It feels good to win, and it feels rotten to lose, but coaching is about
much more than taking a trophy. It's about building relationships with your
players and your colleagues. It's about encouraging a love of the game and
helping players succeed gracefully. Winning is just the icing on the cake.
For Ross Tomlinson, who used to coach university men's basketball, the
climax of coaching comes long before the final game. "It's all the work along
the way," he says. "When I was coaching at the final game...in 1991, I sat
down and thought, 'This is the culmination of where I wanted to go and now
that I'm here it's not everything I thought it would be.'"
When it comes to losing a game, Tomlinson insists on keeping a positive
attitude. Sometimes this means telling his team and fellow coaches to buck
up and focus on what's ahead.
He remembers a particular game that really sucked the life out of his players.
"We dressed nine players and only six of them were healthy. In the locker
room, everyone's head was down and the guy I coached with was pretty upset
with the way we played, and he went after them a little bit.
"I just said to them, 'Hey, get your heads up. We've got a game tomorrow
and you've got to be prepared. You can't just sit here and sulk and feel sorry
for yourself....You've got to be thankful that we have another opportunity
and you've got to get your head into what's going to happen tomorrow,'"
says Tomlinson.
Tomlinson says there are two reasons why you'd want to coach. "You like
working with kids and adults, and you like basketball. You're working with
people and working to build [a] team. And all the dynamics that go into it
are really positive. They're a real extension of a person's life," says Tomlinson.
When Shelley Jarrard was first asked if she'd consider coaching, the idea
had never even crossed her mind. At the time, she was a basketball player
and she simply hadn't pictured herself shouting from the sidelines.
It wasn't until college that Jarrard truly realized women could coach the
game. "Because, actually, I'd never had female coaches until I got to college.
There, we had assistant women coaches. I was actually asked, 'Do you want
to be a coach?' I thought, 'Oh well, I've never really thought about it,'"
she remembers.
In the short period of time since then, things have changed. According
to Jarrard, women are entering the field more and more often. "There are a
lot more younger women that are getting into coaching. That's moving up and
that's great," she says.
Jarrard's philosophy on competitive basketball is much the same as Tomlinson's.
For her, the essence of the game lies in building team relationships and achieving
personal goals.
"I think just watching a player progress that perhaps you've worked with
individually and seeing those things, just seeing them grow as a player during
the years. You've helped them, even in camps working with kids just for a
short time, like a week, and seeing them learn something is a good feeling."
After a day's hard work, Jarrard can honestly say that she loves what she
does.
"I really like working with this age group -- I'm at the university level.
And I think I'm really happy in my job. I like what I do. I don't think a
lot of people can say that and it's really neat to know that I care about
all the players and I like the people that I'm working with. That's kind of
why I'm in it.
"It's something that I've done a lot and feel secure about. I've still
got a lot to learn -- and when I'm not happy doing it anymore, then I won't,"
says Jarrard.