Quote of the Day — Bill Bowerman on Human Potential
“I still bother with runners I call hamburgers. They're never going to run any records. But they can fulfill their own potential.” — Bill Bowerman
Great coaches are not only those who only work with superstar athletes. Sure, they may be more famous coaches, but the level of athlete you coach doesn’t necessarily define the value of your work. I know many amazing coaches at the high school and youth levels as well as some lazy coaches at the college and pro levels. The latter may get the headlines while the former are doing very good work in the shadows.
I’ve always coached “hamburgers.” They’re inspiring to work with. And I learn a lot from them. It certainly hasn’t made me a worse coach, if anything, working with hamburgers has made me better.
Any coach worth their salt is a teacher at heart. And any good teacher doesn’t discriminate a pupil by their baseline level of intelligence. What good teachers care about is if the pupil wants to improve and advance and is willing to put in the effort required to do so. No matter the starting level of ability, motivated athletes are always a coaches dream.