Last week I was asked by one of the girls why do I answer the telephone “Coach Coleman" and wear it on my shirts. I told her it would take up too much of her lesson time and she was probably not the only one having that question. She did not want anyone to know she had asked that question, thinking everyone else knew the answer but her. I told her I would not reveal her identity, so I waited for the week to end so no one would be able to put two and two together and figure out who she was.
Here is the answer: When I was 9 years old, I was sitting with the late Mr. Parham Greene, who was a longtime friend of my father's, at a basketball practice. My father was coaching a military unit team and I was chasing balls and handing out towels. One of the players was hollering across the court to my father and said “Coleman, what drill should we be running?”
Well, Mr Greene got up from his seat and started to read this gentleman the riot act up and down the court. Everyone in the gym could hear it. Well, that was not the time to ask what that was all about, so I waited two summers later (smile), when he was taking me to the field house (Military Gymnasium) to shoot some jump shots.
He explained it to me this way…”the player should have called my father Coach. Coach is the most important title/job in the world, except for one.” "Why," I asked? He said “A Coach shapes the hearts and minds like a Teacher. A Coach puts out fires like a Fireman. A Coach administers justice like a Judge. A Coach heals injuries like a Doctor. A Coach keeps the peace like a Police Officer. A Coach argues for his players like a Lawyer. A Coach comes up with strategies like a Military General." Then he said “I can go on, but the sad part is most coaches do not understand the power they have. They do not understand that 90 percent of the players they coach are children and are very impressionable. Many coaches are untrained and do not understand what it takes to coach.”
By this time we were at the field house so I went in. Later that day when I returned to my father’s office Mr. Greene called me in his office and stuck a piece of paper on my chest. I can remember it like it was yesterday. I asked, "What is this?" He replied “Read it.” I looked down reading upside down at a piece of paper that read…”Hello my name is Coach Coleman.” He said to me “Let this act as a reminder to you that if you ever decide to become a Coach, all the responsibility you have just undertaken.”
Well, I carried that little white sticky note, it had yellowed over the years, around with me for almost 20 years. Still today I cannot find it, but the message still rings in my head of my responsibility to the players that I coach. So I answer the telephone "Coach Coleman" and wear "Coach Coleman" on my shirts; not so others will know who I am, but to act as a constant reminder of my responsibility as a coach, plus it is in memory of Mr. Parham Greene, and the lesson I was taught 36 years ago.
