Not forgetting our Coaches: Part 1
Not forgetting our Coaches
...are our coaches up to the task?
A team without a coach is like sheep without a shepherd, even though they might survive, that's all they will ever be; survivors! It is always difficult for the team to achieve any feats, not even mentioning extraordinary ones without a father figure (ask the Sacksville Panthers). 
You can agree with me that enough has been said of our referees. Now to the big question, are our coaches who complain of bad officiating good in their own field? There are a couple of questions that could be asked to help get to the answer of the first one. What are the roles of our coaches? how can one be said to be a good coach? what can the national / regional associations do to make our coaches the good coaches they need to be to help with the development of the game.
Opinions vary a lot on this subject, so do the responsibilities of coaches, depending on what level they are coaching at. For example coach Lawal Brimah can't / shouldn't / doesn't coach the Galaxy Academy kids the same way he coaches his CEPS team or his Accra Polytechnic students.
Now to what makes one a great coach. In many coaching can be compared to parenting. Obviously, no two parents will have the exact same role and relationship with their own children. Some children are very independent at a young age, needing only space, respect, and support to blossom. Other children constantly need attention and extrinsic motivators to push themselves through the day. Some children may be given the best possible support and upbringing possible yet still turn into “failures” as deemed by society. The connection is striking and I believe it adds insight into how we should evaluate coaches. For example, when a child finds success in life, does well on a test, gets into their dream college, or even makes good friends – do we credit the parents or child?
Back to the court, so who's the best coach in Ghana? Will you go for Lawal Brimah because he's coached at the national level and his team has turned the Accra league into a practice facility? or you'll want to argue that he got some of the best players there are in the country and so winning became an easy task for him? Then don't forget our Cape Coast Hoops brothers, they perennially put up teams that suffer their only loss to CEPS, is because of coaching that they too beat everybody? Then lets take a little trip back to the coach = parent analogy, who's the better parent? Coach Lawal who's kids bring home all the awards at the speech day(trophies) or Coach Kweku Jackson who's Holy Family manages to get an honorable mention from the principal because the managed to make it to the next class (D1) with not so much talent?
In sports, sometimes the greatest coaching jobs are sometimes done by those in no position to win a title. Isn’t the role of a coach to be the leader and maximize the talent and potential of each member of a team? Coaches can’t suit up and play (unless you’re player-coach like Feranmi Olunlunyo) so I really think you need to look at far more than just their Win-Loss record. Obviously, the best coaches should be winning more than they are losing, but it is a fallacy to judge the strength of coaching based on the talent on the team.
No question – coaching is an art form on its own. It is the blending of numerous different factors (scouting, media, player relations,...) Are they important? Teams need a guiding force, both a leader in terms of X’s and O’s as well as an emotional backbone. On a global level, there will never be one way to coach, just as there is no one way to parent. I believe the best coaches are those who can take their own talents and abilities and mesh them to fit the needs of their players and the fan base.
...Do we have good coaches in Ghana?
Again a very politically correct article,you guys need to get the call a spade a spade attitude.So I'll do it for you.Our coaches,most of them anyway are plain unprofessional.Heck some are even plain incompetent.Kweku Jackson is just an insult to coaching every wher along with coach SOWETO.That Ferami guy,should just stop playing and coach.Now as for Coach Brima...well dude is obviously good but I'd like to see him coach CYO and turn them into champions...oh and before I forget lets not forget Coach "reformer guy with the big belly" and coach commando who seem to have no controll over their player and emotions.Shout out's to coach rubber(let's see what happens this year) and coach Abeku and agent Claud. Men we've got some Characters in our league....Okay rebound that's how it done,stop this soft politically correct crap
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ReplyDeleteThe watcher... fact is i think u didnt get the point of this article,it was not meant to point out errors, it was meant to help raise question marks for readers to make their own judgments...and if we here start throwing out insults and unnecessary tantrums we become nothing but just like the ppl we are complaining about... Mr Watcher, ur views are ur views but/and they won't/ can't alter the way I decide to write... u cld use a blog urself u know, since u know the exact issues to address
ReplyDeleteand mr watcher, i just couldn't believe i didnt say thank u for constantly making time to read my articles...thank u!..talk of being politically correct...lol
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