Each opportunity I have to teach is also one where I learn. What and who could you teach?
Last month I wrote a piece about meeting someone in Cayman that I had coached at Basketball more than 25 years ago. In fact, the last time I coached basketball was nearly twenty years ago as player-coach to a corporate league team and I have only stepped on the court about once or twice since then. I have always loved Basketball though, it was my first love as a sport and was a huge part of my life in the 1980s and up until my mid-20s when I moved to Squash and then, much later, Cycling.
Over the last twenty years or so, though, my free time to contribute to sports has been all about Swimming for most of the last twenty years, latterly as a FINA Referee in Cayman, England and internationally. However, I’ve been gradually feeling that my time in Swimming was coming to a close, and before I had that serendipitous meeting in Cayman last month I was already looking for Basketball clubs in my local area to see if I could volunteer to help coach.
Time to act, and I did when I got back from Cayman, the result being that last week I was back on the court, easing into helping the head coach of a local club, beginning with the U14 and U16 teams. It was so wonderful to be back with the sport I love and giving back to young people.
One more thought. A while back I reminisced about coaching juniors at squash many years ago and wrote: “Docendo discimus – by teaching, we learn” as a way of expressing the value to ourselves as well as others of choosing to teach others what we have learned, that by teaching we learn anew and sharpen our own saw.
Beyond my client work I am always open to meeting people, whether for a one-off video call (my diary is always open via the booking link on my site), and sometimes to short or (occasionally) long-term mentoring relationships. Each opportunity I have to teach is also one where I learn.
What and who could you teach?