Top Sports to Watch and Play: A Coach’s Perspective

Daily writing prompt

What are your favorite sports to watch and play?

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I grew up playing football from the time I could walk until I was 25 years old. I played peewee age 7-8, little league age 9-10, middle school age 11-13, high school and college. After college I played a few season of local post school what they call semi-pro football for 3 seasons until I was 25. At that point, the knees, ankles and shoulders were done for with contact and the beating they had taken growing up. I switched over to coaching when I was 21 years old and have not stopped since. 35 years later I am still coaching the sport that taught me so much. I have written several postings about football, faith and family as three of my favorite things. I have coached little league, middle school, high school and one year of college. Most of my coaching tenure has been as a high school coach.

I have served as an assistant coach, position coach, head coach, coordinator and other roles in football. My current role is assistant head coach and coordinator. I also have been a long time wrestling coach where I have accumulated hundreds of wins, various titles and championships along the way. Only been involved in that one for 24 years. I have also served as the head softball coach for 9 years at some point in my career. I would say that football is my favorite, but honestly I love coaching and watching wrestling events better. The battles that take place, the brotherhood, the competition, the excitement and the opportunity to be a solo and win or lose without a teammate helping you makes it my favorite. I swore I would retire several years back, but keep getting pulled back in.

My dad once told me, “find something you love and it will not feel like a job”. I found teaching and coaching and most days it is a great job. We win, we lose, we battle, we fight, we practice, we plan, we prepare, we execute, we don’t. All in all sports teaches us how to be a better human being. It teaches us how to overcome issues, injuries and hard times. It teaches us to be tough and not give up. It teaches us that you have to work hard, put time, energy and patience into all phases of life. Football and wrestling are my favorites for sure!

Coach B