Tag: Joe Daniel

Achieving Peak Mental Performance – Factor #5: Keep It Simple Stupid

The Growth Mindset – 7 Key Factors to Achieve Peak Mental Performance​​​​​​​
Factor #5 – Simplify
Joe Daniel from The Football Coaching Podcast has one of my favorite quotes about simplifying:
‘Keep everything simple so that your kids build confidence, confident kids play fast, fast kids win games.’
That says it perfectly. The best way to quiet your mind is to not be thinking about a million things while playing. Here are a few other of my favorites that I’ve learned from great coaching minds:
  • Coach Shane 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.
  • ‘If your goal is to freeze an athlete – give them a whole bunch of stuff to think about’ – James Leath, head of leadership at IMG Academy
  • Renowned high school championship basketball coach at Christ Pres Academy in Nashville and former Vanderbilt star Drew Maddux uses the term ‘Boundaried Freedom’ – Create the culture and boundaries – and then give them the freedom to go make plays
I was watching the Golf Channel this week and they discussed how Jack Nicklaus credited much of his success to his ability to play present. The ability to stay in the moment allowed him to pay attention to details that many of his competitors missed – the wind speed and direction, the amount of power he was hitting with that day, and many other things that if he had complicated his mind with too many worries or concerns he would have missed. So Keep It Simple Stupid. You will have more fun and your athletes will go out there and play instead of going out there and thinking.
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WYC 050 – Special 50th Episode Guest – James Leath talks Mental Toughness, Travel Sports Alternatives, and Coaching

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

 

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Questions submitted that James answers:

  • People talk about being mentally tough, but what does it mean?
  • Who are some current athletes who display mental toughness?
  • What compelled you to go into youth sports psychology, and how is it different from adult sport psychology?
  • How come some kids seem to be more tough than others? Are you born with mental toughness?
  • What is a mistake recovery routine?

Questions James asks Craig:

  • In your show notes you highlight 1 or 2 Huge Ideas you take from each guest- tell me about a few of the hugest ideas that stick out to you
  • What’s a book you have read about sports that you would recommend?
  • You talk about alternatives to travel sports a lot – why is that so important to you and why are you so passionate about it?

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WYC 044 – Youth Football – Joe Daniel talks keeping things simple so that your kids build confidence- confident kids play fast- fast kids win games

 podcast pic

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Coaching/Leadership Quote

‘Keep everything simple so that your kids build confidence, confident kids play fast, fast kids win games’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Joe didn’t have a mentor the first time he was thrown into being a head coach – he wishes he had sought out a mentor earlier
  • There are a million ways to coach/teach – be open-minded, there’s always new ways of doing thing

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Dale Baskett – Speed coach from San Diego Chargers – Coach Daniel learned from him how to have kids demo technique instead of having a coach do the demo
  • ‘Everything we do in practice is something you will directly see on the game field.  We don’t run over bags and ladders anymore, because they aren’t on the game field.’  Break everything down into it’s simplest piece and start small, then add progressions after perfecting the previous step.
  • Keep things competitive during drills

Best Stolen idea

  • Pete Carroll rugby tackling videos

Recommended Resources

Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Create the culture and set the standard early – this will limit your discipline issues
  • ‘The first time you do it, it’s on you.  The second time it’s on the team.’
  • When you set rules – don’t back yourself into a corner.  i.e. – If you’re late for practice, you won’t play in the next game – and then your best kid/player is 30 seconds late for one practice.
  • Celebrate the small victories in practice

Connecting with Kids

  • One kid – ‘I never had any friends until being on this team’ – he wasn’t a good athlete, played on the scout team – but being part of the team and feeling part of a football family was huge to him

Winning

  • ‘Until it’s in the papers, it shouldn’t be one of your top goals’ – Once it is, then if you don’t win – you get fired.

The One that got away

  • ‘We did something schematically that did not fit who we were – it looked good on a napkin, but wasn’t what we practiced all year.’

Leadership Quote/Book

  • Book – Dean Smith’s ‘The Carolina Way‘ – great leadership and business components

Joe Daniel Football

  • Joedanielfootball.com – Football defense, offense, coaching schemes
  • Includes blogs, video, audio, podcast, private Facebook group
  • Sign up for weekly emails: joedanielfootball.com/dim
  • Podcast has stories of what real football coaches are doing

Parting Advice

  • Be open-minded – but make sure what you are doing is applicable to the game field.

HUGE IDEA #2:

‘Keep everything simple so that your kids build confidence, confident kids play fast, fast kids win games’

 

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