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Parent horror stories, cocky players, team scheduling, budgets and individual theories of coaching are all topics covered in kinesiology Iistructor Michael Swanegan’s theory of coaching class.

The theory of coaching class teaches students the different concepts of coaching, said Swanegan. “Coaching on the floor is the easy part, but a coach must also know about budgets, scheduling, supplies, parents and players’ different personalities.” Swanegan admitted that the last two are little tricky.

There’s never a shortage of opinions on coaching from the students in class, with almost a quarter of them currently coaches themselves.

Student Lilia Rivas, physical education, finds the class helpful. “I have coached elementary and high school teams and I took this class to hear about other people’s experiences, to learn what others are trying that might be helpful to me in my coaching,” she said.

The moment coach Swanegan brought up the issue of “parent horror stories” a commotion broke out in class, with parent horror stories coming from all directions.

Everyone has a parent horror story, said Swanegan. One student agreed and said parents think they know everything about the game and are always coaching from the sidelines.

Students talked about parents and coaches engaging in physical altercations with police being called and arrests being made. Everyone in class agreed that it’s always the child that loses whenever the parents get out of hand.

Zarah Montes, undecided, who coaches at her old high school, said: “Just because I’m coaching doesn’t mean I know everything and honestly there are quite a few things I’ve learned from this class.”

“There’s a whole different perspective in coaching that people from the outside don’t see,” said Montez.

When the discussion turned to why coaches yell at their players, Swanegan said: “My philosophy is, if I’m constantly yelling at you, at some point I’m trying to make you better.”

“But when I’ve had it up to here with you, I just leave you alone and you will then have the best seat in the gym because you will be on the bench.”

Swanegan suggests some players take the class. “The class will give them some insight in terms of learning the total picture of coaching,” he said. “It’s more than just X’s and O’s. There are a lot of theories of coaching; you just have to find the one that’s right for you.”

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