In 1983 I taught my first lesson as a teaching professional in racquet sports. I got paid and when I think back, it was barely worth the price. But you have to start somewhere.

I love sports and have as far back as memory serves. Playing and trying to get better taught me more than almost any other relationship. I once made a list of all the lessons learned from playing sports and if an outsider examined the results, they wouldn’t be able to tell the source: a parent, a devoted mentor, a deep relationship, or a passionate and private quest.

The point is we get what we need most from various sources.

That first lesson. I knew a lot, and could do a lot but could teach and coach very little. It reminds me of giving a lesson beside another teaching pro years later. I overheard:

“Do this,” Pro says.

“I am doing that,” says student.

“No, you’re doing this. Do this.”

“Do what?”

“Do this.”

“I am doing that!”

“No, you’re doing this! Do this.”

“What?”

So much for learning by doing. But you have to start somewhere.

A few weeks ago, I gave my last lesson a few weeks shy of my fortieth year of coaching. My heart said, “give,” and my body said, “enough.”

There are few sacred spaces—which makes them, at least in some way, sacred. One of these spaces is the betweenness of coach and student. When intentions are true, what flows within this space is the essence of caring, growth, and evolution…and sometimes it turns a life around, gets the wayward back on the path. You never know.

Oddly, I never had a coach. But “self-taught” is misleading. You get what you most need from various sources—and sometimes the source.

And you have to start somewhere.

photo credit: Johannes Plenio