Displacing Coach Almighty

IT SEEMS AS THOUGH popular American actor Jim Carrey, star of the 2003 American religious comedy film Bruce Almighty, isn’t the only mortal to have been endowed with godly powers. In the movie Carrey plays the character of Bruce Nolan, a down-on-his-luck television reporter who complains to God (Morgan Freeman) that He isn’t doing a good job. Responding, God offers Nolan the opportunity to play God for a week, with risible results.

When I witness college and professional basketball players race up and down the court, I’m impressed with how often these outstanding, and often, incredible athletes look to the bench for guidance. It seems there’s not a time when a team moves from offence to defence or vice versa without the coach’s shouted instructions. It’s amazing how coaches, most of whom are excellent teachers, can’t trust their players to make intelligent on-court decisions. One would think there’s nobody in the team who knows what needs to be done on a play-by-play basis. How come athletes don’t know how to work with teammates to meet challenges spontaneously as and when required? It’s sad they haven’t reached the point of competency or confidence to execute a game plan without the coach yelling out instructions on nearly every play.

I have vivid memories of the joys of sandlot sports where we made our own game plans and enforced our own rules without any interference from ‘experts’, unless the mentor was one of our older brothers offering unsolicited tips when we screwed up, or showed us the way by beating us to the basket. We learned to take responsibility for our own actions, to take control of our lives on playing fields so we could experience the joy of mastering and performing under our own steam. That was enough  for us.

The  sheer enchantment of being engaged in competition brought us enormous satisfaction and kept us on the courts until dark.
Then we were introduced to Coach Almighty with his commandment: “My way or the highway.” We quickly learned not to make a move contrary to his directives unless we wanted to lose favour or become the object of the wrath of screamers. Against this backdrop it’s hardly surprising that 70 percent of children (in the US) drop out of sports by age 13.

My question is simple and straightforward: Do we really need to make young athletes feel impotent before a battalion of drill sergeants in fear of losing control of their troops? Do we really need to turn children over to professional sports experts to induct them into a culture of obedience where conformity is king and creativity and individuality are sins? Are tattoos, earrings and wild ‘dos’ ways in which contemporary athletes assert their individuality and independence from authority figures controlling their every move on and off court? We shouldn’t be surprised if professional and collegiate athletes assert themselves through risky off-court assertions of independence. Police blotters across the US are marked by incidents that have the markings of bold initiatives taken by athletes to test the limits of authority.

The sportsworld seldom does much to promote maturity, inspite of pronouncements to the contrary. As legendary coach John Wooden famously said, “Sports doesn’t build character. Instead, sports reveals character.” I would add that sports might actually retard the development of character by keeping young people in an abject state of dependence.

Please don’t interpret what i am saying as an endorsement of undisciplined sports training. My concern is that the currently dominant culture of sport increasingly promotes dependency and immaturity. Dependence upon controlling and dictatorial coaches prevents young athletes from becoming deeply involved in the games they  play, robbing them of opportunities to experience the joy of being fully immersed in competition so engagement with sport can perform its primary function of renewing the human spirit.

Maturity can only be promoted if athletes are assigned rights and responsibilities in their teams appropriate to their levels of experience. Only then can sport realise its full potential as a source of empowerment which enables children to develop into full-fledged citizens in their communities. We need to transition to an era of Almighty Athletes, who have learned how to advance their interests in ways which contribute to the creation of vibrant teams built on the foundation of mutual respect.

But wait, this isn’t the end. It’s only the beginning of an era in which the culture of sport is being increasingly challenged to adjust to requirements of the times. We need young people to develop skills which enable them to evolve into valuable contributors to their teams, schools, neighbourhoods and communities. While we need to empower athletes in ways that promote maturity, we also need to give due respect to the Almighty Team Community which includes parents, athletes and coaches who enable players to perform to the best of their ability.

(Dr. George A. Selleck is a San Francisco-based advisor to EduSports, Bangalore)