if I got the climb, and I expected him to console me when I told him I hadn’t. But that was not on his agenda. He looked me in the eyes and said, “Get back on the wall, now. You’re not giving up that easily. Get back on the wall.”

Something clicked in me. He awoke the part of me that wanted nothing more than to top out the climb. And somehow at 9:40 pm, 20 minutes before the gym closed, I got the climb. Why? He got out of me what I could never get out of me.

I learned that it doesn’t matter where we are, who we are, or how knowledgeable or skilled we are. We all need a coach.

Be ready to try, willing to learn, and eager to say, “Put me in, coach.”