Being a coaching family, my greatest pride is raising the coach's kids!
I love watching them experience game days and love watching their relationships with the team, but what I haven't mentioned before is the off-season.
Our football season ended in the most exciting way, winning a State Championship back on December 2! Our family, team, school, and entire community celebrated this accomplishment for days and even weeks after the final snap.
It was something that ignited a bond within our community that we were so excited to be a part of!
However, the off-season officially started right after the parade and final pep rally of celebration. If you are not a coaching family, you may think the off-season only consists of the team lifting or the coach sitting in a recliner looking at next year's depth chart, which is all true but is only the tiniest bit of the off-season.
The off-season for a high school coaching family consists of a lot of conferences that coach is speaking at, making connections with other coaches and learning the ways of other successful programs.
The off-season consists of a ton of phone calls with colleges interested in our players, setting up school visits, times for players to showcase their talent, and meeting college coaches at other sporting events to watch the recruit they are interested in.
The off-season actually pulls coach away from our family almost as much as the actual game season does and not many people realize it.
When my kids were younger, the off-season meant the kids and I spent many weekends by ourselves, and I made sure to make the most of those weekends. My kids loved our weekend sleepovers in the living room while watching a movie or going to McDonald's for dinner because they knew Dad would never pick McDonald's.
Now that my kids are older, the focus on the off-season isn't so much the sleepovers and McDonald's but the life lessons they are learning by seeing the recruiting process, hearing from college coaches, and realizing what they look for in a high school athlete.
Our kids have met college coaches of all levels, and no matter the size of the school a coach is coming from, the basic recruiting requirements are all the same. The talent criteria vary, of course, but ultimately, these college coaches want to know the PERSON they are recruiting.
When my own kids meet college coaches, they have been asked what kind of person the recruit is and have been asked if they would love to have a team full of "said player".
My kids have learned to shake hands properly and to look at these adults when speaking.
My kids know that colleges do not appreciate drama on the field or court and know body language speaks louder than skill.
My kids know that sitting on the bench is looked at just as closely as playing in the game. They also know that listening to coaches and not arguing with teammates all play a big role in recruiting.
So, while skill and talent attract these colleges to come and visit, it's the character traits that will keep the coaches coming back!
My kids are not being recruited for any sports at this time, but they all have hopes to be in the position of a college coach spending their off-season visiting them.
And when that time comes, they will all have life lessons instilled in them from a young age because of being a coach's kid.
However, you don't have to be a coach's kid to learn these lessons. You can simply learn these lessons when you listen to your own coach!