A tribute to coaches

For six hours over two days this month I was with close to 200 coaches from all over the Philippines speaking on "Coaching: the Art and Science of Leading." The occasion was the Intensive Coaching Education (ICE) course of the Philippine Institute of Sports (Philsports). I was one of 16 speakers in the course that started on Sept. 12 and is scheduled to end on Oct. 11.

Among the speakers and their topics were: Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman William Ramirez (State and Direction of Philippine Sports); president of the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC), Jose S. Cojuangco Jr (The Nation’s Expectations of a Filipino Elite Coach); Dean Hercules Callanta of the College of Human Kinetics of the University of the Philippines (Analyzing Human Movements Within the Context of Improving Performance in Sports); Dr. Naira Orbeta of the Philippine Center for Sports Medicine (Developing Emotional Competence in Coaching); Atty. Emigdio S. Tanjuatco Jr., legal counsel, POC (Legal Issues Faced by Athletes and Coaches); and Dr. Aparicio Mequi, dean, Foundation University in Dumaguete and former PSC chairman (Workshop: Drafting of the Code of Ethical Standards of Filipino elite coaches).

I accepted the invitation since I thought that the Philsports was moving in the right direction by starting with empowering coaches through courses like the ICE. I had mentioned on many occasions, particularly when I was at PSC, that the first thing we have to do if we really want to develop sports and physical fitness in the country is to train coaches and to form a coaches’ network with the 300,000-strong physical education teachers as the core group of such a national set up.

Coaches are no different from teachers. Coaches and teachers cannot pass on to others what they don’t have. Coaches cannot be expected to empower others if they themselves are powerless. There is therefore no substitute for good coaches and teachers. They help shape us, who we are, what we know, what and how we think and what we believe we can do. There is obviously a need to upgrade the skills of coaches and teachers for, sad to say, many of them have also been victims of substandard education.

Another reason why I accepted the invitation was to highlight the fact that the principles of good coaching are basically the same principles required for leadership and management especially if one were to consider coaching as a management style.

With both these reasons in mind, I then prepared for the three-hour lecture (per session) using as a take off point the fascinating book by pastor and winning football coach Tom Mullins entitled "The Leadership Game." After personally interviewing eight national championship football coaches, Mullins reveals in his book that the principles that help a coach lead a football team to victory are the very same principles used by the most successful leaders of businesses, ministries, families and organizations. He coached football for 15 years and amassed 128 victories in both the high school and college levels.

Mullins says there are seven top principles of effective coaching (and management): 1) recruiting; 2) motivation; 3) momentum; 4) morale; 5) game planning; 6) game-day adjustments; and 7) celebration.

Before however discussing these seven principles, we must give way to the story of Art, an ex-coach who became one of the champions of term life insurance.

According to Mullins, Art never intended to go into the insurance business. Art’s dream was to be high school football coach and he followed it for seven years with great success, but his father’s premature death positioned him to rethink his direction. With some counsel from family, he entered the insurance business, part time at first, until he found his niche in term life. From there he carved out his place in the industry’s history by applying to his business approach the principles he learned from coaching.

Art explained that "coaching taught me the little things that made the difference — Every day in business for twenty years, every day, I thought about some experience I had in coaching. Burning desire — incredible work ethic, mental toughness, the right attitude; I learned all those kinds of things from coaching."

Art adds, "Reflecting back on my years in business, another thing I learned is that many bosses in the business world look for these outside, artificial things like how you look and the kind of degrees you’ve got. But coaches learn that it’s the inside things that make a difference. Coaches have a way of looking inside every person and seeing some good. They try to make you faster and stronger and tougher and make you feel good about yourself whether you’re a third-string player or a first-string player. Leaders have to understand that you get more out of people by praising them than you do by threatening them, because everybody wants to be somebody — Nobody really wants a boss; everybody wants a coach because coaches have a way of making people feel special."

Like in management, Mullins says that recruiting is the root system of one’s leadership. If your team is grounded with the hardy roots of top recruits, it can grow to the sky. On the other hand, if you’re just plugging bodies into positions, your roots will remain shallow and weak, stunting your team’s growth.

The ability to recruit top talent is fundamental for any successful team. I have seen this happen in the four years that I have been manager of the De La Salle University women’s volleyball team. The squad has won around 13 championships since 2003. The team won three straight championships in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines: 2003 to 2005. The 2004 title was won without the Lady Archers suffering a single defeat. Coach Ramil de Jesus and assistant coach Oliver Almadro deserve credit for the team’s strategic and principled recruitment practices.

More on recruitment and the six other principles.

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Calling all La Salle alumni. A golf tournament called "Golden Years of Brafe" will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at the west course of Wack Wack Golf Club for the benefit of the Foundation for Sharing Lasallian Education (FSLSE). FSLSE was set up to observe the 50th anniversary of Brother Rafael S. Donato, FSC, as a La Salle Brother. Tee off time is from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. A testimonial dinner will follow at 6:30 p.m., also at Wack Wack. Live music will be provided by GGBB, popular exponent of music of the 60s and the 70s. For inquiries, please call Ting Yupangco (536 5215/17 or 0917 536 5215; email: [email protected]).