Month: October 2014

October 28, 2014

WYC 023 Youth Football – Clint Schumacher talks youth football and how he implemented Dave Cisar’s Winning Youth Football System

Clint pic 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

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Coaching/Leadership Quote

‘Put aside your positional authority to demand, and think about your relational credibility to expect’ – from 2 Timothy in the Bible

click to tweet!

Coaching your own Kid

Clint shares a story of being too hard on his own kid

My ‘Cringe’ Moment

In dealing with an assistant coach that was being too hard on his own son, Clint regrets he ‘let that go’ and didn’t correct that situation with assertiveness

My ‘Ah-Ha Moment’

Learned from Dave Cisar: Conducting everything at a much faster pace. Teach against air and instead of running a play every 2 or 3 minutes, run 4 plays per minute.

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

Break everything down into small pieces – A football stance can be broken down into 5 micro-steps. Use visual images, using kid’s terms, so it’s easy for the kids to remember.
Clint will bring out a boom box for a segment of practice to lighten the mood and keep things fun.
Speedball – Wide open, fast-paced frisbee football – This is also great ‘hidden conditioning’

Coaching Resources

HUDL – Clint uses HUDL to teach, as well as to share the game films with parents and grandparents
Dumcoach.com – Great coaching forum
Coachsomebody.com – Football forum
USAFootball.com – Videos and drills

Discipline

2 things they punish whole team for:

1 – Lack of effort

2 – Jumping offsides

Everything else is case-by-case. Making kids sit out is one of the most effective punishments.
HUGE IDEA #1: Criticism sandwich – Sandwich criticism between praise

Reward and Recognition

HUGE IDEA #2:

Practice Warrior – every practice they have a blue jersey that is lettered ‘practice warrior,’ and whoever is best teammate get to wear jersey next practice
Helmet stickers – If team accomplishes all 4 goals for the game, everyone gets a sticker:
- 1 – Win the game
- 2 – Score 26 points
- 3 – Hold the other team to 7 points or less
- 4 – Win the turnover battle
- Individual stickers: ‘hidden victories in a game’:
- 1 – Pancake block
- 2 – Anyone who forces or recovers a fumble/interception
- 3 – If a back carries out such a good fake that he gets tackled
Character quality of the week – 4 kids win each week – the 4 kids that win that week are captains for the game

Inspiring Story

Clint prayed in the offseason for some kids who came from tougher backgrounds so they could impact them – he has 2 kids on this year’s team that they have really poured into

Winning

Winning is important – but not because of the scoreboard – more importantly it is a grading of your process

The One that Got Away

Clint’s 2^nd grade flag-football team just lost a heartbreaker on a last second play – but he was extremely proud of the great way they competed

Coaching/Leadership Motivation

Books: ‘Inside-out Coaching’, ‘Season of Life’ – both by/about Joe Ehrmann
Quote: ‘Put aside your positional authority to demand, and think about your relational credibility to expect’ – from 2 Timothy in the Bible

Parting Advice

Many kids will remember their first coach – are you going to feed positive qualities into them, or negative ones

Interview Links / Promotional Partners

HUDL

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October 18, 2014

WYC 022 Youth Basketball – Kevin Furtado talks girls basketball and the Intensity of Winning

Kevin pic 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

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Coaching/Leadership Quote

▪ ‘Winning is a process driven by character’ – Brett Ledbetter

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Coaching your own Kid

Kevin recalls several stories of his Dad’s coaching style – how inclusion of all kids was a priority ; and how his Dad pushed him to be a better team player

My ‘Cringe’ Moment

▪ ‘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’

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

‘The Intensity of Winning’ – This is measured by hard work. Hard work is a skill that can be developed. We are going to commit to dominating our opponent through hard work.
#1 skill is footwork – Balance, pivoting. Get a low chair stance. Ripping the ball, sweeping the ball. 4-Line Pivot drill – they do it every day at practice.
Lots of small-sided games. You get more touches with the ball if you are 3 on 3 vs. 5 on 5.
Fun game: Passing tag – have to pass the ball and ‘tag’ someone. Stop, catch, pivot, then tag. Timed drill –team with the lowest time wins. Can do it with more than 5 per team.
Every kid must have a ball! If you have 12 kids on the team you better have 12 balls!

Best Stolen Idea

Gene Durdin – Girls basketball coach at Buford H.S. in Georgia – taught Kevin:

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.

Coaching Resources

▪ 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

▪ 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

The biggest discipline is to have them sit out something they enjoy

Reward and Recognition

▪ ‘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.

Coaching Girls

Coach them as athletes just the same as boys. But social interactions are usually more important with girls than boys so make sure you take time to develop relationships

The One that Got Away

Coach Furtado shares a story where he didn’t handle a loss well – he learned poise

Coaching/Leadership Motivation

▪ 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

Parting Advice

▪ Focus on long-term athletic development

Interview Links / Promotional Partners

HUDL

Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

October 8, 2014

WYC 021 Youth Baseball – Jason Larocque from ‘Winwithinbaseball.com’ – talks Culture, and Avoiding the Worst Case Scenario

jason pic 2 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

Listen NOW:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Coaching/Leadership Quote

▪ ‘It’s hard to make policy in the middle of the season.’

click to tweet!

My ‘Cringe’ Moment

▪ ‘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

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

▪ 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.

Best Stolen Idea

▪ 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

Coaching Resources

▪ Gamechanger.io – App that does baseball scoring and stats. Parents can watch game on gametracker

▪ Coaches’ Choice – DVDs to show skills

Discipline

▪ 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.

Reward and Recognition

▪ 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

Inspiring Story

▪ 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.

The One that Got Away

▪ In championship game against rival – 2x in 2 innings – his star pitcher balked with runner on 3^rd. Sometimes that stuff just happens.

▪ Other team had gimmicky play to fake out his team and get 3^rd out. It’s bad coaching – but prepare your team for other coaches to do it.

Coaching/Leadership Motivation

▪ Book: ‘Drive’ by Daniel Pink – how to motivate people

▪ Book: ‘Talent is Over-rated’ by Geoffrey Colvin

▪ Book: ‘The Talent Code’ by Daniel Coyle

Parting Advice

▪ 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.

Interview Links / Promotional Partners

Better Basketball

HUDL

Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

October 2, 2014

WYC 020 Youth Baseball – Dave Westwood from ‘New and Noteworthy Podcast’ – talks Leadership and Having a Plan

dave-westwood 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

Listen NOW:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Coaching/Leadership 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’’

click to tweet!

Coaching your own Kid

▪ It’s hard to not be harder on your own kid

My ‘Cringe’ Moment

▪ 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?

Coaching AH-HA Moment

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’

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

▪ 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.

Best Stolen Idea

▪ Learn skills in small groups! Eliminate standing around.

Coaching Resources

▪ Ripken baseball

▪ Positive Coaching Alliance

▪ Winning Youth Coaching (thanks Dave!)

Discipline

▪ Create teachable moments

Reward and Recognition

▪ Have whole team sign baseball as keepsake at end of year

▪ Constant, positive reinforcement

Teambuilding

▪ Spend time letting them get to know their teammates – name games the first few practices

Inspiring Story

▪ 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

Winning

▪ The kids know who win or lose – so don’t hide from it. Teach the kids how to win and how to lose well.

The One that Got Away

▪ Playing another team that was breaking some rules – Dave got frustrated and blitzed 4 straight plays – on the 4^th one they got burnt for a TD. HUGE IDEA #2: Don’t let emotions take over your decisions.

Coaching/Leadership Motivation

▪ 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

Parting Advice

▪ Have a plan before you walk on the field

The New and Noteworthy Podcast

▪ 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

Interview Links / Promotional Partners

New and Noteworthy Podcast with Dave Westwood

HUDL