‘We Gotta Coach Them Harder’: Russell Wilson Speaks on Not Cutting Corners When Coaching Future to Be the Best  

Russell Wilson is not accepting mediocrity when it comes to his children’s performance in any sport. 

The two-time Super Bowl winner knows a thing or two about the correlation between natural talent, hard work and success. And like most parents, Wilson takes pride in coaching his children, and instilling that winning mentality in the budding athletes. So much so that Wilson sees no challenge in adjusting his coaching style when working with his children and not his teammates. 

Russell Wilson and Future Zahir Photo: @dangerusswilson/Instagram

“I don’t struggle with it because I just do it. It should be right every time,” Wilson said on the “Youth Inc with Greg Olsen” podcast. In fact, the former Seattle Seahawks quarterback believes there is no room for soft coaching, especially when it comes to his stepson Future. “He’s very talented,” Wilson said of the 7-year-old, whom his wife Ciara shares with her ex, rapper Future. 

Wilson continued, “One of my pet peeves, with coaching kids these days, is like saying, ‘it’s okay to tie,’ ‘it’s okay to this, it’s okay to that.’ Listen, I think it’s great for kids to get outside and if they don’t win, cool, great. But if a kid has a talent, like a special gift, it’s God-given, to me, it’s our requirement to coach them and to train them to be the best version of themselves.”

Wilson has been seen helping Future hone his skills in soccer, baseball and, of course, football. Wilson shared that his philosophy is to correct mistakes with positive reinforcement, with both building up Future’s confidence and vision of himself.

“I cannot stand if my kids get a coaching lesson and they’re doing something wrong and it’s like, ‘Okay, next thing.’ No, we’re gonna fix it right,” Wilson added. “I firmly believe we’re just letting our kids get away with stuff nowadays. I think we gotta coach them harder.”

Wilson we’d Ciara in 2016; at the time Future was just a toddler. The couple since has added two more children: Sienna Princess Wilson, 4, and son Win Wilson, 20 months. Wilson, who was traded to the Denver Broncos, recently expressed that he would like to have one more child. 

Independent journalism still matters.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top