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Kelcey Cavett

Professor Diana Watkins

Comp 1 TR @ 9:00

2 October 2018

A Coach’s Impact

“A coach will impact more young people in a year than the average person does in a

lifetime” (Billy Graham). I was lucky enough to have a coach who was far more than a coach.

My coach was my biggest mentor. He taught me so much more than the fundamentals of sports;

he taught me many valuable lessons that go beyond athletics. Without my coach, I would’ve

never reached my maximum abilities.

One valuable lesson Coach Castlebury has taught me that will forever stay with me is to

always be teachable. He always said, “Being teachable is a fundamental”. A fundamental to him

was usually simple but also a necessity. He expected you to be teachable and to be humble about

it. He always wanted me to succeed, not only in sports but in school and all aspects of life. He

wanted me to succeed, and if you aren’t teachable, you won’t succeed. To be teachable, you have

to have the mid set of a life-long learner. You must be humble enough to recognize that you have

room for improvement. Coach Castlebury taught me to be teachable and to be humble. He taught

me something valuable that I will be able to use for the rest of my life. I always have room to

improve, and for me to improve I must be teachable.

He also educated me about how to turn criticism into an advantage. Many times, during

games he would tell me something I was doing wrong on defense or offense, and I was able to
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change it and use it to help me have an advantage during the game. I can use these lessons now

in life, whether it be at my job or in school. I can take criticism and use it to my advantage.

Teamwork is important, and coach showed us exactly how important teamwork is. Our

team motto was “teamwork makes the dream work”. Even when you have good players, if

you’re not willing to work together, your team will not reach their best potential. Most all

successful teams’ biggest asset is having good teamwork. Coach was always stressing that we

need to communicate and to encourage each other so we could learn to trust each other on and

off the court. He wanted us to know each other’s strengths and weaknesses so we could use them

to be the best team we could be. This philosophy about teamwork taught me that it’s ok to trust

others, and you can’t always do everything by yourself. One of the most important parts of

having good teamwork is learning how to be selfless. If you are selfish and only care about

yourself, then the odds are that the team is going to suffer because of your selfish ways.

Teamwork is a key to life if you plan to succeed.

Coach always said, “Be better than your potential”. He always pushed me to better than I

thought I was. He wanted the best for me; he wasn’t just concerned with my performance on the

court but my performance in class. He encouraged me to be better every day, to be the best

athlete and person I could be. To this day he still checks in on me to make sure I am doing well.

He helped me set goals as an athlete and showed me how to come in everyday and put in hard

work and dedication to do the best I could to reach the goals I had set. Setting goals for myself

and my team helped me have a vision each day to work towards and try my best to achieve.

Another way he helped me to achieve my goals was by showing me ways to unlock my full

potential, so I could use that potential to my advantage in the process of reaching my goals. My

coach has brought out my true potential. Potential that I didn’t even know I had. He saw more in
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me than I seen in myself. He raised my expectations and goals for myself, and he pushed me to

be better all around.

Retaining one’s maximum potential cannot be possible without the guidance and

direction of a coach. We all have coaches and mentors that impact us in positive and negative

ways. I was fortunate it enough to have one who influenced me in a positive way. Giving me

many beneficial life lessons that I will now and forever use. His impact on my life will last a

lifetime.