Dear Hardworking Coach, I See You

To all the coaches everywhere, I want you to know I see you.

I see you do your job for the love of the sport and the love you have for our kids. You rarely get the credit you deserve or gratitude from the people you serve, so please accept my letter of thanks on behalf of parents and athletes everywhere.

I see that you don’t get paid much and many of you are actually volunteering your valuable time to do this hard, demanding job. No one can put a price on all the work you do for our kids, but I know you deserve compensation way beyond what you ever could receive.

I see that coaching is often an additional role in your life and not your primary role. And despite all the other many important roles you hold, I see you take on this one with the utmost honor. It is seen through your integrity and respect for the job, for training young athletes to be the best they can be.

I see that coaching requires so much of your time, and I am always aware that this is a huge sacrifice on your part. All the practice times and competitions at the break of dawn or after a long day at work. All sports events that take you out of town for entire weekends at a time. I know your presence is missed somewhere by someone because you are investing in the lives of your athletes.

I see you are fully dedicated to coaching and that is incredibly important despite the lack of praise and support you might receive. You take your responsibility seriously and it shows. You have great determination and well-thought-out intentions to train our kids the best way you know, and you do it well.

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I see you teaching our kids the sport you love and doing so requires much of you.

Training kids takes diligence, patience, and concern for each athlete you coach. Coaching kids at any age can be challenging, depleting, frustrating, and even discouraging, but I see your steady perseverance and your ongoing passion and desire to help each individual reach their potential.

I see you making sure you are not only educating your team with the physical abilities needed to perform well, but you are also demonstrating leadership that exemplifies discipline and hard work—two critical principles our kids need to learn in order to develop their character and confidence.

I see you managing the needs of many kids while fielding complaints, frustrations, and requests from their parents. I know it must be both tedious and taxing to try and please everyone. I know your goals are decided by what’s best for the team and for each athlete, and those decisions can be hard for you to make with parental interference and pressure.

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I see you doing the best you can with the time and resources you have. Managing the schedules along with all the complicated policies and regulations you need to fulfill can be daunting. I can only imagine how much work goes into creating and coordinating the program for the team.

I see you detailing individual goals, compiling spreadsheets of each athlete’s progress, creating practice outlines you work so hard to implement, and all the other behind the scenes work you do to make the season a success.

I see you motivating the kids while supporting them with encouragement and careful instruction. I know you want the very best for them so you challenge them with tough training and push them to do their very best and reach their full potential both as an athlete and a person.

I see coaching is a demanding job full of expectations you feel pressure to fulfill. I see you giving everything you have to those kids and the sport. I see your passion and heart, your commitment, and the countless sacrifices you make to do your job well.

I see you care for our kids, truly care. I see you get hard on them when they need you to be tough, and I see you soften up when they need you to be sensitive. I see pure joy in your eyes when your athletes succeed, and I see you manage their disappointments and frustrations with understanding and support.

I see you love our kids in countless ways only a coach can do, and for all of this and so much more . . .

I am so grateful for you.

No matter the sport, being a coach takes a reliable, responsible, passionate, and dedicated individual to do what you do, and my gosh, it’s a lot.

You are invaluable and we don’t tell you that enough.

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Sports are an integral part of our kids’ lives, and that makes you a most significant role model, mentor, and teacher. Your influence on our kids has a huge impact on not only their athletic abilities but their well-being and their growing identity. You are making a huge difference in their lives.

You are helping us raise our kids well.

So, on behalf of every parent of every kid who has ever been involved in sports . . . 

Thank you for all you do.

All your hard work does not go unseen.