Back to the first rink.
I learned to skate at this school. Now I coach there, and my students bring home national medals of their own.
Every athlete has a first rink. Mine belongs to my school. It's where I fell, got up, and eventually skated my way to a state captaincy. Years later I walked back onto that same rink, this time with a whistle.
Coaching there closes a loop I care about more than any medal of my own. Kids from the school where I learned, training the way I trained, are now winning national medals of their own. Watching a ten-year-old stand where you stood, and go further, is a particular kind of proud.
What it taught me
Coaching is product management with higher stakes and shorter feedback loops. You succeed only through other people, you design the practice rather than play the game, and the scoreboard belongs to someone else. It has made me a more patient leader everywhere else.
