Is it worth it?

Its been a while since I wrote to this thing. A lot has gone on since the last post. For my sins I’ve become heavily involved in coaching an underage sports team. Its interesting to see the mix of boys that come to training and to see the interactions between players coming from different social backgrounds. Some kids arrive with all the gear, well behaved and eager to play. Some come with nothing but the good intentions of a single parent to try and get the child involved in something to try and keep them away from a life that older siblings have already travelled. Other children come with emotional and behavioural baggage that is hard to comprehend.

Over the past few weeks I’ve struggled with balancing the effort involved and started to question is it worth it? Time commitment to train and put out a team are significant. Add to that the attitudes and negativity of some parents and you begin to question why? Success on the field has never mattered to me but after a while you begin to question any progress you are making. Are you doing good? Am I doing the right thing and then the dreaded, Is it worth it?

I’ve asked this question a thousand times over the last few weeks and never really got an answer. What do I get out of all the effort and  all the work? I’ve been close to quitting so many times that its scary. Then out of the blue a phone call arrives. A single parent struggling to keep their son on the right path calls to apologise that he has missed matches and training. During the call I begin to understand the impact that sport has on this child's life. For me coaching was about teaching kids how to play a sport I love. For a lot of the kids it is their only opportunity to be involved with other children, to play, to have fun and to escape. I’ve begun to realise that the 1 hour a week that I have them is one of the few times that they are treated as normal and not discriminated against because of where they come from.

In a world that sometimes seems fucked up beyond belief, where children are not left to be children any more it is of huge comfort to know that coaching can make a difference. I realise now that I may never coach the players I have to be superstars and world beaters. what I can do is offer them a chance to play a sport I love and to give them an opportunity to have fun and be a child.

Is it worth it? Yes.