So the father was lecturing his son.
“When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he was walking eight miles to school,” the father said.
Replied the son, “When Abraham Lincoln was your age, he was president.”
See? Kids can lecture, too.
So it not enough for parents and coaches to talk the talk.
“What you do speaks so loud I cannot hear what you say,“ said Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Kids see everything that coaches do. If you’re late for practice. If you’re unprepared. If you lose your cool.
Former NBA player Charles Barkley famously rejected any thought he is a role model. “Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids,” he said.
But coaches can never escape their position as role models. Nor should they. The moment you preach, you become held to a higher standard. The more you preach, the higher the standard.