If I'm not uncomfortable, I'm not growing.

"If I'm not uncomfortable, I'm not growing." That's something that Athena E. Hill, my colleague and friend, frequently told me when we worked together. It stuck with me.

I recently volunteered to coach my 11-year old son's soccer team. Why, you might ask? Well, it's not because I have a background with soccer. 

In fact, I've never really played soccer, other than as a kid on the school playground! Sure, I've watched my son play for the past four years, but he's had great soccer coaches who were players in high school and/or college. So, why did I step forward? 

The league he's in is a non-competitive league. It's main point is to teach kids the sport and give them a chance to have fun. Winning games is great, but it's not the primary purpose. The league needed a coach for our team, and no one else volunteered. 

For you teachers out there, you know the concept of "wait time". Well, I waited a long time, and no other parents volunteered! Not wanting to disappoint my boy, I thought, "I can do this." I've been a teacher of kids this age, surely I can figure it out.

Well, enter the phrase "If I'm not uncomfortable, I'm not growing." I've been out of the classroom for quite a few years. Sure, professionally I support teachers and school leaders all the time, but when it comes to actually teaching, I have to admit that my in-the-moment skills are a little rusty. 😁 

I've been coaching two weeks at this point, and it's definitely been a stretching experience. I have had to learn a lot of new vocabulary (Steal the ball! Pressure your opponent!), but more importantly, I've had to dust off my hashtag#teaching repertoire!

Honestly, it's kind of refreshing! Coaching soccer mimics so much of great teaching:

⚽ Objectives: It's good to focus the learning, so my objectives need to be really clear during practice.

⚽ Observation: I must use keen observation to watch what the players are doing so that I can help them grow.

⚽ Feedback: They grow more when I give them precise, constructive feedback to help them know how to improve and adjust.

⚽ Questioning: I strive to employ excellent questioning techniques to help them analyze their own performance so they can be thoughtful, reflective players.

⚽ Culture-Building: Many haven't played together before, so I'm using team-building strategies to help them to think as a team.

This experience has been good for me so far. I don't know if we'll win any games, but my discomfort of not being a soccer player is at least helping to bring me back to the core of who I am as a teacher.

It's been a great growth experience for me to take what I do know (teaching) and put it into practice in a context I don't know (soccer) because it makes me grow to be better at both!

I highly recommend it. If you haven't pushed yourself to do something uncomfortable, I challenge you to do so!