Because We Chose to Care

Hi Coach,

Today’s newsletter is a bit different than previous ones. Below, I share an accomplishment and a story with what I believe is an application we can all apply to our coaching (or any area of our life).

I hope these newsletters serve you on your coaching journey!

I got a special phone call yesterday.

The VP of Volleyball at NIKE Sports Camps called me to inform me that our NIKE Volleyball Camps won the award for the highest-rated camps among all of their 800 weeks of volleyball camps last summer.

I was excited, proud, and grateful.

Excited because it’s a significant milestone in a journey that started with just a few local camps in the summer of 2023.

Proud because before the first night of our first volleyball camp last summer, I told the staff I believed we’d have the highest-rated camps in the country.

Grateful because there were so many incredible people on our team that made it happen. The dedication that our staff had to truly serving the athletes was special.

I spent some time yesterday afternoon calling my directors to congratulate and thank them and sending messages to our camp staff about the accomplishment.

As I reflected on the camps throughout the day, I was reminded of something that happened at our Tulsa, Oklahoma volleyball camp last summer.

It was a really difficult week of camp.

The camp was small, only about 25 girls, which can be tough in a camp context for several reasons (level of competition, group dynamics, etc.).

My director was still pretty green — it was just her second week leading a session on her own, and there were a few athletes that were quite difficult to work it.

One in particular was really difficult — we’ve all had one on a team or at a camp.

It was a recipe for disaster from a camp standpoint. I was a bit worried the camp might flop.

After day two, my director and staff were really frustrated.

We sat down to debrief after camp ended.

The staff voiced their frustrations and we talked through what was happening.

There was quite a bit of emotion, especially from my director.

At one point she tried to downplay her feelings and said something along the lines of she wasn’t sure why she was so upset by this.

I told them this, “The reason we’re upset by this and the difference between our camps and other camps is this: We choose to care.”

I told the staff that coaching is a vulnerable job. We put ourselves out there to help others learn and grow, and it’s painful when they don’t receive it or even reject it.

But we choose to care.

The easy road would have been to become apathetic, to throw in the towel on the camp and/or the specific athlete(s) that were challenging.

But we choose to care.

I told the staff that I still believed that this camp was going to end on an awesome note and that the athletes were going to love it.

Because we rejected apathy and chose to care, we got down to problem solving.

We talked through different ideas and strategies that we could use on the court and in the classroom to engage with and challenge the athletes.

Then, we implemented those ideas the following days.

My director and staff were bought in to caring, to trying new things, to building strong relationships, and holding high standards..

It wasn’t perfect the rest of the week, but it was much improved, and the camp ended on a really high note.

That most challenging athlete we had that week even came up to the director later in the week and apologized for how she had acted (it was one of my favorite moments of the summer).

When I was talking to the VP of Volleyball yesterday, I asked her which week of our camps was the highest-rated. She told me that every single week of camp was higher than any other camp they had running — even that Tulsa week.

Because we chose to care.

A few thoughts on how this could apply in your coaching or leadership context…

Thanks for reading, I hope this serves you on your journey.

To choosing to care,

Luke Gromer, RYG Athletics

P.S. Click on the poll below to give us some feedback on the newsletter. Feel free to leave a comment on the next page or hit reply to this email with thoughts.

P.P.S. If you’re interested in becoming one of our NIKE Sports Camp directors, reply “NIKE” to this email and I’ll send you the next steps! You can see testimonials from over 100 athletes that attended our NIKE Sports Camps last summer.