Speaker: Geoff Bragg
Please introduce yourself and let us know how long your student has been in coaching!
Geoff Bragg: Hello, my name is Geoff Bragg. My son Braxton has been in these coaching sessions for about a year now.
What was your initial motivation for enrolling your child into Student Coaching?
Geoff Bragg: The opportunity for Braxton to become a candidate for this coaching program came to us through his wrestling club. You know, Braxton was a rising sophomore at the time and it seemed like a really good time for him to have an opportunity to focus on his mental acuity as well as, you know, his physical prowess as a wrestler. Um, I've always believed that, you know, the ages between 12 and 18 are the formative years of what makes us who we are, uh for the rest of our lives and it seemed like a really good time and a really good fit for, uh, for our son.
How do you feel about your child's coach selection? AND Were they a good fit?
Geoff Bragg: To be honest, I have no idea how coaches are vetted to pair with the athletes that they're mentoring for this program. But I have to say that I feel we really lucked out with Robert. Um, Braxton felt like he had an easy connection with them. And, uh, after every session, I would always ask Braxton how things went. Uh, of course, early on, I just wanted to make sure Braxton felt like he was comfortable and he could really express what he thought, uh, without, you know, fear of any judgment or anything like that. And apparently Robert made him extremely comfortable and, um, and Braxton developed a really great working relationship with Robert and I really, I think far exceeded our expectations, uh, with everything that Braxton has garnered from this program, uh, through Robert's mentoring.
What is one thing that your child has learned in coaching that you have seen them implement in their life?
Geoff Bragg: One great tool that Robert gave. Braxton was his ability to focus on a vision and not just to focus on the vision, but remembering the reason why you started something uh as an example, Braxton is pursuing scouts. We had a conversation a few months back where he was considering dropping out of the scouts and it was kind of a heated discussion at first, but we both fell back on the tools that Robert and Braxton have been working on as far as remembering why you want to complete a vision, remembering your inspirations of not just what makes you want to complete a vision, but make you, but your inspirations for becoming the person that you want to be. And we fell back on a lot of that language during that conversation and we Braxton came to understand, accept and realize it was his own dedication to himself and was should have been reason and his reason enough for him to finish his pursuit of his eagle in the scouting program. And I was very thankful to have the vocabulary to have that discussion with Braxton after his mentoring with Robert
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about enrolling their child into coaching?
Geoff Bragg: I'm not sure I can offer advice per se to a parent who is considering enrolling their child in this coaching program. What I can offer is that I believe the style of coaching they are providing for our son has given him a casual confidence in his own ability. And regardless of what his pursuit is, I feel like the type of mentoring that they're doing is showing them how to be a holistic, good human all the way through. I I very, very much focused on achieving their goals and whatever athletics uh they might be focused on. But beyond that, that single sport is not what makes the totality of my son. And that is something that this coaching program recognizes and, and helps to develop them, not just as an athlete but as a human. And that's probably one of the greatest benefits that we've seen from this program.
