By: FVSU Office of Sports Information
FVSU Lady Wildcats Head Basketball Coach Lonnie Bartley was the keynote speaker at last week’s (May 19th) Northeast Health Magnet High School Winter/Spring Athletics Awards Banquet in Macon, Georgia. In an address entitled, “Where are They Now,” Bartley
quipped that coaching seems to be the only profession that those who are not qualified to critique your performance are usually the ones who do. He re-called as a child that all kinds of individuals would come by his family home. Doctors who made house calls, insurance salesmen, local candy vendors, even snake oil salesmen all came by. He also recalled that coaches from his community also came by. Since, as a child, he had chores, the coaches would stop by to ask his parents if it was okay for him to come out to play organized sports.
During his speech, as he surveyed the rostrum of coaches, Bartley indicated that of all those individuals who came by, it was only the coaches who continued to do so well after the transaction or sales pitch had been made. The reason why they do is because our profession has the undeniable impact of creating a bond between the player and coach that last a lifetime.
In closing his remarks, Bartley quoted from the preface to Bill Libby’s book, “The Coaches.” “Having seen some broken by the job and others die from it, one is moved to admire them and to hope that someday the world will learn to understand them.”
-Wildcats Athletics-
