When you are doing anything in life consistently and it has almost become a habit, it is good to stop and ask yourself why you are doing it and examine the purpose it plays in your life. I’m not only talking about the ritualistic cup of coffee you have in the morning or the 5 cigarettes you allow yourself to have over the weekend, but I’m also talking about the hobbies that you have, including the sports that you play.

On February 4, 2019 I published the first episode of the Strong Athletic Podcast with the title, “Why are you in your sport?”

In that episode I gave listeners a list of 20 questions that I wanted them to answer in relation to playing their sport. I gave them these questions and suggested that they answer the list at the start of every season. This is one method that you can use to examine why you are doing your sport, either as a coach or as an athlete.

Here is the list of 20 Questions that coaches should ask athletes at the beginning of every season:

1. Why did you start coaching or playing your sport? 
2. Why do you keep coaching or playing your sport?
3. Why would you stop coaching or playing your sport?
4. What do you gain from coaching or playing your sport
5. What do you sacrifice in order to coach or play your sport
6. What is your proudest moment as a coach or an athlete?
7. What is your worst moment as a coach or an athlete?
8. What are indicators that you should keep coaching or playing your sport?
9. What are indicators that you should stop coaching or playing your sport?
10. Does your motivation as a coach or athlete come from focusing on yourself or focusing on your team?
11. Coaches: write about the athlete that you have the best relationship with and why
12. Coaches: write about the athlete that you have the worst relationship with and why
13. Athletes: write about the coach that you benefited from the most and why you enjoyed their coaching
14. Athletes: write about the coach that you didn’t learn from and why you didn’t gain from their coaching
15. Brag about yourself! What is your strongest asset as a coach or as an athlete? 
16. What is your weakest asset as a coach or an athlete? Be honest but stay out of the dump!
17. What do you love about your sport?
18. What do you hate about your sport?
19. How does time impact all of the answers you've listed? 
20. How does obligation impact all of the answers you have listed? 

To hear more of an explanation of what each question means, listen to the Strong Athletic Podcast, Episode 1. You can find it on iTunes, Stitcher, Podomatic or www.strongathleticpodcast.com

If you want to tell us about your experience answering these questions or tell us some of your answers please write in to hello@strongathleticpodcast.com and thanks!

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