Coaches Thinking about retiring

[niklum]

Well, it's been a great 20 years of coaching, but I feel like I'm done. I love the sport, but I find it harder to enjoy on a daily basis. I found a job in a completely different career (one that I'm actually trained in!), so it looks like this will be my last month of coaching gymnastics. I don't want to be the grumpy coach, and I'm getting there. Time to take a break. I'm sticking around on Chalkbucket because I want to impart my knowledge, but I just need to get out of the gym. We all know the saying that you can take the gymnast out of the gym but you can't take the gym out of the gymnast. I wonder how long before I long for the smell of dirty feet?

 

[bogwoppit]

Glad you are going to stick around. Good to stop before you are really unhappy.

 

[iwannacoach]

Enjoy this next adventure as you move into and excell in your new career. I hope you keep your "foot in the door" as you may find you need to come back, and that gymnastics is your true passion. I hope you remember to "look both ways", and continue to do so in the years ahead.

 

[coachmolly]

Best wishes with your new career choice, I hope it's the change you are looking for and a great opportunity to explore other interests and work with some of your other skills. There are usually jobs available for experiences coaches should you decided to come back down the road. I'm glad you'll be sticking around to impart your wisdom on us newer coaches!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

what about your daughter?

 

[niklum]

what about your daughter?

dunno, she had such a bad experience, she wants to quit. She has some back pain and Sever's, so a break will do her some good. I know her very well, and, as much as she says she's quitting for good, I know she'll beg to be back in the gym in a few months. I think we both need a break. When she's ready to go back, I'll most likely be joining her. I suspect that she's probably quitting the JO program completely though. At least Xcel is taking off.

And thanks, everyone!

 

[niklum]

Enjoy this next adventure as you move into and excell in your new career. I hope you keep your "foot in the door" as you may find you need to come back, and that gymnastics is your true passion. I hope you remember to "look both ways", and continue to do so in the years ahead.

I will. I can't see myself completely leaving. I know that my career as a coach is ending, but I'll probably be back in a few months or years as a part-time coach.

 

[Deleted member D3987]

keep us posted. and remember that the industry NEEDS good coaches.

 

[Valentin]

nicklum

Good for you that you have made the decision. Sometimes that is not so easy to do.
Can i ask, so that others coaches may learn from your experience. What has led you to this point. Can you look back and pick out moment where you felt, that they stripped some of the passion, joy of coaching?
If you could share more about your experience as to how you arrived at this point, undoubtedly we will all learn.

All the best in future ventures.

 

[niklum]

nicklum

Good for you that you have made the decision. Sometimes that is not so easy to do.
Can i ask, so that others coaches may learn from your experience. What has led you to this point. Can you look back and pick out moment where you felt, that they stripped some of the passion, joy of coaching?
If you could share more about your experience as to how you arrived at this point, undoubtedly we will all learn.

All the best in future ventures.

I has to take a few days to think about this one and give you a solid answer.

It was a cumulative effect, I think. The biggest factor is coaching 6 days a week while trying to maintain some kind of normal family life. When your family has to forgo weekend activities outside of competitive season because you spend all of Saturday in the gym, it tends to add strain to your personal life. I have a lot of interests besides gymnastics, but don't get to pursue them very much. This is a known cause of career burnout, regardless of the career. And when your gym contacts you every week on your only day off, wanting you to do things for them, it's hard to make that separation between work and personal time.

Another factor is the fact that, although I can teach fantastic rec and preschool classes with a high retention rate, they exhaust me more than any amount of team practices do. We all know that a different kind of energy is required for team versus classes. I naturally have a quiet personality, but I have to set it aside to make class families happy and keep the revenues coming into the gym. It's okay for a few hours a week, but when my week is dominated by high-energy classes, I have no energy by Saturday.

I think another very large factor is that I have grown as a person and developed other talents that contribute to growing a program from the office - curriculum development, lesson planning, training young coaches, finding the most relevant information about the sport, organizing it, and dispensing it to the coaches. My interests have shifted to enjoying that work a bit more, although I still love working with kids. Being in the gym can still be great, but I enjoy working with coaches and helping them become all they can be while I watch. As I thought about this, it occurred to me that I should find out about giving presentations at Congress or writing articles about some of this stuff. There just isn't enough information out there for young coaches, although there's so much more than there was when I started coaching!

 

[Valentin]

Thanks for the insight Link Removed .

Let me first say, i would welcome your contributions of knowledge through The Gym Press. It would be fantastic, as clearly with all your years of experience you do have a lot to share.

I asked the question also because as of recent i have been having doubts about how long i can sustain being a gymnastics coach. Like you mentioned, coaching is really taxing on the social and family life, especially if you are significant other is not in the gym as often as you, or if your kids are not involved. I was contemplating giving up coaching myself, mainly for the reasons you have listed, but i convinced myself to give it one more shot, and try and see how far i can take it. Best of luck with it all, and would welcome and opportunity to talk to you more about doing something through The Gym Press.

 

[iwannacoach]

I "retired" quite young after meeting my future wife and convincing myself I couldn't have it all, family, income, coaching career. I think I was right, but wish I had stayed involved in at least a limited role. I honestly believe there has not been one day, over all those years, where I haven't contemplated some aspect of the sport. It seems I truely am a gymnast to the core. Nowa after waiting for our youngest child to reach an age where he's ready for some independence, I'm ready to get back into it, but it's nearly impossible to get even a compulsory level position with-out paying your "dues" a second time over.

Plan these moves very carefully, especially if you're in a "small town" market as I am. I have only five clubs that are with-in driving distance, and of those five there's one of them I won't consider as they reek of "poser". Now if I was in so-cal.....

 

[niklum]

iwannacoach, my club owner and I discussed me coming back on a contractor basis to choreograph routines for our Xcel girls, and possibly optionals when they get to that point. I also have kids who want private lessons after my official retirement. It looks like I'm not leaving like I thought I would, but taking on a new role for a while. Have you considered taking the judging exam? It's supposed to be good money and it gets you back into the swing of things. Once gyms know you know how to judge, you suddenly become very attractive as a coach.

 

[iwannacoach]

This is the second time I've heard this, and it's beginning to sink in as a great way to get a little face time out in the community. It's funny how many of the same judges from the early 90's are still in it. I went to a big invitational 8 weeks ago and noticed about half of the judges were from "the days". How many "guys" are out there judging anyway? There's also a low key non-profit club I applied to volunteer at just last week. I hope they get back to me before I go nuts!

 

[Deleted member D3987]

90's? where you been?? there are some still judging from the 70's. and there are more and more men judging every year. so far, it looks like they do alright.

 

[iwannacoach]

The early 90's is when I last coached at a competition. I started in the late 70's, and there's still a bunch of the same judges, including one who looked to be in her mid fifties when I first started coaching. I think her secret to her longevity is her daily nap come hell or high water,...or balance beam rotation. So you say there's lots of guys judging nowadays, but do you think they've all figured out how to find the hospitality room at the State meet????