Coaching and the Crab Mentality

There were lots of criticism about a local coach on social media the past couple of days. One of his athletes wrote a long post criticizing him about how badly he was running his coaching business and his compulsive borrowing habits.

This is bad news and would inevitably have implications on the coach-athlete relationship which would in turn compromise the athlete’s growth and performance! Besides, no coach should abuse the trust of their athletes especially given their position of respect and authority (at least most of the time lah…).

It’s not about this coach!   

Just to be clear, I’ve got nothing against this coach (just a little bothered that he is not registered with the NROC) and this post isn’t about him. What bothered me enough to write this are the typical response from the coaching fraternity, and a sprinkle of PE teachers, whenever a coach gets into trouble, or when they are doing well for themselves financially.

We are so quick at condemning their coaching methods, downplay their athletes’ achievements, or make comments such as, “He is driven by money and not about passion!”, “She is all about packaging and treats coaching like a business.” Some who coach pro-bono will even say things like, “Why pay for his services when I can coach you for free?”

Crab Mentality

Is it too difficult to comprehend that there will be no innovation and no progress if this sector is only about the survival of the cheapest! Nobody wins in the end. Not only do we all end up losers, so do our athletes!

Well, why can’t a coach be driven by both passion and money? What’s wrong with branding and monetizing our services? And if you are coaching part-time for free while having a cushy and stable full time job, why don’t you perform your full time job for free then?

Yes, I am making an inappropriate sweeping statement, but my feel is that coaches here have a crab mentality. Instead of celebrating each other’s success, and learning from those who have done well for themselves, we tend to condemn them instead. We basically don’t want each other to succeed (I am being extreme here to make a point).

Let’s get back to this particular coach who’s a mess with planning and finances. Instead of condemning him on your moral high pro-bono ground, perhaps it’s time to think how we coaches can be better trained at planning and finances! Wouldn’t that be more generative and beneficial to ourselves? Some “free coaches” are coaching for free because they don’t even have the guts to ask for something in return for the value that they provide, so they should not condemn those who do.

Is it too difficult to comprehend that there will be no innovation and no progress if this sector is only about the survival of the cheapest! Nobody wins in the end. Not only do we all end up losers, so do our athletes!

My wish is for all my coaching friends to be well-to-do and not have to struggle to make ends meet. Huat arh!!!

Coach Hansen