High School and other K-12 Coaching Jobs - Sports Coaching Jobs

"The successful coach is a patient teacher, an innovative tactician, and a master motivator. As a teacher, the coach's main function is to instruct athletes on the basic skills. . . coaches at all levels preach teamwork and strive to develop this elusive intangible. Teaching a group of athletes to play together as a unit is key to becoming a successful coach." Though the book, The 50 Coolest Jobs in Sports, is focused on college and professional sports, these words are true for the coach in an elementary, middle or high school as well.

Coach Bill Brosseau at Tolt High School in Carnation, Washington, says a coach or P.E. teacher has an opportunity "to help a kid not only on the playing field, but in life." These are some of the things you'll need to know, if you want to help kids as their coach:

• How to bring out the physical, social, moral, emotional and spiritual values in sports
• The relationships between sports and education in school
• Safety and first aid
• Adolescent and youth development
• Athletic health, fitness, development and conditioning
• Public speaking
• Group interaction, motivation, stress and play principles
• Sports fundamentals, strategy, tactics, teaching and coaching methods and rules of the game.

If you want to be a coach, you've probably grown up loving sports. You enjoy playing, and you like to watch a good game. Go ahead, catch all the games you can, and while you're at it, check out some sports you've never seen before. Visit a high school that has a lacrosse team and learn how it's played. Watch the local teams play football or baseball, boys and girls teams alike, the ones winning this season and the others who haven't won a game in seven years. See what their coaches do, right and wrong. As Yogi Berra said, "You can observe a lot just by watching."

Many college students (and even high school students) start as student teachers or volunteer assistants to the coach. Lots of coaches are Physical Education teachers first, before taking a school coaching job. Although it's not as widespread as in the past, many have to handle both P.E. class and team coaching, as the schools don't have the staff for two positions. K-12 Coaches can move up a coaching career ladder, from Assistant Coach to Coach, to Head Coach of the high school Varsity teams. Some move up to larger high schools, those with higher reputations for their sports programs, or into college or professional sports coaching. In K-12 Coaching, there are plenty of jobs out there in public, private and parochial schools. Take your pick!

In order to break into the coaching game you'll need to get involved with coaching. It might be helpful to coach a youth soccer or basketball team for starters (and for instance). Then take it up a notch and get certified to coach at the 'select' or all-stars level where more knowledge is a requirement. If you can make this kind of investment and be successful, then elementary school, middle school, junior high and high school coaching jobs may be on your horizon! The key is to get involved and to stick it out.

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