(name redacted)
April 1st, 2014
College Coaches
Student-athletes
are constantly at war with time, but what about college coaches who also have
lives outside of practice, meets, and games?
College
coaches who have children have to learn how to balance time and they are always
learning something to implement into their lives, whether it is from their
families or athletes.
Grand
Valley State University head women’s basketball Coach Janel Burgess said she has
a 10-year-old boy and a five-year-old girl at home.
Fifteen
years ago she started coaching right out of college and has been learning how
to balance time ever since, Burgess said.
“As
a student-athlete and a coach you always have to learn how to time-balance,” she said.
MSU
Director of Coaching Education Larry Lauer, an expert on coaching development
said via email “(As a coach) you're not going to have as much time for family
unfortunately, so if the family is prepared it makes it easier. Also, the more
you can involve the family in your team environment, it helps them (the
children) feel connected to what mom or dad is doing.”
Burgess
said she learned how to balance her schedule from her mentors who all had kids
of their own.
She works
close to 60 to 70 hours a week, Burgess
said.
Though
she works a lot, Burgess said this does not affect her personal life.
“My
family and I do this together, sure there are times I am gone a lot. But we
make the most of our time; quality not quantity is our motto,” she said via
email.
LaKita
Gantz, the head women’s basketball coach at Oakland Community College, said she
also learned how to manage her time with her athletes and child from coaches
she had watched before her.
Not
only did she learn from previous coaches but also from raising her 10-year-old
brother, Gantz said.
Via email Gantz said her brother began living with her in
the year 2000 and she took care of him until 2006 when he moved back in with
their mom.
“I
actually took care of my brother who was 10 years old. He became like my own
child,” she said.
Gantz said she took her brother everywhere she went.
“As
an assistant boy’s coach, I was able to take him to practices and spend time on
the weekends with him,” she said.
Gantz
said the experience with her brother helped her to learn what she should not do
with raising her own son, who is now
nine years old.
“I
treated him like my son, but I pushed him really hard because he was really
behind,” she said.
She
said she tried to push her brother into basketball when he did not want to do
it and learned that this was harmful for him.
“If
the kid is not interested in the sport or doesn’t show initiative then you
should not push them to do it,” she said.
Lauer
said coaches can learn from their experiences and implement what they learn
into their parenting.
“As a coach you should learn how to
communicate with youth in ways to motivate them, to teach them for understanding,
and to discipline,” he said.
Sometimes
being without her son can be difficult, Gantz said.
“I
am always thinking about the time I spend with him when I am with other
people,” Gantz said.
Though
she is busy with scheduling practices and games, Gantz said she does not miss
out on anything with her son.
“As a
mother I feel like he is my first obligation. I schedule everything with my son
in mind,” she said.
Gantz
said she brings her son to work with her so she does not spend too much time
apart from him.
“I’m
happy to have a job where I can bring him; he’s with me the majority of the
time,” she said.
Burgess
said one of her mentors taught her “you can be very good at coaching but you
have to be a good mom first and a good wife first.”
Sometimes
she felt guilty knowing her husband was at home with the newborn, she said.
She
said because she is constantly moving between coaching and parenting, she
learned she has to turn the switch of being a parent or coach relatively
quickly.
Burgess
said she is blessed because her family is very involved in her work life.
She
said her players and children have the chance to grow up side-by-side.
Danielle
Crandall, a senior on Burgess’ GVSU women’s basketball team, said via email, “Seeing
her family helps me personally to feel more comfortable. She trusts her kids
with us and that’s huge.”
Lauer
said being a parent might also help someone grow as a coach.
“I think coaches that are parents better
understand what kids are experiencing and often are more patient. Coaches that
are parents may be less likely to objectify athletes as pawns to be used to win
games because of the emotional investment you have with your own children,” he
said.
Crandall
said she notices Burgess implementing parenting skills into practices
sometimes.
“The
way she deals with certain kids reflects her parenting. She is ‘softer’ with
some kids and ‘harder’ on others. Sometimes she will put her arm around one of
us like a mom might,” she said.
Crandall
said she enjoys when Burgess brings her family to practices.
“I
feel comfortable in this family and I would think that her immediate family
feels comfortable with us,” she said.
Burgess
said sometimes she has to take time out of practice for family reasons.
“I
had to take my daughter to an E.R. in the middle of practice,” she said.
Her
daughter had an allergic reaction to something unknown, she said.
Burgess
said she huddled her team up, explained to them why she had to leave, and then
left while practice continued without her.
Gantz
said she plans special things on the weekends for her and her son to do that
does not have anything to do with basketball.
She
said “though I train and coach basketball, I send my kid to other coaches
because I know that’s going to help him more.”
Gantz
said having a son who enjoys basketball makes it easier.
“I’m
a blessed parent who has a kid who loves what I do,” she said.
Though
being a parent teaches coaches how to treat their student athletes, both Gantz
and Burgess said being a coach helps out with parenting as well.
“As
a coach you care about your student athletes as you do your own children,”
Burgess said.
Burgess
said her kids learn important values from watching the athletes.
The
athletes may also learn a few values from watching their coaches’ families as
well.
“I
have learned how to deal with people better and how to resolve conflicts that
occur between kids. Even though we are college athletes we still have some
players who act like fifth-graders. I have learned the importance of family
also. Her career is a family thing and everyone in her family in involved. She
has made it so that we all are a family and we all take care of each other when
needed,” Crandall said.
Word
Count: 1,196
LaKita
Gantz
Head
Women’s Basketball Coach
Oakland
Community College
2900
Featherstone Rd. Building H
Auburn
Hills, MI 48326
Cell:
(313) 682-5482
Fax:
(248) 232-4518
https://www.oaklandcc.edu/
Janel
Burgess
Head
Women’s Basketball Coach
Grand
Valley State University
(616)734-3373
burgesja@gvsu.edu
Danielle
Crandall
Larry
Lauer Expert on Coaching Development
championshipconsulting@gmail.com
561-289-8512
This is a super interesting topic! I like it a lot.
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