The mind of a coach is a funny and possibly even scary thing. I assumed as much when I was still playing but now in my second season on the other side of the whistle I can personally attest to the tricks that a coaches’ mind will play on itself. Our first home game against Quad Cities was a prime example.
In our home opener we were dropping the championship banner to celebrate the success we enjoyed last year. By all accounts it was a great evening at the VBC due in large part to the following facts: Our owner gave a great speech before the game, the players received the type of ovation they deserved from a raucous crowd, and the unveiling of the giant banner went off without a hitch (they dropped it right on cue). This was polished off by an excellent performance from our players in all fazes of the game that led to a big victory for the Vipers.
While I enjoyed all the positive moments some cryptic flashes kept popping into my mind. “I hope the crowd realizes how sincere Doug is with this speech.” “This ceremony is amazing but I need to make sure the players warm back up when it’s finished so their muscles don’t get too tight.” Once we had a sizeable lead it was “We need to be sure the guys don’t relax out there and develop bad playing habits” which turned into “They’d better not get overconfident based off this one game!”
It was a heck of a night and in a time when I was still the one bleeding and sweating it would’ve been an endless array of high fives and chest bumps with my teammates. Now that I’m coaching my perspective has changed and I didn’t even see it coming. All the sudden, as opposed to reacting, I’m the one that has to see a problem before it happens and be ready to solve it instantly. This makes me wonder if I always had some worry wart in me or if the coaching bug infected me with it.
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