The coach that I am married to is passionate about being the best that he can at all three of his roles - a father, a husband and a coach. He does not take the responsibility of these roles lightly, which is what makes him successful in all three. The girls on his team are our family, just as much as our children are. They are always welcome in our home, we truly enjoy spending time with them off the court and feel blessed that they are positive role models for our daughters. We feel immense pride when they succeed and reach their goals. We also lose sleep at night when they are struggling with issues or make a mistake. His expectations of our daughter's mirrors his expectations of his players – having a strong work ethic, integrity, communication, becoming strong leaders and always striving to be their best.
As parents and spouses, we all worry that we are not devoting enough time to our children or our family, this is often more so of a worry to a coach. The time and effort that is needed to run a successful program is not even remotely a 40 hour a week, leave it at the office type of job, even during the off season; because honestly for a coach, there actually is not an off season. Therefore, a good coach learns to use their resources well and surround themselves with great staff so that when it is time to spend quality time away from the team, they are able to focus on their family, not the court.
Rick and I met when he began his first coaching job, it is the only profession I have ever known him to have. For the past fifteen years I have never once wished he did something else, even when it means that as a family we have to make sacrifices or the girls are frustrated with the amount of traveling their father has to do or even when I am called a volleyball widow. His desire to make a positive impact on his players not only on the court, but also as good stewards for their communities is one of his best qualities. We are fortunate to all love the sport of volleyball, its not a burden to spend time in the gym during the off season or to travel to as many games as possible to support not only the team, but also to spend time together. I do not begrudge when he spends hours, days, weeks, months even in order to make sure everything is done well, because of his unwavering dedication, our family, the players and the program benefits.
As a coach he has chosen to guide his players through wins and losses, for the game of course, but also for the life lessons. As their coach, he is in the position to change their lives forever, striving to not only make them better athletes, but more importantly better women. While winning is great, he feels the most satisfaction when his team realizes that the lessons he teaches and the experiences they share is solely to help shape their amazing lives to come after volleyball.
It is so much more than a job or about a game, at least to the coach that I am married to.
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