Essential Qualities of a Football Coach: Passion

Anyone who is involved in jobs with a heavy vocational calling need to be constantly questioning themselves over the reason for which they are doing such work.  If you’re a nurse or a doctor, for instance, then caring for people has to be your main priority.  Same goes for teachers who must put the education of those placed in their charge as the reason for which they go to work every day.

That is not to say that money shouldn’t be important to these people or that they don’t deserve high salaries.  Indeed, the experience of the Finnish education system – one that regularly ranks as the world’s best - where teaching jobs are both highly valued and well remunerated proves that this isn’t the case.  But these are jobs that need individuals for whom money isn’t the main motivator.

Clearly, the same applies to football coaches in particular those who are involved with the development of children.  There is no doubt that they should be paid well in professional environments but it is worrying when coaches take up roles purely because of the money that is on offer.  Not because they will necessarily do a bad job of it but as eventually their output will start to suffer.

People are naturally inclined more towards others who are passionate about the work they’re doing.  They’re influenced by how people act and if they see someone who is clearly enjoying what they’re doing then it will show in how they respond.

The crucial thing is that passion cannot be faked.  It filters into the way that one delivers a session, in how deeply they care about people’s improvement and how far they’re willing to go in order to ensure that the players they’re coaching deliver on their potential.

Importantly, passion is also a critical factor in how a coach goes about ensuring that they improve themselves.  Regardless of their line of work, a passionate individual will typically be more interested to look out for anything that might be of help on their job.  A passionate individual won’t simply go through the motions but will understand why every aspect of their job is carried out and think about ways of improving on each one of these facets.

This does not mean that anyone who is passionate about coaching is capable of doing so.  Indeed, some of the worst excesses seen on pitches the world over are carried out by people who are undoubtedly passionate.  

Even so, that little bit of fire in your belly – to go with a cliché – is necessary to push you ever harder so that you improve yourself and deliver ever better results.  Frankly you cannot be involved in a role that can determine people’s future without that little bit of passion.

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