Learning To Teach (Part 5): Becoming A Coach

Coaching was never something that I thought would be for me. I never thought of myself in my younger years as someone who would strive to help others improve, but also never ruled it out of the equation. My main fear was to be put into a setting that would take me out of my comfort zone and speak publicly. Sure I had a lot of class clown moments in grade school, but that was on a smaller scale. It’s funny to think of the amount of growth it took to get from an uncomfortable, anxiety driven kid to the kind of person that is in a teaching/coaching position in all aspects of life.

Similar to when I finally found the spark that ignited my love of reading books, I found that through pursuit of passion I could find the desire to teach. There was never the inability to read that stopped me from picking up a book, but the lack of want to read a book. I could not figure out why my focus was lacking until one day I found something that I really wanted to read about: Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. By discovering that with the proper material to keep my attention, I suddenly opened a new set of doors to expand my horizons. I no longer felt trapped within my own limitations of belief that I could not do something, I finely found the key that had been supposedly missing all those years.

Now it might sound a little much to say reading a book about jiu jitsu changed the way that I think in such a drastic way, yet deep down I feel like that is exactly what triggered the change. From my own limitations I set in my mind, I had become the type of person that I thought I was. In order to grow out of that mindset, I had to adopt a new one and continue to expand and live by it. I had to develop a new lifestyle; one of continuous improvement, self-respect, and try to help others achieve what I had fortunately conquered (in time). This simple experience made a huge impact and the seed of teaching began to grow.

Eventually I had the opportunity to begin teaching classes at my jiu jitsu gym. It started as covering a class or two and eventually filling-in for instructors who had time off due to various reasons. Each time I had the opportunity, I began to see the wonder of teaching. The idea of helping others learn and actually seeing their progress over time was a feeling beyond words. It truly warmed my heart. Yet I still felt a lack of confidence when trying to sit on the sidelines to help them out during a competition. What was the difference here, and why was it harder for me to speak up with the right words? Was I not a good enough teacher yet? Maybe I still lacked knowledge and it translated to fear of saying the wrong thing. Through constant analysis I came to a conclusion that there is a difference between a teacher and a coach.

The two definitions that I had come with were that: A teacher helps individuals learn new information and process old information externally, and a coach helps an individual on an internal level by aiding them break through their own limitations that they set in their own mind. It was exactly what I had experienced with the books! In order to be a good coach, I had to understand an individual on a deeper level. There was a need to understand what limitations they set for themselves and figure out how to assist them to newer heights. Sometimes the biggest roadblocks that someone has to overcome are not a specific position or submission, but a wall of fear that they need help to overcome. To be a coach is to be a positive influence, not just a preacher.

In that competition standpoint I did not need to know exactly how to fix the situation they were in; they already knew how to do that. They needed the bird’s eye view and a conceptual based approach on how to maximize their efficiency with the cards that they were dealt. A relationship of trust is built from the coach and individual being coached, that goes beyond just telling them how to do a move. By giving your all, they can begin to give their all.

Like I had mentioned before, it is amazing to look back and see how far I’ve come as a teacher and coach. The person I once was has awakened by a simple opening of the right book. Ironically it was a jiu jitsu book, but life can be ironic. This is more of a recollection of my own thoughts of my journey of learning how to teach and adopting the coach’s mindset. I am excited to see how my perception of a coach will evolve overtime, as well as my teaching style. Martial Arts is a never-ending journey, and it just goes to show that no matter what you do in like, even if it is as small as opening up a book, big things can alter your life in a tremendous way. Always be open to the idea of something new.