Beyond the Scoreboard: How Great Coaches Inspire Growth

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This month’s Storyteller is quite timely considering these major sporting events happening around the country that feature coaching on a worldwide level:

• 2026 FIFA World Cup

• College World Series

• PGA Golf

• Major League Baseball

• Women's National Basketball Association

• Grass-court tennis tournaments leading into Wimbledon and the U.S. Open

For many families, however, the most exciting events over the next six weeks are the Little League district, state, and regional tournaments that lead to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, the birthplace of Little League Baseball.

The Art of the Mentor

Coaching is an art. Observing coaches and mentors is almost as engaging as watching the performances unfold, in any endeavor. A great coach is not necessarily the one who knows the most, wins the most games, or gives the best speeches. The perfect coach is someone who consistently helps people become better than they believed they could be. I have so many mentors who believed in me and taught me to believe in myself, and I have learned to do the same for those around me.

As I finish up the last week in my career as a full time independent school administrator, I turn and look forward to a new career in coaching, consulting, and writing. Coaching leaders is something I have experience with, but even better than this are the coaching mentors I have learned from over the years. From the first Head of School I worked under, to the Assistant Head of School who has stepped into my place to lead at my current school, I have been blessed to work side by side with some brilliant coaches and mentors throughout my career.

The Playbook for Growth

As both an educational leader and as a parent, I have also witnessed faculty who excel at guiding our children to reach their full potential and build on their strengths. I once witnessed athletic coaching that was so good, it transformed a young middle school student almost overnight. The young man was my son. After school each day, he busied himself waiting for me to finish work by watching the high school pole vaulting team practice. After, he would help them carry the mats to put them away. One day he poked his head in my office asking if he could try pole vaulting. The coach invited him to try, and he soon became a talented pole vaulter. This coach was a young man who understood that the primary goal was not just producing elite vaulters, though he did this consistently, but rather, it was developing confident, disciplined, and courageous young people. He knew that safety comes first, learning comes second, and performance follows naturally.

What my son gained most noticeably from this coach was confidence. It all started one Saturday morning. Our middle school had a track team, but we didn’t compete in pole vaulting. His coach invited him to enter a middle school meet as the only vaulting entry for our school. The coach met us as we arrived at the arena and accompanied our son to the vaulting pit. There were students representing a whole host of schools, and our son. The coach quickly assessed that our son was more advanced than the other competitors. He instructed him to go to the judge and let him know that he would not enter the competition until it got to a height much higher than the opening height. I think I saw him physically gulp, but he did it.

By the time they got to the height he entered at, there were only a handful of vaulters left. His form and level of confidence was far beyond that of the others. Members of his team began drifting over to watch him compete, and he easily won his event that day. He earned 10 points for his team, and as we left the stadium, his teammates stood up and cheered for him. We watched as he walked a little taller, with his courage meter measuring quite a bit higher.

He went on to pursue pole vaulting throughout his middle and high school experience. He and his coach became a unified team who celebrated mastering each skill in this highly technical sport. Beyond just clearing higher heights, they measured success by progress, confidence, and effort.

On my son’s final high school meet, the State Championship, he was vaulting at the peak of his career when he pulled his hamstring mid-takeoff. He had to be helped out of the pit that day, and was devastated to not finish. He later learned that even with his withdrawal from the competition, he earned 6th place in State.

His coach made one more play that cemented the win for my son. On the door of his classroom the next school day, he posted a notice for all to see about the courage and character our son showed at the State meet, and how great was his mastery of pole vaulting.

It is many years later, and my son may not remember every height he cleared, but he will always remember the coach who believed in him before he believed in himself, who insisted on doing things the right way, who celebrated effort as much as achievement, and who taught him that the highest bar he would ever clear is the one he placed in his own mind.

A New Season of Leadership

As I wrote in this Storyteller’s opening above, coaching is an art at which I hope to excel. I have so many wonderful mentors. Each of them sees the person they are coaching as an individual. Some are fearless, some are technically raw, others are naturally gifted but hesitant, some need encouragement to take risks, and others need to learn patience to slow down and master the fundamentals. The coach is the one to adjust instruction to meet every performer where they are. It is a glorious season for me to be coaching as there are great examples on display worldwide right now.