Listening to Your Coach

Here’s something I want you to think about.

When a coach is talking, what is your body doing? Are you looking at them? Are you listening to the words? Or are you looking at something else, talking to your friend, thinking about something different?

This isn’t a trick question. I’m asking because listening is one of the most important skills in sports, and most people don’t treat it that way.

Read this passage slowly.

Let that sit for a second before you move.

The wise person listens and adds to their learning. That means the smartest players aren’t just the most talented ones — they’re the ones who pay the most attention. They hear what their coach says, they try it, and they get better faster than the players who were thinking about something else.

Your coach knows things about your sport that you’re still learning. That’s why they’re the coach. When they tell you something about how to position your body, or where to move, or what you did wrong — that’s information. If you listen to it and use it, you improve. If you ignore it, you stay the same.

Listening also shows respect. When you look at your coach when they talk, it says: what you’re saying matters to me. That feels good to a coach. And coaches who feel respected tend to spend more time helping the players who are paying attention.

Being a good listener is a skill. You can get better at it just like you get better at anything else: by practicing it on purpose.

Kids will give honest answers here — distraction, not understanding, boredom, wanting to talk to friends. Take the answers seriously rather than just saying “then don’t do that.”