Since our resubmission to international sport, we’ve had many excellent achievements in our South African sport. However, the problem is that while our athletes can achieve the pinnacle of excellence at times, they fail to be consistent in producing world-class performances event after event or season after season. We have won many international accolades, but we fall short in making year-on-year results consistently that match the best in the world.

You might now argue that there are factors that influence this outcome at the national and international level, and I, for one, would agree with you that we still have many challenges to overcome if we’re to be a consistent world-beater. This article, however, is not about the challenges we have at the top, of which there are many. No, this article looks at where our future sports stars get exposed to playing sport for the first time, and if they are getting the “best coaching,” they deserve to possibly make it to a level where athletes could earn a living from playing a sport that they love and are passionate about.

As a father of two-sport mad kids, who might or might not make it to the top in their chosen sport, I expect that the coaches who interact with them give them 100% of their effort to improve them as participants, players, and people.

I’m lucky, though, that most of the coaches who have influenced them so far have been just that, but on the other hand, I have observed so many other kids getting the wrong end of the deal.

As a coach, it is your responsibility to add value to the children you coach and to improve their sporting ability the best you can. It is also the school’s responsibility to set up a sporting program that caters to the excellent player and those who are still learning the game or skills that will make them competitive or enjoy the sport for a lifetime. It is not happening, though, and it is our responsibility as parents to ask our primary and high school sports coordinators and coaches the tough questions. Questions like; what are you doing to cater to all the kids in your school (even those who just want to have fun), and do you have qualified coaches working with our kids? Long gone is when schools could get away with a teacher coaching cricket, hockey, or rugby because they have played it before. Good players do not always make good coaches, and these days, most of the graduating teachers have no idea how even to play the sport, nonetheless coach it.

The responsibility that lies with the pre-school or primary school coaches is immense, as they sometimes play a pivotal role in either; getting kids to enjoy playing sport or put them off for life because of poor coaching skills, a bad attitude, or no skills level at all.

A coach can never leave their “A-game” at home because you can never forget the influence you will have. At times you are the only reference they will ever have of someone with good leadership, interpersonal qualities, and good behavior toward their teammates and opponents. Coaches need to be motivational and encouraging towards the kids they are coaching or managing. Losing your “cool” in practice or during a match can scar a kid for life in enjoying sport and having fun playing it.

Therefore, as parents, I would like to challenge ourselves to not settle for the poor standards of those who are and will still be coaching our kids because the harm caused by an ill prepared or unqualified coach is just too high a risk for our kids and them losing that passion for playing sport.

Wessel – SCG

“Improving Athletes Through Coaches”