Have any of you coached without athletic ability?

[Xist]

School has been in session for three weeks and they have asked twice for someone to coach. I played little league and soccer when I was a kid. I was never any good at either. While my sisters were on the swim team, I had swim lessons for years. I swam a couple of summers in college and never seemed to get better.

I am saying I am not a good candidate to volunteer as coach, but if nobody steps up, they need to cancel the season. I do not follow any sports, either, so the kids would know more than I do.

However, I do have experience with "Hustle, hustle, hustle! Hurry up! Move it!" although they were yelling at me, I was not yelling at subordinates.

All it takes for other teams to win by default is for good men to not become poor coaches.

Also, in this small town, if the kids do not have something to do, they are more likely to get in trouble.

Have any of you coached without experience? It would make more sense for a father to step up, but that may not happen. I think they also pay $500 for the six hundred hours I would spend.

Something like that.

[Fat Charlie]

I don't step up and coach because my wife and I have to bust our butts to get the kids to their respective practices and can't get fancy by making it matter which parent gets to which practice as well.

That said, coaches don't need to be able to outplay the players, they need to understand the game and keep the larger picture in mind. That's a totally different skill set than running fast or throwing accurately, and I'll bet there's a manual for basics to help you know what you're trying to accomplish.

[redpoint5]

A cancelled season is losing by default, so you can't do any worse than that.

That said, coach if you think you'd enjoy it and the kids will get something good out of the experience. Otherwise, don't feel like the season is cancelled just because you didn't want to coach. Others have the opportunity to step up too, so there is no blame that should fall on you.

As an aside, half of my coaches were very overweight men that never moved faster than a brisk walk.

Also, I just watched Moneyball for the first time last night. Find the hidden value nobody else sees by employing sabermetrics. :P

[Fat Charlie]

My daughter's soccer coach over the last few years was able to correctly identify a soccer ball 2 out of 3 times. But she's a control freak who had to be over-involved in her daughter's life.

It worked well. The kids were moderately athletic, only one or two couch potatoes a year. They figured out soccer at the same pace as the other teams. Yes, coaching from someone who understood the game could have sped it up, but they were not at a competitive disadvantage from having a coach that was motivated but ignorant.