When
it comes to youth sports there have been strides made so that children are taught
good sportsmanship skills as well as the skills to play their chosen
sport. They learn how to play as a team,
how to play through adversity or injury, how to be smarter than one’s physical
abilities, and how to step up to a challenge with courage. They have fun and feel like winners,
regardless of the score.
Well,
it sounds good and at times what plays out on the field matches the above, but
the majority of the time kids and parents take their wins and losses
seriously. They want to know they are
good at something and that they contributed to a victory. Nothing else will
placate them. They know false praise a
mile away. This is true for boys or
girls, no matter what the sport is. At an early age they know the score, so to
speak.
But
I’ve enjoyed coaching my seven-year-old daughter in soccer this fall. Her team not only wins -- and she
contributes greatly with stellar defense -- but most importantly, she has a great
attitude. She loves doing this with
me. I feel the same way.
I’ve
coached youth sports even before I had kids.
When I was a teenager I coached Little League baseball and my dad
managed. That was a blast and it was
best that kids were led by people other than their parents. But as a dad, I really enjoy coaching my kids
in their respective sports.
I
started to think about writers and how they need coaches. Imagine if a writer has someone telling them
to try harder, do it this way and not that, and high-fives them for a
well-written passage?
Yes,
writers, like athletes, whether amateurs or professionals, need others to
inspire, mentor, lead, and support them.
Kids running around trying to kick a ball into a net are not the only
ones who benefit from the loving advice and help of others.
Many
writing don’t want a coach or to have someone tell them they need to do better,
try harder, or write differently. They
also don’t want false praise being showered upon them. They simply want to produce a masterpiece,
sequestered from the world, and then to come back to it and hear critical
blessings for their work.
But
writers could clearly use a boost from others.
It can be lonely being a writer.
We live in our heads and create a whole fantasy world that goes beyond
anything anyone else can imagine. How does one coach a writer who lives in
another world?
Writers
need people to be there for them, like therapists, to give love and laughter,
not necessarily to critique or coach their every pen stroke. Some writers can work well with a coach who
scrutinizes their work and hopefully makes it better. Whatever type of coach you call upon, if you
get someone with the love and energy of a dad coaching his little girl on the
soccer field you will have done well for yourself.
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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog
are his alone and not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter
@theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more
important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by
BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2015
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