Question and essay: What is the hardest thing about coaching

ASCAOnline - Your Coaching Resource 'Unrealized potential,' he wrote, 'is painful to watch.'

Yes, it is.

One of the worst things in sports and coaching is to live with false hope. But, that isn't 'hard' to do if you choose not to do it.

Balance matters greatly.

One of the hardest parts of coaching is to tell your charge that it is time to leave. When the goal and the process necessary to reach that goal are not able to be delivered in the local setting, then honesty is necessary.

It is very hard to uproot. It is perhaps the hardest part of growing up. It sucks when one needs to be replanted. It is ugly when you always need to re-plant.

To often in Pittsburgh we need to tell our talented youth the cold, hard truth. Often, those with ambitions, talents and drive need to be told that they can't get to where they want to go by staying here.

Western PA efforts are often invested into systems and assembly lines that are fine tuned for low-quality outputs. We have good production capacity for rinky-dink experiences. We often fail to deliver the high-quality opportunities, and don't even care.

Is it possible to coach and "have it all" as the saying goes? Let's face it, Keith Hammonds continues, "leadership [in a competitive environment] requires commitment, passion, and to be blunt, a lot of time (p.3)." Needless to say, coaching is leadership; and coaching certainly does require "commitment, passion, and ... a lot of time."

Heavy.

The hardest thing about coaching," writes Ira "is stepping aside and from the sidelines watching others do it.