April 18, 2016
Achieving Peak Mental Performance – Factor #1: Focus On The Process, Not The Outcome
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April 18, 2016
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April 12, 2016
Colby Patnode started coaching baseball 2 days after he finished playing for his high school team. He is now 24 and has coached multiple baseball teams, both travel and school teams through the high school varsity level. He lives in Yakima, Washington.
Twitter: @CPat11
Facebook: /colby.patnode
‘Adversity turns weak teams into victims and strong teams into competitors’
HUGE IDEA
April 11, 2016
April 1, 2016
‘Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth’
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March 29, 2016
Scott Rosberg has been a coach (basketball, soccer, & football) at the high school level for 30 years, an English teacher for 18 years, and an athletic director for 12 years. He has published seven booklets on coaching and youth/school athletics, two books of inspirational messages and quotes for seniors and graduates, and a newsletter for athletic directors and coaches. He also speaks to schools, teams, and businesses on a variety of team-building, leadership, and coaching topics. Scott has a blog and a variety of other materials about coaching and athletic topics on his website.
Scott is also a member of the Proactive Coaching speaking team. Proactive Coaching is dedicated to helping organizations create character and education-based team cultures, while providing a blueprint for team leadership. They help develop confident, tough-minded, fearless competitors and train coaches and leaders for excellence and significance.
Websites: coachwithcharacter.com; proactivecoaching.info
Twitter: @scottrosberg; @ProactiveCoach
Facebook: /coachwithcharacter ; /proactivecoach
‘Look what you’ve become!’
‘You get what you reward, and it perpetuates itself’
HUGE IDEA:
HUGE IDEA
March 25, 2016
March 21, 2016
Coach Montana has been at St. Cecilia Academy since 2012 as the varsity girls head coach at St. Cecilia Academy. Coach Montana played high school basketball at Marist (GA), where he helped lead the team to a 32-0 season his senior year, winning the state championship, and being ranked 6th nationally by USA Today. He has been coaching vasity basketball since 1997, since 2003 as head coach. In 2007 and 2008, Montana’s teams were state runner-up. Those same years he was named GISA Coach of the Year. Coach Montana has been serving St. Cecilia as the Vice Principal of Students since 2012. Coach Montana also coaches for Upward Stars Nashville. He and his wife, Shannon, have 8 beautiful children.
Websites: stcecilia.edu; upwardstarsnashville.org
Twitter: @StCeciliaAca; @UpwardStarsTN
Facebook: /St-Cecilia-Academy/103813402991323; /upwardstarsnashville
Nothing has worked better to build kids’ confidence than to truthfully tell a child ‘I believe in you’
March 18, 2016
March 14, 2016
Jon Caldwell is a co-founder of Ginga Futsal and serves as Director of the Greater Cincinnati North and East locations.
Ginga mission statement: ‘We strive to teach confidence and total control over the ball. GINGA focuses on the individual skills of the player. GINGA will create attacking players, by teaching moves and feints to unbalance your defender. Our goal is to develop total soccer players not positional players, who have an artistic relationship with the ball and the game.’
Website: thegingatouch.com
Twitter: @jcaldwell13; @thegingatouch
Facebook: /The-Ginga-Touch-192724914078318
‘No lines, no lectures’
‘At the younger ages – that is the time to take the risks. That is the time to fail. I would be doing something wrong if all the teams I coach at the younger ages win every single game.’
March 11, 2016
March 7, 2016
March 4, 2016
Janis Meredith is the founder of JBMThinks Positive Sports Parenting, her goal is to help busy and often overwhelmed sports parents by providing guidance and resources to guide parents as they strive to give their children a growing and positive youth sports experience.
Janis blogs, podcasts, speaks, and hosts online communities to get her positive message out. She has written for MLB.com Digital Academy, USAFootball.com, Coachup.com, LessThanPerfectParents.com, Southwest Florida Parent & Child, and Redding Record Searchlight.
Most recently she has written the book 11 Habits of Happy and Positive Sports Parents, a great resource for coaches to give out during their pre-season parent meetings.
Website: jbmthinks.com; Link to 11 Habits book: Book
Twitter: @jbmthinks
Facebook: /sportsparenting
http://jbmthinks.com/11-habits-happy-positive-sports-parents/
February 29, 2016
‘A coach will influence more people in 1 year than most people will in a lifetime’
February 25, 2016
Lee Miller is the National Director and Skill Development Trainer for Elite Hoops Basketball. 2015 marks Lee Miller’s 12th year as Director of Elite Hoops. Previously, Miller has Co-directed the University of Georgia’s basketball camps, worked at Duke University basketball camps and assisted with Jack Haley’s NBA Complete Player Camp in California. In 2004, he was amongst the best upcoming NBA talent while working at the 27th annual Pete Newell’s Big Man Camp in Las Vegas. Since 2009, Miller has trained over 1100 players, 83 of which have gone on to play at the Division I level. One of which was the 2011 AJC High School Player of the Year and current UVA Cavalier Malcolm Brogdon. Miller also worked extensively for 4 years with 2014 Georgia Gatorade Player of the Year, Isaiah Wilkins.
Website: elitehoopsbasketball.com
Facebook: /EliteHoops
Twitter: @LeeMillerElite; @EliteHoops
- ‘Success is the direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you did your very best’ – John Wooden
February 22, 2016
‘It’s not about you. Or your win/loss record.’
‘If I could sacrifice the self-confidence and wellbeing of one of the players on my team so that the team could win a championship, would I do it?’
‘Ask me in 20 years and we’ll see how successful these boys are. Then I’ll be able to tell you if I succeeded as a coach.’
‘Always, always, always – do what is in the best interest of the player’
February 17, 2016
Rod Huff is a successful business executive with 30 years experience in the operations and administration area. He began his baseball coaching experience as an assistant coach when his son, Austin, was five years old. His first head coaching experience began in 1995 when his company, Sparrow Records, sponsored his 7- and 8-year-old coach-pitch team. That year, as a first-year coach, his team, nicknamed the Birds, went 15-2. That season ushered in somewhat of a dynasty in his Brentwood, Tennessee, community, where he is known as one of the winningest coaches ever in the local league. His nine-year record as a head coach includes five league championships and four runner-up titles. Huff took his operational and administrative executive abilities to the ball field and came up with a winning formula of organization, feedback, and motivation, which had parents and players alike asking to be drafted by him every year. He shared this system in his book, titled Coaching Made Easier: How to Successfully Manage Your Youth Baseball Team—A Step-by-Step Guide to a Rewarding Season.
Book Website: Coaches Choice
‘The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital’ – Joe Paterno
February 12, 2016
‘I don’t go for much of the rah-rah stuff, and most of the very successful coaches I studied didn’t either’
February 5, 2016
When I think back on my first few years coaching I realize that gamedays were not enjoyable, they were stressful. Why was this? The main reason was that I did not do a good job of doing as the boy scouts do:
‘Be Prepared’
This lack of preparation led to unease of what I would do if unexpected scenarios arose. And more importantly – it took away from my enjoyment of the game and my ability to help the players enjoy the game. Gameday is the time for players to enjoy the fruits of their labor, to showcase everything they have been working hard on in practice. By not adequately preparing, I was robbing the kids of my full engagement and enjoyment of the day.
Here are a few tips on things to prepare in advance of gameday to allow you to feel relaxed because you are ready for pretty much any scenario:
Don’t be the coach who is scrambling to figure out his starting line-up 5 minutes before the game. Be prepared. Then when scenarios occur that are beyond what you prepared for – THEY WILL- just relax, smile, and calmly make adjustments to your plan. Prepare to enjoy gameday.
February 4, 2016
Robert Murphy works in sales by day, and has started a booming wrestling program by night. Robert was a collegiate champion in wrestling, and has combined his knowledge with his passion to help kids to form Wrestling With Character – a program that provides young athletes the opportunity to grow as individuals by experiencing life lessons through the martial art of wrestling in conjunction with their Six Pillars of Character Curriculum.
Website: wrestlingwithcharacter.com
Facebook: /wrestlingwithcharacter
Twitter: @wwc365
”Wrestling at young ages without training is like human cock-fighting. It’s child abuse.’ – Robert Murphy
HUGE IDEA:
January 29, 2016
‘Simplify so kids build confidence-confident kids play fast-fast kids win games.’
January 27, 2016
Stuart does player development for England Rugby by day and shares stuff with the world about talent development by night. Stuart worked in coaching golf for 10 years and invented a game called Try Golf, and over the past 4-5 years has been involved in developing talent pathways with many athletes, including Olympic athletes and the players at England Rugby.
Website: thetalentequation.co.uk
Facebook: /thetalentequation.co.uk
Twitter: @stu_arm
‘Task Design is critical – because many people get uncomfortable when they see someone struggling and not being able to get there quite yet- so they either jump in and solve it for them, or they move on. But this never allows the learning to happen. The moment when they are close to figuring it out is actually the sweet spot.’ – Stuart Armstrong
January 13, 2016
Adam is an expert in leadership & character development speaking and training coaches all over the country. He is the founder of Leademup – Lead ‘Em Up is a turn-key sports leadership and character program designed to equip coaches with the tools to implement a dynamic leadership program. They provide coaches the season-long curriculum and teaching materials to lead their team every week through a powerful 30-minute session. The Lead ‘Em Up curriculum includes teaching lessons, engaging team assignments, week-long player exercises and fun interactive game dynamics from their friends at Game On Nation.
Adam also currently serves as a Leadership Coach for various sports teams in the Baltimore/Washington area, and is the co-host of the nationally recognized Hardwood Hustle podcast.
Leademup
Website: leademup.com
Facebook: /LeadEmUp
Twitter: @Lead_Em_Up
Hardwood Hustle Podcast
Website: hardwoodhustle.com
Facebook: /HardwoodHustle
Twitter: @Hardwood_Hustle
‘The drug of choice amongst the youth of today is popularity’ – Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California
January 7, 2016
What does the movie Concussion mean to youth sports coaches and parents? Listen in as youth sports’ thought leaders Emily Cohen from Teamsnap and Janis Meredith from JBMThinks.com join Craig in a roundtable discussion on the movie and its implications to youth sports.
Emily:
Website: www.teamsnap.com/community/podcast
Twitter: @emilygcohen
The Knockout Project – theknockoutproject.org
Concussion App – Concussion Quick Check by the American Academy of Neurology
American Journal of Sports Medicine: Epidemiology of Sports-Related Concussion in NCAA Athletes From 2009-2010 to 2013-2014. Link to free abstract: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26330572
Concussion rate per 10,000 athletic exposures:
Boys’ wrestling | 10.92 |
Boys’ ice hockey | 7.91 |
Girls’ ice hockey | 7.52 |
Boys’ football | 6.71 |
Girl’s soccer | 6.31 |
Girls’ basketball | 5.95 |
Girls’ lacrosse | 5.21 |
Girls’ field hockey | 4.02 |
Boys’ basketball | 3.89 |
Girls’ volleyball | 3.57 |
December 17, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Jason Hahnstadt shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Jason Hahnstadt is the creator of The Pro Style Spread Offense website, blog and podcasts. He has been a passionate football coach since 1999, and in 2014, he began writing about offensive football strategy. In this time, he has coached in many different programs and have seen many different styles of offensive football. From his experiences, he created a complete offensive system called the Pro Style Spread Offense. It sounds complicated, but it really isn’t. It is just everything he knows that really works. It is simple to understand and can be installed with any level of team. He has created an eClinic with all the details on how to install this system with your team.
Website: prostylespreadoffense.com
Facebook: /prostylespreadoffense
Twitter: @prostylespread
‘Hey Joe, go Joe, Attaway’ – Coach Hahnstadt
HUGE IDEA
December 10, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Melody Shuman shares stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Melody Shuman is a martial arts world champion. She started and ran a successful chain of martial arts schools, then re-invented her entire business and has created a booming business teaching martial arts, and teaching others how to start their own schools.
Website: skillzconnect.com; Coming soon: skillzworldwide.com
Facebook: /MelodyShumanPage
Twitter: @mastermelody
‘Have every student become a better version of themselves’ – Melody Shuman
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
December 2, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Willie Cromack shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Cromack is a former collegiate soccer player who left the game after college to run the family bike shop. During his time at the shop he became heavily involved in charity bike rides, raising money and awareness for everything from cancer to education to the homeless. Cromack noticed something about the participants in his charity rides. They were motivated by a higher purpose that gave them the energy and motivation to complete daunting rides. They focused on a purpose much higher than winning the race, such as raising money by completing a feat of endurance and perseverance. Most importantly, simply by completing their goal, they won! Then Cromack thought “why can’t we do this with my youth soccer team?” Thus Play Better was born.
Play Better is an online giving platform that can be run through a simple phone app. Teams create a team page that handles all the administration of charitable receipts, collects reward donations and allows supporters to leave comments or compliments for players or the team. As Cromack says, “It’s like a benevolent team Facebook page!”
website: goplaybetter.com – Watch the 3 minute video on the homepage to hear what it’s all about!
Twitter: @goplaybetter & @willcromack
Facebook: /goplaybetter
Featured article on Changing the Game Project: changingthegameproject.com/a-higher-purpose-than-winning/
‘Who is going to be brave enough to try this new move during the game this week?’
HUGE IDEA #1
November 17, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Reed Maltbie shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Coach Reed experienced his own successful soccer career, including being a member of the 1992 Davidson College Final Four team. That dream season ended on their home field, in North Carolina, with a heartbreaking overtime loss to University of San Diego. As sad as it was, the experience left Reed with a deep understanding of what it takes to be a champion. At a school like Davidson, though, he also came to realize the fine balance between champions in the game and champions beyond the game. Soccer was a vehicle to becoming a better person.
Coach Reed turned down the opportunity to continue his career and stepped away from soccer in 1997 to focus on advancing his academic studies of sport, communication, and education. Since 1997 he has gone on to attain two Master’s Degrees. One degree is in sport psychology from Miami University. The other is in Education from the College of Mount St. Joseph. Just as in soccer, Reed excelled in the classroom, developing research that delved into the relationships between mental imagery and success and words and performance. He was highly respected by his peers for his assertions regarding the communication of coaches. He has had multiple papers published and has presented at several academic conferences.
Coach Reed combines his experiences as a player and coach, with his research as an academician to continually develop new methods and styles of coaching youth athletes. One thing continues to stand out to Coach Reed: the words coaches use are far more important than any skill they teach.
He is now the Executive Director of the STARS soccer club in Cincinnati, a TEDx speaker, and most recently joined the Changing the Game Project staff.
Twitter: @Coach_Reed
Facebook: /coachreed
website: coachreed.com
TEDx talk: http://youtu.be/EhRXQs0K6ls
‘What’s your Echo? Coach beyond the game’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
Discipline
Rewards
November 5, 2015
The Association for Applied Sport Psychology National meeting was a few weeks ago – so for Episode 61 we invited 2 sports psychology guys who attended to share with us some lessons learned.
James Leath has been a WYC guest previously in episodes 50 and 31. James’ first interview on the show, WYC Episode 31, was a huge hit and is the #1 downloaded episode all-time on the show.
Will Drumright is a sport psychology coach who work with Dr. Rob Bell, providing mental skills and performance psychology training to coaches, athletes, and teams. Will focuses on the high school and middle school athletes. Will is also a professional Ultimate Frisbee player and coaches the local high school Ultimate Frisbee team.
Sign up for James’ weekly Coach Notes: James Leath weekly Coach Note
Twitter: @jamesleath; @wcdrummy15
James
HUGE IDEA #1
Will
Will
HUGE IDEA #2
James
Will
James
James
Will
Will
James
October 29, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Creed Larrucea shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Creed is a physical therapist in Sacramento, California by day, and a stud youth soccer coach by night. He coaches youth teams and the local high school team. He is married and has 2 daughters ages 12 and 10.
‘Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out’ – John Wooden
Discipline
HUGE IDEA #1
Rewards
HUGE IDEA #2
When teaching skills – 3 steps:
Using this you can see progress every practice, not just at the end of the year
October 21, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Drew Maddux shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Drew Maddux is the Head Coach at Christ Presbyterian Academy (CPA) in Nashville. Maddux has a combined record of 240-44, while being ranked in the Top 10 each of those seasons. In 2008 and 2009, Maddux lead his team to the Region 5AA Championship. Maddux has acquired many coaching accomplishments being named the NBCA Coach of the Year in 2008, 2011-2012 District 10-AA Coach of the Year, 2012 Tennessean Coach of the Year, and 2012 Nashville Civitan Coach of the Year. In the 2011-2012 season, he lead to Lions to their first ever State Championship and finished the season an impressive 37-2. In 2012-13, Maddux lead the Lions to another State Championship with another 37-2 record. 2013-14 was yet another great season for Maddux and his program as the posted a record of 34-3 and went to the Final Four Drew has coached 4 Mr. Basketball award winners, 19 players that received college scholarships, and 1 NBA first round draft pick.
From 1994-1998, Maddux was a four year starter at Vanderbilt University where he scored an impressive 1689 points in his career, good for 11th all-time at Vandy. There he received several individual awards including All-SEC Freshman, USA Olympic Festival Team, First Team All-SEC, and Honorable Mention All-American honors. Off the court Maddux was just as impressive being an Academic All-SEC member as well as being recognized as one of the Outstanding Young Men of America in 1998. During his junior year, Maddux averaged a team best 16.8 points 4.1 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game as he lead his team to the NCAA Tournament.
Drew Maddux first started working with Elite Hoops in 2009 as a Camp Co-Director. Since then, Maddux has been instrumental in growing the Nashville market and in 2014, he will direct 6 NIKE Basketball Camps with over 600 players in attendance.
Twitter: @DrewMaddux; @EliteHoops
Facebook: /EliteHoops
Instagram: /elitehoops
Website: elitehoopsbasketball.com
‘We were running the program with a fear-based approach instead of a freedom-based approach.’
Coach Maddux teaches the boys he coaches about the 3 big myths/lies being taught about masculinity:
Coach Maddux contrasts these myths by teaching the real truths about what being a man is all about:
To see more details about this see here: winningyouthcoaching.com/3-big-lies-2-truths/
HUGE IDEA #1
Discipline
HUGE IDEA #2
Teambuilding
October 9, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Valeri Garcia shares stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Garcia, a Program Advisor at UC Davis’s Student Academic Success Center, has known since about age eight that she wanted to coach. At UC Davis, Garcia conducts workshops based on Mindset, the book by Stanford University Psychology Professor and PCA National Advisory Board Member Carol Dweck, which emphasizes individual growth through effort, rather than reliance upon talent. Valeri was honored with the Positive Coaches Alliance Double-Goal Coach Award in 2013.
‘Stop trying to coach at a pre-college level – coach them at the level that they are right now.’
HUGE IDEA #2: FUN GAMES THAT TEACH SKILLS:
3 questions to ask yourself at the end of the season:
‘Stop trying to coach at a pre-college level – coach them at the level that they are right now.’
September 18, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Steve Boyle shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Steve is a former Division 1 basketball player (Manhattan College). In NYC and Seattle, WA, he coached soccer, basketball, track and field and x-country. In Seattle, he founded Boyle’s Cougar Hoop Camp for Girls, the largest all-girls camp in the state of Washington at the time. He was a school counselor at Hall High School in West Hartford for 15 years where he has coached Varsity basketball, track and field, freshman and JV soccer. He is currently a counselor at King Philip Middle School, coaches youth basketball, assists with track and field at Hall High and is Partner at the Crossover Consulting Group.
Steve and his wife Kerry started their first camp in 2008, and only 4 summers later, the camp was declared “Best Summer Camp” in Hartford Magazine’s Readers Poll and their programs have received tremendous positive coverage from area media outlets. Now over 1000 kids have come to recognize that “Life’s 2 Short 4 Just 1 Sport” and kids from throughout the U.S. and beyond are attending their programs.
Website: 241Sports.com
Facebook: /241SportsLLC
Twitter: @241Sports
‘It’s perfectly OK to let kids know that winning is an expected outcome of competition. The problem becomes when we focus too much on the value of the win as opposed to the value of the experience.’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
HUGE IDEA #3
September 10, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Jill Kochanek shares stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Jill has been a teacher and girls soccer coach at Oldfields School in Baltimore for 3 years. She was 1 of 25 award winners for the Positive Coaches Alliance Double-Goal Coach Award for 2015. Jill has been involved with and traveled to Nicaragua with the ‘Soccer without Borders’ program. Jill also just completed her first Ironman Triathlon.
She is now studying for her PHD in Sports Psychology at the University of Minnesota.
‘The perfect time to build confidence is in practice’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
August 25, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Chris Stricker shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Chris has been the Head girl’s soccer coach of perennial powerhouse Coppell High School in Texas. His accolades include: 7-time District Coach of the Year, 17 straight years of playoff appearances, 2009 and 2014 Texas 5A State Champions, 2009 NSCAA Texas Large School, Dallas Morning News, and TASCO Texas Association of Soccer Coaches Organization Coach of the Year. Chris also has built one of the best soccer camps in the country.
Chris is married and has 4 children – 15 year-old son, 13 year-old twin sons, and a 11 year-old daughter.
Twitter: @stricker_soccer
Website/Camps: strickersoccer.com
‘As a coach – you can’t be pulling the wagon by yourself. If your best players are pulling the wagon – everyone is going to on board.’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
‘As a coach – you can’t be pulling the wagon by yourself. If your best players are pulling the wagon – everyone is going to on board.’
August 13, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Al Ainsworth shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach and author.
Al has coached middle school and high school baseball for 16 years. He currently also does the high school color commentary for his local baseball team. Al is the author of the sports books series ‘Coach Dave.’ Al is married, lives in Mississippi and has 3 children – 2 boys and a girl.
Twitter: @alainsworth
Facebook: /alainsworth
Websites and blog: alainsworth.com; coachdavebook.com
‘Coach defense first’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
August 5, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as John Doss shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
John is entering his first year as the the Brownsburg Lacrosse High School Head Coach after 2 years as the 7th/8th grade coach. John played collegiate lacrosse as a goalie at San Jose State University. He was named a West Coast Lacrosse League (WCLL) All-Star 3 times. Coach Doss also played 3 years of post-collegiate lacrosse with San Francisco Lacrosse Club and still remains active as a player with DOGS Lacrosse in Indianapolis. John is married, lives in Indianapolis and is a supply chain sales manager.
Twitter: @laxcoachdoss
Websites: brownsburglacrosse.com; indyelitelacrosse.com
‘Play hard, have fun’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
July 30, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Jenn Starkey shares stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Jenn is a Softball Coach, Sushi Lover, Yogaholic, and an Expert Marketer on a mission to help young leaders find they leverage they need to go ALL IN. Jenn has created a leadership program for youth athletes and is currently working on a book titled “A League Of Your Own”- a book written that talks all about what it means to be a leader in your own life.
Facebook: /FastpitchFit
Youtube: /FastpitchFit
Book: ‘A League of Your Own’ – loyobook.com
‘If you can’t explain it to a 6 year-old, you don’t understand it yourself’ – Albert Einstein
HUGE IDEA #1:
HUGE IDEA #2:
July 21, 2015
For our 50th episode – we invited back our first repeat guest on The Winning Youth Coaching Podcast, James Leath. James’ first interview on the show, WYC Episode 31, was a huge hit and is the #1 downloaded episode all-time on the show.
We switched up the format for this episode and had listeners submit questions on mental toughness – listen in as James provides great new insights on mental toughness.
Website/Coaches’ Notes: jamesleath.com
Twitter: @jamesleath
July 2, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Stacie Mahoe shares stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Stacie Mahoe has been involved in the game of fastpitch softball since the age of 9 and is the Founded AllAboutFastpitch.com in 2004. Stacie also served as the Chief Marketing Officer at SoftballPerformance.com for a few years. Her perspectives on the game as a former player, current coach, and current softball parent provide unique insight on various softball issues.
While physical ability and athleticism are necessary to play the game, Stacie believes that the right mindset and attitude separate the good from the great and also help you succeed, not only on the diamond, but in life as well. While Stacie enjoys helping players improve their overall fitness and softball skill, far more rewarding is the opportunity to help young ladies become champions in life .
Website: Staciemahoe.com
facebook:/coachStacie
twitter: @staciemahoe
youtube: /staciemahoe
‘Leadership is action not position’
HUGE IDEA #1:
HUGE IDEA #2:
June 18, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Rich Clayton shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach and athletic director.
Rich has been coaching, teaching, and an athletic director for the last 16 years in California. He lost both his parents at a pretty early age, so coaches were a huge influence on his life. Rich grew up playing football, basketball, and baseball, and played Jr. College football. Rich is currently transitioning from a larger school district in California to a newer one – and he is excited about starting all over and developing new systems.
Twitter:@RCL8TN
‘In coaching, people will only listen to you, because they truly believe that you can make them better’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
June 11, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Kevin Kennedy shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Kevin is a personal trainer and runs a gymnastics gym in Paramus, NJ called Kids U. Kevin played many sports growing up, including being a collegiate wrestler and one year of JV collegiate basketball. He also kick-boxed after college. Kevin has a passion for youth sports and coaching the kids the right way.
Website: kidsu.com/paramus.html
Facebook:/kennedyfitness
‘Isn’t that interesting?’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
May 28, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as JJ Lawson shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
JJ Lawson is a kitchen designer by day, and youth sports coach every other waking hour. He has been coaching youth sports for 20 years, in which he has coached football, softball, volleyball, baseball, track, and wrestling. JJ started a coaching community at coachsomebody.com – which has a blog, videos, and forums for coaches to learn from each other.
Website: coachsomebody.com
Twitter: @coachsomebody
Facebook: /CoachJJ
YouTube: /fbcoachjj
Free Gift from Coach Somebody (pdf): 10 Steps For Coaching Success
‘Attitude reflects leadership’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
May 21, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Mark Linden shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Mark Linden, Director of Baseball Positive, spent eight seasons coaching at the college level. Experience includes assisting at two programs with multiple College World Series appearances, Wichita State and The University of South Carolina.
Later served as a head coach for five years: two at NCAA D-I Centenary College (La), and three at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, WA. Drafted three times (Cubs twice, Royals once), played minor league ball in the Cubs organization in 1989 and 1990. Moved on to another stint at the pro level as radio color commentator in 2007 for the Oakland A’s minor league affiliate in Vancouver, BC.
A lifetime of baseball experience, including the past seven years working exclusively at the 12U level with kids and their coaches, has led to the development of a comprehensive training and development program that is age appropriate and proven effective for kids.
Website/blog: baseballpositive.com
Facebook: /Baseball-positive
‘Kids don’t sign up to practice baseball, they sign up to play baseball.’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
May 7, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Joe Daniel shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Joe Daniel is the Defensive Coordinator and Offensive Line Coach at Prince George High School in Prince George, Virginia. He has been at Prince George since 2010, following a successful 2009 season at Ellsworth College in Iowa Falls Iowa. At Ellsworth, Coach Daniel coached the Linebackers and helped lead the team to a #9 Ranking in the 2009 NJCAA Final Rankings, as well as finishing with a Top 25 Defense. Prior to his time at Ellsworth, Coach Daniel began coaching at Smithfield High School in Smithfield, Virginia in 2002. From 2007 to 2008, Joe had his first stint as Defensive Coordinator with the school.
Coach Daniel has been featured in American Football Monthly Magazine, as well as on The Red Zone Show with Coach Big B and on Coaches’ Corner Show. He was also a clinic speaker at the Championship Football Coaches Clinic. Joe also writes Football-Offense.com as well as hosting The Football Coaching Podcast.
Twitter: @footballinfo
Website/blog: joedanielfootball.com
Podcast: The Football Coaching Podcast
‘Keep everything simple so that your kids build confidence, confident kids play fast, fast kids win games’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2:
‘Keep everything simple so that your kids build confidence, confident kids play fast, fast kids win games’
April 30, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Cameron Gish shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth band director.
Cameron Gish is the band director at Hillsboro School. He is in his fourth year leading the band and teaching at Hillsboro. He has started the band from the ground up, and in just their 3rd year they received accolades in parades and competitions – including being awarded grand champion in their first year at the Franklin Rodeo Parade. Cameron attended Murray State University, where he was a three-year drum major for the 250-member Racer Band, and was named the Outstanding Senior Man of Murray State and gave the valediction at his commencement ceremony. Cameron’s passion for the kids and vision for creating excellence makes him a rare leader that coaches can learn a great deal from.
Whenever you encounter some adversity, your character will be revealed with how you respond
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
Challenge and Free Giveaway – Shoot me a note complimenting Cameron on this interview – I will forward on to him, and send you a free copy of the Audio Highlights from the First 25 WYC Interviews (a $17 value) – Send email to: [email protected]
April 23, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as John O’Sullivan shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
John is the founder of the Changing the Game Project – whose mission is to is to ensure that we return youth sports to our children, and put the ‘play’ back in ‘play ball.’ They want to provide the most influential adults in our children’s lives – their parents and coaches – with the information and resources they need to make sports a healthy, positive, and rewarding experience for their children, and their whole family.
John started the Changing the Game Project in 2012 after two decades as a soccer player and coach on the youth, high school, college and professional level. He is the author of the #1 bestselling books Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes, and Giving Youth Sports Back to our Kids and Is it Wise to Specialize? John is also a regular contributor for SoccerWire.com, and his writing has been featured in many publications including The Huffington Post and Soccer America. John is an internationally known speaker for coaches, parents and youth sports organizations, and has spoken for TEDx, the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, IMG Academy, and at numerous other events throughout the US, Canada and Europe. He resides in beautiful Bend, OR, with his wife, Dr Lauren O’Sullivan, and two wonderful children and aspiring young athletes: Maggie Shea, age 9, and Tiernan, age 7.
Twitter: @coachjohnnyo
Facebook: /SportsParentingResourceCenter
Website/blog: changingthegameproject.com
‘When you are coaching sports – you don’t coach a sport, you coach a child’ – Dr. Martin Toms
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
April 16, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Dr. Michael Cathey shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Michael is a professor of exercise science and physical education pedagogy at Tennessee Tech University. He has coached high school football and baseball as well as his kids’ teams at the youth level. Michael did his dissertation studying the 10,000 rule and has written and studied this topic extensively. Michael is married and has 2 children, ages 7 and 5.
Twitter: @m_cathey
Facebook: /catheym
You practice with the intent of getting better, and it’s OK to mess up, because messing up helps you get better
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
April 9, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Dr. Patrick Cohn shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a mental game of sports expert.
Dr. Patrick Cohn has been an athlete and a coach. He has experienced firsthand how beliefs, attitudes, and mindsets influence performance. Dr. Cohn’s passion for sports and sports psychology started early in life and continued to grow as he participated in sports such as football, hockey, baseball, lacrosse, racquetball, and golf.
Throughout high school and college, Dr. Cohn experienced both the joys of winning and the lessons of failure. After competing in sports for many years, Dr. Cohn went on to study and research sports psychology and the way that mental attitudes shape physical performance. Ultimately, he earned a PhD in Education specializing in Applied Sports Psychology.
The more that Dr. Cohn studied champion athletes and their mindsets, the more he realized that winning attitudes are the key to performing well in competition.
Armed with the know-how needed to build champion athletes, master mental game coach Dr. Cohn has dedicated his mental game coaching business to helping every athlete—whether junior, amateur, or seasoned professional—excel in his or her sport. His peak performance programs also help coaches, athletic trainers, and even parents of aspiring athletes.
Websites: peaksports.com; youthsportspsychology.com
Accentuate the self in self-confidence. You can’t give kids self-confidence, because it becomes a false sense of security. Move from ‘other-confidence’ to ‘self-confidence.’
Huge Idea #1
Huge Idea #2
April 1, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Dr. Michael Phillips shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Michael is a professor of exercise science at Tennessee Tech University. He has coached basketball at all levels – 5th grade AAU, middle school, high school, and 8 years at the collegiate level. Michael also has studied and presented the concept of LTAD and LTCD – Long Term Athlete Development and Long Term Coach Development – concepts used by the Canadians and British, and being studied by the US Olympic Committee. Michael is married and has 2 children, a 13 year-old son and 8 year-old daughter.
Twitter: @docphillips1
Facebook: /mikephillips
‘The two most important days in your life are the day you are born, and the day you figure out why’ – attributed to Mark Twain
1 – Going to coaching clinics
2 – Talking to other coaches
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
March 25, 2015
What does it take to be part of a winning youth team? Listen in as Emily Cohen shares stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful youth sports team manager.
Emily has been a team manager for youth sports teams for over 10 years. She also is a blogger for TeamSnap, and also hosts a podcast for TeamSnap. As a youth sports podcast host and blogger, Emily is passionate about sportsmanship, injury prevention, and sideline etiquette. Emily is married and has 2 kids, ages 18 and 15.
Website: www.teamsnap.com/community/podcast
Twitter: @emilygcohen
March 12, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Coach Ray Lokar shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Ray Lokar is the Director of Basketball4ALL (basketball4ALL.net), which provides a variety of lessons, camps, clinics, competitions, and events for the benefit of the Southern California basketball community. Coach Lokar was the Head Basketball Coach of the 2002 CIF Champions while at Bishop Amat High School led St Anthony High School to the semi-finals, Western Christian High School to the quarterfinals, made 4 NCAA tournament appearances in his 9 years as an assistant coach at Pomona-Pitzer College and is a Past-President of the Southern California Interscholastic Basketball Coaches Association.
Always an advocate for the multi-sport athlete, “Coach Lok” coaches baseball at Covina High School and has two DVD series titled “The Fundamentals Factory” and “Effective Practice Planning” for both basketball and baseball that are available at ChampionshipProductions.com. Ray’s book “101 BasketballTips”, published by Lifetips as part of their Lifetips Book Series, is available at Amazon.com and his eBook titled “Creating Confident and Coachable Players” can be found on his website, basketball4ALL.net, where you can also book his sport-specific “Gold Standard Coaching” clinics. Lokar also serves as the Southern California Lead Trainer for the nationally renowned Positive Coaching Alliance (positivecoach.org) that provides tremendous resources for everyone in youth and high school sports. He has spoken for hundreds of organizations in over a dozen States on ethics in sports, peak performance, getting the most out of your players, and being a good Sports Parent.
For over 30 years Coach “Lok” has taught basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, football, swimming and track in the San Gabriel Valley at the youth, high school, and college levels and has worked countless camps and clinics during that time for ages 8-18. He coached his children Shawn, Heather, and Brittany throughout their participation in youth and high school sports and they each went on to compete at the college level. Ray enjoyed it so much he is doing it all again with his young son, Tyler, who he hopes learns all the same life lessons as his older brothers and sisters.
Website: basketball4ALL.net
Twitter: @CoachLok
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
March 4, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Keith Van Horn shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Keith was the ESPN NCAA Player of the Year in 1997, and went on be drafted with the 2nd pick in the NBA draft. He spent 10 years in the NBA, averaged over 16 points per game, and went to NBA finals with the New Jersey Nets and the Dallas Mavericks. He currently serves as the Founder and Executive Director for Colorado Premier Basketball Club which is the largest youth basketball club in the state of Colorado, and works with over 1,000 youth in the communities it serves. He also serves on the National Advisory Board for the Positive Coaching Alliance. Keith is married and has 4 kids, ages 11 to 19.
Website: keithvanhorn.com
Blog: layupsandrebounds.com
Twitter: @coach_keith44
Facebook: /keithvanhornofficial
HUGE IDEA #1 – 1st look at it from the kid’s performance – why are the kids playing? – To have fun, spend time with friends, run and jump a little bit? This might be different based on their gender also. When looking at the 4F’s for goals – Fun, Friendships, Fundamentals, Fight – You need to individualize these for each player – some kids just want to hang out with their friends, others want to improve a skill, others just want to win – so create motivation/goals for each individual based on where they are at.
HUGE IDEA #2
February 24, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Brian Brunkow shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.
Brian is the founder of ZeroOffseason.com, where he trains wide receivers and blogs about youth sports, concussions, recruiting, and many more topics. Brian is a divorce attorney and financial planner. His background in divorce law has given him a unique perspective on the importance of dealing with divorced parents when coaching young athletes. Brian began coaching his Junior year of High School, and has been coaching football ever since. He recently was added to the speaker bureau at Glazier Clinics and will be speaking at their Head Coach Academy this spring on “Recruiting Regulations Every High School Head Coach Must Know.”
Website: zerooffseason.com
Blog: zerooffseason.blogspot.com
Twitter: @ZeroOffseason
Huge Idea #1
3 areas to have the kids focus:
Huge Idea #2
February 10, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Caz McCaslin shares stories and discusses God’s journey in developing Upward Sports to reach Hundreds of Thousands of kids through youth sports.
Caz is the founder of Upward Sports. Established in 1995, Upward Sports is the world’s largest Christian youth sports provider. Today, approximately half a million players at more than 2,000 churches in 47 states participate in camps, clinics, and leagues through Upward Sports’ Recreation Division. In 2012, Upward Sports created its Performance Division – Upward Stars – aimed at young athletes wanting to further develop their skills and participate in a higher level of competition. Within the first year, approximately 900 athletes competed on Upward Stars teams. Caz is married and has 3 grown daughters.
Website: upward.org
Twitter: @CazMcCaslin; @UpwardStars; @UpwardSports
Facebook: /UpwardSports
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
February 3, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Olaniyi Sobomehin shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports trainer.
Olaniyi is the founder of Pro Squad Athletics, which inspires and propels young athletes to their ultimate potential by showing what it takes to be great, providing a plan that works, and the systems, habits, and mindset that greatness requires. Pro Squad has successfully trained athletes at the youth, high school, college, and professional levels. Olaniyi played college football at Oregon State and was an All-American his senior year at Portland State and went on to play for the New Orleans Saints in the NFL. Olaniyi is also a full-time firefighter, and is married and has 5 children, 3 sons and 2 daughters, ranging from ages 11 to a newborn.
Olaniyi has also generously offered a free 12 page e-book on the Power of Habits to Winning Youth Coaching listeners, check it out here: prosquadathletics.com/winning-youth-coaching
Website: prosquadathletics.com
Twitter: @NiyiSobo
Facebook: /ProSquadAthletics
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
Free 12 page e-book on the Power of Habits to Winning Youth Coaching listeners, check it out here: prosquadathletics.com/winning-youth-coaching
January 26, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Sean Timmons shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful sports coach.
Sean is the Director of All Stars for all Premier Athletics facilities. Sean cheered at Rutgers University, and was a member of the first open team at World Cup, The Wild Stars. In 1996 Sean started his coaching career at the Pop Warner level with the Toms River Angels. During his time with the Angels they won three consecutive National Championships and his success landed him a job coaching at The World Cup All Stars in 1999. Within the 14 years at World Cup he has coached and choreographed for levels 1-5, and has won numerous State, Regional, and National Titles. While working at World Cup Sean also coached Lacey High School, Jackson Memorial High School, Howell High School, and was the Head Coach of Rutgers University from 2009 until 2014. Sean has traveled all over the US and Canada teaching camps, choreography, judging, and speaking at conferences. He is a former member of the USASF National Advisory Board and is an inaugural member of the NACCC. His certifications include USASF Level 1-5 (United States All Star Federation), AACCA (American Association of Cheerleading Coaches and Administrators), NCA (National Cheerleading Association), and USAG (USA Gymnastics).
Website: premierathletics.com
Twitter: @PA_Premier
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
January 17, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as James Leath shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful sports coach.
James is currently getting his masters in mental sports psychology, has coached youth sports for many years, and is a student of all aspects of sports performance. James started coaching when his 8th grade coach had to leave the team, so James took over and coached his own 8th grade team! James played college football and played for the Los Angeles Extreme in the XFL. James is married and works in sales.
Website: jamesleath.com
Twitter: @jamesleath
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
January 8, 2015
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Amanda Kephart shares stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful sports coach.
Amanda is the Sports Foreman Supervisor at the Akron General Sports Performance center. Coach Amanda Kephart, MS, CSCS, USAW, has been training athletes for nearly a decade. She has worked at the Division One level with hundreds of athletes at both the University of Akron and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Her energy brings out the best in her athletes and allows them to reach their athletic goals more quickly. Amanda played basketball in high school, then picked up racquetball in college, where she went on to become a 2-time All-American at Balwin Wallace.
Website: strengthcoachamanda.com
Twitter: @_coachamanda_ ; @akrongeneralsp
Facebook: /akrongeneralsportsperformance
Youtube: /AGSportsPerformance
‘Coaching is a great opportunity to allow the child to practice being what they want to be, not what their classmates think they are’
HUGE IDEA #1
HUGE IDEA #2
December 18, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Scott Jones shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful sports entrepreneur.
Scott runs Athlete On Fire, which is involved with equipping and training athletes all over the world – he also hosts a podcast called Athlete On Fire, in which he has interviewed over 100 top athletes from around the globe. Athlete On Fire was started to bridge the gap between amazing athletes all over the world and everyday athletes with inspiring stories, resources, and tools. Scott is married and has 2 young sons, ages 3 and 1.
Website: athleteonfire.com
Athlete on Fire Podcast: – AthleteOnFirePodcast
Twitter: @Athleteonfire
Facebook: /athleteonfire
HUGE IDEA #1 – When teaching a specific skill – DON’T GUESS! Ask for help from a high school coach or local community college, or even Youtube. If you don’t know if they’re doing it wrong – Don’t correct them
HUGE IDEA #2 – Best way to minimize performance anxiety is practice: ‘For every minute of a presentation, you need 1 hour of preparation’
December 12, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Coach Robert Taylor shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful coach.
Coach Taylor runs Smarter Team Training, which is involved with equipping and training athletes all over the world – his clients include Super Bowl champions, World Series champions, and players who have been drafted #1 in the NBA draft. Coach is married and just had his first daughter.
Website: smarterteamtraining.com
STT Podcast: Coach Taylor hosts a radio show on iTunes and iHeart Radio – Half hour released every Sunday – interviewing coaches and athletes around the world – Join the 37,000 subscribers listening to over 280 episodes – STTpodcast.com
Twitter: @SMARTERTeam
Facebook: /smarterteamtraining
HUGE IDEA #1 – ‘At the youth level of sports – you don’t want more reps- you want better reps.’ More leads to drudgery and hating the sport. Better leads to excitement and loving the sport.
HUGE IDEA #2 – How do you de-emphasize the importance of the moment? One method is a trigger mechanism – something you have practiced and evaluated what works with each individual – something to get the player to smile and realize it’s just a game. Maybe it’s slapping your leg. Maybe it’s a teammate saying ‘Spongebob is ugly’, etc. But you have to practice putting kids in those situations during practice!
December 3, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Mike Frederick shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful coach.
Mike played 5 years in the NFL, including a Super-Bowl run with the Tennessee Titans, 1 year with the original Cleveland Browns, and 3 years with the Baltimore Ravens. He is now the head football coach at his alma mater, Neshaminy High School in Philadelphia. Mike is married and has four children.
Neshaminy H.S. on Twitter: @neshaminy
Neshaminy H.S. Website: neshaminyfootball.com
NFL Player article on Mike: nflplayerengagement.com
HUGE IDEA #1: ‘The best time to implement change is after a win’ – players are in a good mood, your voice will come across less irritating, studies show kids are apt to listen more after a win. After a loss is when you need to be more encouraging.
HUGE IDEA #2– Priorities for a Youth Sports Coach:
November 19, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Rich Czeslawksi shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Rich has been coaching high school basketball for 18 years in Crystal Lake High School in Illinois, the last 8 years as head coach. He also is the CEO of BetterBasketball.com – a resource founded by Rick Torbett – for basketball coaches to get training material and videos to help them move from good to great, and the origin of the Read and React Offense. Rich is also the communications director for the National High School Basketball Coaches Association. Rich is married and has a 5 year-old son and a 10 month-old daughter.
Twitter: @coachczes
Website: betterbasketball.com
HUGE IDEA #1: Don’t put young kids in front of a basket when you first start teaching them to shoot! They will immediately gauge their shooting form based on whether the ball goes in the basket or not – and if the ball is not going in – they often will start implementing bad form if it increases how often their shot goes in the basket.
HUGE IDEA #2 – Each week – ‘A me, a we, and a you’: What is something I did well this week, what is something the team did well this week, and what is something another individual did well this week.
November 14, 2014
Craig Haworth, the host of the Winning Youth Coaching podcast, turns the microphone around and shares his interview with Janis Meredith on the Positive Sports Parenting Podcast. Listen in as he discusses the role winning plays in youth sports, as well as what he’s learned in the first 24 interviews conducted with Winning Youth Coaches from across the country.
Twitter: @craighaworth1
JBM Thinks – Positive Sports Parenting
November 11, 2014
Craig Haworth, the host of the Winning Youth Coaching podcast, turns the microphone around and shares his interview with Dave Westwood on The New and Noteworthy Podcast. Listen in as he discusses what he’s learned in the first 24 interviews conducted with Winning Youth Coaches from across the country, as well as his own personal coaching experiences.
Twitter: @craighaworth1
New and Noteworthy Podcast with Dave Westwood
November 4, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Randy Montgomery shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Randy has been a high school basketball coach in Northeast Ohio for the past 31 years and coached over 700 games. He coached under Bob Huggins at Walsh College in Canton for 3 years. He then coached varsity basketball at Triway High School in Wooster for 19 years and North Canton Hoover High School for 12 years. Randy also became friends with John Wooden and got to learn and share stories with Coach. Randy is married and has 3 grown daughters.
Twitter: @coachmont73
Website: beyondthehardwood.com
HUGE IDEA #2
1 – Most charges
2 – Best free-throw shooter
3 – Leading rebounder
October 28, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Clint Schumacher shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Clint was raised in Nashville, TN. Clint is an Attorney and now lives outside of Dallas, Texas. He has been coaching flag and tackle football over the last 7 years. Clint played football, basketball, and track growing up. Clint is married and has 3 sons, ages 12, 10, and 7.
Twitter: @J_Clint
1 – Lack of effort
2 – Jumping offsides
HUGE IDEA #2:
October 18, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Kevin Furtado shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Kevin is a Girls weight training coach and P.E. teacher at Upson Lee High School in Thomaston, Georgia. He is the Head Coach of Upson Lee’s Varsity Girls Basketball team. He has been coaching basketball for over 24 years. Kevin grew up in San Jose California and played football, basketball, and baseball growing up.
Twitter: @kevinfurtado
Website: coachfurtado.com
▪ ‘Winning is a process driven by character’ – Brett Ledbetter
▪ ‘My first few years of coaching I focused on winning more than development. I don’t remember the wins as much as I remember the kids that have gone on to be better players’
o The Breakfast Club. Ball-handling and shooting drills they do at 6 a.m. during the summer.
o HUGE IDEA #1 – Pre-game warm-up – ‘How you warm-up is how you play the game.’ They start with high-intensity pass-catch drill. Then 4-corner pivot drill. Fast-paced, 6 or 7 drills. Everything together (take warm-ups off together.) Part of development is players learning how to prepare to win.
▪ I-practice builder – App that lets you build practice plan, and you can have video library.
▪ Coaches Eye – Can break down video in slow-motion. Be careful to show positive things when doing it as a team, then if you want to improve a specific skill with an individual
▪ 94 50 Smart Sensor basketball – Basketball that analyzes your shot
▪ Beyondthehardwood.com – Developed by Matt Kramer and Randy Montgomery – great system for developing a program
▪ Discipline starts with being prepared as a coach
▪ Coaches – speak/teach in quick short phrases:
HUGE IDEA #2: 30 second/ 10 second time-outs – In the middle of a drill – call 30 second time-out – to teach a new concept
▪ ‘Practice-player of the day’; ‘Best communicator of the day’ – talk your action’; ‘Charge-card award’
▪ Circle of Giving – After games(particularly a loss) is not the time to rip into your team. Kevin has each player share something they saw the person on their right do well in the game.
▪ Quote: ‘Winning is a process driven by character’ – Brett Ledbetter
▪ Book: ‘Competitive Drills for Winning Basketball’ by Jan Lahodny
▪ Book: ‘The Best-Laid Plans of a High School Basketball CEO’ – Randy Montgomery and Matt Kramer
▪ Favorite Podcasts:
▪ Winning Youth Coaching 🙂
▪ Hardwood Hustle – Alan Stein/Adam Bradley
▪ Athlete by Design – Jeremy Boone
▪ Whistle and a Clipboard – Jason Oates
▪ Who are You Sports – Rob Elwood
▪ Focus on long-term athletic development
October 8, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Jason Larocque shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Jason is a Middle School Director at St. Johns Prep in Massachusetts. Jason is a lifetime baseball player, including 4 years at Harvard, where he was captain his Senior year. He has also been actively involved in training and coaching youth through Winwithinbaseball.com. He is married and to a wife who coaches Division 1 Field Hockey.
Twitter: @CoachWonk
Website: winwithinbaseball.com
▪ ‘It’s hard to make policy in the middle of the season.’
▪ ‘My first year I thought I had to fix everybody’ – Sometimes you just need to encourage players and let them struggle a little bit before you offer advice. Also often times kids have unique motions and you need to evaluate whether it’s a problem that needs fixed
▪ Be relaxed – Avoid phrases like ‘Try harder’ or ‘Run faster’ – these commands often tighten up a player’s muscles and stiffens them instead of loosening them up
▪ Teach the kids to watch what great looks like. Go to a high school game and show them what to watch for in the good players
▪ To keep a fast-paced practice – use a throw-back – can have 5 kids on each side so they are practicing throwing, fielding, then have a net for them to throw into
▪ If you don’t have parents available to help coach – talk to the high school and see if you can get 1 or 2 varsity players to help you coach.
▪ HUGE IDEA #1 The Worst Case Scenario – Have a few unbreakable rules – so the kids are clear on what is never allowed
▪ Bill Bellichick – Put 6 hours of preparation into a 1 hour practice
▪ Gamechanger.io – App that does baseball scoring and stats. Parents can watch game on gametracker
▪ Coaches’ Choice – DVDs to show skills
▪ HUGE IDEA #2 Before you talk about discipline – you have to set up the culture- and you cannot bend on what you set up as the culture. Players’ shirts always tucked in; hats always worn forward; equipment always carried by kids not parents; kids always thank parents when dropped off,etc. ‘It’s hard to make policy in the middle of the season.’
▪ Have a discussion with the team before disciplining the whole team for an infraction. Visually show them your expectation.
▪ Don’t keep stats at the youth level! Most of the time keeping stats will teach the wrong behavior.
▪ Idea: Print T-Shirts: Print shirts and number them – Win 1, Win 2, etc – and whoever was the best teammate during the game/week – earns the shirt after a win.
▪ Instead of coach giving recap after a game- have the kids commend their teammates
▪ You have to show your players you care about them beyond their ‘use’ as an athlete. Sometimes call a player at home if they had a rough game.
▪ In championship game against rival – 2x in 2 innings – his star pitcher balked with runner on 3rd. Sometimes that stuff just happens.
▪ Other team had gimmicky play to fake out his team and get 3rd out. It’s bad coaching – but prepare your team for other coaches to do it.
▪ Book: ‘Drive’ by Daniel Pink – how to motivate people
▪ Book: ‘Talent is Over-rated’ by Geoffrey Colvin
▪ Book: ‘The Talent Code’ by Daniel Coyle
▪ Don’t try to re-invent the wheel, but you have to inflate the tires.
▪ Be prepared- take the time to be ready for practice. Then relax and enjoy the time with the kids.
October 2, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Dave Westwood shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Dave is a business consultant from Pennsylvania. He recently launched a podcast called the New and Noteworthy Podcast. He played baseball and football growing up. He has coached youth baseball over the last 20 years. He is married and has 1 child – an 8 year-old son.
Website: newandnoteworthy.net
New and Noteworthy Podcast: iTunes ; Stitcher
Twitter: @QWestwood
Facebook: /newandnoteworthy
▪ ‘A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say ‘we did it ourselves’’
▪ It’s hard to not be harder on your own kid
▪ Dave shared story of confronting umpire in a quiet, non-threatening way. The umpire flipped out and caused a big scene. Dave doesn’t regret the way he confronted him, just regrets that the kids had to witness this umpire behaving this way. Tweet your thoughts: Should Dave have done something differently?
HUGE IDEA #1
You have to have:
1 – an organized system
2 – a coaching staff/support system.
‘It takes a village to raise the team’
▪ Get to know their personalities and embrace the craziness
▪ Teach 2 key things: fundamentals, and sportsmanship. With sportsmanship – modeling the behavior is as important as talking about it.
▪ Learn skills in small groups! Eliminate standing around.
▪ Winning Youth Coaching (thanks Dave!)
▪ Create teachable moments
▪ Have whole team sign baseball as keepsake at end of year
▪ Constant, positive reinforcement
▪ Spend time letting them get to know their teammates – name games the first few practices
▪ Dave shares story of coach telling him ‘you made the all-star team because your teammate is going to be out-of-town’ – Ouch. Coach – what were you thinking?
▪ Dave now has kid that loves being on his team and comes up and hugs him
▪ The kids know who win or lose – so don’t hide from it. Teach the kids how to win and how to lose well.
▪ Playing another team that was breaking some rules – Dave got frustrated and blitzed 4 straight plays – on the 4th one they got burnt for a TD. HUGE IDEA #2: Don’t let emotions take over your decisions.
▪ Quote: ‘A leader is best when people barely know he exists. When his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say ‘we did it ourselves’’
▪ Quote: ‘Before you’re a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others’ – Jack Welch
▪ Book: ‘Success is a Choice’ – Rick Pitino
▪ Book: ‘Team Captains Leadership Manual’ – Jeff Janssen
▪ Have a plan before you walk on the field
▪ Dave has launched a new podcast featuring many new podcasts that are being launched – check it out at: newandnoteworthy.net. (The Winning Youth Coaching podcast was actually featured on his show– check out episode 013 at: N&N Episode 013
New and Noteworthy Podcast with Dave Westwood
September 18, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Michael Langlois shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Michael Langlois is a communications advisor – he has a background in broadcasting, has worked with NHL coaches, and young athletes. Michael, along with his wife Mary-Louise, have co-written several books on coaching youth sports. Michael and Mary-Louise live near Toronto, Canada. They have 4 grown sons.
Websites: prospectcommunications.com and takingyoubeyondthegame.blogspot.com
Twitter:@ProspectComm and @YouthSportsTYBG (Taking You Beyond the Game)
Facebook: /Prospect-Communications
▪ ‘In youth sports you cannot play with a piano on your back’
▪ Michael shares that maybe he was too hard on one of his sons and too critical. ‘Pick it up, it’s not a grenade’ – yelled by Dad from the dugout. Michael’s self-reflection: ‘Who’s being the adult here?’
HUGE IDEA #1 – ‘In youth sports you cannot play with a piano on your back’ – Kids can’t play with coaches hounding them about mistakes and taking away their confidence.
HUGE IDEA #2: Coaches – 2 questions to ask your kids: ‘What do you love about playing this sport?’ and ‘What motivates you?’
‘A Guide to effective communication for Youth Soccer Coaches’
‘Are You an Inspirational Youth Sports Coach?’
‘You can be an Inspirational Youth Hockey Coach!’
Alan Stein’s Hardwood Hustle Podcast and Strongerteam.com
September 12, 2014
Very excited to write a guest post for The Inspired Treehouse – 3 quick tips for coaching your kid’s sport team.
Check it out, and check out the other great youth activities on their website!
http://theinspiredtreehouse.com/youth-sports-coaching-3-simple-tips/
September 9, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Shane Sams shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Shane Sams is the founder of CoachXO.com, a high-school football defensive coordinator, and the co-founder with his wife of Flippedlifestyle.com. Shane brings a wealth of valuable football experience from coaching at the college and high-school levels. He hosts the podcast ‘The Coach X O Show’ and co-hosts with his wife Jocelyn ‘The Flipped Lifestyle Podcast.’ Alan lives in Kentucky with his wife and 2 kids – daughter Anna and son Isaac.
Website: CoachXO.com and Flippedlifestyle.com
Twitter:@CoachXO and @FlippedLS
Facebook: /CoachXO and /FlippedLifestyle
Youtube: /CoachXO
▪ ‘Don’t just tell me about problems. Tell me about some solutions’
▪ Trying to coach high-school kids like they were college kids. Particularly emotionally.
▪ It does not matter what I know – it only matters what the players know. Be deliberate and define clearly. ‘I stopped using football terms and used words they know’
HUGE IDEA #1 – SIMPLIFY! Coach Sams identifies 5 skills for each position – then those are the only skills they teach in practice for the entire year. For younger kids maybe only 3 or 4 skills. Repetitions are key – don’t keep changing things up.
▪ ‘Don’t just tell me about problems. Tell me about some solutions’
▪ CoachHuey.com – Great football x’s and o’s
▪ Connect with coaching forums – CoachXO.com/forums, facebook, twitter
▪ ‘I have no set rules. Every situation demands my research’
▪ Quote – ‘‘Don’t just tell me about problems. Tell me about some solutions’
▪ Book – ‘Developing a Defensive Gameplan’ – Kenny Ratledge
HUGE IDEA #2 – ‘Don’t re-invent the wheel – You are not Vince Lombardi’ – go find something that works and copy it – you will put your own signature on it
▪ Coach XO- Great football info and great forums
▪ Flippedlifestyle – Blog about working from home
Who are You – The Life Lessons of Sports
September 3, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Alan Stein shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Alan Stein is the owner of Stronger Team and the strength & conditioning coach for the nationally renowned, Nike elite DeMatha Catholic High School basketball program. Alan brings a wealth of valuable experience to his training arsenal from over a decade of extensive work with elite high school, college, and NBA players. He also co-hosts the podcast ‘Hardwood Hustle’ with Adam Bradley. Alan lives in Bethesda, MD with his wife Rebecca, twin sons Luke & Jack (aka ‘The Born Backcourt’), and daughter Lyla.
Website: Strongerteam.com
Twitter:@AlanStein
Facebook: /strongerteam
Youtube: /strongerteam
Podcast: Hardwood Hustle
▪ ‘A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle’
▪ It is important for your child to have a positive sports experience early on – and if that means you need to step up and be coach, step up and do it
▪ There are 100 ways to skin a cat – in Alan’s early years he wasn’t as open-minded about outside methodologies
HUGE IDEA #1 – 60 minute practice plans
o 20-25 minutes – body awareness/performance
o 30 minutes – fundamentals/skills
o 5-10 minutes – Play games: 2-on-2 or 3-on-3
o 5-8 minutes – body awareness/performance
o 15-20 minutes – fundamentals/skills
o 15-20 minutes – Situational games, still lots of 3-on-3
HUGE IDEA #2 – 6 primary movements to include in your warm-up:
Watch examples on Alan’s Youtube channel: Youtube.com/strongerteam
▪ When watching someone else do a drill that you are going to implement- Ask:
▪ ‘You get what you bring as a coach’ – If you bring enthusiasm, and model the behavior you are preaching, and expect excellence of yourself – most of the time the players will respond in kind.
▪ Positive Peer Pressure – the team all is disciplined together
▪ Podcast – Andy Stanley’s ‘Your Move’ – the non-negotiables are Dishonesty, Disobedience, and Disrespect
▪ Quote – ‘Do the things others don’t do, and you’ll have the things others don’t have’- also very powerful if you replace the word ‘won’t’ for the ‘don’t’
▪ Book – Coack K – ‘Leading with the Heart’
▪ Always, always, always – do what is in the best interest of the player
▪ Alan co-hosts the Hardwood Hustle podcast with Adam Bradley – Great podcast for people of all ages- Have your junior-high/high-school kids listen!
New and Noteworthy Podcast with Dave Westwood
August 28, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Brian Beaman shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Brian is a sales consultant. He played high school football, basketball, track, and baseball and also played college basketball for 4 years. He has coached competitive youth sports for over 20 years. He is married and has 3 children – all boys: ages 16, 12, and 9.
Twitter: @Beaman07
Facebook: facebook.com//brian.beaman.509
▪ ‘I’m not trying to raise great kids, I’m trying to raise great adults’
▪ Having a great assistant coach is key- so you can coach each other’s kids and fairly evaluate talent levels
▪ Brian’s team had a large lead in a game so he decided to have his team work on their bunts – the other coach thought it was bad sportsmanship – GOOD DEBATE: Are coaches too sensitive to ‘showing the other team up’ – when is it crossing the line?
▪ WEBSITES: Paul Reddick Baseball and Ripken baseball
HUGE IDEA #1:
▪ 3 Things the kid can control:
▪ ‘No Matter Whats’ – We won’t throw our helmet, glove, or bat; we won’t argue with umpires
▪ Recognize accomplishments immediately
▪ Brian had the Dad who kept the scorebook put little notes in the book when a kid made a great play
HUGE IDEA #2: Basketball recognition: Have 2 mini-basketballs: one says ‘Hustle’ and the other says ‘Breakthrough’ – give to 2 kids after each week and they get to keep it for the week and write their name on it
▪ Communication is key – ask the parents to deal with any concerns directly with me – don’t just complain to the other parents
▪ Book: Proverbs – there are 31 books, read one per day
▪ Book: Andy Andrews – The Travelers Gift, and Baseball Boys and Bad Words
▪ Quote: The Golden Rule – ‘Treat others as you want to be treated’– This included the umpires – learn their name and ask them if you can call them by their name
▪ Don’t take it too seriously
▪ Have fun
▪ Be prepared and organized
▪ My goal: for the kids to love the sport
August 19, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Brent Kreid shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Brent is a school teacher and adminstator. He played high school football, basketball, and baseball and also played college baseball for 3 years. He has coached competitive youth sports for over 20 years. He is married and has 4 children: ages 18, 15, 13, and 10.
Twitter: @BrentKreid
Facebook: facebook.com/brent.kreid
▪ ‘The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare’– Bobby Knight
▪ Know when to lean on another coach to communicate to your child
▪ ‘I thought there was success in incorporating a million things’ – Whether it’s a million rules, a million strategies, a million plans – early in his career Brent fell into the common trap of over-complicating things – he learned over time how much more effective it was to KEEP THINGS SIMPLE
HUGE IDEA #1:Tony Barone (Texas A&M, Creighton) – ‘You need to do something everyday to prepare you for your greatest challenge’ click to tweet!
HUGE IDEA #2: Brent shares an excellent shooting drill to teach the fundamental basketball stroke – to any age group – 5 and 6 year-olds, and all the way up to high school players: ‘L-sitting on a shelf, elbow above the eye, hand in the basket’
▪ Book: Leading with the Heart – Mike Krzyzewski
▪ A(E+E)=Success: Attitude x (Effort + Execution)
▪ Discipline – have to 1st figure out if it is a heart issue or a head issue – then the discipline is very individualized depending on all of the circumstances
▪ Many kids’ love language is words of affirmation – they love public praise – in front of their teammates, their parents
▪ Brent remembers a game from twenty years ago – 1994 he was a JV coach and specifically remembers his coaching mistake that let the game slip away.
▪ Book: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership – John Maxwell
▪ Quote: ‘The will to succeed is important, but what’s more important is the will to prepare’– Bobby Knight
▪ ‘You’re the leader, but it’s not about you’
▪ Keep it simple!
▪ Enjoy yourself and have fun with it
August 12, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Kent Julian shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Kent is a motivational speaker and founder of ‘Live it Forward’ and ‘Speak it Forward’ businesses. He has coached competitive youth swimming for 13 years. He is married and has three children, an 18 year-old son and twin 16 year-old daughters.
Twitter: @KentJulian
Facebook: facebook.com/kentjulian
Website: liveitforward.com
▪ ‘What you believe in is evidenced by how you live not by what you say’
▪ ‘I hired to my weakness’ – Kent was great at the organizational side of coaching – then he intentionally hired an assistant coach who was an expert at teaching the technical aspects of swimming
▪ Research – spend some time watching videos and learning
▪ ‘I have pushed them to be the best they can be, but kept everything in perspective so we can all love the experience and have a great time’
▪ Having parents participate in a relay race at their last meet of the year – kids go nuts cheering for their parents
▪ Kent is an expressive person and a few times early in his career he showed his emotion the wrong way – so he has learned that about himself and has to be self-disciplined to not repeat those mistakes. He did not make excuses for his behavior and immediately apologized to the athlete and the parents: ‘When you make a mistake – RUN at the mistake and genuinely seek forgiveness.’
HUGE IDEA #1: The Pigeon Game: You start telling a story, when the kids hear ‘Pigeon’- they race to the other side. You make it fun by trying to fake them out, i.e.: ‘there was a boy name PETER who really liked PICKLES…’ You could use this for jumping offsides in football, or in any sport just to make conditioning fun while increasing the child’s focus.
▪ DVD series: Total Immersion Swimming
▪ Take control early on – If you start out trying to be everyone’s friend – the kids will take advantage of you. Be kind and nice, but be firm.
▪ ‘Swimmer of the week’ – awarded to kid with best attitude
▪ ‘Most improved swimmer of the week’
▪ Kent and his coaches’ goal for each meet: Talk to each swimmer before one of their five events and encourage them
▪ They also gave beads for the kid to wear if they won their heat in any event
▪ Speed-breaker award(weekly): anyone who achieved their best time in an event gets award
HUGE IDEA #2 – Kent shared story of baseball coach when he was growing up – the coach only valued the talented players and tore down Kent. He contrasted that with his 7th grade basketball coach who poured into his life and was a hero to Kent. HE REMEMBERS BOTH 40 YEARS LATER.
▪ Book: Wooden on Leadership
▪ Quote: ‘What you believe in is evidenced by how you live not by what you say’
▪ Big is little and little is big – the little technical corrections often make the biggest difference
▪ Coach individuals according to how they are wired
▪ Goal: to empower people to ‘Show up and Shine’ in the most important areas of their lives. Includes career coaching, working with direct sales people, keynote speaking, working with career and technology student organizations.
▪ Also teaches others to teach these skills: Speak it Forward
August 4, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Lance Akridge shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Lance works for Upward Stars – an affiliate of Upward Sports. He actively coaches baseball and is constantly recruiting basketball coaches for Upward Stars’ teams. He is married and has three children, a 15 year-old son, 13 year-old son, and 12 year-old daughter.
Twitter: @upwardstars and @upwardstarsTN
Facebook: facebook.com/UpwardStarsNashville
Website: upwardstarsnashville.org
▪ ‘Be a transformational coach not a transactional coach’ – Inside-out Coaching
▪ Lance shares that early on he was harder on his own kids than the other players – ‘I’ve learned to be coach on the field rather than be a Dad.’
▪ Taking things too seriously and losing perspective. Lance shares a story of taking his son to the baseball field and putting too much pressure on him to the point he was starting to cry- he regrets he had lost perspective
▪ Watching other coaches embarrass themselves – ‘That is not who I am and not the type of character I am going to exemplify’
▪ Have patience; Overcommunicate; Impart confidence
▪ Baseball hitting game – Each player gets 7 swings and earns points based on result(kind of like Home Run derby)
▪ Basketball – Break into 3 person teams and have shooting competitions
HUGE IDEA #1: ‘Short lines, lots of repetitions, learning fundamentals’ – Baseball – Instead of having one coach hitting to the infield – have two coaches hit to each side of the infield and players run to the next line
▪ Baseball: Cal Ripken’s Coaches Clipboard – Daily emails – He sometimes forwards these to his players
▪ The best way to keep them focused is to TALK LESS
▪ Make sure your discipline involves taking away fun games – don’t discipline them during talking times
▪ Affirm positive behaviors continually
▪ HUGE IDEA #2: Let the players set 2 or 3 objective, realistic(but a slight stretch) goals for their season and continually use those as a target for all of their actions
▪ D-Groups – Twice a month they hang out – 1 hour of fun, 30 minutes eating, 45 minute character discussion ‘Player to Coach: ‘Because you care, I care’’
▪ A young man Lance coached in basketball had a really tough home life – was showing anger issues on the court – they loved him and disciplined him in love
▪ Umpires incorrectly ended his game for time limit – Lance yelled at umps – he doesn’t regret fighting for what was right for his team – but wishes he had not displayed his anger towards the umpires the way he did
▪ Book: Coach Wooden
▪ Quote: ‘The Enemy to Great is Good’ – Jim Collins
▪ Be organized
▪ Overcommunicate to the players and parents
▪ Inside-Out Coaching: ‘Be a transformational coach rather than a transactional coach’ – Joe Ehrmann
▪ Competitive travel teams that are teaching kids to be leaders based on Luke 2:52 – Teaching athletes to grow mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially
▪ Currently in 10 citites – In Tennessee: upwardstarsnashville.org
July 29, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Darin shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Darin is a graphic designer, he is married and father of four boys ages 5-14, and has coached a mix of basketball and flag football for the past 19 years. He also is the founder of the Father and Son Bowl community event in Franklin, Tennessee – which has grown from a few families in 2006 to over 1,100 players in 2013 – which raised over $38,000 for fatherless children.
Facebook: Father and Son Bowl
Twitter: DarinClark@FatherSonBowl
Websites: fatherandsonbowl.com, dclarkcreative.com
HUGE IDEA #1 : Be willing to step up and coach – even if you’re on an expert in a sport – you can get the help you need to learn!
July 21, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Coach Rob Jones shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Rob played for Coach Nolan Richardson at Arkansas, and is currently an assistant coach at Battle Ground Academy in Nashville Tennessee. He is married and has three children- ages 9-19, and works in pharmaceutical sales.
Battleground Academy link: BGA
HUGE IDEA #1: Take the time on the car ride home – Right when you get in the car – ‘Any thing else you want to tell coach?’ – and ‘Here is the last thing I am going to tell the player(if any)’ – After that just be Dad again
HUGE IDEA #2 – Great Resources!!
July 9, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Jacob shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Jacob Gilbert played football through the collegiate level, has coached at Wabash college and now is the Head football coach at Westfield High School in Indiana. In 3 years he has taken Westfield from a 3 win team, to last year they were 12-2 and runners-up in the state championship game. He is married and has three boys ages 10, 9, and 6.
Twitter: @coachgilbert10
Westfield High School link: Westfield HS ; Twitter: @rocksathletics
▪ ‘It’s not what you get from playing, it’s who you become because you play’
▪ Try to find an assistant to take the lead on coaching your kid
▪ Losing patience when coaching my own kids
▪ It’s all about relationships: John Maxwell: ‘They don’t know how much you know until they know how much you care’
▪ All kids learn differently – ‘No learning by the players means no coaching by the coaches’ – Everything you see on the field you either taught or allowed. You have to find a way to reach each different
▪ Make all learning a competition – will lead to better learning, more fun. Start backwards – what do you want to see in the game? – Figure out the skill then make a game out of it.
▪ His high school coach: ‘It’s not what you get from playing, it’s who you become because you play’ – Character development is the key in coaching.
▪ USA Football – great library of drills, practice plans
▪ Don’t be shy about asking middle school/high school coaches for advice/ go to one of their practices
▪ Instead of teaching rules – teach character. Spend time discussing who you are representing and how to lead instead of teaching time on rules.
▪ Discipline needs to be swift, fair, and consistent. ‘I still love you, but you own your own decisions, this is the consequence of that decision.’
HUGE IDEA #1 – Story of a kid who was super healthy asked coach to discipline him every time he dropped ball – coach made him eat a Snickers! Drove kid crazy and it worked.
▪ Individualized – some kids respond to public praise, some kids respond to one-on-one affirmation, some kids might play harder if you offer a bag of twizzlers to kid who makes the most tackles
▪ Coach Gilbert did not have a father at home growing up – so he loves pouring back into kids in that situation and being a positive role-model for them
HUGE IDEA #2 – Top priorities for a youth sports coach:
1 – Do the kids return next year?
2 – Did the kids learn technique and skills?
3 – Did the kids grow and learn in character? – sportsmanship, responsibility, work ethic – and including learning to compete (and winning)
▪ They lost the state championship game last year – as a head coach he thinks he learned how to have more poise and be less nervous in big situations.
▪ Book: The 21 Irrefutable laws of leadership – John Maxwell
▪ Book: The Dream Giver – Bruce Wilkinson
▪ Book: Lead for God’s Sake – Todd Gongwer
▪ Don’t criticize execution – only criticize effort – And when you criticize – make sure you make it very specific, otherwise they take it personally
▪ Frame everything as a positive – Don’t say ‘Don’t drop this pass’, instead say: ‘Make a great catch on this pass’
▪ HUDL
July 2, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Coach and Sports Psychology professor Dr. Lindsey Blom shares coaching stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Dr. Blom is a lifelong soccer player, she is married and mother of a 6 year-old daughter and 2 year-old son. She is an associate professor of sport and exercise psychology at Ball State University in Indiana. She and her husband co-authored ‘Survival Guide for Coaching Youth Soccer’ and she has actively participated on boards across the country involving youth sports. She has coached soccer from the youth level through high school.
▪ ‘Catch them Being Good’ – Tony DiCicco
▪ After practice or a game – Take the time to stop instructing them and just enjoy being with them
▪ Having kids stand around too much and waiting in lines
▪ Used imagery before a game – but it actually caused the kids to be too relaxed during the first half of the game
HUGE IDEA #1: Imagery
▪ Use an analogy like spaghetti noodles – if the child is nervous they may be stiff like uncooked noodles, but if they are relaxed they are loose like cooked noodles
▪ Teaching a new skill – Have the child picture themself doing the new skill perfectly first, then have them go through the motion without a ball and picture success, then finally add the ball after the first two visualization steps
▪ Embrace the Chaos
▪ Build relationships and individualize coaching
▪ Slow down and simplify things
▪ 3 things to say to your child:
1 – I love you
2 – I love to watch you play
3 – What do you want to eat?
▪ Book : Survival Guide for Coaching Youth Soccer
▪ Logical consequences – Take away what the kid really wants. She doesn’t recommend physical punishment(running, push-ups) because we want kids to enjoy doing these activities.
▪ Catch them being Good – Catch Them Being Good: Everything You Need to Know to Successfully Coach Girls by Tony DiCicco and The Champion Within by Lauren Gregg
▪ Teams work together when they know each other and appreciate each other’s differences, strengths, interests – so spending time away from the field getting to know each other can be a great way to build teamwork
▪ Lindsey coached a 12 year-old girl who was a little lanky and not that coordinated yet – but Lindsey stuck with her and kept challenging her – eventually she went on to be one of her best players and played high school and collegiate soccer.
▪ Winning is a part of sports – you can’t get away from that. But the first goal should be to develop players and develop a love for the game.
▪ Playing time should not be dictated by talent level – but by effort in practices.
▪ In her early years of coaching – she had a season where many of the parents had a win-at-all-costs mentality – and she let them intimidate her into coaching with that mindset
▪ Anything by John Wooden
HUGE IDEA #2 – Make each kid have a moment of success at each practice
▪ Dr. Blom and Ball State are involved in a project using soccer and sports to improve social environments in Tajikistan and Jordan – http://www.bsusfsc.com.
▪ HUDL
June 24, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Coach Damien Wong-Ken shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Damien was born in Kingston, Jamaica – then moved to Calgary and grew up in Calgary, Canada. He is married and father of a 14 year-old girl and 10 year-old son. Damien is a chef –see him at bluemountainkitchen.com, and does wardrobe design for artists – check it out at aimwide.com. He has coached high school football and most recently been a head coach of flag football in Franklin, Tennessee.
▪ ‘Life as a Vapor – Life Is Short. Eternity Is Long. Live Like It’ – John Piper
▪ Damien found that it worked much better to have an assistant take care of any disciplining of his son
▪ If you have a non-confrontational style – it can be tough to deal with some of the challenging parents. A key is to establish your team rules and expectations up front
HUGE IDEA: The Random Points Game- Kids love to have fun and play games – and even though the points don’t mean anything – the kids will go nuts trying to earn points
▪ It might take longer to teach a younger child through discipline – but as long as you are consistent and immediately welcome them back after disciplining them – they can still be taught to do things the right way
▪ Good sportsmanship – learned from the first coach he coached under – Darin Clark. They actually made banners for the opposing team as well as their own
▪ Best resource is: Other coaches! Don’t be shy about sharing ideas with other coaches
▪ Damien uses typical parent techniques for discipline – timeouts – kids have to sit out their favorite drills/games
▪ At the end of each game – he gives out 3 trophies – and the last one is the MVP – and this goes to whoever is the best teammate
▪ To Encourage improving year-to-year – Damien keeps track of stats for each kid for the year – then gives them cards (like Topps cards) at the end of the season – great motivator for them to improve themselves
▪ Send an email with details around specific accomplishments for each kid – then ask the parents to read the email to their child
▪ With a tough child – Damien consistently showed him he would be a man in his life who would not beat him down emotionally, physically, or verbally – but still discipline him. He earned the MVP trophy for a game towards the end of the season- and the other players rejoiced with him.
▪ Damien coached against a guy that was teaching his kids to play dirty – and things got very heated – they spoke afterwards and did not come to any agreement, Damien out-executed him and beat him, but it was not fun playing against this style of coach
▪ Book: ‘Life as a Vapor’ by John Piper –whatever we do in each moment impacts eternity
▪ Be patient – breathe deep and often – take 20 seconds to think through tough situations
▪ HUDL
Damien’s businesses:
June 16, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Coach Ken Stuursma shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Ken is married and has 3 children- 2 girls and a boy. He played baseball throughout his childhood and through the college level. He is the founder of Kings Baseball in Northeast Ohio, a youth baseball organization that focuses on growing strong men, not just athletes.
▪ ‘Other than Dad, the best thing you can be called is Coach’
▪ It’s a joy to coach your own kid – but the challenge is the perception of others who might question your kid’s playing time. You should have discussions with your son/daughter up front about the fact they are going to have to be better than anyone else to earn a position.
▪ Early on – it was more about me and my success instead of being focused on the kids
▪ A conversation with an old-time cowboy, Lou Skeridan – who taught him that kids come to him with their hearts wide open, and you have 2 choices:
▪ Watching his son Jake and some of the other boys on his son’s 17 year-old team develop into leaders and men
▪ ‘Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’ – Sam Rutigliano
▪ Craig shared a story where he witnessed Coach Stuursma show grace to a kid on the opposing team and it really impacted Craig’s outlook on coaching
▪ Best resource is: Other coaches! Don’t be shy about sharing ideas with other coaches
▪ The kids have to first know you are doing it for the right reasons.
HUGE IDEA:
▪ They tell their kids that every practice and game – they have to come to practice for somebody else – selfish attitudes are garbage and selfish behavior is the first and most important item to eliminate
▪ When an individual gets disciplined – they will have the primary offender do 10 push-ups, then when he finishes – the entire team has to do 20
▪ Celebrating every accomplishment, whether big or large, is paramount
▪ You have to define what your wins are. Ultimately winning is having the kids fall in love with the sport. But especially once you put on a school team uniform – yes you should be playing to win.
▪ When Ken was playing college baseball they lost a game to their arch rival in the bottom of the 9th when the coach put in a hard-throwing freshman
▪ Book: ‘Raising a Modern Day Knight’ by Robert Lewis – story of bringing a boy into manhood
▪ Developed to show boys that if God has given you a gift of athletic ability – there are responsibilities that go with that
▪ 4 cornerstone principles (from Raising a Modern Day Knight):
▪ Don’t take the wins/losses too seriously, but take very seriously the impact you are having on these kids
▪ HUDL
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June 11, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Janis and Ted share coaching and parenting stories and discuss the journey to becoming a successful youth coach and sports parent.
Janis and Ted Meredith have 3 children: a 26 year-old daughter, a 23 year-old son and a 21 year old daughter. They live in the Fort Meyers area of Florida and Janis has a blog and many great books about being the mom of athletes and a wife of a youth coach, which you can find at jbmthinks.com.
▪ ‘As a coach my goal is that each player ends the season as a better person and player’ – Coach Ted Meredith
▪ You have to keep a balance between coach and Dad, and you have to be very honest with your son/daughter.
▪ Coach Ted talks about sometimes being too tough on the kids in his early days of coaching, but learned how to strike a balance between being tough and being a friend via learning from his head coaching mentor
▪ Janis quickly discovered – being a youth coach is not a glamor job! Parents are often tough on the coach and dealing with the many issues ‘was tougher than I anticipated.’
▪ As a coach’s wife – she realized it worked better to disconnect from some of the more verbal parents if they are being negative and let the coach deal with any issues
▪ Explaining the ‘Why’ to the children on what you are doing in practice and games
▪ Teaching the kids that practices/life are not all fun – sometimes you have to grind through things and it is work – but the payoff is worth it!
▪ Piano drill in football – always teaching form tackling
▪ Cut-throat in softball – 3 teams of 5 so everyone stays involved
▪ For her child to be challenged to get better – AND be in a supportive environment that celebrates as they meet those challenges
▪ Youtube – Always can find great ideas and videos here
▪ HUDL – great way to watch video of friends/relatives in other parts of the country
▪ You have to decide whether you’re there to be a teacher/mentor vs. being a friend to the kids
▪ Quick ‘Put-ups’ after the game are a great way to point out extra hustle and effort
▪ 24 hour rule – parents need to wait 24 hours after a game until they discuss any issues with the coach
▪ Find a couple of parent advocates that will support you!
▪ It’s very telling of what kind of coach you are – if the kids connect with you on Facebook after the season is over
▪ Janis shares the story of a coach who believed in her son even when he was having a tough time – the coach gave him 3 reasons he wanted him to succeed and it was a huge influence to him. ‘When we believe in kids – it matters and makes a difference to them and they feel that.’
▪ Watch your eye-contact – If you stare at one of them – they might think you’re singling them out
▪ Your volume (yelling) might be more needed for boys vs. girls who often will respond quickly and do not respond well to yelling
▪ Jbmthinks.com – Janis has created this site to help parents teach positive life lessons through sports
▪ Check out ‘The Sports Parenting Survival Guide Series’ – 7 e-books that provide insight into how to thrive while being a sports parent
▪ Talk less!! Be to the point.
▪ Seek to understand then be understood
▪ Communicate clearly and consistently
▪ HUDL
June 9, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Todd shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Todd Grosse is married and has 2 children: a 16 year-old son and a 13 year old daughter. Todd grew up in Michigan and played youth hockey at the highest levels, and still plays today. They now live in Franklin, Tennessee.
▪ ‘Iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another’ – Proverbs 27:17
▪ You have to keep a balance between coach and Dad, and you have to be very honest with your son/daughter.
▪ Not being prepared for practice and being extremely organized
▪ Using terminology that the kids understand and making everything simple
1 – Have a plan
2 – Instill discipline, kids are starved for discipline
3 – Communicate the plan clearly and simply
▪ HUGE IDEA #1: Small area games instead of full-scale scrimmages so you can teach while having fun
▪ To bring the kids in – create a game that if you are the last player to the huddle you have to take a lap – and the players self-enforce it
▪ USA Hockey – great coaching materials, classes
▪ Coach Nielsen’s hockey drills
▪ Putting kids in the penalty box for not listening is very effective
▪ Team recognition instead of individual recognition; and recognizing assists more than goals
▪ HUGE IDEA #2: ‘The Bucket Hat’ – The kids nominate after each game who deserves to wear the hat during warm-ups for the next game
▪ Offseason gatherings and teambuilding activities – whitewater rafting, dinners
▪ For parents – have a great team mom/team manager
▪ If you have a difficult parent – give them a job!
▪ Teaching a child by showing him grace – Young man was supposed to sit out the next game for violating rule – but Todd only had him sit our first shift and the young man was so excited and appreciative that he turned around his behavior and attitude
▪ Winning should be one of the goals – but it’s a team goal and learning fundamentals will lead to improvement which often shows up in more wins
▪ Playing time can be determined by a player’s willingness to practice as hard as possible
▪ They played a team that was above their level – and Todd regrets he told his team about how good the other team was, his team played intimated – he wishes he had just let them play
▪ Quote: ‘Iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another’ – Proverbs 27:17
▪ Book: ‘The Gold Standard’ by Coach K. – story of bringing together the Dream Team
▪ Have a detailed practice plan!
▪ Keep a binder of great drills
▪ HUDL
June 2, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Luke shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Luke Dunnuck is married and is father of 6 boys and 1 daughter. He owns a sports facility in Indianapolis called Sparta. He also represents products for Advocare health and wellness.
Twitter: @SPARTAindy
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June 1, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Diane shares coaching stories and discusses her journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Diane was an all Big-10 gymnast at The Ohio State University, and has coached 50+ level 10 gymnasts; in 2 years at Solon High School she took the team to state, where they have never been before or since. She is married to a fellow-Ohio State gymnast and has four children ages 17-22.
Twitter: CoachRenzi@kidpeach
o ‘The Gymnastics Minute’ by USAGymnastics
May 27, 2014
What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Paul shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach.
Paul is in technical sales, father of 3 boys, and has coached youth football, baseball, and lacrosse. His youth football team last season went undefeated in a 20 team league and won the league championship.
February 3, 2014
After a really tough loss ended a deep playoff run, our team had our post-game chat. And then something really memorable happened.
Sure, we encouraged the kids in the post-game wrap up. We celebrated all the things we did well. We broke out one last time in our team chant.
And then something unexpected happened.
One of our players, who was young, small, and not a star on the team- came up and hugged me and started crying a little (I’m sure he would never admit it.) Then he took a few steps, and came back and hugged me again.
Wow was that powerful. Instantaneously that small gesture had make me forget about the toughest loss of my coaching career.
When the whistle blew to end the game, I had countless doubts running through my head. Did we prepare the team the proper way? Should I have called a different play? What went wrong?
But that hug erased all the doubts and questions. As a team and as coaches – we had stuck to our mission, worked endlessly to be great, and done it the right way. Were we perfect? No. But that young man told me, without using any words, that the road to greatness is awesome and this was truly a season and experience he loved.
January 3, 2014
One mistake I made on a team I coached was how I handled a highly emotional situation. One of our players made it very obvious he really wanted to play a certain position. After evaluating the players, our coaching staff determined the line-up that made the most sense for the team. This player was not initially going to start at the position he wanted. Not getting to play the position you want or think you deserve is something that happens all of the time in sports, but the wise coaches deal with it in a way that can help diffuse the situation. I was not wise with this young man.
I showed up for practice, called our team together, and announced all the positions in front of the whole team. This boy was very upset and it was very visible.
I could have saved that player a lot of embarrassment, and the team a very awkward situation, if I had handled it differently.
What I should have done was pull this player aside before practice and had a one-on-one discussion. There is no point in embarrassing him in front of the whole team with a surprise. This would also allow me to explain to him that he was going to get a chance to play that position, he just wasn’t going to start the first game there. It would also have allowed for him to express any disagreement or concerns with the decision in a much more comfortable setting. Communicating with more sensitivity would have greatly diffused what turned into a pretty ugly situation.
Building up the self-esteem of these young boys and girls is the most important aspect of youth coaching, and this requires wisdom. Having wisdom in the area of communication with players means taking into consideration the right way of presenting disappointing news, and utilizing this as a teaching moment.
James 3: 17-18 – But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.