I have been coaching Asian basketball since 1997. Why do I do what I do?
I believe that athletics is a tool. It may sound cliche, but I really believe sports can teach an athlete many important life lessons. Players learn about teamwork, discipline, hard work, accepting a role, and how to deal with both success and failure. These are character building qualities that will become important later in life.
I also believe that sports teaches us about survival of the fittest. Once you step on the court, it's just you v/s your opponent. You learn that you need to prepare yourself the right way for a game because there won't be a grading curve to help you make that shot, there won't be an affirmative action quota that will help you play defense, and there won't be a government subsidy to help you when you get tired. You must take personal responsibility to practice hard and get in shape. You need to prepare yourself for the pressure. You need to support your teammates. A team must be united, prepared, skilled, and confident if it wants to come out ahead. Sports is, in the rawest sense, a version of Darwinism. Athletes learn quickly that if they dont have what it takes to succeed, they will end up as victims of the game unless they adapt or work harder.
I also believe that sports gives the opportunity for someone to mentor a youth in that unique player/coach relationship. While no one can top what you learn from your parents, coaches also have quite an impact on an athlete's life. When I was younger, I had a stellar coach. A military man, a church-going man, a family man, a sports guy, and an upstanding citizen. I learned a lot from this great man. We had our ups and downs over the years- and in the end, we even won a pair of AAU National Championships. But in the end I learned that he really cared about my well being, and not just on the court. As I got older, I realized that he had a lot to do with the decisions that I made at the time. I want to have that same meaningful impact on my players lives. There is a saying that a player doesn't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
In order to develop that player/coach relationship, you must show the player how much you care and you must foster a trusting relationship. You develop trust through all the progress you make and the time you put in to put that player in the best position you can. I absolutely believe that improvement, winning games and success on the court is probably the single most important thing that a coach must do in order to earn that trust. Once a player and his teammates see positive results, they inevitably will develop a belief that their coach actually knows what he is talking about. While it may be possible to have a positive relationship in the midst of losing, I don't think that is the ideal situation. Therefore, a huge emphasis must be placed on doing whatever it takes to win. That means a coach must put in the time and effort to make each of his players the very best he can be. The coach must find a way to get the most he can out of every player on the roster. That is often a huge undertaking, but it is worth it in the end. Once you have worked to make that unbreakable player/coach relationship, you can then begin to mentor your players in a meaningful way.
This is what I strive to do each and every time I step into the gym to coach.
-Mike Mon
