There is another big difference between coaching in a public school versus coaching in a Christian school.

I don’t recall there actually being a coaching manual or handbook at the Christian High School I coached at for 10 years.

               *Side Note 1 – it might have been 11 years, not sure.

But, if there were a handbook or manual, it would have been rule #1 on page #1

NO CURSING !!!

And of course – I 100% support that rule.

But WOW – it was tough to not curse in sports.

I’ve had all kind of coaches.

Some better than others.

I had the cum-baya coaches.  Not very aggressive.  Lots of distance work, no real hard strength workouts and very little speed work

I’ve had the uniform coaches.  Ran every workout the same for every runner.  This happens when you have a large number of athletes and only 1 or 2 coaches to administer the workout.

I’ve also had coaches that didn’t get me.  They might have done good workouts, but they didn’t know how to get the best out of me, and on race days just couldn’t get me in the right mind set.

I did however have 1 coach that really got me. 

And I mean – he REALLY got me.

Perhaps you read about it in my post “Possessions”.

Coach Bob Cannon coached me in 1981-1982, my junior year in high school.

And with him coaching me, I set the world on fire.  Ran times that still stand as records, some 40 years later.

Coach Cannon got me.  But if you heard the way he laid into me on several occasions, you’d of turned him in for child abuse.

To put it simply, he would curse me up one side and down the other.

But I ran in a public school.

And it was back in the day

If I had spoken to one of my runners ion a Christian School like that, I’d have been fired on the spot.

Deservedly so !!!

I vividly remember in one race my junior year, I slowed up the end of the race.  I had a big lead and it was my first race of the day with 2 more races not too far away.

After I finished, Coach Cannon came up to me and pulled me aside. 

I assumed he wanted to congratulate me on my win and perhaps discuss my next race.

Nope.

Not even close.

He got close so no one else would hear and he cursed me like a drunken sailor on weekend leave. 

See, slowing up showed weakness. 

In my next race, I had a comfortable lead and I had learned my lesson – I worked hard through the finish.

I did not want to incur the wrath of Coach Cannon again.

I don’t know that I would have gotten the lesson had he not used a lengthy string of expletives.

If you watch sports on TV and you have even a simplistic talent of reading lips, you can see lots of cursing, especially when they show a coach on the sidelines or in the dugout.

It was quite a culture shock when I started coaching in a Christian school.

Athletes just as dedicated.

Athletes just as willing to learn and be coached.

But on a hard workout day or in race prep, I did struggle not cursing.

I never did curse.  And I think I was able to reach my runners and tap into their inner strength.

But I’m not sure what sports is without cursing.

• Seriously