Mo’s Blog: ‘Coaching Abroad’

Coaching a team for this school is a unique experience.

To put things in perspective, there is an Athletic Director and his secretary who organise everything for the coaches. They order in uniforms, distribute them, write all the paperwork required for players to sign and organise all tournaments / games etc. Coaches just show up at the gym and
coach. Also, when there
are tournaments in other cities the players ‘house’ with host families from the teams they are playing against. This way the players get to know other students from different schools in Europe and it is a very friendly custom where they get introduced to the food and culture of the country. Two players get housed together, so they always have a teammate with them. This means that outside of game play in other cities, the coaches have free time and an all-expense paid hotel stay, as well as a money allowance for food.

Coach uniforms and rides to and from hotel to gym are pre-arranged around your game times. We only played one game on Friday and one game on Saturday. On top of all this – coaches get paid for coaching a school team! (My team is in blue above)

Anyway, I was just in The Hague, Netherlands for the weekend and it was a beautiful location to enjoy when we weren’t playing. The bus ride was about 8 hours from Paris, but we traveled by Coach buses (Mercedes-Benz) so it was comfortable. Our hotel was on the Rhine River close to where Rembrandt was born in 1606.  We had dinner Friday night in Leiden’s Centre at an Argentinian steak and rib pub. Then we taxied back to the hotel at 11:30pm for more drinks on the deck. An upscale buffet breakfast in the morning (where the chefs cook your food in front of you) was a nice start to the day. It is all very different than what we’re used to.  I just thought that from time to time, I would describe some of the differences that we are experiencing here; coaching is definitely one of them!

MW