I realize not everything in the world is built around the school calendar, but in the Krzykowski family’s world, August is our reboot. Everything is new again. 
For my family, and for me personally, “new” is the predominant theme in our lives. We’re living in a new house. We’ve got three of our four sons in a new school this year. And while our oldest has remained at his same high school, he is now driving himself there each day, which is a new stage of life altogether (for all of us).
Entering this new school year, Coaching Life Groups are preparing for launch or relaunch, and we are working hard to plan and prepare appropriately.
In addition to all that, I’ve begun one other new adventure.
From 1998-2004, I spent many hours each fall (pretty much year round, actually) coaching football at Naples HS in SW Florida, and from 2005-07 I remained involved in the program on a weekly basis during the season. Working with the NHS program was incredible, and shaped so much about who I am.
This year, for the first time since then, I’ll be coaching school level football again. I have the privilege of coaching 8th grade football this fall at a middle school outside of Kansas City. After two weeks of practice, I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back out there. I knew I missed it, and it’s fantastic to be back.
Best of all, the past eight years have provided me with a perspective that I lacked in my 20’s. I certainly didn’t realize this or think about it at the time, but originally I got into coaching for me. Not that I was a horrible person in most ways, or that I treated kids terribly. I wasn’t and I didn’t. But first and foremost, my coaching was for me. While I’m certainly not a perfect coach now, it’s not about me anymore. I can tell you exactly why I coach. And knowing exactly why I coach has made a HUGE difference in the way I view every single aspect of this role. It’s changed how I view every situation with every player we serve.
I coach to help young people develop a love for sports and a love for others that will steer them toward becoming someone who will change the world for good.
Those are my hot buttons: love for the sport and love for others. Those are two things that I did not develop as a young athlete, and the fact that I failed to develop those in my youth has made my journey through sports, and journey through life in general much more challenging than it otherwise might have been. I do not blame my Coaches for mistakes I’ve made or things that have gone wrong in my life — those are on me. At the same time, my former Coaches had an opportunity to change me, and most of them missed that opportunity.
I will never do this perfectly, but I do not want to miss a single opportunity to help someone find a better path. I’m guessing neither do you. So whether the next season you begin is your first or fifty-first, I hope you will pause to consider your answer to that question, “Why do you coach?”