Legendary UCLA basketball John Wooden led his teams to 10 NCAA Championships in the span of 12 years in the 1960s and ’70s.
Known as a coach who truly cared about those who played for him in the course of his 27 years as the head coach at UCLA, Wooden once said, “A successful coach is one who the players want to continue a relationship with throughout the years, but also one who can mold talent into the best it can be.”
A parent and teacher before he became a coach, Wooden once commented that the best thing an individual or coach could do was to seek opportunities to show you care and the smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.
Perhaps, as Grandparents.com suggests, youth sports are the ultimate classroom to learn those life lessons.
“Kids learn the importance of teamwork, sportsmanship, preservice, respect for authority and rules, and how to win with class and lose with dignity,” the site states.
In honor of Father’s Day weekend, the Democrat spoke with three well-known coaches in Sedalia, seeking their comments on the role of athletics and coaching the youth of Sedalia.
A legendary soccer athlete, coach
Sedalia School District 200 Assistant Superintendent Steve Triplett knows all too well the successes of athletics as both a player in high school and college and as a coach.
A four-year varsity athlete at Smith-Cotton from 1980-83, Triplett was an all-district selection during his junior and senior seasons as well as an all-state pick in 1983.
During his four years of play, the Tigers were State quarter-finalists each season. Triplett then went on to play at Missouri Southern State College from 1994-89 and was once again a varsity starter, serving as the team’s captain.
Triplett returned to his alma mater accepting the head boys soccer coaching position in 1993 where he remained until 2001. Not only did he coach boys’ soccer at S-C but he was the inaugural head coach of the girls program that began at the high school in 1995.
“I think that coaching is a way to still be around the game that you love when physically you can’t or shouldn’t play,” Triplett said. “I had numerous coaches growing up who influenced me such as my dad, Homier Triplett, Tom Knight, and Rick Young.”
Those coaches inspired Triplett and his success as a player carried over to his coaching career, as his teams won conference championships, district titles and Triplett was named Conference Coach of the Year in both boys and girls soccer.
“I was very fortunate to have a great father who took the time to coach all of my sports,” Triplett said fondly. “He would read books and watch videos to learn a sport that he didn’t play as a child just so he could be the best coach he could be.
“I have two boys of my own now that I have coached in various sports throughout their childhoods and although I was very active in sports, I try not to push them in any certain direction,” he added. “It is important to remember that it is their life and not mine to live.”
Triplett added that he feels it is best to try to encourage his sons and supports them in whatever their interests may be.
“For me, the best part of coaching is building those relationships with the kids that extend beyond being a classroom teacher, and hopefully instilling in them a strong work ethic,” Triplett went on to explain. “Not only sports, but any organized activity can give a kid the opportunity of teamwork, sportsmanship, respect for authority and rules and how to work hard.
“There is a way to win and a way to lose and competition helps kids learn how to do both of those with grace and dignity,” he added. “Staying physically fit is also of great importance that will benefit them well later in life.”
The dean of varsity coaches
Sacred Heart has long been recognized for their success on the athletic field and a large part of that has been Richard Bahner. For 45 years, Bahner coached varsity sports, 26 of those were given to boys’ soccer and five of those were girls’ soccer.
“I did not get into education with any dreams of coaching,” Bahner said. “When the school needed an athletic director I was selected and did that for many years.
“Along the way there were sports that needed help, and I pitched in for instance as an assistant basketball coach under Tom Jennewein and as a golf coach,” Bahner explained. “When the decision was made to add soccer I volunteered because I loved the sport and I thought by then, perhaps, I might be able to handle coaching.”
Bahner added that some of his best friends who coached other sports assured him he was doing it right throughout his many years of coaching, but his love of the sport kept him in the game.
“I believe that I was influenced the most by Leonard Makarewicz and my father-in-law, Tom Baker,” Bahner said. “Perhaps I looked to them because of the way they seemed to care about their players.
“My father passed away when I was 6, and I found that these two became over the years, true father figures to me,” Bahner reflected. “The best aspect of coaching is the kids and the second best would have to be a continuation of your involvement in the sport and passing on the skills, tactics and love of the game.”
Like Triplett, Bahner said he feels that perhaps young players will develop a lifestyle that leads to lifetime fitness.
“Youngsters can benefit from athletics in so many ways: physical fitness and learning to be part of a team are two of the greatest but there are also life lessons to be learned, if the parents will permit this,” Bahner commented. “Parents often forget that most coaches sat in the bleachers and watched other people coach their own children at various times.
“Coaches had to endure the same feelings that parents endure and the greatest lesson that I learned sitting in the bleachers was that it needed to be understood that this is my child’s life,” Bahner emphasized. “The sport they are playing and the experiences they are having are theirs; it is not for me to live my life through them, but to let them live their lives.”
Throughout his 45 years of coaching, there were a number of championships won but the best times were those days when the teams cliqued.
“… the players played as a unit and thought of the team first,” Bahner reflected. “This didn’t always happen with the teams that won the championships and sometimes happened more with teams that had poorer win-loss-draw records.
“As I look back, I think the thing that still stirs my blood is to see a group of young people enjoy the simple beauty of sport,” Bahner added. “My Father’s Day wish is that all dads would learn what damage they can do to their child’s development when they constantly criticize the coach, other players, the referees, or even their own child.”
A basketball success story
For Kevin Thomas, who begins his tenure as the head coach for the Smith-Cotton Tigers High School boys’ basketball team this fall, the relationships he developed as a player with his coaches still influence him to this day.
“I have been blessed to have had many great coaches who have had an impact on my life,” Thomas said. “I fell in love with the game of basketball in middle school.
“My first coaches were older guys who played at the local park,” he recalled. “They took me under their wing and would give me pointers on how to play.”
It was during those early pick-up games on the courts that Thomas felt he was shaped as a player.
“The older guys helped to shape me as far as learning how to play without calling fouls,” Thomas recalled. “Because I was one of the youngest guys on the court I hadn’t earned the right to call my own foul.”
It would only be a few short years later that Thomas learned the rules and techniques of “organized” basketball.
“The first coach that I had that made an impact on me was my high school coach, “ Thomas said. “Coach Terry McCarter entered my life my junior year and coached me for my final two years of high school.
“He took a losing culture and turned it into a winning one very quickly,” Thomas added. “He helped mold me into a man and influenced me to get into coaching later in life. He was all about relationships and that’s why I pursued a career in coaching.”
Thomas commented that to this day any time he has a life decision to make he consults with three men: his father, Coach McCarter and Coach Dale Ribble.
While McCarter was a role model in the early years of Thomas’ playing career, it was a collegiate coach who would eventually give Thomas his start as a coach.
A graduate of Mandarin High School in Jacksonville, Florida, Thomas met Gene Bess when he played at Three Rivers College in Popular Bluff from 2001-03.
“Coach Bess also had a tremendous impact on me,” Thomas recalled. “He taught me what toughness was and how to compete.
“My teammates on his team became brothers to me,” he said fondly. “We had a special bond that can’t be broken.”
Thomas then transferred to Drury for his final two years of college ball, learning three very different takes on the sport.
“Coach Gary Stanfield and Coach Steve Hesser were both great coaches but they had very different philosophies,” Thomas said. “Coach Stansfield was all about the mental part of the game and technique and coach Hesser was a cowboy from Oklahoma who was all about toughness and teamwork.
“I met Coach Ribble while playing at Drury and got to know him during my time as a graduate assistant there (2005-07),” Thomas added. “Ribble became like a big brother to me and he definitely cared about his players and wanted them to succeed later in life.”
When Ribble became head coach at State Fair Community College, he offered Thomas an assistant coaching position. Thomas accepted and stayed in that role for three years.
Thomas was named head coach at SFCC in 2010 remaining in that position until his resignation this spring to accept the position at S-C.
“I got into coaching because I was so fortunate to have so many great men mentor me as I was growing up and I wanted to have the opportunity to give back,” Thomas said. “Sports are a great way to teach life lessons for kids. Teamwork teaches kids how to give themselves for the good of the group.”
Competition is something that has been lost in America, Thomas said.
“We have begun to shield our kids from disappointment and hurt feelings and it has not prepared young adults where competing for jobs is a reality,” Thomas commented. “There are winners and losers and it is okay to not finish first.
“How you handle disappointments is what determines future successes,” Thomas added. “Youth coaches have the chance to help mold kids and are important parts of our communities.”
Richard Bahner, Sacred Heart soccer coach, talks to his players at the half during a game against the College Heights Cougars in September at Clover Dell Park. The Gremlins won 4-1.
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