What is does it mean to be coachable? Does an athlete have to be coachable to be successful in sports? Coachable is what separates average athletes from the great ones. It is not something a person has to be born with, but something he has to develop as he matures as an athlete. Being coachable is up to him, not his coach. This trait is something good athletes disdain until they reach a certain level of play because then this can become an obstacle in his path to that next level. I believe that an athlete can only be success in their sport if he has that relationship with their coach. Now they are some professional athletes that had plenty of success in their career and they are labeled as one of the most un-coachable players. There are professional athletes who could have had success and did not because they lacked the ability to developing this intangible trait. Developing this characteristic is not rocket science; it just takes determination and patience. If a person can become the player with great coaching ability, it will take an athlete as far as he wants to go. It will not go unrecognized because every coach loves a player who is willing to be coached. .
What is coachable? Now I am going to break it down, because coachable is not in your everyday dictionary. According to Webster's English Dictionary, coach is "someone who teaches a sport or trains athletes" ("coach"), while the word able is "having the power or skill to do something" ("able"). Combine those words together, coachable is the willingness to be corrected and to accept that correction without expressing harsh feelings for being corrected. Most athletes do not like being singled out for being wrong; it makes them doubt their ability and makes them believe their coach is being hard on them. Of course, there are those athletes who love to be corrected because it helps them flourish as an athlete and also help them excel their games to that next level.
