That “Coach” is “My Dad”
Growing Up a Coach's Daughter
Coach. A title that my father has held for 33 years and will continue to hold as part of his identity until his old age. My dad has been coaching Marine City Football since before I was born, and some could say I was practically born on the sidelines.
However, one might note that during my upbringing I was entirely more favorable to playing with my toy horses on the bleachers with my back turned to the football field at the stadium. Hence, resulting in noting my little knowledge and interest in the game itself.
Though I may not have acquired the knowledge and background of the game through so many years of attending Friday Night Lights in our small hometown of Marine City, I do have to note the incredible lessons I have learned growing up as a coach's daughter and how I carry them out in my daily life, good and bad.
Strength of Building Community
My dad has a great approach finding alternative ways to connect to multiple audience types within the Marine City program to establish a strong rapport and community. This behavior truly showed me the importance of going the extra mile and getting creative to connect and build individual relationships first that resulted in better "buy in" and loyalty to the community as a whole.
A few examples I can think of includes bringing doughnuts consistently to his "Dawn Patrol" athletes for incentive, taking his athletes to sports camps or college campuses for games outside of his regular coaching time, opening up our home to have athletes come over for film in the basement with pizza, having an open-door policy in the classroom if a student athlete ever needed to talk no matter the subject, and creating a "pay to play" fund for kids who could not afford the equipment and expenses for the sport.
He made individual connections and catered his practice making sure each athlete was taken care of and was connected to him on some sort of level, so he was able to establish trust, a strong relationship, and foundation for years to come that resulted in making his program so successful.
I carry that out in my daily life lessons with the understanding that each client in the workplace along with each personal relationship I have in life, whether it be friends or family, requires an individualized approach based on their personality, needs, and preferences. By truly going that extra mile with writing birthday/holiday cards for example to my clients, it helps to build that relationship between therapist and client to help with the "buy in" in importance of carrying over the home exercise programs into their daily routines.
Different Learning Styles
Seeing my dad also coach other sports at our high school including volleyball, basketball, and baseball showed him the differences not only between gender specific motivation, but how each individual athlete has a different preference to criticism and learning styles to enhance their performance. Growing up as a coach's daughter, I was able to provide him with feedback firsthand when I became old enough to coach that I did not appreciate the harsher feedback style that he is known for. If anyone knows my dad, you will know it is his voice by hearing his anger and tough demeanor across the basketball court or football field when a correction needs to be made in a huddle or time out.
Now, this may motivate some as I notice in particular the boys respond better to this type of feedback. However, when it comes to me personally as a woman, I prefer a gentler approach to hearing a coaches' feedback including modifying his tone and order of critique. I require positive reinforcement first, then the provision of critiques or corrections I need to make. Everyone is very different with their preferences, so I believe when I was able to verbalize that to him, he was able to sit back and reflect more on how it truly is about individualizing and getting to know your athlete to create the best motivational outcomes and performance patterns for them.
I do the same thing with my clients in home care, assessing what type of feedback motivates them to get better with their health conditions whether it be a tough or more gentle approach.
Value of Hard Work
In sports, there are a lot of hard things. From early mornings to multiple practices a day, lifting, meetings, things do add up and become taxing on the mind and body. Not everyone is made for a lifestyle of coaching or being an athlete. There are a lot of physical and mental barriers one needs to fight through in order to succeed. He taught us the value of hard work and the results you see from the effort put in day in and day out. I was taught never to quit, even when things were tough. I think that the mentality from my upbringing is very useful in any aspect of adulthood.
There are a lot of things that are hard, and his values of perseverance have assisted me in staying the course and making it through challenges in life itself.
Conclusion
My dad may be Coach Glodich to others, but to me first and foremost he will always be my dad. I look forward to welcoming my first son into my family this upcoming summer with my husband Manny, where I know as Baby Luca continues to grow, my dad will step in and start coaching him from a young age to pass on his legacy and skills.
His insight and example have led me to believe I can accomplish anything I put my mind to as he raised me to be strong and independent. I love you dad. I wouldn't change my experience for the world growing up as the coach's daughter.
Gabrielle Romero, MS, OTR/L
