{"id":18535,"date":"2019-05-14T13:19:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-14T21:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?post_type=blog&#038;p=18535"},"modified":"2023-09-29T11:30:13","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T18:30:13","slug":"high-school-coaches-wear-many-hats-to-make-an-impact","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/high-school-coaches-wear-many-hats-to-make-an-impact\/","title":{"rendered":"High School Coaches Wear Many Hats to Make an Impact"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Katrina Schwartz<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Driving kids home from practice, taking them to visit colleges, running and lifting weights with them out of season, answering the phone in the middle of the night when something has gone wrong &#8212; these are just a few of the many roles sports coaches take on for their players. The player\/coach relationship can be special, as seen in the film <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/documentaries\/wrestle\/\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wrestle<\/span><\/i><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, it can be a chance for young people to connect with a mentor who knows them individually and pushes them through their struggles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s a different relationship,\u201d said <strong>Stuart Kohn, a teacher and <\/strong><\/span><strong>rugby coach at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.icefps.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Inner City Education Foundation (ICEF)<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, one of the first charter school networks in Los Angeles. \u201c[Students are] willing to give more of themselves. So then you see the kids in a more vulnerable state. They open up more.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Kohn played professional rugby internationally for 13 years before he started teaching English in South Central Los Angeles. As an educator, he wanted to share his passion for the sport with his students. He knew many of them wouldn\u2019t be familiar with rugby, but in some ways that makes playing it all the more powerful because it\u2019s just another new, scary thing they\u2019re being asked to push through.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\"><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ProcterGamble?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ProcterGamble<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Herbalife?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Herbalife<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/tide?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@tide<\/a> etc, our <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/innercity?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#innercity<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/rugby?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#rugby<\/a> team is leaving for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Fiji?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Fiji<\/a> soon. How about joining us with your products?! Thx \ud83c\udfc9\ud83d\udcda\ud83d\ude42 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6IBUkmGbQO\">pic.twitter.com\/6IBUkmGbQO<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; ICEF Public Schools (@ICEFschools) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ICEFschools\/status\/840020337886556160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 10, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cTo break that cycle they have to do something they never thought they would do,\u201d Kohn said. He sees rugby as a novel challenge that doesn\u2019t fit into the world students see around them. They probably don\u2019t know many other rugby players, just like they may not know many people who have gone to college. When they start taking on seemingly impossible tasks it opens up their worlds, Kohn said.<pullquote class='left'> Kohn\u2019s focus is on creating a second family for the kids he coaches. No one gets cut and everyone gets to play.<\/pullquote><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt takes a lot of courage to do what they\u2019re doing, like it takes a lot of courage to go away to college or interview for something you\u2019re not sure you\u2019re going to get,\u201d Kohn said. While his rugby program is competitive, sending some players to play pro both in the U.S and internationally, Kohn\u2019s focus is on creating a second family for the kids he coaches. No one gets cut and everyone gets to play.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the Aspen Institute\u2019s <\/span><strong>State of Play report<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, more than half of kids between six and 12-years-old participated in at least one sport in 2017. And the percentage of inactive children has been decreasing over the past three years, now at 17 percent. While it\u2019s a good thing that inactivity overall is down, the increased activity is largely among kids from more affluent families. Children whose families make less than $49,000 per year are <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">playing fewer sports<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. This may be because of higher fees associated with youth sports.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That means that the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">poorest kids in the U.S. are getting the least access <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to sometimes life-changing relationships with mentors and teammates. And, as Linda Flanagan points out in her MindShift article \u201c<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How Effective Sports Coaches Help Students Feel Understood at School<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d sports involve a lot of emotion. And where there is emotion, indelible memories are formed:<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cUnlike in the high school classroom, where learning is often abstract, students playing sports are carrying out physical activity in physical space, often in the company of others. The learning is direct and clear. And the interactions with teammates often elicit powerful emotional responses at a time when the adolescent brain is highly susceptible to social cues and hierarchies.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Great coaches<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> acknowledge this privileged position, and many are committed to using their power to help players build character. That\u2019s why organizations like <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/bawsi.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bay Area Women\u2019s Sports Initiative<\/a><\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (BAWSI) get young kids involved early. The elementary school girls they work with start in second grade and finish the program in fifth grade. Over the course of two 8-week sessions, they learn foundational athletic skills, get used to physical activity, and focus on healthy competition, goal setting, body awareness, teamwork, and leadership development.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Bay Area Women\u2019s Sports Initiative (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BAWSI?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BAWSI<\/a>) connects young girls from low-income communities with female athletes to show them they are capable of changing the world.<br \/>\ud83d\udcfa <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/3UlTJSpMos\">https:\/\/t.co\/3UlTJSpMos<\/a><br \/>\u2013\u2800<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/PowerofSports?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PowerofSports<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/PlayInspired?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#PlayInspired<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SportsLife?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SportsLife<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Inspiration?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Inspiration<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SportsKids?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SportsKids<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Community?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Community<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/tP3hqwBmJa\">pic.twitter.com\/tP3hqwBmJa<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Power of Sports (@powerofsportstv) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/powerofsportstv\/status\/1109134146524336128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 22, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cFor our girls, this could be the first team they\u2019ve ever been on,\u201d said <strong>Courtney Good, athlete leadership director at BAWSI<\/strong>. \u201cThey don\u2019t have the skills to just start playing a sport.\u201d In some cases, these girls live in neighborhoods where it isn\u2019t safe to play outside. Some believe their bodies aren\u2019t made for sports or that girls shouldn\u2019t be athletic. \u201cReally what we\u2019re trying to do is help them build up the confidence and ability to participate in sports,\u201d Good said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Good\u2019s coaching strategy focuses on building girls\u2019 confidence and helping them see the value sports can offer if they choose to keep competing. She\u2019s heard from some of her players\u2019 teachers that they\u2019re participating in class more and are making fewer trips to the principal\u2019s office. The program also gives them the chance to run around and work out the stress, anxiety, and negative feelings they might have about other areas of life.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cThe team you create is like a family structure within the team,\u201d ICEF&#8217;s Stuart Kohn said. \u201cWe treat each other with respect, we resolve disputes. Because there are disputes, always within a team or a family.\u201d Kohn says part of his job is to model how to resolve conflicts, showing students a new way. And since rugby is played internationally, Kohn takes players who have demonstrated excellence in academics and leadership on trips to play peers in countries like New Zealand, China, Brazil, and Fiji. Students learn about other cultures and share their own, all with rugby at the center.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many coaches are also classroom teachers, but they say the connections they forge with players is possible because it\u2019s a smaller number of kids. And the students are opting in to playing a sport, not forced to sit in classes they dislike.<pullquote class='left'>&#8220;I think teachers make good coaches because they understand student development and behavioral development.&#8221;<\/pullquote><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI\u2019m not the teacher on stage,\u201d said <strong>Mt Eden High School wrestling coach Todd Rose<\/strong> in Hayward, California. \u201cI\u2019m more myself and carefree. It\u2019s something I grew up doing and I\u2019m getting to share it with them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rose says many schools are shuttering their wrestling programs because they can\u2019t find qualified coaches. He himself coaches both the girls and boys wrestling teams and he has a few kids from nearby Hayward High School practice with them as well. 64.5% of students at Mt. Eden High are considered economically disadvantaged (as per the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cde.ca.gov\/sdprofile\/details.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">California Dept. of Education<\/a><em>)<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cWorking with adolescents, I want them to learn discipline and sacrifice and responsibility for themselves and so you have to hold them accountable at times,\u201d Rose said. \u201cBut then you can lighten up at other times as well to really get the best out of them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">He likes that on the mat or in the weight room he gets to see a different side of kids. He can relate to them in a more human way, not as the authority figure at the head of the classroom. And because he typically only has 15-20 wrestlers at a time he knows them well. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI think teachers make good coaches because they understand student development and behavioral development,\u201d Rose said. A ninth-grader is a different person by the time they\u2019re in twelfth grade. He gets to see and shepherd that growth, which is a rewarding feeling.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Goals setting is a big part of sports and is often more tangible in the physical sphere of sports than on more abstract academic skills. In a relatively short period of time, students can see themselves improving. They go from barely being able to run a mile, to competing in half marathons. That\u2019s what <strong>Jeremy Spry<\/strong> finds so fun about coaching running.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI love\u00a0Students Run Philly Style\u00a0because it\u2019s a team,\u201d Spry said. \u201cI wasn&#8217;t someone who came from a history of running. It was that I liked being a part of a team and I want to help build a team for kids who may not feel like they are athletic.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Thank you <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PhilaBar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PhilaBar<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PhillyAdvoKid?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@PhillyAdvoKid<\/a> for a great <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/5K?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#5K<\/a> yesterday! Our students and mentors had a blast! <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VaJxI1jJUG\">pic.twitter.com\/VaJxI1jJUG<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Students Run Philly Style (@StudentsRunPhl) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/StudentsRunPhl\/status\/866687862200291328?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 22, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The program he coaches for, <\/span><strong>Students Run Philly Style<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, works with students at schools all over Philadelphia as they learn to run and gradually build up to competing in longer and longer races, even marathons. Spry says running is an equalizer; it\u2019s hard for everyone. But students also see themselves being able to run further and further. They learn to chunk their goals and tackle them systematically.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt has made me such a better educator,\u00a0 to run next to a kid and say: yes, I\u2019m in pain too, just like you\u2019re in pain. And share that human moment,\u201d Spry said. He works at <strong>Science Leadership Academy<\/strong>, a public high school. Over many hours, Spry spends running with his students he gets to know their life stories deeply. That makes him more empathetic to other students he doesn\u2019t know as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em><strong>Katrina Schwartz <\/strong>is a journalist based in San Francisco. She&#8217;s worked at KPCC public radio in LA and has reported on-air and online for KQED since 2010.\u00a0Katrina is the Online Editor of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kqed.org\/mindshift\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KQED&#8217;s MindShift<\/a>, a blog about how to improve teaching and learning. She also co-hosts the MindShift podcast.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Driving kids home from practice, taking them to visit colleges, running and lifting weights with them out of season, answering the phone in the middle of the night when something has gone wrong &#8212; these are just a few of the many roles sports coaches take on for their players. The player\/coach relationship can be special, as seen in the film Wrestle, it can be a chance for young people to connect with a mentor who knows them individually and pushes them through their struggles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":18536,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1357,1877],"tags":[],"topic":[1246,1869,1227,1293],"class_list":["post-18535","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beyond-the-films","category-lifestyle","topic-education","topic-sports","topic-women-and-girls","topic-youth-and-family"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>High School Coaches Wear Many Hats to Make an Impact | PBS | Independent Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The player\/coach relationship can be special, a chance for young people to connect with a mentor who knows them individually and pushes them through their struggles. 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