It’s a completely different landscape than it was “back in your day”.
“Back in my day our coaches used to have us..”
Guess what?
It’ ain’t your day anymore, bro.
Our kids are growing up in a vastly different world, meaning in order to make and impact on them, you must understand life from their vantage point & evolve your behavior accordingly.”
-Ray Zingler on X
“Back in my day our coaches were rough on us. They dog cussed us and made us run endless 110-yard sprints for punishment.”
The above statement is only 2 sentences in length but has 3 glaring problems.
1) Verbally berating a child doesn’t improve performance.
2) Punishing a kid (negative reward) with exercise doesn’t help them see the value in it.
3) Long distance “sprints” aren’t actually sprinting that carries over to sports. Do you think they’re running as fast 90 yards in as they were 30?
Anyway.
I, or no parent worth their salt cares how Billy Badss your coach was back in the day.
And coaches who aimlessly try to emulate how it was in 1987 are going to effectively get NOWHERE when it comes to positively impacting the 2024 youth of today?
It’s a different world.
Coach, “back in your day” did you wake up and then first thing in the morning scroll 3-4 social media platforms and immediately start comparing yourself to others?
And then did you grab a processed breakfast bar before sprinting out the door to school to sit waist deep in 4 AP classes you had no business being in, but “need them” so when college admissions boards (subjectively) compare you to others, you looked the part?
And then after school, when you went out to practice, were you dealing with all the societal pressures and expectations. Did you have school practice, travel ball practice, and a lesson all in the same day? Did you have a schedule like this year-round?
And then when you got home from practice at 9pm, did you eat more processed food while trying to manage and process the massive volume of stress you accrued throughout the day? Did you do this before or after the 2 hours’ worth of APUSH reading you had?
Or, in an effort to ignore it, did you continue to scroll social media and further play the comparison game for hours, while subconsciously making your mental health and self-image, worse?
The term social media didn’t even exist back in your day.
“Pssshh, I’d have stayed off my phone back in the day.”
Your 55 and can’t stay off it, now.
Evolve or you’ll never be able to reach them.
