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Coaching A Playbook for Life
By Craig Dekshenieks

If you’ve never been to see a youth soccer game, you should because you’d be in for a real treat! You will marvel at the sight of boys and girls teeming around a ball—it’s a social experiment in action. Some kids are right in the middle of it all, while others are on the periphery, facing the wrong direction or picking dandelions, oblivious to the action nearby. If you could choose one word to describe the scene, it would simply be chaos.

The chaos theory states that within the complexity of the world and its various systems, there is an underlying sense of order that remains to be discovered. A meteorologist might be able to decipher the complexities of weather, and a biophysicist would be the best bet to unlock the secrets of the human genome. But who could possibly make sense of the complex system that is youth soccer? A coach.

Sports is so much a part of our culture, that even if you are not a fan of sports, you can’t help knowing who the biggest stars are. Not only are they usually multi-millionaires, they are also product endorsers. But just like every brilliant person was inspired by a brilliant teacher at some point in their lives, every great athlete has been under the tutelage of a great coach.

a mentor for youth
One of the innate qualities instilled in all of us is the urge to pass on our knowledge and experience to the next generation. That’s how Jason Helfrich, D.C., got into coaching youth sports for his three boys in Colorado Springs, Colo. Having played numerous sports growing up, Helfrich found that volunteering to coach his boys in baseball and football was just a great way to spend time with them. But he found the experience to be much more rewarding.

“I found out how much I love watching kids develop, and not just in their sports ability. Instilling the other values, like how to win and lose graciously, goal setting and hard work paying off. I think kids are underestimated in a lot of ways.” Realizing these extra benefits of coaching, has made the experience just as fun for him as it is for the kids.

Fifteen years later, Helfrich is still coaching baseball and football at the youth level, donating as much as 20 hours per week of his time in this pursuit. We all make sacrifices for our own kids, but how does one find the time to commit to youth sports? “My chiropractic office is set up around my lifestyle. I am also blessed with a practice that does really well,” he notes.

But it’s more than just a lonely impulse of delight for Helfrich. His practice has benefited as well. “There is a natural correlation between chiropractic principles and coaching. When athletes are subluxated, they can’t perform at their peak level. So yes, I do bring chiropractic care and philosophy to the team, just as I try to bring nutrition and fitness education to them too.” As a result, many families have started chiropractic care at Helfrich’s 100% A Chiropractic Wellness Center.

Expanding his practice was never the end goal of coaching, it just kind of happened that way. Helfrich’s philosophy is, “Do what you enjoy, and your practice will expand.” There’s a natural order to that philosophy.

An olympian, DC & coach
Kids grow up, but they never stop learning. And for those gifted enough to reach a higher level in sports, luckily there’s another altruistic chiropractor who also has a passion for coaching. Terry Schroeder, D.C., had the honor and privilege of representing the United States as a member of the 1984 Olympic Water Polo Team. But he never thought he’d be a coach.

After his own career ended, Schroeder went to chiropractic school and then opened up his own practice. Shortly afterward, he was asked to be the head water polo coach at Pepperdine University. “When I got out of chiropractic school, and was asked to coach, I thought I’d only do it for a couple of years.” But he did it more as a way to stay connected to the sport in which he’d dedicated so much of his life.

Opening a practice can be difficult enough by itself without the added time commitment of coaching at the college level. “Juggling the two was very difficult. I had to bring in my wife and hire an associate to help out with the practice.”

But the connection he found and joy he received from coaching was too much to give up. “My own coach, Mike Irwin, helped me grow as a person,” says Schroeder. “So I felt I needed to relate the same experience to my players. If they can become better athletes, they can become better people. And vice versa.”

That philosophy has rung true, and Schroeder has enjoyed tremendous success as a result. In 1997, his Pepperdine team won the NCAA Championship, and his teams are perennially ranked in the top 10 in the country. In 2006, he was named assistant coach of the 2008 Olympic water polo team, which will compete in Beijing this summer. Still, Schroeder is quick to downplay the accolades. “Every team is special and different regardless of the wins and losses. It’s about the long-term journey and about coming together as a team. That is what makes the journey memorable and rewarding.”

Schroeder is just as quick to add that chiropractic plays a role too. “I bring chiropractic care and philosophy to every one of my teams. And I believe it is a big part of our success because it helps them reach their maximum potential—both in and out of the pool.”

The two years Schroeder thought he’d devote to coaching is now at 20 years, and growing. And seven of his former players have gone on to coaching careers as well. Says Schroeder, “What can I say? I’m passionate about it. I love it. I want to pass it on!” And his former players will likely pass it on as well.

Legendary Green Bay Packers football coach Vince Lombardi is credited with many quotes about winning at all cost. There is a lesser known quote from Lombardi that is applicable to Coach Helfrich and Coach Schroeder: “Coaches who can outline plays on a blackboard are a dime a dozen. The ones who are successful get inside their players, relate to them, and motivate them.”

Coaching is in all of us. We offer words of encouragement to friends, solicited or unsolicited advice to colleagues, and simple lessons to our kids. Chiropractors are leaders by nature. They are all about teaching and mentoring because it’s who they are. So it makes sense that they would be good coaches. The essence of sports is achieving optimum physical performance, and who better than a chiropractor to get a team to that level?