December is a month in which I like to reflect on the great things I've seen in our region through the year. I could list many things of great value we have right here in the Alle-Kiski Valley, but I'd like to use my few paragraphs this month in support of our AK Valley coaches. I have opportunity to view coaching from a unique position. In addition to being in monthly contact with many of the Alle-Kiski Valley coaches for our magazine and website, my wife is a varsity cheerleading coach, I coach youth football and we have three children involved in various sports and one who just graduated high school.

In all honesty, my unique perspective on coaching has come only recently. Over the years I have felt the passion only a parent can feel when one believes one's child has not been treated fairly by a coach. Since becoming a coach I have been on the receiving end of that parental passion from folks who needed to vent on me. And any coach will tell you that you get a lot more from the complaint department than you do from the gratitude department.

Coaching is that way. If you plan on coaching to be heralded as the local hero you will be sadly disappointed. Coaching is very much a thankless service. But every once in awhile a young person will return five or ten years later to thank you. Those few moments make it all worthwhile. I believe the majority of the coaches I've met in our region do it just to make a significant impact in the lives of their players. These coaches are the great successes of our region. Once in awhile you may find one having a bad season or focused on the wrong issues but rarely is a coach as bad as we see them when our team is losing 35-0 or our child has just been benched. It's really a matter of perspective.

In every sporting event there are a hundred unseen stories which no one but the coaches know about. All these translate into a hundred challenges to overcome. Every coach must evaluate every player every day in an effort to lead the team to victory. And in spite of what many people believe, winning is very important. It is important in sports and in life. I want a coach who will teach my children what it takes to win. I want a coach who will push my children to be everything they can be. To show them how to go beyond what is possible reaching for the glory of victory. I hope for these things because I wish my children to run the race of life to win. The best coaches give our children these lessons of life.

To compete to win you must put your best up front. And therein lies the great challenge in coaching children. Not everyone can be a starter. Ouch! We all want our children to start! What a job for a coach. In the end, the coach must not only do what is right by each individual player but also what is fair to the team, a tricky balance which never wins popularity contests.

My advice to parents who find themselves overrun by passion over a child in sports; put things in perspective, calm down and just ask for a cordial meeting with the coach. Of what I've seen of the ones in our local schools and sports organizations they will be glad to talk to you and do whatever they can for you and your child. Our coaches, who give so much of their time to our communities, deserve the benefit of the doubt.

Take a few minutes to tell your coach how much you appreciate their dedication and service to your local school and community based sports programs. Most of them do it as volunteers or at best minimal pay. The best way to show your support of a coach is to just be there to help. Join the team's booster organization. Get involved in some way. I guarantee your perspective will change.

"Good job coach!" and, "Thank you for your investment in our communities and our children".