My friend, Cindy Bledsoe, Director of Children’s Ministries at North Naples UMC in Naples, FL and previous CSO 
Regional Director wrote the following in answer to the question – What is your coaching legacy?
Think for a minute about a coach that impacted your life. What are your memories of that coach? Are they positive or negative? Most of us can remember a particular coach that either had an extremely positive or negative impact on us. Have you ever thought of how your players would describe you as a coach?
You have the privilege to train players and mold them into better athletes, but you also have the opportunity to mold their lives to some extent. I am often amazed at just how much power a coach has. They can make or brake a player and have a positive or negative influence on a player’s life for years to come.
Early on in my coaching career, I adopted a coaching philosophy that has had a tremendous impact on how I coach and interact with players. It is simple yet powerful.
“Coach the player as much as you coach the sport.”
As coaches, we can sometimes get caught up in coaching a set of skills, running a specific drill, or executing a particular game plan. If you’re anything like me, you can teach skills and run drills over and over and over. You have to remember though that you are coaching people. Spend as much time coaching the player as you do coaching the skill/drill/game plan. Invest in your players, build their confidence, encourage and challenge them. Spend as much time thinking about how you can develop your players as you do thinking about a plan or strategy to implement during the game.
Players will not remember your great plays or the skills and drills you taught as much as they will remember you for the impact you’ve had on their lives. What will your legacy be?
