3d CoachSample

Stuck in the First Dimension

READY:

The first dimension is a vital part of the coaching experience. It’s within that realm we find the keys to successful athlete development—basic elements such as strength, power, speed, quickness, cardio, technique, repetition and tactics. It is the physicality of sport, and sport is physical!

If we don’t understand the basic principles of our sport and work to become excellent as teachers of those principles, we won’t be in the coaching profession for very long. The Bible calls us to give our all, no matter what we do in life. In Colossians 3:23-24, Paul reminds us to give our best with the gifts and talents that the Lord has given us.

When we talk about coaching beyond the first dimension, we’re not diminishing the importance of teaching fundamentals or de-emphasizing the need for physical training. On the contrary, we fully acknowledge and affirm the coaches’ requirement to do their absolute best to instruct athletes at the foundational level. However, if you don’t take care of things in the first dimension (the physical) then you can’t jump to the second dimension (the relational) or the third dimension (the spiritual). 

Getting stuck in the first dimension can have consequences that go well beyond the scope of your athletic program. It seems that more and more, coaches are having marital and family problems because of this fixation on the performance-based culture of winning. So many coaches cannot align the winning mentality of a team and the loving mentality of a spouse and parent.

After over 40 years of coaching, I have found that 85% of all coaches at every level only coach in the first dimension. They never understand the power of the second and third dimensions, which is where the highest level of coaching takes place. It is defined by the connection between body, mind and spirit. 

As a coach, these dimensions are a journey that leads to internal transformation. But you can’t get there until you realize that you have been placed wherever you are for a reason. You have been entrusted with the lives of young people, and you have great influence.

As you begin to experience transformation, you will then be able to lead your athletes to that same place of discovery. But it’s important to remember that you can’t be a tour guide to a land where you’ve never been. You must first go on this journey.

SET:

1. Why is it so easy to get stuck in the first dimension when coaching?

2. How have you been stuck in the first dimension? 

3. How does Paul’s words in Colossians 3:23-24 motivate you to become a 3D Coach? 

GO:

“Dear Lord, I confess that it is hard to capture the hearts of my players. Change me as I take this journey of internal transformation. I don’t want to get stuck in the first dimension, but I desire to be a 3D Coach that coaches in all three dimensions. In Jesus’ name, amen."