Oh, the things I can't do

"Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do." -John Wooden 

The hardest thing about coaching is that I don't know how. Not at all. All of my motivational leader-type experiences in which I get people to push themselves harder and do things they think they can't have followed this typical script:

Me: Hey, let's climb this giant rock! (Or jump out of this tree! Or run 10 miles! Or do 2000 crunches then 100 pushups then roll around in a big snowbank outside! Or hike 18 miles with really heavy backpacks and camp out and hike back tomorrow!)

Other person: Uh, I don't think I want to do that. I probably can't do that.

Me: You can! Let's do it! Look, I can do it! You know you want to! It will be fun! Yeah!

Other person: ...

Me: Come on! Let's go! I'll help you! Fun! Yeah!

Other person: ...

Me: (Same type of comments, relentlessly)

Other person: Okay. Let's do it.

Me: !!!! 

And later...

Other person: I didn't think I'd be able to do that. What an accomplishment! (Or that was really scary. But fun. I'm glad I tried it. Or wow, you're crazy. Clearly we have different interests. I'm staying home next time.)

Me: I knew it! If I can do it, you can do it!

Apologies to my childhood friends for all the assorted reckless things and bike wrecks, to my high school friends for all the building-climbing, and to my college friends for all the rollerblading and wrestling and climbing things. Safety first! (Ha ha ha.)

But now, it's like, hey, I can only do ten pushups before my face is really really hot. I know my limits. (Jeff, stop snickering.) I can skate a lot of laps but can't do any crunches. I do a million turnaround stops but no falls. And coaching isn't about that anyway. But how easy and effective it's always been to challenge people to do more than me or work harder than I am or somehow goad them into trying to beat me! (Caveat: not talking about overall roller derby here–not that conceited–just talking about sheer endurance and staying power.) 

But it's really difficult to try to adjust to having to just tell people what to do without putting forth that physical, visible challenge. And it's even more difficult to be friendly and encouraging since that's not my natural inclination in any circumstance. My default personality is certainly (unintentionally) standoffish and solitary. 

But I guess I have to forget about my strengths and work on my weaknesses, just like in every other situation. But in like 5 months, watch out–I can probably outdo you. And that's the plan.