“I do it for the paycheck…”
Shared by Breanne Smedley
“I do it for the paycheck…”
Recently, one of our district Athletic Directors sent all the head coaches in the district a form to fill out.
It was titled “Coaches Salary Survey.”
In the email, she said that they are evaluating coaching stipends and need to know the average weekly hours worked in season and out of season as a head coach.
So, I began filling out the form. It asked for hours spent in the following categories:
Practices, matches, tournaments, planning, film, meetings (with coaches, players, parents, team, administration), team bonding, scouting, trainings, camps, fundraisers, traveling, weight training, leadership development, sending/responding to emails.
When I had filled out the hours, the form gave me my averages.
37.8 hours per week in season (12 week season). 20 hours out of season (remaining 40 weeks of the year).
“What?!” I thought. That’s on top of a full-time teaching schedule. Meaning, I work about 75 hours a week during the season.
Let me do it over.
So, this time, I went through my exact schedule and entered the hours based on precisely what I did the past year for volleyball.
It came back the same.
I emailed the AD back. “I know my hours seem high, but I double-checked. And it’s accurate.”
She wrote back, “Yep. They aren’t lying when they say you don’t coach for the money. Don’t work out the hourly rate, it doesn’t look good.”
Too late. I did the math.
$3.80 per hour. Before taxes.
I spent five years earning an undergraduate degree. I have a master's. I’ve been coaching for 10 years. Parents trust me to develop and train the most precious thing in their lives.
For $3.80 an hour?
This work is not easy.
Coaching requires long hours. Extreme effort. Sacrifices.
This season was especially difficult.
There were a few weeks that I said goodbye to Charlee at 6:15am on Thursday morning and didn’t see her again until Sunday evening.
Most nights, we would come home to spend 30 minutes as a family before Char went to bed, and we go back to planning and emailing.
Spending all day every other Sunday making freezer meals so that we can eat healthy during the season instead of eating out.
For $3.80 an hour.
Add in any parent issues, team drama, or schedule disruptions and I can see why a lot of coaches get burned out.
I would be lying if I didn’t think of calling it quits myself. My life would be so much easier! (Right?)
But, this work matters.
And when we do work that matters, we aren’t just fulfilling our own purpose. We do it to serve others.
To build up our future generation of young women. To empower them by giving them a space to realize just how much they’re capable of.
To guide young people through the struggle of taking risks, and teach them how to be resilient in the face of failure.
To allow these girls the opportunity to experience disappointment and the satisfaction of working hard to overcome defeat.
It’s so much more than volleyball.
And that’s what pulls me forward.
Through the long hours, extreme effort, and sacrifices. The purpose and calling to build up our future leaders outweighs the pain.
I do it for the paycheck.
But not the monetary one.
My “piggy bank” where I keep my “money” earned from coaching is in a shoebox on my bookcase at home.
It’s filled with cards, letters, photos, and notes from over the years.
From players expressing their gratitude for the role that I’ve played in their lives. From parents telling me how much of an impact I made in their daughter’s life. From other coaches, sharing that they’ve learned so much from me and are thankful.
It’s filled with graduation announcements and wedding invitations from former players. Pendants from the colleges where they went on to play.
Those are my paychecks.
And they outweigh any monetary compensation that I could be given.
Because this work of serving others matters.
#DaringlyResilient
#PassionatelyServing
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