Tag: softball

March 13, 2017

The Culture Journey Week #23 – The Bus Trip

Week 23
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Regular Season week #2
Positive Energy
I continued what I have affectionately self-named ‘Coach Craig’s Goofy Games‘ to start each practice.
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This week’s best game:Great Teammate Tips Challenge
After one of our seniors shared the 2 new tips for the week from The Hard Hat, we broke into 4 teams: freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I gave them each a page from the sketch pad which we use to write the tips on (by the way – love this sketch pad I bought for $14 on Amazon: link) and gave them each a Sharpie and asked them to write down as many of the 8 teammate tips they could remember. The correct number ranged from 3 to 7 (the seniors obviously had an advantage since they are reading the book.) It was good to get the groups brainstorming together, plus put the emphasis on how much are they really listening to these tips being presented by the seniors.
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Culture Update – The Bus Trip
This weekend we had 1 of our 2 bus trips, a 3 hour ride over to Knoxville to play 2 varsity games and 1 JV game. I had been thinking about this for some time, because last year our bus trips were a bit shocking to me how immature and disrespectful much of the conversation was. We discussed this as a coaching staff, and decided rather than trying to ‘police’ the conversation, to instead fill the time with productive activity. We brought a DVD with the 2015 Div II lacrosse national championship game which was 1 hour 45 minutes long and played that as soon as we left. Then we spent the last hour bringing up the different position groups to the front of the bus with the coaches to discuss the gameplan for the day. This seemed to work really well and our mindset getting off the bus seemed to be much more focused and excited to play great lacrosse vs. last year where they were just goofing off and not focused. The results on the field paid off as well as we played a great first half and won the first game.
The return bus trip was less organized but we stopped for pizza then most of the boys fell asleep as it was a long day and we were all pretty exhausted. Overall it was a night and day better experience vs. last year.
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We also continue to have the seniors presenting 2 of the teammate tips from Jon Gordon’s The Hard Hat, this weeks we covered points 7 and 8:
7 – Do it for your team, not for applause
8 – Show you are committed

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Have a great week and keep fighting for your culture everyday!

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I am excited to walk this journey with you. I welcome any feedback, ideas, and suggestions you might have as you read through this. You are also welcome to share this with any other coaches you think could benefit from it, and please have them email me at [email protected] if they would like to be added to this email list.

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If you are interested in diving deeper on building culture we have started a mastermind group that meets the first and third Wednesday of each month at 12:30 pm EST, see the details at: winningyouthcoaching.com/the-culture-bus-mastermind/. It is exciting to be with likeminded world-changers.

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March 13, 2017

WYC 110 – Championship Culture Part 6 – TJ Rosene talks Chasing the Lion & Leadership Development

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TJ Rosene is a 3x National  Coach of the year. He has already compiled over 300 wins as a college coach and has most recently put together 8 straight 20-win seasons. TJ also serves as the Director of Coach Development for PGC Basketball, and co-hosts the Hardwood Hustle podcast.

Twitter: @CoachTJRosene

Websites: pgcbasketball.com; hardwoodhustle.com

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘If your dreams don’t scare you- you’re not dreaming big enough’ – Chasing the Lion

1st steps in building culture

  • The first step is believing
  • Then define key cornerstones

Buy-in & Building great teammates

  • Have your players brainstorm about what the characteristics are of the best teammates. Then ask the players whether you have their permission to hold them accountable to those standards.

Empowering players

  • The best time to have players figuring things out on their own is when there is less on the line. That’s true of lower levels of youth sports. That’s true of early in the season even at higher levels of athletics.

Communication needs 3 things:

  1. Truth
  2. Love
  3. Transparency

Start each practice talking for 5 to 8 minutes

  • This helps everyone to get to know each other and
  • My commitment Monday
  • Tough Tuesday
  • Thankful Thursday

Communication – Life skills

  • They have their athletes do the following when ordering at a fast-food restaurant:
    • Eye contact
    • Call the person by name
    • Ask them how their day is going
    • Express gratitude

Caz McCaslin’s 2 minute Coaching tips

  • Tough love – Set standards that build not just great athletes but great leaders
  • Remember the off the court impact you have is more important than what happens on the court

Captains

  • TJ’s teams have never elected captains. He just lets the natural leaders emerge.
  • When leaders arise who he wouldn’t have chosen – he is honest with them and works to develop them and train them how to be a better leader. He is also honest about what the 2 or 3 behaviors are that will affect their teammates adversely if they don’t work on improving them or eliminating them.

Leadership development

  • The first step is asking the players who wants to lead
  • They create levels of leadership around 4 traits: Character, Courage, Consistency, Communication
  • They define levels 0 to 3 with tangible steps

Connecting with kids

  • Sometimes you have to draw lines. It’s scary because we don’t want to alienate a player, but it is important.

The One that got away

  • Losing a national championship game – TJ had not prepared himself for what could go wrong.
  • You have to learn from the adversity and not live in the adversity

Best Stolen Idea

  • Don Meyer – Sent TJ a note and book within 48 hours of his passing. TJ learned that you’re never too big for any situation or person.
  • Be a lifelong learner!

PGC Basketball Clinics

  • 10,000 kids go through their camps every summer – check them out at: pgcbasketball.com

Parting Advice

  • Keep perspective. Define your legacy.

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Today’s Sponsors

Established in 1995, Upward Sports is the world’s largest Christian youth sports provider. Approximately 100,000 leaders and coaches deliver Upward Sports programming to half a million young athletes around the country.

Upward Sports promotes the discovery of Jesus through sports, by providing a fun, encouraging environment in which young athletes can learn technical skills and a love of the game. We use sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer and flag football to help young athletes develop mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially. We are about the whole athlete—that’s our 360 Progression.

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Reviews are the lifeblood of the podcast!- If you like the podcast- please take 2 minutes to write a review! Click here

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March 6, 2017

WYC 109 – Championship Culture Part 5 – Sara Erdner talks Mental Toughness and Relational Resilience

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Sara Erdner is a PhD student in Sport Psychology & Motor Behavior at the Univ. of TN. She is a lifelong athlete including multiple triathlons and most recently Strongman competitions. Today she will share with us some of the research she has done on relational resilience.

Twitter: @serdner

Facebook: /sara.erdner

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘In society we think of competition as going head to head with someone else and trying to beat them. But if you look at the Latin root of the word – it means To Strive Together. You put your best foot forward and I’ll put my best foot forward. Even if I lose, I will thank you as my competitor for bringing your best that day.’ – Joe Ehrmann, paraphrased

Competition

  • Joe Erhmann talks about the word competition – ‘In society we think of competition as going head to head with someone else and trying to beat them. But if you look at the Latin root of the word – it means To Strive Together. You bring your best foot forward and I’ll put my best foot forward. Even if I lose, I will thank you as my competitor for bringing your best that day.’

Relational Resilience

  • Adversity – Perception is reality, so if you perceive a situation as adverse, then it is.
  • 5 characteristics of being resilient:

1 – Positive outlook

2 – Intrinsically motivated

3 – Focused

4 – Confident

5 – Perceived social support is high

Coaches’ & Parents’ role in resilience in athletes

  • It all starts with you. If you are not resilient yourself, it’s nearly impossible to develop resilient athletes. Are you positive & focused?
  • Self reflection is one of the most powerful thing you can do as an individual.
  • Acknowledging when you’ve done something wrong is important.
  • Emotional support is the key. The concept of empathy is critical. Being able to strive to put yourself in the other person’s shoes. Empathy is important to overcoming and working through the shame that has been put on you by your parents or coaches or others in your life.

Mental toughness

  • Traditional coaching behaviors such as yelling, throwing things – these old standards create negative emotions that drive fear and anxiety
  • Care, love, positive emotions – are the true ways to bring out the best performances

Caz McCaslin’s Coaching Tips

  • Developing a player athletically:
    • Teach them to have a great work ethic
    • Teach them to be constantly learning

Empowering kids

  • Ask open-ended questions
    • What do you think you would have done in that situation?
    • Are there other things you might add to that?
    • It takes more time, but it has infinitely more valuable

Positive Energy

  • Sara gets her positivity from her mom – Shout out to Sheryl Erdner!

The One that got away

  • Sara was in a triathlon and was so in the flow state that she forgot to do the 2nd lap of the biking portion.
  • She had a friend tell her – ‘These are the moments that will have the biggest impact on making you a better athlete, because it forces you to think about what happened and what you could do have done better’

Best Stolen Idea

  • Dr. Rebecca Zakrajsek, PHD from Univ of Tennessee – Had a book called The Book of Awesome by Neil Pasricha – she shared a story from to start each class. Started the class with positive energy. Eventually she started to ask the class what awesome thing happened to them lately.

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Quote: ‘Stop trying to prove yourself because you’ve already done it.’ There’s a difference in trying to prove yourself and trying to improve yourself.
  • Book: Grit by Angela Duckworth

Parting Advice

  • Start practices with something fun and something motivational/positive.

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Today’s Sponsors

Established in 1995, Upward Sports is the world’s largest Christian youth sports provider. Approximately 100,000 leaders and coaches deliver Upward Sports programming to half a million young athletes around the country.

Upward Sports promotes the discovery of Jesus through sports, by providing a fun, encouraging environment in which young athletes can learn technical skills and a love of the game. We use sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer and flag football to help young athletes develop mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially. We are about the whole athlete—that’s our 360 Progression.

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February 27, 2017

WYC 108 – Championship Culture Part 4 – Pete Jacobson talks Wrestling, Process over Outcome, and Embracing Failure

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Pete Jacobson has been a varsity wrestling coach for 15 years. Coaching is a passion and a labor of love for him. It’s essentially been his “other” full time job for the last decade and half. Now with the many years of experience under his belt; dozens and dozens of books on coaching theory, sports psychology, performance nutrition, team building and motivation read and on his bookshelf; thousands of dollars worth of clinics, seminars and classes attended and PLENTY of trial and error, he is able to answer a lot more of these questions, so he has started a blog and resources called Win Smarter.

Website: winsmarter.com

Website with free WYC offer: winsmarter.com/wyc/

Twitter: @PJacobsonEmont

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

 ‘The best aren’t born that way. They work harder and practice more to master their craft.’ – Jon Gordon

Cringe Moment

  • Pete and his head coach butted heads a lot during Pete’s early years- Pete was like a typical young man who thinks they know it all

Teaching Skills

  • Incorporate fun competitions as much as possible
  • Group based competitions helps create great culture, and keep mixing up the groups

Self-confidence and peak mental performance

  • Pete recently observed 2 NFL coaches’ reactions to their kickers missing game-winning field goals in overtime of a game. One coach said ‘he is a professional and has to make that kick.’ The other coach said ‘he made a bunch of kicks that even put us in the position to win the game. He’ll make a bunch more for us and we love him.’ Which coach would instill more confidence in his kicker going forward?
  • 3 pillars Pete’s teams focus on:

1 – Focus on process over outcome

2 – Embrace failure as a necessary step towards success

3 – For the kids to embrace #s 1 and 2 – you need to embrace these as their coach

Free E-book on mental toughness

Caz McCaslin’s Coaching Tips

  • Developing a player’s mental capacity
  • Winning requires: Resiliency, concentration, and a willingness to embrace the grind

Championship Culture

  • Defining core values: TAAO

Teamwork

Attitude

Accountability

One More

  • Before the season begins they do 2 things:

1 – Off-site team building ropes course

2 – Team community service project

  • In season:
    • Buddy week – Pair up kids that don’t know each other that well (ideally they have the same lunch) – then at end of week they have a contest to see who knows their buddy best
    • Coach Appreciation dinner – They assign groups and each group comes up with a skit to ‘make fun’ of the coaches. Make sure you define what is appropriate. 🙂

Favorite coaching book/quote

Win Smarter

Parting Advice

  • You know a lot but you could learn much more. Go talk to as many other experienced coaches as you can.

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Today’s Sponsors

Established in 1995, Upward Sports is the world’s largest Christian youth sports provider. Approximately 100,000 leaders and coaches deliver Upward Sports programming to half a million young athletes around the country.

Upward Sports promotes the discovery of Jesus through sports, by providing a fun, encouraging environment in which young athletes can learn technical skills and a love of the game. We use sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer and flag football to help young athletes develop mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially. We are about the whole athlete—that’s our 360 Progression.

—

Reviews are the lifeblood of the podcast!- If you like the podcast- please take 2 minutes to write a review! Click here

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February 20, 2017

WYC 107 – Championship Culture Part 3 – Ted Quinn talks Knowing your Why and Nations of Coaches

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Ted Quinn is the director of coaches programs at the Nations of Coaches. Prior to that Ted had spent  seventeen seasons on the sidelines. A coaching career that saw him serve at Wakonda High School(SD), Mount Marty College(SD), Graceland Univerisity(IA) and Nyack College(NY). In addition to his coaching career, Quinn has also served as an Executive Board Member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches(NABC) Ministry Team and an Advisory Board Member of Nations of Coaches. He and his wife Jackie have been married for eighteen years and are the proud parents of ten-year-old daughter Jenna and seven-year-old son Kellen.

Website: nationsofcoaches.com

Twitter: @NationofCoaches

Facebook: /nationsofcoaches

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

 ‘It’s better to have flown than to have landed’ – John Wooden

Nations of Coaches

  • Serve men’s college basketball
  • Mission is to serve, equip, and connect to support coaches

Character Coaches

  • The biggest jump from losing to winning is improving the culture within your locker room and around your program.

Caz’s Coaching Halftime

  • Coach towards victory instead of just trying to win

Building a team with great culture

  • The first step – is as a coach to ask yourself why you are doing this
  • Then – prioritize building relationships with your players. Get to know them before getting to know their game.

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Ted values the relationships with his players. He even had the opportunity to be the minister who led the ceremony for one of his player’s marriages.
  • A player you invest in becomes a son or daughter to you.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Tony Bennett at Virginia – The simplicity of their defense is their key. They just have a few rules and they don’t bend on those rules.

Favorite coaching book/quote

SEC Legacy Breakfast

  • Host speaker – Brice Drew – Head Coach at Vanderbilt
  • Wed, March 8th at 7 a.m. in downtown Nashville – A few tickets still available
  • Website: nationsofcoaches.com

Parting Advice

  • Get to know your players at a heart level before you worry about getting to know their game
  • Know your why

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Today’s Sponsors

Established in 1995, Upward Sports is the world’s largest Christian youth sports provider. Approximately 100,000 leaders and coaches deliver Upward Sports programming to half a million young athletes around the country.

Upward Sports promotes the discovery of Jesus through sports, by providing a fun, encouraging environment in which young athletes can learn technical skills and a love of the game. We use sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer and flag football to help young athletes develop mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially. We are about the whole athlete—that’s our 360 Progression.

—

Reviews are the lifeblood of the podcast!- If you like the podcast- please take 2 minutes to write a review! Click here

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February 13, 2017

WYC 106 – Championship Culture Part 2 – Scott Hearon talks Leaving a Legacy and 4 at the Door

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Scott Hearon believes athletics can be the most effective forum for growing people, and has coached and mentored in many different arenas hoping to make a difference. Scott feels a call on his life to help men make sense of who they are and why they are made so that they can lead lives of deep influence, purpose, connection, and freedom. Scott is the executive director at The Nashville Coaching Coalition, whose mission is to connect, support, and equip athletic coaches in their work to build excellent programs that transform the lives of their players and empower them to perform to their greatest potential.

Websites: NashvilleCoachingCoalition.com; TheCoachForum.com

Twitter: @TheCoachForum

Facebook: /TheCoachForum

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

 ‘If you want to make slow change, coach behavior. If you want to make sustainable change, help change their paradigm.’ – Stephen Covey, paraphrased

Early Influence

  • Scott during high school read the story about Joe Erhmann’s team in Season of Life and looked around and didn’t really see the type of mentors from the coaches he had in his life

‘To be a man, you have to see a man’

  • Boys and girls need to see role models. The best thing we can to demonstrate this to the players we coach is to work on our relationships with each other as a coaching staff.
  • The most dangerous coach is one who is not confident with who they are and are trying to prove themselves
  • From Joe Hermann’s book Inside-Out Coaching, the goal is to be a transformational coach instead of being a transactional coach. You can’t try to fulfill your insecurities by using kids to accomplish your goals.

Building a team with great culture

  • The first step is defining your core values and what you are all about
  • This begins with the relationships and communication within the coaching staff
  • Then have each coach write a mission statement about what this coaching staff’s priorities are going to be
  • Then relay this philosophy to your parents so they are on board with your approach

Caz’s Coaching Halftime

  • Develop the whole athlete, on and off the field
  • Coaches are the #1 position of influence on today’s youth

Building Self-confidence

  • 2 biggest things kids need: To belong and to matter
  • When kids understand their role and know they are valued regardless of their performance on the field, they become free to play all-out without fear. ‘Play Free’
  • The Thrive Center for Human Development

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • A really gifted athlete on a team Scott was working with was struggling with controlling his emotions. Their team’s coaching staff spent time with all the seniors before the season, and hearing this young man’s struggles personally with how hard his life had been opened things up with their relationship to connect with him personally.

The One that got away

  • Scott was on a coaching staff and during a game sensed that they needed to call a timeout and encourage their team. But he was new to the staff and didn’t say anything, which he regrets.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Apologize as often as you need to
  • 4 at the door – 4 things to do every time you talk to your athletes:

1 – Look them eye to eye

2 – Shake their hand

3 – Call them by their name

4 – Share one thing of personal value to them

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Quote: ‘If you want to make slow change, coach behavior. If you want to make sustainable change, help change their paradigm.’ – Stephen Covey, paraphrased

The Coach Forum

  • NashvilleCoachingCoalition.com
  • The Coach Forum – TedX-type talks one day coaching forum in July: Twitter: @TheCoachForum
  • Coaching with Heart – Weekend retreat April 7-9 – Teaching coaches how to coach with heart

Parting Advice

  • What kind of legacy do you want to leave?

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Today’s Sponsors

Established in 1995, Upward Sports is the world’s largest Christian youth sports provider. Approximately 100,000 leaders and coaches deliver Upward Sports programming to half a million young athletes around the country.

Upward Sports promotes the discovery of Jesus through sports, by providing a fun, encouraging environment in which young athletes can learn technical skills and a love of the game. We use sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer and flag football to help young athletes develop mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially. We are about the whole athlete—that’s our 360 Progression.

—

Reviews are the lifeblood of the podcast!- If you like the podcast- please take 2 minutes to write a review! Click here

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February 6, 2017

WYC 105 – Championship Culture Part 1 – Matt Lisle talks Core Covenants and The Hitting Vault

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Coach Lisle currently works with numerous MLB, professional and college players and is a former collegiate hitting coach.

Lisle’s knowledge is deeply rooted in all aspects of the game, but his passion and knowledge for hitting has proven to be a game changer for all the hitters he works with. Many know of Coach Lisle through his large social media following where his followers get encouragement, instruction, tips and insights on the game. His positive coaching approach has been a great motivator for players, parents and his peers. Coach Lisle has instilled his philosophy of teaching and sharing in the creation of The Hitting Vault, where their goal is to help every baseball and softball hitter unlock their power.

Websites: TheHittingVault.com & coachlisle.com

Twitter: @CoachLisle

Facebook: /coachlisle

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘Good is the enemy of great’

Coaching your own kids

  • Matt coached his son along with his Dad as the assistant. His dad is very laid back while Matt is very technical, so Matt enjoyed watching how hard the kids played for his dad because of how much he enjoyed them and kept things fun.

Cringe Moment

  • Matt began coaching at a very early age (23 years old as head coach), so initially he was trying too hard to be ‘cool’ and be friends with the coach. Then he swung to the opposite extreme and became too shut-off. Eventually he found the balance of caring for the kids while not trying to impress them.

Teaching Skills

  • The challenge is to take complicated actions and teach them in words they understand with as few words as possible. Feel it instead of think it.
  • Every kid should have a bat/ball so they are following along with you. Matt also uses a 120″ screen and shows what the pros look like so they can see more examples of what great looks like.
  • Good analogy – Cars –  Your body is the engine of the car, it’s where the power comes from, your bat is the steering wheel.

Self-confidence and peak mental performance

  • The parents and coaches influence confidence more than the kids themselves.
  • Allow the players to fail and let know it does not affect how you feel about them. When they make mistakes, instill trust in them. Give them permission to fail and encourage aggressive play and mistakes are OK.

Championship Culture – Core values

  • Core covenants – This is what we’re all about
  • 2 rules on this team:

1 – Don’t be late

2 – Don’t let your teammates down

  • Captain’s meetings every Friday morning to train their captains

Rewards

  • Don’t reward average
  • Get excited and celebrate exceptional effort and performance

Best Teambuilder

  • Team Olympics – Team handball can be a great game

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Treat each athlete like one of your own kids and try to instill love and guidance in their lives

The One that got away

  • Matt’s team in 2012 coached a great team. They were undefeated going into the last game of the season, and the coach of the other team in the last game was Matt’s dad. They lost 2-1. Matt had not started his best pitcher because they had pretty easily beat this team earlier in the year.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Quote: ‘Good is the enemy of great’

The Hitting Vault

Parting Advice

  • Love your athletes the way you love your children

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Today’s Sponsors

Established in 1995, Upward Sports is the world’s largest Christian youth sports provider. Approximately 100,000 leaders and coaches deliver Upward Sports programming to half a million young athletes around the country.

Upward Sports promotes the discovery of Jesus through sports, by providing a fun, encouraging environment in which young athletes can learn technical skills and a love of the game. We use sports like basketball, volleyball, soccer and flag football to help young athletes develop mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially. We are about the whole athlete—that’s our 360 Progression.

—

Reviews are the lifeblood of the podcast!- If you like the podcast- please take 2 minutes to write a review! Click here

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January 26, 2017

WYC 104 – Youth Coaching – Allistair McCaw talks 7 Keys to Being a Great Coach

Allistair McCaw is a Sports Performance Coach, Speaker, Author, Coach to Olympians & World Champions, Passionate about improving athletes, coaches & teams. Allistair is from South Africa. His family was very athletic, his mom tried out for the Olympics in the 400 meters. He grew up playing a multiple of sports, he wanted to play professional tennis, but due to financial pressures he switched at age 14 from tennis to running. He was a junior national champion, and went on to become a duathlon competitor. He has since switched to running marathons and just completed his 28th marathon.

Website & Book: themccawmethod.com

Twitter: @AllistairMcCaw

Facebook: /mccawmethod

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

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Quote

‘World-class athletes are better able to handle repetition better than the next person.’

The marathon/racing culture

  • It’s a unique environment where everyone is cheering for each other

Book: 7 Keys to Being a Great Coach

  • Allistair’s dream was to write this book to help share what he has learned
  • Link to book: themccawmethod.com

Key 1 – Standards

  • It all starts with your standards – Rules for your life. Standards is a much more palatable word than rules
  • 3 important standards for coaching:
  • 1 – Standards for yourself
  • 2 – Standards for your workplace/coaches
  • 3 – Standards for your athletes

Key 2 – Your Methodology/Philosophy

  • What do you believe in? How do you believe in achieving this?

Key 3 – Great coaches adapt

  • To the unexpected. They are calm, controlled.
  • Adapt to the generation you are working with: Listen better. Discipline. Communicate in their style: they want short bursts of information (they are the Twitter-generation.)

Key 4 – Have great energy

  • It all starts with you. You have to exude passion. People should look forward to seeing you.

Key 5 – Interpersonal skills

  • Respected. Likability. We are in the people business who play sports.

Key 6 – The fundamentals

  • Great coaches have teams that are great at fundamentals.
  • Daniel Coyle in The Talent Code:  ‘Mastering the mundane.’
  • World-class athletes are better able to handle repetition better than the next person.

Key 7 – Invest in yourself

The One that got away

  • 2002 World Duathlon competitions in Atlanta – Came in 2nd. Lost by 40 seconds. Gave it his everything so it wasn’t a failure. But still had a disappointed feeling.
  • Allistair’s advice to young people – don’t have any regrets

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Michael Boyle – Training exercises and how he relates with people

Favorite coaching book/quote

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Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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January 17, 2017

WYC 103 – Youth Baseball & Softball – Marshall Lehr talks playing to win vs. playing not to lose

Marshall Lehr is a baseball and softball coach in Texas. He is the father of 4 and has coached many of their teams growing up. He is a passionate believer in the power of sports, and specifically baseball and softball. He is also a great student of the game, having recently gone through John O’Sullivan’s Coaching Mastery course.

Website & Blog: marshalllehr.com

Twitter: @MarshallLehr

Facebook: /marshall.lehr

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place’ – George Bernard Shaw

Coaching your own kids

  • Make decisions based on results more than potential (it is easy to see the potential in your own kids, but the results need to be the criteria used)

Cringe Moment

  • Marshall had two moms complaining to the ref and instead of diffusing the situation he got in an argument with them.
  • Diffuse situations with the phrase ‘I can see why you think that’

Teaching Skills

  • ‘The ability to learn faster than your opponent may be your only true competitive advantage’
  • Make everything competitive to raise the energy level – You can buy one of those little scoreboard flip charts
  • Game – Pull out a stop watch and see how quick the girls can get fly ball into cutoff

Championship Culture 

  • A healthy learning environment is one where kids are playing free and aren’t afraid to make mistakes
  • Keep one error one error.
  • Book: Top Dog – Penalty kicks:
    • Kicking not to lose: 63%
    • Kicking to win: 93%

Rewards

  • They had toy WWE belt they gave to best defensive player – and would use Discount Double-check motion during games to lighten the mood and excite each other
  • First out after an error is huge – so after games they would recognize who made the play to get the first out after an error

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Marshall sends notes in the mail to his kids – there is a service where you can print pictures off Facebook in a card format.
  • Reinforce with kids their importance is not dependent on their sports performance

The One that got away

  • Marshall got a 2nd & 3rd chance – He had a kid struggling with pitching and took himself out of the game. The first time he let the kid leave the game. 6 months later the kid wanted to take himself out, Marshall asked the kid to get him 1 out. The kid still struggled. Then 6 months later he asked the kid to get him 1 out and he worked out of a bases-loaded no outs situation without giving up any runs.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • The decision is part of the skill – learned from Mark Upton
  • Compete and measure it!

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Quote/Book: ‘We went out looking for exceptional kids and what we found is exceptional conditions’ – Benjamin Bloom in Developing Talent in Young People. Be the coach to develop exceptional athletes and people.
  • Book: Mindset by Carol Dweck

Parting Advice

  • You can’t teach everyone the same way
  • Have a preseason meeting with your parents to set expectations. ‘The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place’ – George Bernard Shaw

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Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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January 6, 2017

WYC 102 – Youth Coaching – Steven Cournoyer talks inspiring teams, players, and parents from the inside out

Steve Cournoyer has coached 38 different teams, from AAU basketball to 3rd grade kids, primarily in baseball and basketball. He has authored an excellent resource called The Inspired Coach – A guide to inspiring teams, players, and parents from the inside out. He has served our country in the military for over 10 years and worked as a medic in the operating room.

Website & Book: theinspiredcoach1.com

Twitter: @InspiredCoach1

Facebook: /theinspiredcoach

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘If you change the way you look at things, what you look at changes’ – Mahatma Gandhi

Coaching your own kids

Assistant coaches

  • It all starts with communication
  • The goal is to develop the kids and help them fall in love with the sport.
  • Steve has a rule that the coaches don’t coach their own kids, they share those duties so that no one has the stress of trying to coach their own child

Parents

  • You must set the expectations with the parents
  • A parent meeting is a no-brainer
  • Make sure you’ve let the parents know your background, especially if you’re a volunteer coach
  • Set expectations for playing time – is it all equal?
  • Coach the parents on how to cheer – if they give conflicting messages it is very confusing to the kid. ‘Cheer to inspire instead of cheering to instruct’

Players

  • Ask the players ‘Why are you here?’
  • Discuss their philosophy and the philosophy the team is going to have
  • Create some glue to pull them together:
    • A team name (that is different than your given team name)
    • A team song
    • A team cheer (Boston Celtics’ championship team used ‘Umbootu’)

Self-confidence – Unleashing fearless players

  • Coach doesn’t talk about winning with his players. He does talk about it with his coaches, but not with the players. A kid should never feel like it was their fault the team lost a game.
  • Teach the kids: ‘Always be surprised when you miss a shot (or strike out, or miss a tackle.)’ “Fail miserably, but learn from it, then be surprised when it happens again”
  • Don’t use conditioning as a punishment. ‘The harder you work in practice, the funner the games are.’ You want the players to believe that their conditioning has a distinct purpose and challenge them to bring their best to it.

Best team builders

  • For basketball – takes 5 players on one side of the gym and 5 on the other, then puts 17 basketballs in the middle, and asks them to pass the balls and get all the balls going. It’s great because they fail miserably at first and laugh about the struggle, but usually by the end of the year they start to get it

The One that got away

  • Listen to your assistant coaches and give them specific assignments during games so you can all catch different things going on

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • ‘If you’re teaching 12 year-olds, and you treat them like 16 year-olds, they will play like 14 year-olds.’

Favorite coaching book/quote

The Inspired Coach book

Parting Advice

  • If you find ways to go out of your way to help your players fall in love with the game, you are going to be able to teach that game with greater precision.

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Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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December 15, 2016

WYC 101 – Championship Basketball – Kevin Furtado talks Benchmarks, Action Steps, & The Legends Clinic

Kevin was recently hired on at a charter school in Georgia called Lake Oconee Academy. He has been coaching basketball for over 26 years. Kevin grew up in San Jose California and played football, basketball, and baseball growing up. Kevin shares with us how he is creating the culture at Lake Oconee specifically with Benchmarks and Action Steps, as well as how he founded the Legends Clinic coaching conference.

Twitter: @kevinfurtado

Video of Legends Clinic Conference: loatv.org

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Building a New Culture

  1. Built to last
  2. Teach life skills & develop great people
  3. Core values: FIST: Family, Integrity, Serve others, Toughness
  4. Demanding culture
  5. Good never is

5 year Action Plan

See Kevin’s 5 year detailed plan here: Lake Oconee Academy Girls Basketball Action Plan

Year 1 Benchmarks

  1. Every level of our program will know our core values (from elementary school feeder programs through high school)
  2. Win 10-12 games
  3. Establish relentless work ethic

Action Steps

  1. Our players will be taught our core values at every practice and team meeting
  2. We will emphasize total team play in our system with tough team defense and unselfish passing offense.
  3. Every player will be held accountable for their effort at every practice. They use objective chart to track. Tracks: Attendance, Hustle, attitude, who took a charge, etc.
  4. We will perform 4-5 community events every season
  5. We will build our team room in high standards
  6. We will establish our little-dribblers program (kids perform ball-handling program at halftime of games). Great way to bring in more parents to your game too.

Great book reference: Jon Gordon’s The Hardhat

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Legends Clinic

Free download of entire clinic: loatv.org

  • Coach Durden – Teaching accountability – He has one rule in his practices: No walking

Parting Advice

  • It’s all about making the kid’s have the best experience possible and growing the kids

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Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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December 8, 2016

WYC 100 – Personality Science – James Leath & Will Drumright discuss Hot Topics in Sport Psychology from the AASP

The Association for Applied Sport Psychology National meeting was a few weeks ago – so for Episode 100 we invited 2 of our favorite sport psychology guys who attended to share with us some lessons learned.

James Leath has been a WYC guest previously in episodes 61, 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 has worked 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.

Both guys now work for IMG Academy, one of the world’s premier training schools for athletes in many different sports.

Sign up for James’ weekly Coach Notes: James Leath weekly Coach Note

Twitter: @jamesleath; @wcdrummy15

 

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Energy Building

  • Rock-Paper-Scissors-Cheerleader – Great activity to start meetings/practices

How has sport psych work evolved over the past year?

  • Looking at the individual not just the athlete
  • A move from strategy and X’s and O’s to focus on developing people
  • Be-Know-Do
  • Personality science vs brain science

More emerging trends

  • Are you teaching your kids about failure? Don’t rob them of what it feels like to not be good enough. A carefree childhood sets up your kids to not know how to deal with failure, a bad coach, or a bad boss.

How about youth coaches?

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Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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November 30, 2016

WYC 099 – International Tennis Coach – Adam Blicher talks Goal-setting & Mental Toughness

Adam Blicher is an International Award Winning Tennis Coach specialized in Applied Sport Psychology with a Ma. in Sport Psychology from the University of Southern Denmark. During the last 5 years he has travelled to 20+ countries for tennis tournaments ranging from Tennis Europe & ITF Tournaments to Nordic- & European individual & team championships.

Adam uses the demands & stress of Competitive Tennis to help players become strong, resilient people that are able to problem solve in high pressure situations while showing great character. He cares about the results of the players that he works with, but he by any means cares more about who the players are becoming as a persons, as a result of their Tennis journey. Everyday, every competition represents another opportunity for players to grow as a person. Growth in self-control, respect for others, persistence & trustworthiness. No matter how far a player ends up going in the rankings, tennis can be used to strengthen ones character & it is his quest to show the players he works with how & support them in the process.

Website: adamblicher.com

Podcast: The Adam Blicher Show – The Traveling Tennis Coach Podcast

Twitter: @Adamblicher

Facebook: /Adamblichercoaching

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘Begin with the end in mind’ – Stephen Covey

My Cringe & A-Ha Moments

  • I talked too much and made players who were dependent instead of teaching them problem-solving and letting them start figuring things out themselves.

Why what I’m doing is different, maybe even controversial

The old well meaning advice from Coaches & Parents saying to players: think positive, play freely, don’t be nervous & just go out there & have fun are all the direct opposite of how I approach the mental aspect of tennis. The natural state of man is not to be worry-less. The key is not to suppress the stress or worry, but rather to acknowledge it and work on enjoying the process of problem-solving and overcoming obstacles.

The 4 Pillars

  1. Technical
  2. Tactical
  3. Physical
  4. Mental

Adam: ‘You should spend equal time developing each area. You usually are more naturally gifted in 1 or 2 of the areas, but you have to practice all four. Coaches, Parents & Players often say that the mental part of tennis is the most important Performance Parameter of the four main pillars. Some even stretch it & say that the Mental Aspect of tennis accounts for 80 percent of performance within Tennis. I think that is absolutely baloney. You can be the mentally toughest player but if you keep shanking your forehand it really doesn’t matter. The reason why I do believe that we tend to think that the Mental Aspect is the most important is because we usually use a lot less time practicing it than the other three performance parameters. It is my quest to demystify the most common myths that are limiting Tennis Players & to provide Coaches, Parents & Players with an easy to follow & understand way of starting to practice their mental strength.’

Goal setting

  • Adam starts with having players answer where they want to be in 5 to 10 years in the sport. He then has them picture the party celebrating reaching this goal. He walks through having them picture what will be said by their parents at a toast at the party. Then picture what others will say – their friends, their officials, their teammates. Did they treat others well? Did they grind through tough times? If they had to travel a lot, did they call back home? Then he has them write the speech down, and they have the ability to change anything they don’t like about what is said about them. Adam then uses this written speech as their coach to hold them accountable to reach their goals. This way it’s not Adam instilling his values, but rather holding them to their own standards.

The mental aspect of tennis:

– Tennis is NOT 80 % mental

How Wawrinka had a panic attack & won the US Open

  • Wawrinka threw up before his match and did not want to play. But what is important is not how you feel but rather what you do.

Rafael Nadal struggles with self-confidence – so will you!

  • The act of self-confidence comes before the feeling. You have to act the part. Adam often creates alter-egos – i.e. Christopher Confident. Then Adam will ask his players – OK, what will Christopher Confident do when in this situation?

The One that got away

  • Adam stated that his pre-match talks used to be too long and give too many instructions. Now he will give 1 or maybe 2 cues at most before a match. And now he asks them after the match to evaluate themselves from 1 to 10 on how they thought they did, and then what would it take to be 1 higher in the next match.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Adam worked with a coach who had an incredible eye for detail on what players need to do to improve.

Favorite coaching book/quote

The Traveling Tennis Coach Podcast

Podcast: The Adam Blicher Show – The Traveling Tennis Coach Podcast

  • Talks to experts within the world of tennis with a track record of producing high-performing players

Christmas Calendar

  • Adam is releasing a calendar in December that has a plan to help work on mental toughness – check it out at adamblicher.com coming December 1st

Parting Advice

  • Start writing down your thoughts and experiences on paper

– 

Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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November 17, 2016

WYC 098 – Multi-Sport Athletes – Daniel ‘The Honeybadger’ Hayes talks Goal-Setting & Positive Visualization

Daniel Hayes is a top ranked middleweight boxing prospect and Trinidad & Tobago’s boxing ambassador.
Growing up Daniel played a wide variety of sports ranging from Soccer, Basketball, Football, Track and Field, Baseball and Swimming. At just 8 years old he started playing basketball and continued playing throughout college. At 16 he was already a certified lifeguard and a highly recruited athlete in multiple sports. In his senior year of high school he was recruited to play basketball for several NCAA Division 1 and 2 schools.
Hayes however decided to attend Thompson Rivers University where he and his childhood best friend were offered athletic scholarships.
Currently on his World Championship journey, Hayes fights out of the world famous Wild Card Boxing Club, home to superstar world champions Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto.
Instagram: @ThisIsDHayes
Twitter: @ThisIsDHayes
Facebook: @ThisIsDHayes

 

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘It’s usually what we’re hesitant or fearful of doing that leads to our biggest strides and growth’

‘The Honey Badger’ – the important difference between hard work and talent

  • Honey badgers are fierce, scrappy animals- that is the type of athlete you should aspire to be

Motivation, self discipline and nutrition

  • Water is huge!

Impactful coach

  • Daniel had a high school basketball coach who benched him because of his attitude – it really changed Daniel’s approach to team sports

Training and skill development – Keeping it fun

  • Setting goals is fun. There is a positive dopamine effect when you cross something off a list. Track progression and check off milestones along the way.
  • Coach K on the 2008 Redeem Team – Reminded his team that in 20 years they are going to look back and deeply miss those competitive situations, so thrive on it in the present.

Developing Self-confidence

  • Visualization is huge
  • Self-mantra and inner monologue – ‘I am going to make this shot’

Developing culture

  • Constant accountability to one another
  • Setting team goals – and rewarding positive team-first behavior
  • High-fives, huddling as a team before a free-throw, anything that pulls the team together during the game should be a priority

Connecting with and impacting kids

  • The Selway Family Foundation – Underprivileged youth scholarships
  • Mentoring – Daniel loves helping younger athletes avoid some of the mistakes he made when growing up

The One that got away

  • Daniel got fouled at the end of a basketball game, and his head was full of negative images and thoughts: ‘If I miss this…’ – and he went on to miss both free throws. He learned the power of positive visualization and staying present and in the moment.

Best borrowed or stolen idea

  • ‘I don’t know if you’re going to win this fight, but I know you’re going to come out of it a better fighter just because of the experience you have gained’ – This was huge for Daniel because it took the pressure off winning and allowed him to just enjoy the competition and do his best.

Favorite coaching or leadership quote/book

  • Ray Lewis Ted talk – Persevering through pain
  • Book: Rafa by Rafael Nadal – talks about how he had faulty mental processing before he beat Roger Federer and how he overcame it

Daniel Hayes

Parting Advice

  • ‘It’s usually what we’re hesitant or fearful of doing that leads to our biggest strides and growth’

–

Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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November 10, 2016

WYC 097 – High School Football – Randy Jackson talks Culture Defeats Strategy

Coach Randy Jackson calls on his 26 years of coaching experience and research to share his ideas on how important culture and leadership are to a successful program, and what he has done to develop that successful culture in his own program.

Twitter: @CoachJacksonTPW

Facebook: Randy Jackson

Book/website: coachrandyjackson.com

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘All kids need 5 adults in their lives that care about their success- As a coach – be one of those!’

My Cringe & A-Ha Moments

  • Being too intense and impatient with some of the kids
  • ‘Early on I was coaching because I love the game. I still love the game but now focus more on loving the kids.’
  • ‘If you want to be more you have to become more’ – Coach has lost 30 pounds in the last year, as he focused more on taking better care of himself, and improving his mind. Turn off the radio and TV and read books and listen to podcasts.

Teaching Skills

  • ‘All kids need 5 adults in their lives that care about their success- As a coach – be one of those!’
  • Needs need affirmation and positive feedback
  • Teach fundamentals every day, but you have to find ways to fascinate your kids while doing it – make everything competitive
  • Pete Caroll video – Hawk tackling – How rugby tackling is safer and more effective. Company called Atavus – they certify coaches to be rugby tackling specialists.

Culture

  • Core Values – Coach worked with Brian Cain who challenged them to make their core values more prominent – Check out Brian Cain’s podcast: Link
    • 7 core values the kids came up with: Energy & Tempo, Compete, Tough, Family, Appreciation, Discipline, Finish & Payday
    • Each day of the week has a theme that is one of the core values
    • Players had to earn the stickers on their helmets by memorizing the core values
  • Yearly 4-Quarter process
    • Each quarter each player has one  word that is their focus
    • Quarter 1 – Offseason
    • Quarter 2 – Bootcamp
    • Quarter 3 – Spring football – ‘You versus yesterday’
    • Quarter 4 – Summer – Kaizen – ‘Continual improvement’
  • His book on culture: Culture Defeats Strategy – Full of stories and ideas on their core covenants and how they build culture

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Tom Hermann – ‘Finish’ – When they watch practice film – They have a coach hold up a flag so they know when the whistle blew – then they evaluate offensive linemen whether they had 2 hands on a defender or were chasing a defender. If not – it is graded as a loaf.

Favorite coaching book/quote

Parting Advice

  • Stay in a growth mindset – You have to keep learning
  • It’s about the relationships not the plays
  • If you don’t get the culture right nothing else matters
  • Fascinate the kids and build them up
  • Make everything competitive

– 

Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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November 1, 2016

WYC 096 – Free Online Coaching Courses – Kirk Anderson talks Coaching Education at the USTA

Kirk Anderson has been the director of coaching eduction for the USTA for 20 years. He has worked with the USTA and some of the top thought-leaders in the country to create free online courses that can apply to any sports, check them out at CoachYouthTennis.com. In 2003, Anderson received the International Tennis Hall of Fame Educational Merit Award, and he was named Person of the Year by Racquet Sports Industry magazine in 2006 and the Professional Tennis Registry Professional of the Year in 2012.

Website: CoachYouthTennis.com

 

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’ – Gandhi

1st Set – Intro/Coaching

Coaching your own kids

  • Kirk really wanted his kids to love sports and didn’t push for them to just play the sports he liked
  • Kirk’s son loved racing and when he was 10 years old tanked a match so he could get home to watch the Indy 500. Interesting how different the perspective/priorities of a 10 year-old are.

Cringe moment

  • 4 things kids don’t like about tennis lessons (or any sport):

1 – Standing in line

2 – Shadowing

3 – Being yelled at from across the net

4 – Picking up balls

  • Error detection and correction should not be our focus. Catch them doing things right vs. always pointing out mistakes.

2nd Set – Teaching skills & Mental Peak Performance

CoachYouthTennis.com – 5 years ago the USTA was struggling with getting young kids to want to come out and play. One observation was that tennis was being taught on a full-size court, racket, and balls that are the same ones adults use.

Created 6 free interactive online courses:

1 – Organizing and Supervising youth play

2 – The characteristics of children age 10 and under

3 – Communicating with children age 10 and under

4 – The rules and guidelines

5 – Tennis skill development

6 – Team and group management

Self-confidence

  • The Inner Game of Tennis by W. Timothy Gallwey
    • Performance=Potential minus Interference – Think about how many voices are yelling at the kids during games – coaches, teammates, parents- Even if it is well-intentioned, it is interference.
  • 4 types of athletes:

1 – Highly motivated, high skill

2 – Highly motivated, low skill

3 – Low motivated, high skill

4 – Low motivated, low skill

3rd Set – Developing a winning culture & connecting with kids

Culture

  • Cross-Country coach: No excuses, everyone is accountable, everyone looking for ways to make everyone else better. And the coach jumped in and worked harder than everyone on the team. A lot of tough love but a lot of laughter as well.

Connecting with kids

  • Kirk has had many kids come back and thank him after success in life, kids that he didn’t even realize he had impacted

4th Set – 2-minute drill

Should winning be one of the goals for a youth sports coach, and if so at what age?

  • More important than making winning a goal, create goals around things you can control

The one that got away

  • Kirk coached a girl who came to him and said that the other player was cheating, Kirk said ‘I don’t care, focus on…’. Kirk realizes now that saying he didn’t care was the wrong message to the girl – he did care.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Dave Gleason – He has 4 rules:

1 – Listen to the coach

2 – Give your best effort

3 – Support your teammates

4 – Have fun

Favorite coaching or leadership quote/book

  • Quote: ‘Be the change you wish to see in the world’ – Gandhi
  • Book: It’s your ship – by D. Michael Abrashoff

Parting advice

Get away from error detection and move towards improvement and acknowledgement

Next

Books, coaching toolbox, presentations

 

Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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October 20, 2016

WYC 095 – From Spanish Teacher to MMA Fighter – Charlie ‘The Spaniard’ Brenneman

In 2007, Charlie Brenneman left the comfort of his hometown and full-time job as a Spanish teacher to pursue a career in mixed martial arts.

What started out as a dream soon turned into reality. Charlie fought at every level of the industry, including an 11-fight UFC career. After upsetting #6 ranked Rick Story in 2011, his life changed as he skyrocketed into the world rankings and went head-to-head with the best fighters in the world, such as UFC Champion Johny Hendricks and current top-ranked light heavyweight Anthony “Rumble” Johnson.

The key ingredient in his climb to the top – HARD WORK.

Website: charlie-brenneman.com

Twitter: @SpaniardMMA

Facebook: /SpaniardMMA

 

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit’

What types of goals did you set when you set out on this course to fight in the MMA?

  • The goal is not the be-all-end-all. It’s the experience, knowledge, the process that you gained in the pursuit of the goal. Process vs. outcome

Your book is titled ‘Driven’ – what does it mean to be driven?

  • Charlie spent a whole bunch of time on the road driving around to be around the best trainers. So the title ‘Driven’ is a double-meaning of being driven and motivated while at the same time spending a bunch of time on the road driving to his training.

Self-confidence

  • Preparation = Self-confidence
  • Preparation trumps self-doubt

Mistake-recovery-routines

  • Don’t pretend something bad didn’t happen. But set a timeframe to allow yourself to feel sorry for yourself, then move on. This timeframe could be 3 seconds, it could be 7 days (in the case of Charlie after a tough MMA loss.)

‘Get serious about having fun’

  • It’s all about perspective – don’t lose perspective that playing sports should be fun

‘A fighter’s mindset’ Podcast:

  • ‘How you do one thing is how you do everything’ – Mike Tyson quoting Cus D’Amato
  • In everything Charlie does, he prepares for it as he would a fight: with discipline, with self-confidence, extreme preparation, resilience, perseverance

What is the best piece of advice anyone has ever given you?

His Dad: Humility: ‘Don’t go around telling others how good you are, let them tell you’

Favorite success or leadership quote? Favorite success or leadership book?

  • Quote: ‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act but a habit’
  • Book: Extreme Ownership – Navy Seal author Jocko Willink

Parting Advice

  • ‘Be the change you want to see’

Charlie-Brenneman.com

  • Podcasts, book, blog, daily reading videos, and much more!

Website: charlie-brenneman.com

Twitter: @SpaniardMMA

Facebook: /SpaniardMMA

 

Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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October 12, 2016

WYC 094 – State Championship Basketball – Nate Sanderson talks Mistake Recovery & Mental Toughness

Nate Sanderson is the head girls basketball coach of Springville High School in Iowa. He has been coaching girls basketball for 15+ years and has turned around programs that were struggling and most recently was state runner-up in 2015 and state champions in 2016. He also is a speaker with Break Through Basketball.

Twitter: @SpringvilleGBB

Facebook: /SpringvilleGBB

Youtube: youtube.com/user/springvillegirlsbb

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.’ – Galatians

My Cringe & A-Ha Moments

  • 3 things they do better now then they used to:
    1. They are much more intentional about building relationships on and off the floor
    2. They work hard to create a culture of appreciation, where they recognize the strengths and contributions of every player on the team
    3. Utilizing Brian McCormack’s Game-based skill development. Creating games in practices that simulate game-like scenarios

Teaching Skills

  • 5 on 5 dribbling skills with pressure
  • 4 corner passing game. They stair step the level of defense, starting with less defenders then work their way up adding more defenders.

Culture & Mental Toughness

  • Nate’s team created a culture where they immediately gave high-fives to any player who made a mistake. The power of touch and positive encouragement was emphasized. They created an environment where they weren’t allowed to say ‘my bad.’ They make it a race to see who can be first to give a high five to someone who has made a mistake. Link to 3 minute video showing his team doing this in the state championship game: Youtube Link

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Nate had a girl who was a rising senior and hadn’t played that much. A new girl moved in in the summer, and instead of viewing her as the competition and isolating her, she embraced the role of mentoring the newer player. Unbelievable example of selflessness.

The One that got away

  • In the previous year championship game, the game was tied with 10 seconds left. They had not practiced this situation, so there was a little confusion about how to defend it.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Quote: ‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.’ – Galatians
  • Quote: ‘Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care’

Break Through Basketball

Parting Advice

  • You are not coaching for kids to play varsity or college basketball. You are coaching for them to have a great experience this year playing the game.

– 

Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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October 4, 2016

WYC 093 – Strongman Competitions to Youth Lacrosse and College Rowing – Will Ruth talks Connecting the Dots

Will Ruth is the JV Coach for the Bellingham Warriors HS Club Lacrosse team and the strength coach for the Western Men’s Club Rowing team. He is an NCSA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) as well as USA-Weightlifting Level 1 Sports Performance Coach and US-Lacrosse Level 2. In 2015, he became a Rowperfect UK author with his step-by-step manual for strength training for rowing, Rowing Stronger. He also is a Strongman competitor.

Website: strengthcoachwill.com

Ebook: Rowing Stronger

Facebook: /strengthcoachwill

Twitter: @willruth335

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘Create the highest possible operating standards, develop the character of your players, and develop the culture of your team, and as the title of Walsh’s book says ‘The score takes care of itself” – James Kerr in Legacy

Connecting the Dots

My Cringe Moments

  • Learning boundaries with athletes – Understand and listen first
  • Devolved leadership, from James Kerr’s Legacy – since Will is coaching kids that are not that much younger than he is – he works hard to give them ownership

Teaching Skills

  • Whole-part system – Break a complex skill down into smaller parts you can focus on
  • Incorporate important skills into every drill – for lacrosse ground balls: include ground balls in shooting drills and every other drill you do
  • Be mindful of your Criticism to Positive ratio – Shoot for at least 5
  • Tharp/Galllimore study of John Wooden in practice: PDF

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • Focus on effort rather than outcome. You want them to play aggressive and learn from mistakes, not be afraid to make them
  • Will coached a kid who was moved to varsity as a freshmen and it stressed him out, so they moved him back to JV – so Will’s job was to get him back to loving lacrosse and not being stressed by it. One way Will did this was using a physical routine – of actually brushing off his shoulders after a mistake (mental reset routine)
  • Use the bench as a teaching tool not a punishment

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • It starts with developing leaders and captains
  • Try to not overcoach during games – have your leaders figure it out. It’s not a video game – don’t try to control every action.

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Will tries to bring up each kid to a higher level

The One that got away

  • Will lives the philosophy of looking forwards not backwards

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Devolved leadership from James Kerr in Legacy
  • Thirds system of practice planning – 1st 3rd is stick skills, 2nd 3rd is small-sided games, 3rd 3rd is more full games

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Quote: ‘Create the highest possible operating standards, develop the character of your players, and develop the culture of your team, and as the title of Walsh’s book says ‘The score takes care of itself” – James Kerr in Legacy
  • Lacrosse podcast: insidelacrosse.com/tag/Podcasts

Strength Coach Will

Parting Advice

  • Make sure it’s still fun. Remember what it was like to play at that age, and what did you like doing in practices?

– 

Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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September 27, 2016

WYC 092 – Winning Championships through Superior Culture – Maureen Monte talks reaching Destination Unstoppable

Maureen Monte builds winning teams by harnessing the untapped talent in the locker room or the conference room and aligning it with success. Her approach has been honed with over ten years of experience in large companies, tech startups, and sports teams – from San Francisco to Singapore. She believes there are three universal truths about teams:

  1. All teams struggle
  2. There is untapped talent on every team
  3. Most teams haven’t defined what success looks like

She has authored a book Destination Unstoppable – about helping a hockey team win the state championship. It is more than a sports success story. It is a team success story – and the world runs on teams.

Website: www.maurennmonte.com

Facebook: Link

Twitter: @maureenemonte

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

”We win games because we have great team chemistry” – Mark Dantonio, Michigan State football coach

Building Winning Teams

  • Maureen has worked with IBM on building successful teams. She has studied the Clifton Strengthfinder to understand how each individual is gifted and can contribute to the team’s success.

How did the opportunity to work with the Cranbrook Varsity Hockey Team come about?

  • It was a talented team but struggling
  • She started at the top to see if the coach was part of the problem. He was not.
  • First step – Define success – Start with the what. Then define the how. Brotherhood, discipline, focus, unselfishness were all areas they identified as lacking. Then she had the players turn to each other and tell them ‘I refuse to let you fail.’
  • Next step – Evaluate the players’ strengths. 18 out of 25 had competition in their top 5 strengths.
  • The key was helping team tap their untapped talent on the team.
  • The coach made heroes in every role. The 3rd string goalie had the strength of harmony. The coach gave him the job of helping resolve conflict between the top 2 goalies.
  • Another back-up player had the strength of being analytical. His new role was to look at the other teams and analyze what was going on. He now added value.

2 keys to turn this team around

  • The coach bought in
  • The kids had a desperate desire to win, so they were willing to try something new

Using the Clifton Strengthfinders tool in a sports environment

  • The boys loved learning what others on the team were thinking
  • In a perfect world – start with the coaches, then the captains, then the whole team
  • The strength finder looks for patterns of excellence. It is 34 different strengths that involves how you think to solve problems, how you execute tasks, how you relate to others, and how you influence. It takes 35 minutes and costs $15 per person to identify your top 5.

Connection between success in business and success in sports

  • Defining success is key
  • Mark Dantonio, Michigan State football coach: ‘We win games because we have great team chemistry’

Biggest surprises about this experience

  • None of the kids afterwards talked about winning the state championship. That moment had come and gone. Being valued by the teammates and coaches, and the unstoppable mindset they had created is what they valued most.
  • One kid’s biggest strength was he was a learner. So he took on the role of making sure if a kid had a runny nose or cold, he would separate the water bottles so the other kids didn’t get sick as well.

What’s your favorite strengths?

  • Ideation – Thinking of new ways of doing things
  • Individualization – Each individual brings something unique

Favorite leadership book and/or quote?

Destination Unstoppable book

  • maurennmonte.com – Get 20% coupon for book
  • Great story, and great resources on how to build a winning culture

Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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September 14, 2016

WYC 091 – Youth Baseball – Paul Niggebrugge talks Empowering Kids and Be Your Best Academy

Paul Niggebrugge was born in Sao Paolo, Brazil and moved to the United States when he was about 6 years old, not knowing a bit of English. He fell in love with the game of baseball, and went on to coach Caravel Academy Baseball Team for 30 years, won 4 State Championships and Qualified for the State Tournament 27 out of 30 years. He is 4th all-time in Delaware with 400 wins and in 2016 was inducted into the Delaware Baseball Hall of Fame.  He is currently a Nationally recognized trusted authority in Batting, Pitching and the Mental Game Coaching – Clinician, Evaluator, Educator and Coach providing instruction or information in over 30 states and 2 countries. And maybe the most impressive stat: Paul has been Married for 36 years and raised 6 happy & healthy children!

Website: www.BeyourBestAcademy.com

Facebook: /Be-Your-Best-Academy

Twitter: @BBABaseballDE

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘Yell and tell is out. Empowering questions are in.’

Coaching your own kids

  • If you are aware of the pitfalls, it can be a great experience
  • Paul once had a coach who overreacted about issues with his own kid, and he decided it was best to not to continue to have him coach

My Cringe Moments

  • ‘I thought I knew it all’ and that my way was the only

Teaching Skills

  • ‘You can be critical without being negative.’ Whatever you feed grows.
  • Less ‘yell and tell’ and more empowering questions and sharing
  • There is not a right and wrong with their mechanics, it’s just where are you right now in the progression
  • 3 key elements every person is looking for:
    • 1 – Adventure – great experiences
    • 2 – Grow – mentally, physically, socially
    • 3 – Contribute and share what they’ve learned
  • Fun games:
    • 1 kid is at home base, 1 at 2nd  – and they race
    • Throwing/catching games – They start up close with a partner, then keep taking 3 giant steps back, once they drop a ball they’re out – but even after they’re out they can keep throwing (so they’re not standing around)

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • It’s all about empowerment: Focus, Feel, and Feedback (Funergy – Fun positive energy)
  • Kids love the classroom – Get away from the ballfields and ask open ended empowering question: why did we lose, what did you feel, how did you handle pressure
  • PEACE: Performance and Execution After a Critical Error
    • ‘You can’t teach a drowning man to swim while he’s drowning’ –
  • Before every practice and game – they spend 5 to 15 minutes connecting their mind and body – Coach Paul has created some sound waves they listen to with positive affirmations – Link to article about Neuro-training tool

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • No one is above the game.
  • We will not tolerate: SPEND: Sloppiness, Pouting, Excusitis, Non-verbals, or the Disease of Me
  • After our games you should not be able to tell whether we won or lost
  • 3 phrases they use: Game Hugs; Gamechanger; VIP passes(which can get them out of doing something they don’t want to)

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Paul had two different players who you never would have thought would have been able to be good baseball players, but they stuck with it and both ended up having great seasons

The One that got away

  • Paul makes it a practice to immediately evaluate losses, then

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • From Coach K – Go learn everything you can, but then make it your own. ‘You’re going to write your own story, make sure you use your own pen.’

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Book: Emergence– by Derek Rydall – Life doesn’t happen to you, it happens through you
  • Quote: ‘Not making a mistake is a big mistake. As long as you don’t repeat the mistake.’

Be Your Best Academy

Parting Advice

  • Yell and tell is out. Empowering questions are in.

Related Episodes

WYC 080 – Youth Baseball – David Klein talks Living a Legends Life

WYC 045 – Youth Baseball – Mark Linden from BaseballPositive.com talks practice planning and the pace that kids learn

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Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winning

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Reviews are the lifeblood of the podcast!- If you like the podcast- please take 2 minutes to write a review! Click here

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September 7, 2016

WYC 090 – Overuse Injuries – Drs. Steve Grosserode and Jared Vagy talk Injury Prevention

Dr. Steve Grosserode and Dr. Jared Vagy were collegiate athletes and soccer players. Both suffered injuries that affected their ability to play and led to the pain of lifelong injury. Determined to figure out why injuries happen and how to prevent them lead both to pursue our Doctorates in Physical Therapy from the University of Southern California, the #1 ranked program in the country. It was at USC that they began to understand how to prevent injury. After nine years of study, the singular reason for continued injury became clear; misaligned movement.

Through many years of research and practice, they consolidated there plan into a three step process. The three step system popularized and they began teaching seminars internationally to soccer coaches on how to prevent injury. They soon realized that we needed to spread the word to as many players, coaches and parents as possible. They knew that if they could stop injuries from occurring, they would be able to change the course of a player’s career and life. They now have written ebooks and have an online academy to share what they have learned, much of which we will discuss in this episode.

Website: yourmovementsolutions.com

Link to the ebook from website and a link to the paperback version on Amazon available after Sept 1st:
screen-shot-2016-09-07-at-12-17-10-pm

 

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.’

Injury Prevention Discussion

  1. How do ACL injuries and other non-contact injuries happen and who is most at risk?
  2. How has sports injury prevention changed over the years? What does the current research show?
  3. Why do these injuries continue to occur in youth sports?
  4. What are the best methods to prevent injuries in youth sports?
  5. How do you make an injury prevention program specific for each individual player?
  6. What can parents and players do to stop injuries?
  7. How can coaches help prevent these injuries?

Lessons learned on these topics

  • Learn what to watch for in athletes – A knee diving in, body leaning off to one side
  • A large majority of non-contact injuries can be avoided – it’s by identifying high-risk athletes – there are 5 specific movements that put athletes at the highest-risk
  • Early sports specialization is a big cause of dramatic increase in ACL injuries
  • Videotaping athletes on the field and then analyzing their movements is a really effective method
  • 3 Step process for coaches

1 – Analyze movement

2 – Provide exercises for homework to change movement

3 – Coaches give cues to athletes when they see

  • Static stretching – Don’t do it before practice/game. 10 minutes of Dynamic stretching before the practice/game is good, then static stretching can be done after the practice/game – or even better is to do static stretching throughout the day. Muscle-Activation exercises with bands before you do the dynamic warm-up is the latest and best method – see more at yourmovementsolutions.com
  • Parents – Add an exercise to your kid’s bedtime or morning routines to strengthen their muscles

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Quote: ‘It’s not ease, but effort; it’s not facility, but difficulty, that makes oneself. There is perhaps nothing in life in which difficulties have not been encountered and overcome before any decided measure of success can be achieved.’
  • Quote: ‘If you’re not living on the edge, you’re taking up too much space.’

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Dr. Chris Powers taught how showing is much more effective than telling – so videotaping an athlete when you see a knee diving in, then showing them how it looks when they do it right, is very effective
  • Dr. Clare Frank – shared ‘the body takes the path of least resistance,’ so make sure you are providing them the right way to do things, even if it’s harder

Your Movement Solutions

yourmovementsolutions.com

Loaded with resources:

  • Articles, pictures, videos, tips, ebook (with free sample)
  • Online training academy for coaches

Related Episodes

WYC 030 Performance Training – Amanda Kephart from Akron General Sports Performance talks getting faster, stronger, and more powerful

WYC 085 – Performance Training – Bryan Schwebke talks Building a Strong Base

– 

Today’s Sponsors

I Youth Football helps coaches, organizations, or parents teach football skills to kids ages 3-11.  Not only does I Youth Football guarantee your players increase their skills, they will give you individualized pricing based on your situation. So if you are a coach or want your local organization to run I Youth Football in your area, visit them at www.iyouthfootball.com and reach out. It’s simple to set up, and a nice way to earn a little side money while helping kids learn the game of football. To get $100 off the program be sure to use this coupon code: winningscreen-shot-2016-09-07-at-12-45-35-pm

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Reviews are the lifeblood of the podcast!- If you like the podcast- please take 2 minutes to write a review! Click here

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September 6, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 10 – Building a Program without Self-Entitlement

When NFL Pro-Bowler Joe Ehrmann lost his little brother Billy to a tragic fight with cancer, his introspection led to the realization that life is all about 2 things:
  1. Relationships
  2. Working for a cause bigger than yourself
Self-entitlement is a direct result of a focus that is opposite of those 2 values. It is no accident that the first and last components of this 10 part series on building championship culture involve creating a team-first and others-first environment. It is where everything starts and ends.
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Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch Part 10 – Case Study – Building a Program Without Self-Entitlement

John Doss is the head coach of Brownsburg Lacrosse, which is a program located in a suburb of Indianapolis. John understands the importance of selflessness in building a championship culture. So he set out to look for a way to build this into his culture, both on and off the field. What his team came up with is brilliant. The best way to describe their Mission 2 Assist program is to share their value statement:

What do we value at Brownsburg Lacrosse?

On the field, we all want to score goals, but what we REALLY VALUE are the plays that lead up to those goals. The unselfish pass to an open teammate. The “hockey assist” pass that leads to that pass. A hard fought ground ball possession. Tenacious defense that leads to a big takeaway. A critical save and quick clear that starts a fast break. That’s what we value on the field.

Off the field we value gratitude and servanthood. We appreciate the fact that we get to play a game we love and know that there are those that are not so fortunate. Because of this, we want to help others that cannot play lacrosse or cannot play lacrosse in the same manner that we do.

Why are we telling you this? Well, we found out that there is a national wheelchair lacrosse league and a local group is raising money to start a team here in Indianapolis. We want to merge our values to help them. This is a group of athletes and competitors just like us and all they want to do is compete, just like we do. 

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How did they accomplish this? They tracked the plays they value, these “assists” that led to goals, over the course of their season. Then they got sponsors to reward those “assists”. John describes how they set this up in WYC Podcast Episode 81, check out all of the details here: Link to show notes and episode
They used the walk-a-thon type forms to fundraise – but used assists instead of goals as the pledge criteria. By the end of the season they raised almost $10k for the Wheelchair Lacrosse Organization.
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Check out the homepage for The Mission 2 Assist program to see short videos on their program and for a link to a video that describes WLUSA- the Wheelchair Lacrosse Organization: www.bblaxassist.com

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September 2, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 9 – Daddy Ball 101

One of the biggest culture killers in youth sports today is Daddy Ball. Should we just eliminate it? Is there a way to have parents coach their own kids and still have a great team culture?

coach-551562_640Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch Part 9 – The Mom/Dad Coach

I was an assistant lacrosse coach for 4 years, helping coach my son’s teams. Then he reached high school. The program he was going into was down a little bit down in attendance, and there only two assistants helping the head coach, and one of them was often working and not at practice. I approached the head coach and offered my services if he wanted another assistant to help in any area, particularly this was a team of 34 players so many of the kids played on the JV team, so I could help work with those kids when he was working with the varsity. (I hate kids standing around and watching.) Then I saw the look. ‘Oh boy, here’s another daddy-ball coach wanting to get in here and get his son all of the favoritism and playing-time.’ I could see the same look on the assistant coaches. Fortunately they expressed their reservations and after sitting down and discussing the expectations and my agreement to not show any favoritism, they were open to bringing me on board. Now I am going into year 2 in this position, and we have agreed to step up my role on the team and I will serve as the Character Coach.
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It is possible to coach your own child on a team, and done well can be a wonderful experience, but you need to be aware of the possible negative effects that can creep up. Here are 5 tips that can make it be a positive experience:
  • Talk to your son or daughter about it before you agree to do it. Get their buy-in. Be very clear to your son/daughter that there could be negative comments from other kids and other parents. But also let them know that you are doing this to help every kid on the team and you will not be able to focus on them any more than the other kids.
  • Talk about the elephant in the room to the entire team. Don’t work too hard to treat your own kid as a coach – it’s good to be truthful and authentic in front of the team and treat your own kid from a parenting point of view sometimes.  Don’t be over the top – but kids enjoy and learn from watching you enjoy spending time with your child.
  • It usually works better to have assistant do more of the instructions to your kid. Also utilize your assistants to get an honest assessment of what position/how much your child should be playing. (Sometimes we need help taking off the rose colored glasses!)
  • Turn off the coaching hat. On car ride home – ask your child ‘Anything else you want to ask coach?’ Then go back to being a dad again.
  • The Team Manager can be a conduit to hear concerns/complaints from parents – embrace this! Have a great parent manager who keeps you in the loop of any concerns, and one that has your back and can help squelch 90% of the problems before they ever make their way back to you.
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. Don’t let the fear of the perception of being a daddy-ball coach stop you if you truly are doing it for the right reasons.
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Check out the rest of this 10 part series on Culture: Go to blog posts
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August 26, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 8 – 2 questions every young athlete needs to be asked

Stephen Covey teaches in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: ‘Seek first to understand, then to be understood.’ To better understand the kids you coach, there are two questions to start with.

The-7-Habits-Of-Highly-Effective-People-Book-Review

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch Part 8 – Seek First To Understand

As coaches, we often jump to analyze, interpret and fix anything that is going wrong in our program. It is in our nature to continuously improve our program. And it should be. But the procedures and processes can distract us from why we are called to coach. If you have followed me for long or listened to my podcasts, you know my favorite quote is Frederick Douglass’
 ‘It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.’
Another quote, attributed to several different coaches, is
‘Kids don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.’
The only way we really get to know anyone, including kids, is to ask questions about them and hear their stories. 2 simple but important questions to start with are:
1 – What is your favorite thing about playing this sport and for this team?
2 – What is your least favorite thing?

Then you can start diving deeper. Here are a few tips:

  • Make sure you understand each kid’s expectations – are they on the team to just have fun, to put it on their resume, or to become a D1 college athlete?
  • If a kids loses his temper and explodes during a practice or game – go ahead and discipline him appropriately, but ask some deeper questions about his life outside the sport. Often there are stressors with their home life that are impacting them.
  • My friend Kevin Kennedy uses the phrase ‘Isn’t that interesting’ – Don’t be judgmental when coaching – rather, make observations and analyze why things are happening. Ask questions before judging.
  • I recently met the founder of an interesting company called First Team Reps – They have created a tool that provides feedback to coaches based on anonymous surveys of the players. Some of the questions help the coaches communicate better, such as ‘What plays don’t you understand?’ The cool thing is they end their surveys with the question ‘Are there any stressors outside of football in your life right now?’ They have found that since it is anonymous the kids are very honest and many will pour their heart out.
Tim Elmore writes in his Generation iY book: ‘Great teachers build a relationship so strong that it can bear the weight of truth.’ If kids understand that you have their best interest in mind, they will respond to and listen to coaching and constructive criticism. And more importantly, you will be building stronger children.
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Next week we’ll look into ways to build a championship culture when coaching a team with your own kid on it.
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Check out the rest of this 10 part series on Culture: Go to blog posts
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August 25, 2016

WYC 089 – Performance Training – Former NFL wide receiver Corey Bridges talks training athletes – from NFL quarterbacks to Olympic ping pong players

Corey Bridges is a former NFL wide receiver who played for the Bears, Vikings, and Browns. He also had an outstanding football, track and baseball career at Newnan High School and football  and track star at the University of South Carolina, including many All-SEC honors and the SEC 60 meter sprint champion. He has spent the last 10 years training athletes from the youth to the professional level. Corey founded C4 Performance, Personal and Professional Sports Performance Specialist. C4 specializes in the following: Toning & Sculpting; Flexibility/Stability/Mobility; Body Fat Reduction; Stretching; Injury Preventive Program (FMS); Strength and Conditioning; and Speed Training. He was recently featured in a Sports Illustrated article leading up the the Olympics: si.com/vault/2016/03/29/ping-pong-physicality.

Website: nsta.net

Twitter: @CoreyBridges004, @NSTA_ATL

Facebook: /Norcross-Sports-Training-Academy, C4-Performance-trainingfitness

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘If it is to be, it’s up to me’ – Max Bass

Sports Illustrated article – training a ping-pong player for the Olympics

  • Corey trained Timothy Wang, Olympic table tennis player
  • Corey didn’t know much about the sport, so he watched Timothy play and analyzed the movements, then created a workout routine to focus on the critical areas
  • Article: si.com/vault/2016/03/29/ping-pong-physicality

Coaching your own kids

  • Let them play. Keep it fun.

Strength and Conditioning

  • Always think through the purpose of every drill – ask a lot of why’s. Why are we doing this drill? Why are we doing it this way?

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • Give kids the opportunity to see improvement.
  • Take the emphasis off their individual achievement and turn it around to have them want to run through a wall for the team and for you

Culture 

  • Corey was part of a World Bowl Champion team. This team had great culture because:
    • They alternated starting every other game. Took away jealousy.
    • They sometimes had to play both ways because they were short on players
    • Being in a culture outside of their own (they were in Germany) helped them bond
    • Army term: ‘You gotta know who’s got your 6’

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Corey coached who a kid who made some bad decisions and got kicked off his high school team. Corey was patient and just committed to being a great listener with him. After earning his trust, the young man opened up more and more and Corey now is a mentor who has changed the direction of this young man’s life.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Everybody steals most of their ideas, the key is to make it your own and individualize everything based on the needs of the team/person

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • ‘If it is to be, it’s up to me’ – Max Bass, Corey’s high school coach

Norcross Sports Training Academy

  • Gray Institute – Gift Fellows – Corey did 3 year training program that changed his paradigm. Specifically on biomechanics.
  • Check out more at: nsta.net

Parting Advice

  • Don’t make it about you. Make it about the kids.

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Related Episodes

WYC 030 Performance Training – Amanda Kephart from Akron General Sports Performance talks getting faster, stronger, and more powerful

WYC 085 – Performance Training – Bryan Schwebke talks Building a Strong Base

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August 16, 2016

WYC 088 – Youth Hockey – Glen Mulcahy talks transformational long term development

Glen Mulcahy is a speaker with a down to earth flair who shares his knowledge from a lifetime of involvement in multi-levels of sport. Glen has a degree in Human Kinetics at the University of British Columbia, is a contributor to One Million Skates and both an instructor and regional evaluation coordinator for BC Hockey. As a Hockey Canada NCCP instructor/mentor of adult coaches for BC Hockey, Glen has now certified over 2000 coaches in the Pacific Coast Amateur Hockey Association since 2009. He brings a 360 degree view of sports that is unique, from that of a youth athlete, to a coach of various sports for 20+ years and also parent of two children playing both recreational and competitive sports.

His lifetime in sports includes honors while playing various team sports including municipal banners as well as provincial titles in Hockey, Football and Rugby.   His belief in focusing on transformational long term developmental vs. transactional short term immediate results orientated coaching you will find both refreshing and inspiring. Glen is passionate about sharing what he has learned to bring the game back to the kids and lead others to do the same.

Websites: paradigmsports.ca; changingthegameproject.com/hire-a-speaker/

Twitter: @IncParadigm

Facebook: /Paradigm-Sports-1653362264912581

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘Who you are as a person is far more important than who you are as a basketball player’ – John Wooden

Coaching your own kids

  • Glen was shocked by how early the parents are pushing for competitive games
  • Youth sports: It’s not about banners and wins, it’s about the kids. Teach them to love the game.
  • UPDATE on Travel Sports Math & # of Touches: USA Hockey has been implementing ‘Cross-Ice’ to create more small area games and increase touches

My Cringe Moments

  • Glen put both of his hands on a kid’s shoulders and was talking to him – the kid was laughing . The kid’s parents were watching and thought he was shaking their child and thought the kid was crying. Glen learned that as a coach you are in a fishbowl so be wise with all of your actions.

Teaching Skills

  • The curse of knowledge – sometimes it’s hard for athletes to remember how to go back and teach the most basic skills.
  • If you have many different skill levels – breaking kids into developmental groups can help all the kids stay challenged. Creative names for the groups helps also: Superman group, Batman group, etc.

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • P&R – Patience & Repetitions
  • Glen had a kid who couldn’t understand the concept of offsides, even after 3+ years of coaching.  Glen knew the kid played an NHL video game, so Glen asked the kid to turn the Offsides option on while playing the game. The kid did it, and totally understood the concept going forward.
  • Glen saw another coach berate his 13 year-old son for trying a new type of pass, so Glen focuses on encouraging the kids to be aggressive and that mistakes when trying something new are great.

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • 3 standards his teams have:

1 – Don’t be late

2 – No profanity

3 – Respect each other, your parents, your teammates, your officials, your competitors

  • Rewards – After games the kids go around and compliment something the person next to them did well.
  • MVP – Don’t just give MVP rewards to your leading goal scorers, recognize kids doing the dirty work

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Glen coached a kid whose father passed away at the beginning of their season, very tough season but the young man really connected with the team and with Glen.

The One that got away

  • Seek first to understand. Get to know what makes each kid tick. Glen had a problem whose behavior was really disruptive, and after exploding in a game – they talked in the locker room and Glen found out the kids parents were going through a divorce. Glen made the decision to let him back on the bench – but the referee came over and told him he wasn’t allowed to come back to the bench. Glen regrets he didn’t stick to his guns and went against his own gut.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • ‘When you steal a drill, the first time you have to give credit, after that it’s yours.’
  • Keep things simple, don’t overcomplicate things.
  • You’re not developing an athlete, you’re developing a person

Best Resources

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Quote: ‘What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player’ – John Wooden
  • Book: Peak – by Anders Ericsson and Robert Pool – About the 10,000 hour rule. Deliberate practice is more important than 10,000 hours.
  • Book: Legacy – by James Kerr – One of best culture and teamwork books.

Paradigm Sports & Changing the Game Project

  • Glen is a speaker with both Paradigm Sports and Changing the Game Project

Parting Advice

  • Focus on the players more than the game. Ask the kids why they play. Ask what they like and dislike about playing.

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Related Episodes

Episode 42 – John O’Sullivan – Changing the Game Project

Episode 39 – Dr. Michael Phillips – Long Term Athlete and Coach Development

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August 16, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 7 – Case Study – How A State Championship School Built A Trust-Based Program

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Coach Wooden often shared that ‘Love is the most powerful four-letter word.’ When building a championship culture, love and trust have to start at the top. Do your players trust that you have their best interests in mind? The answer to that probably comes down to whether you truly do have their best interest in mind. When it comes to loving your players and having them trust you – it has to be real. Do some introspection for your program – here are a few questions you can ask yourself:

  • Do you truly care more about the kids or about winning?
  • Does each kid feel like they are special? This takes a lot of effort, but each kid should feel they are special and have a special role that contributes to the success of the program.
  • Are you distracted by cell phones or thinking about other things while you are coaching at practices or games?
Case Study – One of the most impressive programs I have observed live out this philosophy of loving their players is Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville Tennessee. Drew Maddux and Ingle Martin lead their basketball and football programs, respectively. They specifically have built a program based on Joe Ehrmann’s philosophies. It didn’t happen overnight, they spent two years having weekly studies of Joe’s books with their coaching staffs. They brought in outside mentors/advisors, Randy and Scott Hearon from the Nashville Coaching Coalition, to help guide them through the process and keep them accountable. You could write a book on all of the things they are doing right – but here are 3 that really jumped out at me:
  • ‘To be a man, you have to see a man’ – Coach Martin focuses on developing himself and his coaching staff to be the type of men that the boys should emulate
  • Manhood Mondays – every Monday during the season they have different coaches and players create a shield with 4 parts to share with the team:
    • Tell a childhood story that defined them
    • Tell a recent story that defines them
    • How does the public view them
    • Who their private self is
  • Build a program not a team – If you have Varsity, JV, freshmen – various levels – treat them all as part of one program. Talk to each kid every practice and call them by name. Coach Maddux has a state championship program- but they don’t do cuts. If a kid wants to be in the program, then he is.
CPA is a program that is all-in on loving kids and developing future leaders. It starts at the top and it requires a deep desire for the kids to succeed, not for the coach’s winning record to look good (however the culture they have produced has led to remarkable achievements on the field and court, consistently competing for and winning state championships over the past 5+ years.)
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So commit to truly loving the kids you coach. Recently I interviewed Coach Randy Jackson, a successful high school football coach in Texas, and he shared with me:
 ‘A child’s chances of being successful are vastly improved if they know 5 people truly believe in them. As their coach, are you going to be 1 of the 5?’
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August 8, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 6 – 5 Tips to Turn the Dreaded Sports Parent into a Beloved One

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The dreaded sports parent. We’ve all experienced them. We’ve all seen viral videos of parents heads almost exploding while watching 6 year olds play t-ball. I was coaching my daughter’s kindergarten soccer team just a few months ago when the police had to be called to separate two fighting moms. We would all like to eliminate these types of culture-killing moments, here are 5 tips on how to turn the dreaded sports parent into a beloved one:
  1. Set the standards. One of my favorite coaching axioms is ‘Anything you see on the field – you either taught it or you allowed it.’ Replace the words ‘on the field’ with the words ‘in the stands.’

    ‘Anything you see in the stands – you either taught it or you allowed it.’  

    When you establish core covenants and set the standards for behavior for your coaches and players, do the same for your parents. This team is not just about the kids, it’s about the coaches, the parents, the community – we’re all in this together.

  2. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Some coaches, especially as you get into middle school and high school levels, like to create a separation from parents and let the kids pass along all the info to the parents. I am a big fan of making the kids take responsibility for communicating to the coaches if they are going to miss practice or have issues with playing time, etc. But to expect the kids to correctly relay the coaches’ messages back to the parents is very unrealistic. Many things will get lost in translation (picture the telephone game.) So bring the parents into the loop. A lack of understanding is one of the main parental frustrations with a coach.
  3. When communicating, establish the parameters. One thing I find a must is the 24 hour rule. This is simply a matter of courtesy, that if a parent has something to discuss, please do not do so for 24 hours before or after a game. This allows cooler heads to prevail. Another parameter to establish up front is if there are any topics that are off-limits. Specifically on that list could be playing time, any other player, or game strategy.
  4. Help the parents become a team – Skip a practice and have a pool party – parents wear nametags so they can all get to know each other.
  5. Stick to your guns – Do not let the fear of a repercussion from a parent affect your coaching decisions. Coach Ray Lokar shared a story with me: He went against his gut – in a game-winning situation – he didn’t let his son (who was his best player) take the shot – he was too worried about the perception from the parents.  When you’re the coach – you need to separate out emotions and do what’s best.
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August 5, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 5: O Captain My Captain

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Part 5 – Captains
It’s easy for coaches to be control freaks. I am. It’s very hard for me to give up control of anything. I have trouble giving up control to assistant coaches, so it’s even harder for me to give up control to kids, i.e. captains.
But that is the old me, the one who often would get distracted by winning instead of developing young men. And ironically, the winning actually happens more for teams that have full buy-in. So this has become a huge learning point for me, developing captains that lead the team. Here is the breakdown:
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Why are they important?
  • It’s your chance to develop the next generation of leaders! Teach them to be problem solvers, don’t do it all for them.
  • Buy-in. Work with the captains for establishing your team’s standards. Brainstorm with them on how to handle discipline – it starts with them!
  • Ask the captains what they are seeing in the game. Gametime should be minimal instruction – let the captains be your vocal leaders. Janis Meredith from Positive Sports Parenting teaches parents to use the acronym WAIT – Why Am I Talking – this often applies to coaches too. Listen more, talk less.
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How do you pick ’em?
Your captains are held to a higher standard. If they are cutting corners when you are running laps then they probably aren’t good candidates to be a good captain.
There a tons of theories on how to pick them: do the coaches pick them, do the players vote, or a combination of these choices (coaches narrow it down to 5 then players vote, or visa versa.) I don’t know if there is an absolute wrong or right, but here’s what I have found works well:
  • Let the kids vote for 3 people
  • Tally the results, then look it over to see if there is a big gap between the totals. That can help you decide if there are 2, 3, or 4 captains.
  • You then pull aside each of them individually and let them know the responsibilities of being a captain. This is your chance as a coach to vet out anybody you have a concern over.
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When do you pick em?
Waiting until the season starts is too late for a school team. Ideally at the end of a season, have all the non-seniors (returning players) vote for next year’s captains. That way you can be meeting in the offseason with the captains to plan for next year’s season.
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How do I train them?
My friend Adam Bradley has developed a resource that is entirely dedicated to training captains how to lead teams. The cool thing is knows kids have short attention spans so he has made all the lessons in his 8 week character development series into games. It’s an awesome resource, go check it out:
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What about non-recurring teams (travel teams, youth sports teams)?
All of the above applies, except for the timing. You probably will want to have several weeks of practice then have the team vote. Since you won’t have the benefit of an offseason to plan with the captains, the coaches will have to establish the standards and get buy in from the captains as early as possible.
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August 3, 2016

WYC 087 – Youth Basketball and Football – Pelle Nejman talks learning styles and developing culture

Pelle Nejman is a Philadelphia native and graduate from Penn State’s Sports broadcasting school. He is a teacher and coach in Danville, Pennsylvania. He has coached football and currently coaches girls basketball.

 

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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A few days left to sign up: Coaching Mastery – with John O’Sullivan

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Many of you know that I work closely with John O’Sullivan and the Changing the Game Project. John’s is an internationally known writer and speaker, as well as a former professional soccer player and longtime coach. We share a lot of each others content as we work to transform youth sports and make it a better place for coaches to coach, and for players to play.

This week – for the first and only time in 2016 – John is releasing his amazing online video series called “Coaching Mastery.” He first ran this course in the Fall of 2014, and since then coaches from nearly every sport, from over a dozen different continents, have called it one of the most unique and inspirational coaching courses they had ever done. I was lucky enough to be one of the select few coaches John offered it to last year, and the things I learned really blew me away.

See, this course is not your traditional X’s and O’s course. It is all about things such as the psychology of performance and leadership, how to build a winning team culture, and even how to educate your team parents so they don’t drive you up the wall. He has some amazing interviews with some of the world’s leading experts in sport science and psychology, coaching, and leadership. The things you will learn in this course will take yoru coaching, and your teams, to a whole new level.

This course is truly one of a kind.

If you are interested in this type of coaching, John has asked me to invite all of you to his FREE video series, where over the next 2 weeks you will learn many of these things, and hear from some amazing experts. You also get a free eBook copy of his international bestseller Changing The Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High-Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids just for registering for the FREE series.  All you have to do to get over an hour of this one of a kind coaching and leadership training, plus a free book, is go here and sign up:

Click here to get started

I know I am looking forward to the 2016 version of Coaching Mastery and I am confident that many of you will get a ton from this free video series. Its all new content, and I can’t wait to get started.

Again, if you want to join, just sign up here.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this course.

(I am an affiliate for this course, so if you decide to sign up – please sign up through one of the links above – Thanks!!)

Quote

‘Things may come to those who wait, but only things left by those who hustle’ – Abraham Lincoln

My Cringe Moments

  • I talked WAY too much

Teaching Skills

  • Different learning styles – Some kids are visual, some audio, some hands on – So use multiple styles to teach
  • Break everything down into small groups. If he has 15 girls, he will break down into 5 stations of 3.
  • When running plays – split the court in 2 and stand in the middle and have 2 groups running a bunch of reps

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • It starts with you being calm as a coach. If tension is building in a game- call a timeout and tell a joke and be relaxed.

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • It all starts with establishing standards.
  • Post-game meetings: It’s best to praise and acknowledge accomplishments.
  • HUGE IDEA – Tell some of the other teachers at the school about an accomplishment that a kid on your team did – it’s really big for a kid to have another adult acknowledging them

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Talk about the elephant in the room. After starting a season 0-7, Pelle started their next practice on a white board with the words ‘Why do we suck?’ – Girls got a kick out of it and had fun brainstorming about how to get better

The One that got away

  • After a terrible call by the refs at the end of the game – Pelle skipped the handshake line and chased down the refs in the parking lot – big regret

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Mini-games and it’s all about the # of touches

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Quote: ‘Talent is a gift, but character is a choice’ – John Maxwell
  • Quote: ‘Things may come to those who wait, but only things left by those who hustle’ – Abraham Lincoln
  • Quote: ‘Develop a cause beyond yourself, try to make the world a better place because you were here’ – Joe Hermann

Parting Advice

  • Develop a culture that you believe in with your team – and stick to it

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Related Episodes

Episode 22 – Kevin Furtado – Girls basketball coach

 

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July 26, 2016

WYC 086 – Championship Culture – Live from the Way of Champions Transformational Coaching Conference

Interview with 3 J'sWOC screenshot
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Today’s episode is a bit different from the norm, instead of interviewing a great coach, this week’s episode is a compilation of the interviews I did while at the conference. There are a few sound bites with me sharing a lesson I learned, and definitely don’t miss the 18 minute interview with the leaders – I call them the 3 J’s – Dr. Jerry Lynch, John O’Sullivan, and James Leath. So hopefully this is a great way for you to be able to absorb a little of the great content even if you weren’t able to make it out to Colorado. Also – just FYI – they are planning to do 2 or 3 more of these conferences around the country next year, so stay tuned at changingthegameproject.com or wayofchampions.com.

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Coaching Mastery – with John O’Sullivan

Screen Shot 2016-07-25 at 11.03.45 PM

Many of you know that I work closely with John O’Sullivan and the Changing the Game Project. John’s is an internationally known writer and speaker, as well as a former professional soccer player and longtime coach. We share a lot of each others content as we work to transform youth sports and make it a better place for coaches to coach, and for players to play.

This week – for the first and only time in 2016 – John is releasing his amazing online video series called “Coaching Mastery.” He first ran this course in the Fall of 2014, and since then coaches from nearly every sport, from over a dozen different continents, have called it one of the most unique and inspirational coaching courses they had ever done. I was lucky enough to be one of the select few coaches John offered it to last year, and the things I learned really blew me away.

See, this course is not your traditional X’s and O’s course. It is all about things such as the psychology of performance and leadership, how to build a winning team culture, and even how to educate your team parents so they don’t drive you up the wall. He has some amazing interviews with some of the world’s leading experts in sport science and psychology, coaching, and leadership. The things you will learn in this course will take yoru coaching, and your teams, to a whole new level.

This course is truly one of a kind.

If you are interested in this type of coaching, John has asked me to invite all of you to his FREE video series, where over the next 2 weeks you will learn many of these things, and hear from some amazing experts. You also get a free eBook copy of his international bestseller Changing The Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High-Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids just for registering for the FREE series.  All you have to do to get over an hour of this one of a kind coaching and leadership training, plus a free book, is go here and sign up:

Click here to get started

I know I am looking forward to the 2016 version of Coaching Mastery and I am confident that many of you will get a ton from this free video series. Its all new content, and I can’t wait to get started.

Again, if you want to join, just sign up here.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this course.

(I am an affiliate for this course, so if you decide to sign up – please sign up through one of the links above – Thanks!!)

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Interviews & Sound Bites from WOC Conference

  • Craig – Description of how to create self-affirmation 3×5 card
  • Craig – Description of fun Rock,Paper,Scissors,Cheerleader Energy Builder
  • 18 minute interview of Dr. Lynch, John O’Sullivan, and James Leath: Self-affirmation; Building Energy levels at the beginning of practice; Building championship culture in our families; Taking ONE action; Simplifying your playbook; the importance of relationships: Video Link
  • Craig – 11 attributes of culture: Dr. Jerry Lynch uses the acronym STRONG FACTS to list the steps to build championship culture.
    • Selflessness
    • Trust
    • Respect
    • Oneness
    • Never Quit
    • Gratefulness
    • Fearlessness
    • Awareness
    • Confidence
    • Thoughtfulness
    • Sacrifice
    • I summarize the last ‘S’ in the acronym, Sacrifice, from atop the Flatirons at Chataugua
      • ‘The pathway to greatness is through suffering’
  • Interview with Maureen Monte: Author of Destination Unstoppable – Team success; Focus on the human system of success
  • Interview with Alicia Steinhilber – From Nashville FC Youth Soccer – Discusses the Iceland Thunder Clap and the New Zealand All Blacks ‘Haka’; Playing with the heart; Eye contact with your audience/team
  • Interview with Athletic Director and 2 basketball coaches from the host school Shining Mountain Waldorf School – Mike Hawkes, Tim Crouthers, Chris Bremner – The power of positivity; Learning to teach vs. spitting out information; Building confidence, especially in females; Eye Contact and being in a circle to start practices
  • Interview with Kevin Peters – Be a storyteller
  • Interview with Josh Severns – From Nashville FC Youth Soccer – Building culture is a process not an event. Trust takes time to build. It start with being a good example; Meditation and breathing.
  • Interview with Kevin Kirk – Golf Performance Center at the Woodlands – The power and influence a coach has
  • Interview with Tony Libert – Parents and coaches – Release the game to the kids; ‘Coaches are a flashlight not a search light’
  • Nate Sanderson, girls High School basketball at Springville High School and Breakthroughbasketball.com coach, shared a powerful 4 minute video from his team’s state championship game last year – the amazing thing to watch in the video is observe what the teammates do for each other after any mistake. Nate’s quote: ‘We needed to interrupt the negative thought process in the midst of games, so we implemented what you see in the video.’
  • There are more than a dozen other great videos taken from the conference, check them all out here: WYC Facebook page

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July 22, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 4: Awards – You Improve what you Measure

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One of the easiest places to start when you are establishing a healthy, positive, championship culture is to look at what you are rewarding. In fact, if you and your coaching staff do nothing else but simply start focusing on recognizing and rewarding the right type of behaviors you see in practices and games, the culture of your team will improve dramatically:
  • If your team needs to quit being selfish – then reward the kid who gives the most high-fives during a practice
  • If your team needs to be tougher – then reward the kid who plays to the whistle and dives for the most loose balls
  • If your team needs to work harder – then reward the first kid back from water breaks and who doesn’t cut the corner or short the line when running
6 paradigm-shifting awards you can put in place to have a championship culture:
  1. Year-end Award Banquet – Instead of MVP – reward the MVT – Most Valuable Teammate. Or even better – have 6 awards: Most Improved, one for each of your 4 core covenants, and one for who best exemplified all 4 core covenants. And the same kid can earn multiple awards. Great podcast episode on this: Scott Rosberg (link)
  2. Celebrate a lot!  Kids will work harder when they are having fun! And spend most of your energy ‘Catching them being good.’ If you are focused on teamwork, and one of your big offensive lineman helps a scout team tiny defensive back up after a play and pats him on the butt – stop everything and acknowledge that action and celebrate like crazy!
  3. Levels – Establish levels that require mastering certain skills to move up – then celebrate like crazy when someone advances a level. 2 great podcasts on using this are Melody Shuman (link) and Robert Murphy (link).
  4. Living by numbers
    • Praise progress instead of purely praising results
    • Lee Miller from Elite Hoops Basketball – They have created 15 core drills that can be measured numerically. The focus is on improvement.
    • Quality at Bats – Instead of keeping on-base % or batting average – Keep the stat that rewards the behavior you want – a hard hit ball – Then set your lineup based on the highest Quality-At-Bat %
  5. Daily/practice awards:
    • Hidden victories in a game: taking a charge, diving for loose balls, assists more than goals
    • Leadership award – Who is serving the team? – Trophy passes around each week.
    • ‘Best communicator of the day – talk your actions, especially on defense’
    • Do awards in groups as much as possible – offensive line, etc.
  6. Postgame – spend the time having kids recognize teammates, not talking about all the things you have to fix
Remember, anything you see on the field – you either taught it, or you allowed it. So reward what you want to see!
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July 15, 2016

Special Insight on Culture – Live from the Way of Champions Transformational Coaching Conference

Interview with 3 J'sWOC screenshot
We’re taking a break in our 10 part series on culture this week to allow you to be able to peak inside the brains of some of the leading experts on creating championship culture.
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I was blessed to be 1 of the 68 coaches who attended this conference, and since I know many of you would have loved to be there, I wanted to share a few powerful lessons I walked away with.  Also – just FYI – they are planning to do 2 or 3 more of these conferences around the country next year, so stay tuned at changingthegameproject.comor wayofchampions.com.
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I could write many pages of notes on the lessons I learned, but I know many of you are like me, where you learn more through audio and video, so here are the most powerful videos that capture the essence of the conference:
  • 18 minute interview of Dr. Lynch, John O’Sullivan, and James Leath. Broken into 2 parts:
  • Nate Sanderson, girls High School basketball at Springville High School and Breakthroughbasketball.com coach, shared a powerful 4 minute video from his team’s state championship game last year – the amazing thing to watch in the video is observe what the teammates do for each other after any mistake. Nate’s quote: ‘We needed to interrupt the negative thought process in the midst of games,so we implemented what you see in the video.’
  • Dr. Jerry Lynch uses the acronym STRONG FACTS to list the steps to build championship culture.
    • Selflessness
    • Trust
    • Respect
    • Oneness
    • Never Quit
    • Gratefulness
    • Fearlessness
    • Awareness
    • Confidence
    • Thoughtfulness
    • Suffering
    • I summarize the last ‘S’ in the acronym, Suffering, from atop the Flatirons at Chataugua, in this 1 minute video:
      • Video Link
      • ‘The pathway to greatness is through suffering’
  • There are more than a dozen other great videos taken from the conference, check them all out here: WYC Facebook page
Also, for you audio learners, next week’s WYC podcast will be a compilation of the audio I recorded at the conference, so look forward to that. WYC Podcasts
Next week we’ll dive back into our 10 part series on culture and look at recognition and rewards.
  1. Team first – Link to post
  2. Team Cornerstones – Link to post
  3. Positive Environment – Which dog are you feeding? – Link to post
  4. Recognition & Rewards
  5. Captains
  6. Parents
  7. Building Trust
  8. Seek First to Understand
  9. Coaching your own kid
  10. Perspective & Giving Back
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July 15, 2016

WYC 085 – Performance Training – Bryan Schwebke talks Building a Strong Base

Dr. Bryan Schwebke is the founder of Paramount Performance as well as a performance physical therapist, coach and consultant. Bryan has worked with some of the world’s best athletes as well as many college and youth athletes. He is dedicated to providing athletes and their parents with the guidance, education and tools to safely and efficiently reach their goals.

Website: paramountperformancept.com

Facebook: /ParamountPerformancePT

Twitter: @ParamountPfrmPT & @BryanSchwebke

Youtube: Paramount Performance

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘On the day of victory, no fatigue is felt’

Topics/Questions

  • What is the biggest problem you notice with the athletes you see on a daily basis?
    • Their base isn’t strong enough to support what they are trying to do
  • What do you think is causing this problem?
    • Throwing kids into strenuous environments too early – specifically travel teams
  • What happens if you don’t have a strong base ?
    • Performance is decreased and recovery time from injury is increased
  • How can you fix or build a strong base? How do you know if you don’t have a strong base?
    • You probably don’t. Have them evaluated by a physical therapist and create a gameplay. This could start around 5th grade.
  • What is the Athlete Centered Model and what is your Performance Team?
    • Instead of having 4 or 5 different people coming up with a gameplan for an athlete (physical therapist, nutritionist, skills coach, personal trainer) – have all of them work together to come up with a joint gameplan
  • What are the biggest restrictions to coaches and parents not being able to give their kids a good base.
    • Lack of education and understanding where to invest your time and money as a parent
  • Multi-sport athletes have advantages

Self-confidence & Peak mental performance

  • Visualization can be key to recovering from injury
  • It does NOT mean you are weak if you need to practice and work on the mental side of the game
  • Visualization – free throw shooters who had 60% average
    • Practiced 500 shots per day – improved to 70%
    • Visualized their shot for 20 minutes per day – improved to 83%
    • Practiced 500 shots per day and visualized 20 minutes per day – improved to 85%
  • Website: paramountperformancept.com

Functional warm-ups

  • Make sure it’s applicable to the sport you are playing
  • Needs to activate the muscles
  • A couple good examples:
    • Alan Stein’s basketball warm-up – Link
    • Amanda Kephart’s warm-up description – Link

Outside of practice:

1 – Forget your ego – You probably aren’t an expert in performance training – learn from others

2 – Promote multiple sports

3 – Promote education for parents and athletes on why it’s important

4 – There’s more to being a coach than just practicing – bring in other experts – nutritionists, personal trainers, sports psychologist

Favorite quote

  • Quote: ‘On the day of victory, no fatigue is felt’

Paramount Performance

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July 7, 2016

WYC 084 – Youth Basketball – Ryan Hohman talks Starting your own Youth Sports Program from scratch

Ryan Hohman has lived in the Pennsbury School District for 29 years and has been working with children since he was ten years old when his mother ran an in home daycare out of his home in the Thornridge section of Levittown. He attended West Chester University and graduated with a degree in education, and after two years of teaching in the city of Philadelphia, Ryan returned to Pennsbury where he has served as a Language Arts teacher and head basketball coach at William Penn Middle School for the past 10 years. Coach Hohman has established a reputation as a dedicated and passionate teacher both in the classroom and on the court. He has established Lady Falcons Elite Hoops to offer the level of basketball instruction that the girls of his beloved community deserve. Coach Hohman lives in the North Park section of Levittown with his wife Brooke and their two daughters Joley and Nola.

Facebook: /LFEHoops

Website: ladyfalconselitehoops.org

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘It’s about we, not about me‘

If you can’t find the youth sports program you want…start your own!

  • Ryan was frustrated with the lack of attention the leaders of the youth basketball program were giving to the girls side of the program
  • They did a bunch of research on how to start a non-profit, did a Gofundme, and launched program with 250+ girls in the 1st year and going into year 3 they will have 450+ girls!

Coaching your own kids

  • ‘You told me to pass more’ – Ryan was very stubborn when his dad coached him, and one time after scoring 27 points, his dad told him to pass more, so for the next couple games Ryan overreacted and took it to the opposite spectrum
  • Ryan goes with the ‘I love to watch you play’ after coaching his daughters
  • Ryan wants ‘Try-hards’ – kids that give it their all

My Cringe Moments

  • Most of all of Ryan’s cringe moments are sarcastic things he said to refs
  • The second thing was he used to take the results of all the games way too personally

Teaching Skills

  • You have to establish what the core fundamentals are that the level of kids you are coaching need
  • Make skill work fun and turn it into a game
  • With smaller kids it often starts with their feet!
  • Good game: Defensive slide duck-duck-goose: So you play the normal game but have to do defensive slide when running around the circle.
  • Another good game: Jump stop Mr. Fox

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • Biggest thing a coach can do to help his kids: SMILE. Remind them that this is fun
  • Jay Bilas’ book Toughness talks about ‘Next Play’ – you can’t worry about previous plays, bad calls, etc. – you need to focus on the Next Play
  • All you can control is yourself and preparation, so don’t worry about things outside of your control

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Anytime they refer to people involved in the program they talk about the LFE Family. They constantly hashtag #LFEFamily
  • Establishing mentors within the program – Have the older girls connect with the younger girls
  • The standard is that everyone is going to work hard

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Ryan coached a team that had a really tough situation with a girl who had a serious eating disorder – the team rallied around helping this girl out and it actually brought the team together

The One that got away

  • They have one team that spooks his girls – the best thing he has found is just to be prepared.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Rick Pitino – ‘As I go through practice, I try to make corrections in 7 seconds or less.’ There needs to be a rhythm and pace to your practice. For youth- maybe this needs to be 20 seconds.
  • Tharp Gallimore study of John Wooden’s practice: What a Coach can Teach a Teacher

Favorite coaching book/quote

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July 6, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 3: Which dog are you feeding?

Feeding the Positive Dog
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I recently have started reading Jon Gordon’s The Energy Bus. The entire book is about the power of positive energy, and one of the great analogies he uses is how we have the choice whether to feed the positive dog inside of us or the negative one. The choice is ours. The same is true for the teams we coach. Are we going to create a positive atmosphere where everyone can thrive, or are we going to let energy vampires suck the life out of the program. Here are some great ways to build a positive culture and feed the positive dog:
  • Alan Stein – ‘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.
  • You have to deep down truly believe in each kid and what they can accomplish – then constantly be pushing them to where you know they can go. ‘When you take the time to teach your boys, there’s an implied confidence, that you believe they can achieve, and that’s praise in itself” – Coach John Wooden
  • Positive Conditioning – The winners get to run?!
    • You have to put all your attention/effort into recognizing the kids who are earning the right to run.
    • For poor effort: ‘You guys just lost your chance to become better. You lost your chance to condition.’
    • Learn more on how to do this from Scott Rosberg at Proactive Coaching on his podcast where he discusses this: Podcast link
  • Have kids play free:
    • Don’t pull them immediately after a mistake, if you do they will start to play tight and in fear.
    • ‘Make the right lacrosse play. Make the right decision and we’ll live with the results.’
    • Growth Mindset – we are a team that will: Teach kids that failing is a highly valuable part of the improvement process.  Eliminate pressure on the kids that makes them afraid to make mistakes.  Kids are often getting pressure from family members, parents, grandparents, uncles – so as a coach you have to be intentional to not negatively.
    • Will Cromack: Set goals to try a new move during a game that you have been working on in practice: ‘Who is going to be brave enough to try this new move during the game this week?’
  • Count high fives in a practice. Then try to beat that number in future practices.
  • Echo the coach’s commands – This echoing becomes fun for the kids and gets them all involved, and increases the energy level in the practice.
  • Say ‘Go make a great catch’ instead of ‘don’t drop this pass.’ When communicating instructions from the sideline – be careful not to go 0 for 2 – meaning your communication had: 1- a negative tone, and 2- no instructional value. Yelling ‘play harder’ or ‘catch the ball’ are examples of 0 for 2 communication.
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June 24, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 2: Who are we?

Who are we? Establishing Program & Team Cornerstones
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10 years ago one of my good friends Byron shared something life-changing in our adult Sunday school class. He shared a family crest he had developed with his family. It was pretty simple artistically speaking, but eternally powerful. His family had brainstormed and created 4 or 5 values that represented ‘Who we are.’ This provided the foundation for making decisions in the future – they just bounced them against their cornerstones. My family has adopted this same philosophy. We have an annual session where we brainstorm about who we are. I’ve attached the latest rendition of what we came up with. We keep it fun and sometimes even silly, so please understand the ‘Dog-botherers’ comment is an inside family joke and we love animals. 🙂
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Now we all know that if you try to focus on 10 or 20 things you will focus on nothing. So we then decide as a group on 4 or 5 of these values that will be our cornerstones.
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The more I talk to great coaches, the more I see this same type of process happening in great programs and teams. It starts with the coaches establishing the cornerstones of the program. But equally important is getting the buy-in from the team, so doing this type of brainstorming session with your team captains every year will establish your identity as a team. Here are some of the great ways I’ve seen this implemented:
  • Andres Montana – Learned from Bruce Brown at Proactive Coaching – Gather the coaches and 3 captains in preseason and define your Core Covenants – who are you going to be that season. Brainstorm by throwing words up on a board, then narrow it down to 2 or 3 that are going to define your team. Then you can order the livestrong-type bracelets that have those words on it. Check out Proactive Coaching’s guide to creating Core Covanants: First Steps to Building Successful Teams
  • Ken Stuursma’s program core covenants – from Raising a modern day knight:
    1. Accept responsibility
    2. Lead courageously
    3. Reject passivity
    4. Expect a greater reward
  • Chris Stricker’s program core covenants: CALI – Commitment, Accountability, Love, Integrity
  • Drew Maddux has Manhood Mondays – every Monday during the season they have different coaches and players create a shield with 4 parts to share with the team
    1. Tell a childhood story that defined them
    2. Tell a recent story that defines them
    3. How does the public view them
    4. Who their private self is
  • Rob Elwood’s team have 2 cornerstones:
    1. Gratitude – We thank our parents, the referees, our coaches, our teammates
    2. Be organized, everything has a place
  • John O’Sullivan – Great teams don’t have rules – great teams have standards.  Rules are meant to be broken – standards are expectations that the team agrees upon and holds each other accountable to.
In his book Inside-out Coaching Joe Ehrmann shares the goal: ‘Be a transformational coach rather than a transactional coach.’ It starts with your cornerstones.
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June 20, 2016

WYC 083 – Youth Baseball – Troy Silva talks 9 Innings of Hitting

Troy Silva is the author of the #1 bestselling book on Amazon & iTunes for coaching baseball – 9 Innings of Hitting. Troy spends his days coaching baseball at Rijo Athletics in the Seattle area. Troy has spent his life playing and coaching baseball, including being drafted by the Cleveland Indians in 1997 and playing 6 years of professional baseball. Troy is married and has 3 beautiful children.

Book: 9 Innings of Hitting

Twitter: @TroyPSilva

Facebook: /Rijo-Athletics-Baseball-Softball-49661522946

Websites: rijoathletics.com ; rijobaseball.tv

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘Hitters have to be smart enough to have a  good approach and dumb enough to get in there and hit.’

Pretty swings vs. developing consistent swings in players

  • Swing instruction is different than hitting instruction – you need someone to develop the concept of hitting. It starts with the swing, but that’s just the first step in the process of hitting.

Each individual has different needs

  • Early on while Troy was coaching – he realized that kids weren’t necessarily getting better, they were just looking better. He was trying to teach them all one way to swing, instead of working with each individual’s strengths.

Mental Toughness

  • There is a huge difference between expecting to hit the ball vs. trying to hit the ball
  • Mental approach actually has a physical effect on batspeed

Mental approach – how do you not overthink when at the plate?

  • ‘Hitters have to be smart enough to have a  good approach and dumb enough to get in there and hit.’
  • ‘Free hitters up to be athletic and just get in there and compete’
  • Quiet the mind – it’s ok to be thinking about 1 thing while at bat – just don’t start complicating it by thinking of 5 or 10 different things you need to do

Teaching progression

  • A great start is just to have kids watch their favorite big-leaguer and copy what they are seeing.
  • Start with mechanics. Then it comes down to the individual and what they need to become a productive hitter. Great progression chart in the book 9 Innings of Hitting

Should we teach the ‘oppo first’ approach when setting up our batting practices?

  • You should learn power first and how to swing hard BEFORE learning how to hit to the opposite field

HIT – Honor, Integrity, Truth

  • As a Christian, Troy uses baseball to be a light in a dark world.
  • As a coach your job is to be a mentor and positive influence in these young peoples’ lives.

The One that got away

  • Being drafted as a pitcher was really tough for Troy

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Ed Sheft – Mental toughness – You have to know you are better than your competitor

Favorite coaching/leadership quote/book

  • Personal experience is the best teacher

Rijo Athletics and 9 Innings of Hitting

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June 20, 2016

Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch – Part 1: Team First

Casting the vision for what the team is going to accomplish and getting buy-in is critical and what will drive your goals and practices. And the first step in building a winning culture is to create a team first mentality. Here are some best practices to get this done:

  • Ken Stuursma tells his kids every practice: They have to come to practice for somebody else. He states that selfish attitudes are garbage and selfish behavior is the first and most important thing to eliminate.
  • John Doss’ teams have helmet stickers with 3 chain links. In their pre-game talk they link arms and talk about how strong a chain is and how they are there to play for the person on their right and left.
    As a coach – make sure you ALWAYS do what’s best for the players, not what’s best for your win/loss record. Also, as a coach – do you say ‘My team’ or ‘Our team’?
  • Some coaches have only one rule: ‘Don’t let your teammates down.’ This one seems particularly pertinent with regards to Draymond Green’s behavior in the NBA playoffs.
  • Jon Gordon in his book The Energy Bus talks about having to eliminate ‘energy vampires.’ Lee Miller uses the analogy of every player and coach being either a proton or an electron – they are either bringing positive energy or negative energy.
  • Colby Patnode’s teams have 3 rules:
    – Protect the team
    – Protect the brand/game
    – Do your best

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One of the hardest things to do as a leader is to get individuals to buy-in to doing something that involves the team’s needs being greater than the individuals. But when you do get this buy-in, that’s when something magical and transformative happens.

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June 8, 2016

WYC 082 – Youth Football – Greg Robinson talks offseason skill development & iYouthFootball

Greg Robinson has spent 6 years developing a non-contact system to train athletes ages 3 to 11 to catch, throw, and kick footballs. In 2015 he helped launch iYouthFootball to do just that. iYouthFootball is a system that can be brought to any town and can be taught by anyone regardless of their level of football experience. In this episode we discuss this system as well as other secrets to teaching kids skills.

Twitter: @iYouthFootball

Facebook: /iyouthfootball

Website: iyouthfootball.com

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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iYouthFootball

  • Complete training curriculums for coaches, orgs, and parents to teach fb skills on the field to kids ages 3-11.
  • Great chance to improve skills for a position you don’t get to play on with your team (i.e. a big/tall kid who wants to play quarterback but because of his size always gets put on the line)
  • They offer complete training packages and territory ownership to coaches, parents, and/or organizations
  • Website: iyouthfootball.com

Teaching Skills

  • Set the expectations up front. With the parents and the kids – This is what we are going to be learning, and these are the expectations of how you need to act so that we can achieve these goals.
  • Age-appropriate – Make sure you are making your drills age appropriate – this includes the size of the ball you are using.

Impacting Kids

  • The ultimate satisfaction as a coach is seeing the lightbulb go off when teaching a kid how to improve a skill

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Greg’s high school football coach is in the Pennsylvania hall of fame – and he was a disciplinarian, who kept things simple and would only run a few plays but they would practice them over and over again until they perfected them. The details are important. RUN LESS PLAYS!

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June 3, 2016

The Experts’ Reading List

The Experts’ Reading List 
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One of the great things about interviewing talented coaches from all over the world is getting to pick their brain on where their mind is being fed. So we’ll take a break from our coaching series this week and I’ll share a great reading list that I’ve compiled from my podcast guests. Then next week we’ll start up a new series on Building a Winning Culture.
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I’ve read 12 of these, how many have you read? My challenge to you is to pick 2 or 3 to read in the next 6 months, that is what I’m going to do. I’ve just ordered Pete Carroll’s Win Forever, Jon Gordon’s The Energy Bus, and Patrick Lencioni’s The 5 Dsyfunctions of a Team.
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I’ve included hyperlinks to all of the books on Amazon, so just click on the name of the book and order it today! Don’t wait or you won’t do it. No excuses.
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Also – my friend James Leath published a post with his reading list – check it out for some more great recommendations – Link
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  1. Pyramid of Success by Coach John Wooden
  2. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie – the story ‘Father Forgets’ is timeless
  3. The Gold Standard’ by Coach K. – story of bringing together the Dream Team
  4. Raising a Modern Day Knight by Robert Lewis – story of bringing a boy into manhood
  5. Lead for God’s Sake by Todd Gongwer
  6. Inside-Out Coaching by Joe Ehrmann – ‘Be a transformational coach rather than a transactional coach’
  7. Season of Life by Jeffrey Marx – about Joe Ehrmann
  8. Leading with the Heart by Mike Krzyzewski
  9. The Talent Code by Daniel Coyle
  10. The Best-Laid Plans of a High School Basketball CEO by Randy Montgomery and Matt Kramer
  11. The River of Doubt by Candice Millard – about Teddy Roosevelt dealing with defeat by challenging himself to a huge audacious goal
  12. Teaching to Change Lives by Dr. Howard Hendricks
  13. How Children Succeed by Paul Tough
  14. The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey
  15. The 10X Rule by Grant Cardone ‘Never cut anything, never dilute greatness, never pull back on your horsepower, and never put a limit on your ambition, drive, and passion. Demand obsession of yourself and all those around you.’
  16. David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell
  17. What a Coach can teach a teacher by Tharp&Gallimore – Followed John Wooden and analyzes the % of his communication
  18. The Sports Gene by David Epstein
  19. Mindset by Carol Dweck
  20. The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon – Get the energy vampires off the bus and surround yourselves with energy-givers and life-givers
  21. Double goal coach by Jim Thompson of PCA
  22. The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel Siegel
  23. The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni
  24. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey
  25. Coaching Made Easier: How to Successfully Manage Your Youth Baseball Team—A Step-by-Step Guide to a Rewarding Season by Rod Huff
  26. Coaching Basketball Successfully by Morgan Wootten
  27. Win Forever by Pete Carroll
  28. The Score Takes Care of Itself by Bill Walsh
  29. Positivity by Barbara Frederickson – Great book for self-talk
  30. The Female Brain by Louann Brizendine
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May 31, 2016

WYC 081 – Building Culture – John Doss talks building a program with awesome culture

John just finished 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 previously joined us in WYC Episode 52, but I asked him to join us again to share the awesome ways he has built an incredible culture into his program.

Twitter: @laxcoachdoss

Websites: brownsburglacrosse.com; indyelitelacrosse.com

 

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Starting a High School program

  • Communication
    • High school kids don’t check email much – so you might have to text or use a social media group
    • Own it – if the kids aren’t understanding something, that’s on me, not them
  • Everything starts with trust – ‘Build a relationship so strong that it bears the weight of honesty’

Mission 2 Assist

  • How do you have kids value assists as much as goals?
  • John used system described by Willie Cromack in WYC Episode 63:
    • John worked with 3 of the team captains to let them take ownership of it
    • They partnered with an adaptive sports wheelchair lacrosse program
    • They used the walk-a-thon type forms to fundraise – but used assists as the pledge criteria
    • By the end of the season they have raised almost $10k for that organization
    • Link to Go Play Better: GoPlayBetter.com

Culture and pre-game routine

  • They have helmet stickers with 3 chain links. In their pre game they link arms and talk about how strong a chain is and how they are there to play for the person on their right and left
  • The second part of their pre-game routine they share with each other what they are grateful for
  • The final thing they do is visualize, as specifically as possible, the success they are going to have in the game

Post-game talks & the 24 Hour Rule

  • John has converted the 24 hour rule that he uses with parents (parents don’t talk to me about issues for at least 24 hours after a game)- he now uses that same rule to not point out issues to his players immediately after the game. They usually aren’t in the mindset to listen or learn, so he saves it for the next practice.

Communicating with players – the ‘0 for 2’ Rule

  • When communicating instructions from the sideline – be careful not to go 0 for 2 – meaning your communication had a negative tone, and had no instructional value. Yelling ‘play harder’ or ‘catch the ball’ are examples of 0 for 2 communication.

Free Play Saturdays

  • This summer John is telling parents they can drop off their kids from 4 to 6 every Saturday and there will be pick-up games. Their will be 2 or 3 coaches there to make sure everyone is staying safe, but other than they the coaches are staying out of the way and letting the kids figure out teams, resolve arguments, pretty much do everything themselves. This is great not only for developing their skills, but it also teaches them conflict resolution and many other great life skills.

Parting Advice

  • John asked one of his kids: ‘If I told you that if you practiced wall-ball for 25 minutes 3 times per week that I would guarantee you start and play 100% of the time next season, would you do it?’ – The kid answered ‘Yes’, then John asked him ‘Then why aren’t you doing that now?’ John uses this challenge to let kids know that things in life aren’t guaranteed, but if you prepare with the mindset that you are going to outwork your competition, most of the time you are going to have great success

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May 27, 2016

Achieving Peak Mental Performance – Factor #7: Let ’em struggle

The Growth Mindset – 7 Key Factors to Achieve Peak Mental Performance​​​​​​​
Factor #7 – Creating the mindset of an expert – by letting ’em struggle
One of my favorite movies is My Cousin Vinny (OK I know I’m dating myself a bit.) Vinny struggles in the courtroom because he has no experience. That is until the topic switches to something that he and his foot-stomping ‘my biological clock is ticking’ fiancé are experts in – cars. Then the entire mood shifts. Vinny’s demeanor changes from someone who is overmatched and overwhelmed to a confident and brash attorney.
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Athletes can have the same type of overmatched and overwhelmed feeling in a game since they probably aren’t experts at their sport yet. So how can you help switch their mindset so they feel like they are an expert? This is where I rely on experts such as Daniel Coyle in The Talent Code and Carol Dweck in Mindset. Coyle debunks the 10,000 hour rule myth, citing:
‘The real goal: finding ways to constantly reach past the edge of your current ability.
The real lesson of 10K is not about quantity; it’s about quality. It’s about getting the maximum possible gain in the shortest amount of time — and to get that, you don’t focus on the time, but on the gain. You put your focus on improving the practice, which happens two ways: through better methods or increased intensity.
To be clear:
1. Certain kinds of learning — deep, or deliberate practice — are transformative.
2. That transformation is a construction process.
3. That construction process depends on your intensive reaching and repeating in the sweet spot on the edge of your ability.’
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Did you catch that: ‘intensive reaching and repeating in the sweet spot on the edge of your ability.’
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Building a mentally strong athlete means you have to let them struggle. Not a struggle of despair and stress of trying to accomplish the impossible, but rather a struggle of trying to accomplish a task that is just out of reach of their current ability. And here is where Dweck’s research ties in – the only way they are going to be able to reach that next level is by problem solving. Trial and error. Failures turned into successes.
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So to be a master coach – you have to be constantly evaluating where your team and each athlete is at, and figure out how to stretch them into that ‘sweet spot on the edge of their ability.’ Here a few practical ways some of the coaches I have interviewed do this:
  • Construct developmental stages that kids graduate from.
    • Melody Shuman, founder of a martial arts school called Skillz Connect, identifies 7 or 8 skills appropriate for the age. She uses the Goldilocks concept to define these skills – Not too hot, not too cold, but just the right level that is a slight challenge, but attainable. Then she will focus on one of these in each practice. They have a test at the end of the practice, and if they pass they get their ‘stripe’ for that skill.
    • After they have passed the test for each of the skills, they graduate to the next level. Moving up a level is a big recognition and there is a group celebration.
    • Spend the time listening to 2 great podcasts on this subject:
  • Lee Miller from Elite Hoops Basketball calls it ‘Living by numbers’ – They have created 15 core drills that can be measured numerically. They keep track of the results, then they focus on improvement.
  • Fear of failure- Great analogy – Olaniyi Sobomehin, former Saints’ running back and founder of I’mNotYou.com, said his son hates to lose and might quit in the middle of a race. So he used the analogy of how obsessed his son is with Mario Kart to beat a level – when he fails to complete a level – he doesn’t quit, he keeps pushing reset until he eventually will beat the level.  So use this analogy to show your athlete the type of passion you need to accomplish something – quitting is the only way you will fail.
  • Scott Rosberg from Proactive Coaching reinforced that as a coach, be sure to use the words: ‘Look what you’ve become!’ or ‘Look what you were able to figure out’ – instead of taking any credit yourself.
There may be no bigger confidence builder than overcoming an obstacle and solving a problem. So let ’em struggle, then celebrate like crazy when they figure it out.
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I hope you have learned as much from this series as I have in doing the research on it. If you missed any of the previous factors check them out here:
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May 20, 2016

Achieving Peak Mental Performance – Factor #6: Stop Telling Players ‘It’s just a game’

The Growth Mindset – 7 Key Factors to Achieve Peak Mental Performance​​​​​​​
Factor #6 – Why tell your mind ‘This is not important’ – When it really is?!
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We’ve established the importance that playing present is a key factor, if not THE key factor in achieving peak mental performance. So of course the million dollar question is- HOW DO YOU PLAY PRESENT? In Factor 4 we talked about effective ways to mentally recover from mistakes, so forgetting about the past is part of it. But what I’ve found is the tougher part to master is not the past, but the future. In any situation where you’re doing something that is important to you – it’s natural for the mind to wonder:
‘What happens if I mess this up and I lose future opportunities to do this thing I love?’ 
One of the most common mistakes I’ve seen coaches and parents do (and I’m sure I’ve done it) is to tell a kid ‘It’s just a game – don’t get stressed or worry about it, it’s just not that important in the big picture.’ That is a lie. If it’s something they’ve been working hard to achieve, then it is important. And realistically – have you ever seen this advice work? Have you ever heard a kid say ‘Oh, OK, thanks coach, you’re right, I don’t care if I win this match, thanks, now I’m relaxed!’ So if it really is important, how do we train our minds to remove the future consequences from our thought process? I’ve asked this question to a lot of really smart people in this field, and here are some actionable steps to help:
  • For pre-game nerves: Don’t deny it or try to squelch it!  Embrace it – be excited that you are having pre-game excitement.  It means that this is important to you.  Your body is responding to make you as sharp as possible by waking up all of these feelings and nerves, and you can tap into that strength. – Coach Kevin Kennedy
  • Lighten the mood:
    • One method is a trigger mechanism – something you have practiced and evaluated what works with each individual – something to get the player to smile.  Maybe it’s slapping your leg.  Maybe it’s a teammate saying ‘Spongebob is ugly’, etc.  – Coach Robert Taylor
    • The Knute Rockne-type speeches by a coach often take the fun out of the game and cause the kids to tighten up – just let them go play and have fun – Coach John Doss
    • Be relaxed as a coach – 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 – Coach Jason Larocque
    • Make sure they know your approval of them is not tied to results but rather effort.  ‘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. – Coach/Author Michael Langlois
    • The game/performance is just your showcase to have fun and shows off the hard work you have been putting in – Band Director Cameron Gish
  • Try to get the athlete to see the small picture – don’t get overwhelmed by thinking of the big picture – ask the athlete to think of a small victory they can picture – Coach Stacie Mahoe
  • Change the focus off themselves – It’s not about you – Show up to play for your teammates – Coach Ken Stuursma and Coach Creed Larrucea
The goal is to keep ‘Zooming In.‘ The starting point is a huge picture of all past failures and future consequences. Then, using tools such as the ones listed above, we are helping the athlete narrow that window to a smaller and smaller timeframe, eventually getting into a present mindset. I really like Stacie’s advice above to get the athlete to picture a small victory. Picture this conversation with a softball player worried about a big game:
Player:  I don’t know if I can do this, what if I go 0 for 4?
Coach:  Let’s forget about those next 3 at-bats, just focus on this one. Can you picture yourself driving the ball up the middle?
Player: I don’t know. I’m so nervous I don’t think I can even swing the bat. What if I strike out looking without even swinging?
Coach: How about this: can you picture yourself taking an ugly hack at just one pitch this at bat? I mean a way uglier swing than those funny videos you girls were watching yesterday on your phone. Even if you totally miss the ball, do you think you can just get the bat off your shoulders and take a hack?
Player (snickering a little because she’s picturing a really ugly swing): I guess I could do that. Why would I want to take an ugly swing?
Coach: Well, good point. I’ve seen your swing and it’s so natural and fun to watch. So let’s get one really good swing in this at bat and go from there.
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Even if they miss, they have overcome their initial nerves. Then that second swing is going to be easier. Then you can turn the process around and start adding small goals. After they have a good swing at a pitch, ask them if they could picture connecting with a pitch and hitting it hard. And it grows from there…
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May 19, 2016

WYC 080 – Youth Baseball – David Klein talks Living a Legends Life

David Klein is the founder and Camp Director of the Menlo Park Legends Youth Summer camps – a premier collegiate summer baseball team and youth baseball camps in California. The Legends youth summer camp has nearly doubled in size every summer and the camp boasts over a 90% camper return rate. David and his staff have thousands of kids through the Legends camp program in 6 years and have been featured in a number of local blogs and newspapers. They also feature a youth academy and an exciting new podcast!

Twitter: @MenloDave

Facebook: /MenloParkLegends

Website/Podcast:menloparklegends.com

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘If you work hard and focus on the little things – good things will happen’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Early on he always taught kids to swing down on the baseball
  • Early on David did not spend very much time on the mental side of the game

Teaching Skills

  • Make a game and competition out of everything in practice
  • Be vocal, high-energy – and connect with the kids!

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • Visualize your successes before they happen
  • Breathing- Breathing in oxygen into your lungs reduces cortisol levels/stress hormones
  • Have the kids develop a personal power statement – and have them create few words that represent that and write them somewhere (inside of their hats) to anchor on
  • Track Quality-at-bats instead of batting average

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Positive reinforcement works better than negative disciplines
  • For your rules – establish them at the beginning of the season, not in the middle
  • David emphasizes ‘looking the part’ – looking well dressed and being organized as a team
  • Praise progress instead of purely praising results
  • Post-game talk: Spend a few minutes debriefing – what worked well today, what can we work on in practice, acknowledge kids helping the team and progressing. Don’t get too high or too low!

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • ‘If you work hard and focus on the little things – good things will happen’ – David took over a team that was 0-4 and he told them he believed in them and if they work hard good things will happen – they went on to win the league championship

The One that Got Away

  • David coached a team that was in a championship game and the umpires made the worst call he had ever seen – and his team went nuts – to the point the umpires called the game in the 8th inning. David learned that as the coach – you have to be in control no matter what- and you cannot let your players or coaches get out of control

Best stolen idea

  • From his Dad – ‘You can please all of  the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time.’
  • Qualityatbats.com – from Steve Springer

Podcast

  • Link: A Legends Life Podcast
  • Applying lessons from the diamond into a legendary life off the field – includes interviews with many former big-leaguers

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May 16, 2016

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

The Growth Mindset – 7 Key Factors to Achieve Peak Mental Performance​​​​​​​
Factor #5 – Simplify
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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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May 12, 2016

WYC 079 – Mental Performance – Lindsey Wilson talks breaking out of slumps and coaching girls

As the Co-Founder and Product/Program guru for Positive Performance, Lindsey works with athletes and coaches to unlock player and team potential through mental performance training. As an athlete, Lindsey had the privilege to play on many successful teams and collect an impressive playing resume along the way. As a mental training coach, Lindsey has developed mental performance training tools and techniques for universities, teams, and organizations across the globe.

Twitter: @lindseywilson13

Facebook: /positiveperformance

Website/blog: positiveperformancetraining.com

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘Change happens slowly and then all at once’

Visualization

  • Make it realistic (i.e.- I will never be able to dunk) – but make it a little out of reach
  • Your mind will naturally think of both positive and negative thoughts – be prepared for this & acknowledge the negative though non-judgementally
  •  BRAVR exercise – 5 minute pre-practice visualization routine – download it for free: positiveperform.clickfunnels.com/5min-a

Confidence in Girls vs. Boys

  • Girls develop the ability to read faces much earlier than boys – so because of that they are often looking for positive affirmation much more than boys. The danger of this is the girls might stop taking risks.
  • Typically girls have a much stronger need to create harmony within the team. Hunter-gatherer theory: As men were out hunting by themselves, the women were back raising children with the other women – so the need to get along was very important.
  • Socially – as men move up the corporate ladder, they are more liked. The opposite is true for women, as they move up and are more successful, they typically are less liked.

How to get out of a slump

  • Sometimes we actually like the extra attention
  • Momentum – It’s easier to keep going the direction we are going – so even if it’s a negative direction, we keep going. You have to break that negative path. Self-Talk is a great way to do it. We think 50,000 words per day- and the majority of it is negative (that’s a survival technique.)
  • ‘To be successful you have to lie to yourself a little bit. If you are not failing a lot – you are not pushing yourself hard enough, so realistically most of your time should be spent pushing yourself through those failures. But that’s mentally hard to get excited about, so you have to lie to yourself a little bit.’
  • Great post: positiveperformancetraining.com/slump/

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Lindsey shares a story of a 10 year-old girl who had lost confidence and hope, and was crying during games. Lindsey worked with the girl and her parents to re-establish a guiding light and hope to break out of that mindset. The girl is 14 now and is doing great.

The One that Got Away

  • Not playing at the end of the championship game her freshman year and they lost by 1

Favorite coaching book/quote

Positive Performance Training

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May 9, 2016

Achieving Peak Mental Performance – Factor #4: Our mind is a powerful beast to tame

The Growth Mindset – 7 Key Factors to Achieve Peak Mental Performance​​​​​​​
Factor #4 – Playing present & Mistake recovery
Our mind is a powerful beast to tame. Another powerful lesson I learned from Gallwey’s The Inner Game of Tennis is the concept of the battle going on in your mind between your 2 selfs. In summary – Self 1 is the mind and the loud voice, Self 2 is the body, the quiet doer. Where things get out of whack is when Self 1 starts to overthink the importance of what you are doing. Thoughts about past failures or future consequences of your performance will tighten up an athlete and make it impossible to perform at a high level. We’ll dive into a bunch of great ways to de-emphasize the importance of competitions in Factor #6, but here are a few fundamental ways to keep your mind focused on the present:
  • Tim Corbin, national championship baseball coach at Vanderbilt uses the term ‘Play in the middle.’ He teaches his athletes to not think about the past, not think about the future, but rather to stay in the middle. The only thing you need to focus on is the next play.
  • Ray Lokar, PCA coach and speaker, uses the acronym WIN – Whats Important Now. In high pressure situations – have the kids focus on ONE thing that is important (i.e. hold your follow through) – don’t tell them more than one thing or their head will be swimming with too many concerns.
  • Mistake recovery routine – You will make mistakes. You need to have a predetermined response to what you are going to do about them. Coach John Doss has a goalie that beats himself up after any goal allowed – he tells the kid he can take 3 seconds to be upset, then move on.  He will even count 1,2,3 out loud so the kid remembers. Many athletes have developed physical actions to ‘flush’ mistakes:
    • ​​​​​​​Make a small motion with your hand of you ‘flushing’ that mistake away
    • A double-tap on your chest – 1st tap is me saying ‘my bad,’ 2nd tap is me saying ‘I’m over it and am focused on the next play.’
    • A brush of your shoulder to ‘brush’ away the mistake
Quiet your mind. Gallwey uses the analogy of a cat waiting to pounce on a bird. The cat isn’t thinking about it’s posture, what each leg needs to do when attacking, or what the other cats will think about it if it misses. It simply is thinking about what that bird is going to taste like in it’s mouth.
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May 3, 2016

WYC 078 – College Scholarships – Nicolae Popescu talks college recruiting

Nicolae Popescu has built WeGotPlayers for those athletes who dream, hustle and work hard to play at the next level. For those players, who always had the desire to train, learn, take risks and fail graciously. The kind of players who have character, values, work ethic and a sharp mindset that will push them to do whatever it takes to succeed.

WeGotPlayers is designed to inspire and empower players to reach their highest potential in sports and life. With so much information out there, it’s so hard to know where to start, what to do and who to trust. They are here to help you unleash your talent so it won’t get lost in the shadows of empty hopes. Navigating through the college recruiting process himself and thanks to all the wonderful and helpful coaches and teachers he worked with, Nicolae has been fortunate to earn a full athletic scholarship at Quinnipiac University in Hamden, CT.

Today, he’s a proud husband, father, entrepreneur and coach who always tries to positively influence and help guide players on and off the field achieve their sports dreams. This is what fulfills him and gives him the power, energy and strength to keep on inspiring others achieve their dreams. Nicolae’s story is just one example of how playing sports changed his life.

Twitter: @1NicolaePopescu

Facebook: /wegotplayers

Website/blog: wegotplayers.com

 

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

–

Quote

‘Learn from your mistakes. Have the power and the strength within yourself. Lift yourself back up. Try again. And again.’

3-step plan for athlete to prepare for recruiting process

  1. Evaluate –
    • Has your athlete completed all academic requirements? Start looking at this in 9th grade.
    • Be realistic athletically
  2. Identify
    • Identify some criteria you will be evaluating when looking at schools: geographic location, academic requirements, do they offer the major you want to study, coaching staff and playing philosophy
  3. Connect
    • The kids need to email the college coaches themselves

We Got Players

  • Website/blog: wegotplayers.com
  • A very low-cost tool to help educate parents and coaches on the recruiting process and help create a Linkedin-type resume to share with colleges

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Nicolae shared a story of a sophomore in high school who just verbally committed to a Division 2 school. You can’t wait until your senior year to start this process! And most importantly – choose a school based on its academics, not athletics!

Teaching Skills

  • Communication is key – you have to be crystal clear explaining to the kids what you want them to do. Using language they understand.

The One that got away

  • From his junior college days – Nicolae had a free kick that he wishes he had played differently in a game that could have moved them on to the finals. Lessons learned: ‘Learn from your mistakes. Have the power and the strength within yourself. Lift yourself back up. Try again. And try again.’

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • It doesn’t matter what level you are coaching at – always remember who you coach. It’s not about you being a great coach, it’s about you knowing and developing young men and women.

Other recruiting services

Parting Advice

  • Enjoy the journey. Educate yourself and learn. Use lots of positive feedback, especially at younger ages. Keep it fun.

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April 29, 2016

Achieving Peak Mental Performance – Factor #3: We become what we think about

The Growth Mindset – 7 Key Factors to Achieve Peak Mental Performance​​​​​​​
Factor #3 – Visualization
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Did you see Jay Wright’s reaction after his player hit one of the most memorable shots in NCAA history to win the national championship? He simply nodded his head and proceeded to go shake hands with Roy Williams. How is that possible? One of the players on the high school lacrosse team I help coach made a game-winning goal a few weeks ago in a regular season game and we all jumped around like fools. How did Jay remain so calm? The only possible explanation is that Jay completely buys in to the concept presented in Earl Nightingale’s landmark speech The Strangest Secret: ‘We become what we think about…Picture yourself in your mind’s eye as having already achieved this goal. See yourself doing the things you’ll be doing when you’ve reached your goal.’ Jay, deep down in his heart, truly believed his team was a national championship team, so why would he act surprised when his team achieved this goal?
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The same is true for athletes at all levels. They will become what they think about. If they think they are the 5th best player on the team, that is exactly what they will become. Muhammad Ali said ‘I am the greatest. I said that before I even knew I was.’ So how do we get kids to imagine themselves being successful? The first step is we as coaches and parents have to truly believe they are going to be. Then here are some powerful next steps:
  • From The Inner Game of Tennis – Have them react as if they hit a perfect shot regardless of the result: Tell them you are going to use your phone to take video of their reaction after the next 5 shots. You are not going to video the shot result itself, you will be at an angle that will only record their reaction. And here is the key – regardless of how they hit the shot – you want them to react as if they are Lebron James (or whatever athlete they will identify with for your sport) and they had just hit the perfect shot to beat their opponent. The interesting observation is how successful their shots will be when they are not putting any importance on the actual result of the shot itself.
  • Think about how you frame things: it should be framed as a positive. Don’t say ‘Don’t drop this pass’, instead say: ‘Make a great catch on this pass’
  • Sports psychologist Dr. Lindsey Blom teaches on the power of using analogies: Have kids picture themselves as 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. For younger ages – have the kids physically wiggle around and say they are cooked noodles.
  • Master self-talk and quiet your mind: My good friend Jenn Starkey from MVP Leadership Academy shared a great video with me with 7 confidence hacks – and #’s 6 and 7 are about visualization and mastering self-talk – check it out.
  • Confidence is a choice. My friend Olaniyi Sobomehin, former NFL running back and founder of I’m Not You blog and podcasts – has his kids start each day by looking in the mirror and doing ‘Affirmations’, they call it ‘Prime-time.’ They flex their muscles and tell themselves they are strong, confident, and proud. They also record audio of their affirmations in GarageBand laid on top of their favorite track.
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We become what we think about. It’s so powerful. If we can master the images in our head, we truly can accomplish whatever we set our minds to.
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April 22, 2016

Achieving Peak Mental Performance – Factor #2: We are what we repeatedly do

The Growth Mindset – 7 Key Factors to Achieve Peak Mental Performance​​​​​​​
Factor #2 – We are what we repeatedly do
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‘We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.’ – Pete Carroll in Win Forever
The best way to minimize performance anxiety is practice: For every minute of a presentation, you need 1 hour of preparation – the same is true in sports. One of the best things you can do to prepare your athletes for high-pressure situations is to create practices that build up the confidence of players so when these types of situations occur in games they are experienced and know exactly what they are going to do. So how do you create practices like this? Here are some great guidelines:
  • Lots of small-sided games. Kids need lots of touches, and you get more touches with the ball if you are 3 on 3 vs. 5 on 5 or 11 on 11.
  • Freeplay is huge. No parents or coaches. Try having a silent Saturday – coaches and parents aren’t allowed to say ANYTHING.
  • Task design – from Stuart Armstrong of The Talent Equation and Reed Maltbie from CoachReed.com.
    • Don’t jump in too early – 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. So the players shouldn’t think everything is easy and fun – it should be a little frustrating and uncomfortable.
    • Implicit Learning – False praise and spoon-feeding kids actually creates a fixed mindset in them. Create the task, then say very little – and observe their attempt to solve the problem, and observe what choices they make, then allow them through a questioning approach subsequent to the activity to feed back to you what they are experiencing, then allow them to solve problems.
    • Give them a challenge, and see if one of the players can figure it out on their own. If one does – let him/her show the team. If not, give them a hint and let them keep trying.
    • Design your practices like a video game designer: Create ‘levels’ that are within their reach, but it’s a big stretch that might feel just out of their reach. So when they figure something out – ask them ‘are you ready for level 2 now?’
Knowing that you are outworking your competition is a huge confidence-builder – I love the quote in a recent article about Kobe Bryant’s work ethic:
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“It’s not so much to do with the competition of the players and all this other stuff,” he said, “because I figured out at an early age, even if I showed them what it is that I do, they wouldn’t do it, just because it’s so boring and so much repetition that it takes a long time to do.”
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April 21, 2016

WYC 077 – Way of Champions Transformational Coaching – John O’Sullivan talks leadership

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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 10, and Tiernan, age 8.

Twitter: @CTGProjectHQ

Facebook: /SportsParentingResourceCenter

Website/blog: changingthegameproject.com

Way of Champions Conference link: changingthegameproject.com/wocconference

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Way of Champions – Transformational Coaching Conference

Dr. Jerry Lynch is the founder of Way of Champions, and has been part of 35 national and world championship teams, from the Golden State Warriors to UNC Women’s Soccer. He is the author of 12 books on leadership, championship culture, and coaching/parenting to win in sport and life.

At the Way of Champions Coaching Conference, you will spend a weekend being inspired by Jerry, John, and dozens of other transformational leaders.

Early-bird pricing if you sign up before May 1st – Click here to see more details about the conference

Leadership  – Great blog posts on Changing the Game Project

  • Bullying – Know the difference between being rude, being mean, and bullying – link to article
  • Captains – You have to train them! Also – just because a kid is a quiet introvert doesn’t mean they can’t be a captain – learn how to utilize their quieter leadership style to help lead the team.
  • How Adults take the joy out of sports – and how we can fix it – link to article

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April 18, 2016

Achieving Peak Mental Performance – Factor #1: Focus On The Process, Not The Outcome
The Growth Mindset – 7 Key Factors to Achieve Peak Mental Performance​​​​​​​
Factor #1 – Focus on the Process, not the Outcome
There are so many beautiful aspects of playing, coaching, and watching sports. The training, the teamwork, the thrill of a hard-fought victory. There are also many heartbreaks of tough losses, frustrations over bad calls or poor sportsmanship, and disappointments when situations out of your control go awry. The one ingredient I have seen in wise coaches, parents, and players who successfully handle the highs and lows of team sports is they have learned to:
COMPETE as “if to win” not “for the win”
Having this mindset takes the pressure off winning. You don’t have to live and die by the results of each shot, or lose your mind and scream at the ref when he makes a bad call. Those things do not impact your goals for the game – which should not be tied to the final scoreboard. This is easier said than done. Here are some wise practices to get in this mindset:
  • Set a few mini-goals within the game and emphasize those instead of the winning. Celebrate the little steps, don’t go overboard on celebrating wins/losses.
  • Set goals for your kids to try a new move during a game that you have been working on in practice. Willie Cromack during his interview shared with me one of my new favorite quotes for a coach to use: ‘Who is going to be brave enough to try this new move during the game this week?’
  • Have an intentional plan to not pull players immediately after they make a mistake in a game – you want to teach your players to play aggressive and loose, not in fear.
  • Set very clear expectations to your players on how you want them to play the game. Coach John Doss tells his team: ‘Make the right lacrosse play, we’re not worried about the results.’
  • Author Al Ainsworth shared with me a good analogy – in singing: you can’t hold back – ‘Make big fat ugly mistakes’
​​​​​​​When Lebron James was struggling with free throws a few years ago- he went to a shooting coach, and the coach asked him what he was thinking about when he went to the line. Lebron said he was thinking about making it. The coach said- ‘Don’t think about making it, think about your process.’
Next week we’ll dive into how great coaches like Pete Carroll know that practicing pressure situations is the best way to prepare for them in games.

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April 12, 2016

WYC 076 – Youth Baseball – Colby Patnode talks rewarding Quality at Bats

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

Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

Quote

‘Adversity turns weak teams into victims and strong teams into competitors’

My Cringe Moments

  • Colby was frustrated with a call – and instead of going out to talk to the umpire- he threw a baseball into the empty field next to him. Then to make matters worse- when a parent asked him to set a better example – he told the parent to sit down.

Communication with parents

  • The key is to establish communication early  and let the parents know you plans right from the start. Then over-communicate with everything going on with the team.
  • Colby asks the parents to not talk to him during games or practices – and to wait at least 3-4 hours after a game.

Teaching Skills

  • Never assume that kids know something until you see them do it – always start with the basics. ‘Learn your learner’ – Pete Carroll phrase – it starts with understanding each kid and where they are at
  • No live batting practice – Coach Patnode finds it is a waste of time for most of the players.
  • Keep everything competitive – Coach will break up into 2 teams of six and then have them all bunt and keep track of which team lays down more successful bunts, do the same with hit and runs, etc.

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • Kids will perform much better when they play for each other vs. playing out of fear
  • Set specific and achievable goals, and then expect for them to be met by the players

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • The more rules you have – the more rules kids are going to break
  • 3 rules:
    • 1- Protect the team
    • 2 – Protect the brand/game
    • 3- Do your best

HUGE IDEA

  • Quality at Bats – Instead of keeping on-base % or batting average – Keep the stat that rewards the behavior you want – a hard hit ball – Then set your lineup based on the highest Quality-At-Bat %

Impacting Kids

  • Coach Patnode witnessed one kid who lacked confidence turn things around and start playing aggressively after the coaches continued to encourage him to play without fear of mistakes
  • Coach had another kid who when the pitching coach went to the mound to take him out said ‘Get off my mound, I’m finishing this’ – great example of a kid not giving up and not wanting the easy way out but wanting to grind

The One that got away

  • Colby shares a story of almost making it to the state championship his senior year- but getting upset by a team they probably shouldn’t have.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

  • Cobly realized that some of the high school kids were intimidated by having a coach who was so close to the same age as them – so he told them to call him Colby or Patnode – they didn’t have to call him coach
  • Whatever level you are coaching at – get to know the coaches at the next level, and ask them about expectations for new players – then implement some of these standards and let the kids know you are doing it to prepare them for the next level

Favorite coaching book/quote

Parting Advice

  • Treat everyone fair, but don’t treat them all the same. Understand why each kid is out there.

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April 11, 2016

The Growth Mindset – Achieving Peak Mental Performance – New 7 Week Series

The Growth Mindset – Achieving Peak Mental Performance
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In the past 5 days we have witnessed 2 of the biggest extremes in mental performance you will ever see in sports.
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Situation #1:
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picture courtesy of Newsweek
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They call him Big Smooth. He just hit one of the most clutch shots in NCAA basketball history. It’s the shot we all practiced and imagined when shooting in the driveways as kids. I think it’s safe to say he achieved peak mental performance.
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Situation #2:
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picture courtesy of ESPN
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They call him the Big Easy. He just had the highest score on Hole #1 in the 80 year Masters history. The newsworthy part of the story was that he 6-putted from 3 feet away. It is painful to watch, for those of us old enough to remember it brought back memories of Greg Norman’s collapse at the same golf course.
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So what allowed one athlete to achieve peak mental performance while the other struggled to perform at all? This is a fascinating and complicated question. In this new series we’ll look at 7 key factors that allow athletes to achieve peak performance. The key resources this information is drawn from will be many great coaches interviewed on the WYC podcast, and 2 must-read books whose philosophies are interwoven throughout all 7 factors:
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Mindset – by Carol Dweck
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I have learned a great deal from incredible coaches on this subject over the past several years and look forward to sharing it over the next 7 weeks. Next week we’ll get things started taking about how to focus on the process, not the outcome.
Here’s a preview of the content:
  1. Focus on the process, not the outcome – Link
  2. Practice is the best preparation – Link
  3. Imagery & Self-talk – Link
  4. ‘Play present’ & Mistake-recovery routines – Link
  5. SIMPLIFY! – Link
  6. How do you de-emphasize the importance of the moment? – Link
  7. Developmental stages & celebrations – Link
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April 1, 2016

3 Things I Learn From Sports-Talk Radio & What I’m Doing About It (You Should Too!)

Tired of Sports Radio? Frustrated with the lack of positive messages for youth sports?  CHOOSE to do something about it. 
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Image – Is there an alternative to sports talk radio? pictured: iTunes Sports Podcasts
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I listen to a fair amount of sports radio, and most of the time afterwards I have learned:
  • The __________ (fill in name of your local professional sports teams) are run by morons
  • Professional athletes get in a lot of trouble, particularly after midnight
  • There are plenty of male clinics to help you with any bedroom performance issues you are having
I wrote a few months ago about 4 books that have changed my life, click here to see that post. Today I want to share a few podcasts that constantly change and improve me. I have found podcasts to be a much more productive use of my time vs. sports talk radio. Some of these podcasts I share have huge audiences, and others are new and up-and-upcoming. I have gotten to know all of these hosts – And I’m asking you to not just read this email, but to TAKE ACTION on it. It says in James in the Bible:
      ‘Let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth’
So I am asking you to check out these podcasts – and if you believe in them and their message – help get the word out and keep them going by writing a review. Stop complaining about what’s happening in youth sports…and do something about it.  iTunes reviews can be a bit tricky to enter, so I made some easy-to-follow instructions with screenshots- get them here.
  1. The Hardwood Hustle podcast – Alan Stein and Adam Bradley
  2. The Football Coaching podcast – Joe Daniel
  3. The Sports Parenting podcast – Janis Meredith
  4. Teamsnap Youth Sports podcast – Emily Cohen
  5. 100% Athlete podcast – Reed Maltbie and colleagues
  6. Mind over Sport podcast – Warren Nye
  7. Athlete on Fire podcast – Scott Jones
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March 29, 2016

WYC 075 – Proactive Coaching – Scott Rosberg talks Coaching with Character

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘Look what you’ve become!’

‘You get what you reward, and it perpetuates itself’

My Cringe Moments

  • Using bad language when coaching
  • Once, when mad in practice, Scott yelled ‘There is nothing fun about this!’ – in retrospect he realizes the irony of that statement, considering the #1 reason kids play sports is to have fun.
  • Another practice Scott once had them do conditioning during a lightning storm

My ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Learning from Proactive Coaching about creating a culture. 75+% of teams let their culture happen ‘by accident.’  Instead – create Core Covenants – that are the standards for what your team is going to be. Involve the captains when creating these. Check out Proactive Coaching’s guide to creating Core Covanants: First Steps to Building Successful Teams
  • From a parenting point of view – Kids least favorite part of sports is the post-game analysis from their parents on the ride home from games
  • From a coaching point of view – Are your post-game talks too long? Are you over-analzing the game in your post-game talk?

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • ‘This is a relationship business.’ How do I react when one of my players makes a mistake? The 3 C’s of Trust:
    • Competence
    • Caring
    • Character
  • ‘Focus on the process not the outcome.’ When Lebron James was struggling with free throws a few years ago- he went to a shooting coach, and the coach asked him what he was thinking about when he went to the line. Lebron said he thought about making it. The coach said- ‘Don’t think about making it, think about your process.’
  • The key to confidence is preparation
  • Create a mistake-recovery ritual

HUGE IDEA:

  • Use these words: ‘Look what you’ve become!’ or ‘Look what you were able to figure out’ – instead of taking any credit yourself

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Have standards not rules. Kids can rise to standards.
  • Discipline is focused attention and focused effort
  • ‘You get what you reward, and it perpetuates itself’

HUGE IDEA

  • Positive Conditioning – The winners get to run!
    • You have to put all your attention/effort into recognizing the kids who are earning the right to run.
    • For poor effort: ‘You guys just lost your chance to become better. You lost your chance to condition.’
  • Year-end Award Banquet – Instead of MVP – reward the MVT – Most Valuable Teammate. Or even better – have 6 awards: Most Improved, one for each of your 4 core covenants, and one for who best exemplified all 4 core covenants. And the same kid can earn multiple awards.

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • ‘Success is a peace of mind that is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.’ – John Wooden

Coach With Character

  • Senior Salute booklet – great $5 gift for you players in the post-season award banquet – includes a place inside the front cover to write a personal note
  • Website has blog, booklets: coachwithcharacter.com

Parting Advice

  • ‘We’re here to try to provide kids the opportunity to have a positive athletic experience’

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March 25, 2016

More Than Words- Fill Your Mind With Positivity Part 4 of 4

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Coaches often use inspirational words and quotes to motivate their teams. Coaching, like life, is a rollercoaster ride full of peaks and valleys, and it is important to fill your mind with positivity to help you persevere through the valleys. So over the next 4 weeks I’ll share the words of coaches who have motivated me over the past 2 years while sharing their wisdom on the WYC podcast. I hope they motivate you as much as they have me!
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Let’s overload Twitter with positivity this week! Pick out your favorite 1 or 2 quotes and share it by clicking on the ‘Click to tweet’ link.
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Chris Stricker: ‘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.’   Click to Tweet  Podcast episode
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Jill Kochanek: ‘The perfect time to build confidence is in practice’  Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Steve Boyle: ‘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.’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Warren Nye: ‘Success is a peace of mind, which is a direct result of self satisfaction, in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.’ – John Wooden   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Valeri Garcia: ‘Stop trying to coach at a pre-college level – coach them at the level that they are right now.’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Drew Maddux: ‘We were running the program with a fear-based approach instead of a freedom-based approach. – Boundaried Freedom – Create the culture and boundaries – and then give them the freedom to go make plays’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Creed Larrucea: ‘Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out’ – John Wooden   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Reed Maltbie: ‘Words echo – the words you use when coaching kids matter – be careful choosing what words you use. What’s your echo – coach beyond the game’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Willie Cromrack: ‘Who is going to be brave enough to try this new move during the game this week?’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Melody Shuman: ‘Have every student become a better version of themselves’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Jason Hahnstadt on running sprints: ‘Raise your hand when you are committing to your teammates that this will be your best effort.’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Adam Bradley: ‘The drug of choice amongst the youth of today is popularity’ – Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Stuart Armstrong: ‘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.’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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Robert Murphy: ‘Wrestling at young ages without training is like human cock-fighting. It’s child abuse.’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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March 21, 2016

WYC 074 – Championship basketball – Andres Montana talks about the power of trust and believing in kids

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

Nothing has worked better to build kids’ confidence than to truthfully tell a child ‘I believe in you’

Coaching your own kids

  • Coach Montana has 8 kids- he was recently coaching one of them, the team was down 2 and the team got a steal and his son had a chance to tie the game. Instead he pulled up for a 3 to win the game, it didn’t go in. His son was very upset, but coach was so proud of him for ‘Trusting his instincts’ and having the courage to take the shot – these are the types of life lessons he wants to teach his kids/players. He put his arm around his son and told him how proud he was for taking that courageous shot.

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Being a passionate coach, early on it was easy to yell at players. Coach has learned there are more effective ways and times to communicate.
  • Coach one time was frustrated with another team ‘acting like thugs’ and was upset and threw his dry-erase marker – and it went all the way down the court and hit the opposing coach in the foot. He went on to get to know the other coach and they have since become good friends. One thing he learned from the other coach was that he always believed so much in his own kids that it helped them play better than they actually were. For example he called one of his player who had weird form ‘the shooter’ and it led to that player playing extremely confidently and making a lot of shots.

Teaching Skills

  • Coach Montana learned (from previous WYC guest Kevin Furtado)- to use the term ‘Tough Ball’ instead of ‘triple threat’ – Young kids instinctually catch the ball and turn their back to the basket and dribble with their strong hand away from the basket with their head down. So one of the first things to teach is for the kids to face the basket, with two hands on the ball, and their head up – willing to face their opponent.
  • They also echo the coach’s commands – ‘Tough ball’, ‘Rip’, ‘Sweep’ – This echoing becomes fun for the kids and gets them all involved, and increases the energy level in the practice.
  • Lay-up drills – they will do without the ball first – for right-handed they say ‘right-hand, right-knee’ as they are jumping and simulating doing a right-handed layup without the ball.

Mental Toughness/Achieving Peak Performance

  • One key is to have one-on-one conversations to understand where the kid’s confidence is at. Not by asking them directly – but by asking questions and seeing how confidently they answer them.
  • Nothing has worked better to build kids’ confidence than to truthfully tell a child ‘I believe in you’

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Culture will create itself if you don’t create it
  • Learned from Bruce Brown at Proactive Coaching – Gather the coaches and 3 captains in preseason and define your Core Covenants – who are you going to be that season. Brainstorm by throwing words up on a board, then narrow it down to 2 or 3 that are going to define your team. Then you can order the livestrong-type bracelets that have those words on it.
  • Work with the captains for discipline – it starts with them!
  • Post-game shout-outs by the players – complimenting other players is huge.

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Coach Montana had a kid Franko who struggled to grow into his body. He stuck with it and the coaches kept believing in him – his senior year he ended up making a left-handed layup as time expired to win a game – it wasn’t the designed play but the play broke down and he had the confidence to create on his own.

The One that Got Away

  • In a state championship game – they got the ball with 2 seconds left and down 3 – they called timeout and set up a play – but unfortunately they thought the ball was on the sideline, and when they got out on the court the ref told them it was on the baseline. Lessons learned: Confirm with the official where the ball is; Have a generic play you can run from anywhere by just using the name of the play

Best stolen idea

  • Two end-of-game lead-protection strategies: a four-corner offense with a back-door cut built in; and a sidelines inbound play that is very effective

Favorite coaching book/quote

  • Anything by John Wooden
  • ‘Failure to prepare is preparing to fail’- John Wooden
  • ‘All things work for good for those that love God’ – from the Bible

Parting Advice

  • Give them the book ‘Coaching Basketball Successfully‘ by Morgan Wootten
  • You have the freedom to be whatever kind of coach you want to – take that seriously, establish your own core covenants, and think outside the box on how you can positively impact the kids you coach.

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March 18, 2016

More Than Words- Fill Your Mind With Positivity Part 3 of 4

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Coaches often use inspirational words and quotes to motivate their teams. Coaching, like life, is a rollercoaster ride full of peaks and valleys, and it is important to fill your mind with positivity to help you persevere through the valleys. So over the next 4 weeks I’ll share the words of coaches who have motivated me over the past 2 years while sharing their wisdom on the WYC podcast. I hope they motivate you as much as they have me!
– 
Let’s overload Twitter with positivity this week! Pick out your favorite 1 or 2 quotes and share it by clicking on the ‘Click to tweet’ link.
– 
Dr. Michael Phillips: ‘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   Click to Tweet  Podcast episode
– 
Dr. Michael Cathey: ‘Talk TO your players, not AT them’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
– 
John O’Sullivan: ‘When you are coaching sports – you don’t coach a sport, you coach a child’ – Dr. Martin Toms   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
– 
Cameron Gish: ‘When you encounter adversity, your character is revealed in how you respond’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
– 
Joe Daniel: ‘Keep everything simple so that your kids build confidence, confident kids play fast, fast kids win games’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
– 
Mark Linden: ‘Kids don’t sign up to practice baseball, they sign up to play baseball.’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
– 
JJ Lawson: ‘Attitude reflects leadership’ Click to Tweet  & ‘We don’t teach our offensive linemen to block – we teach them to hit.’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
– 
Kevin Kennedy: ‘For pre-game nerves: Don’t deny it or try to squelch it!  Embrace it – be excited that you are having pre-game excitement.  It means that this is important to you.’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
– 
Rich Clayton: ‘In coaching, people will only listen to you, because they truly believe that you can make them better’ – Bill Bellichick when someone asked him ‘Why would a coach making $12 million a year listen to someone making $100k a year?’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
– 
Stacie Mahoe: ‘Leadership is action not position’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
– 
Jenn Starkey: ‘If you can’t explain it to a 6 year-old, you don’t understand it yourself’ – Albert Einstein   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
John Doss: ‘Make the right lacrosse play, we’re not worried about the results’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Al Ainsworth: ‘Don’t’ hold back – We want big fat ugly mistakes’  Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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March 14, 2016

WYC 073 – Fastest growing sport in USA: Futsal – Jon Caldwell talks getting kids 12x the number of touches

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Quote

‘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.’

Futsal

  • #1 developmental tool for soccer players in South America and Europe
  • 5 vs. 5 game with heavier low-bounce ball. There are out-of-bounds (unlike indoor soccer.)
  • HUGE IDEA: Kids that play futsal touch the ball 12x vs. traditional soccer
  • Constant problem-solving and quick decisions because of the small spaces

Building confidence

  • Freeplay is huge. No parents or coaches.
  • Friday night bridge futsal nights – They have open play – kids wear their favorite jerseys – and play pick-up games.

Teaching Skills

  • ‘No lines, no lectures’
  • Start the practice playing tag, first without the ball, then add the ball in

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • ‘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.’  Teach the kids to take on their opponent, to keep trying one-on-one moves, without fear of failure. The kids that succeed long-term are the ones that can beat their man one-on-one.

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Jon coached a kid who started with his Ginga club at age 9. He started out with mediocre skills, but by age 12 he completely got the bug to be great and turned out to be a great athlete.

The One that Got Away

  • Jon  recently coached a futsal team that lost on penalty kicks in the championship game. While he would have loved to win the game, he know the coaches and players will learn from the defeat and be even better in the future because of it.

Best stolen idea

  • Talk softly around kids – Instead of yelling so the kids can hear you – train them to listen by talking softly

Favorite coaching book

Ginga Futsal

Parting Advice

  • Be positive, encourage the kids. You goal is to get the kids to be passionate about the sport.
  • Be organized and have a plan.

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March 11, 2016

More Than Words- Fill Your Mind With Positivity Part 2 of 4

Coaches often use inspirational words and quotes to motivate their teams. Coaching, like life, is a rollercoaster ride full of peaks and valleys, and it is important to fill your mind with positivity to help you persevere through the valleys. So over the next 4 weeks I’ll share the words of coaches who have motivated me over the past 2 years while sharing their wisdom on the WYC podcast. I hope they motivate you as much as they have me!
– 
Let’s overload Twitter with positivity this week! Pick out your favorite 1 or 2 quotes and share it by clicking on the ‘Click to tweet’ link.
 –
Dave Westwood and Rich Czeslawksi: ‘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’– Lao Tzu  Click to Tweet  Podcast episode
–
Clint Schumacher: ‘Put aside your positional authority to demand, and think about your relational credibility to expect’ – from 2 Timothy in the Bible  Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
–
Randy Montgomery: ‘When asked about how he handled a player: ‘You don’t handle people, you work with people’’ Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Rich Czeslawski: ‘It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts’ – John Wooden   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Mike Frederick: ‘The reason I coach is to make each player feel valued – from the top player on the roster to the bottom’  Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Robert Taylor: ‘At the youth level of sports – you don’t want more reps- you want better reps.’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Scott Jones: ‘I don’t even count reps until I’m burnt out, then I’ll do 20 more’ – Muhammad Ali   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Amanda Kephart: ‘Coaching is a great opportunity to allow the child to practice being what they want to be, not what their classmates think they are’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
James Leath: ‘If your goal is to freeze an athlete – give them a whole bunch of stuff to think about’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Niyi Sobo: ‘Leaders are stubborn on vision but flexible on details and approach’ – Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Caz McCaslin: ‘Billy Graham on sports: ‘It’s the last thing left where there is immediate discipline for wrongdoing’   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Brian Brunkow: ‘We run a forward-looking operation’ – Chip Kelly after tough loss   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Ray Lokar – ‘When you take the time to teach your boys, there’s an implied confidence that you believe they can achieve, and that’s praise in itself’ – Coach John Wooden   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
 –
Emily Cohen: ‘Success comes from knowing that you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming’ – John Wooden   Click to Tweet   Podcast episode
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March 7, 2016

More than Words, Who can you inspire this week? Part 1 of 4

Coaches often use inspirational words and quotes to motivate their teams. Coaching, like life, is a rollercoaster ride full of peaks and valleys, and it is important to fill your mind with positivity to help you persevere through the valleys. So over the next 4 weeks I’ll share the words of coaches who have motivated me over the past 2 years while sharing their wisdom on the WYC podcast. I hope they motivate you as much as they have me!
–
Let’s overload Twitter with positivity! Pick out your favorite 1 or 2 quotes and share it by clicking on the ‘Click to tweet’ link.
–
Diane Renzi: ‘Do what you can, with what you have, where you are’ – Theodore Roosevelt  Click to Tweet
–
Luke Dunnuck : ‘Focus on the process not the outcome’ – Butler coach Brad Stevens  Click to Tweet
–
Todd Grosse: ‘Iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another’ – Proverbs 27:17 Click to Tweet
–
Ken Stuursma: ‘Other than Dad, the best thing you can be called is Coach’  Click to Tweet
–
Damien Wong-Ken: ‘Life as a Vapor – Life Is Short. Eternity Is Long. Live Like It’ – John Piper  Click to Tweet
–
Dr. Lindsey Blom: ‘Catch them Being Good’ – Tony DiCicco  Click to Tweet
–
Rob Jones: ‘Good, better, best. Never let it rest, until your good is better, and your better is best.’  Click to Tweet
–
Lance Akridge, Dr. Michael Phillips, and Drew Maddux: ‘The Enemy to Great is Good’ – Jim Collins in Good to great  Click to Tweet
–
Kent Julian: ‘What you believe in is evidenced by how you live not by what you say’  Click to Tweet
–
Brent Kreid: ‘You’re the leader, but it’s not about you’  Click to Tweet
–
Brian Beaman: ‘I’m not trying to raise great kids, I’m trying to raise great adults’  Click to Tweet
–
Alan Stein: ‘Always, always, always – do what is in the best interest of the player’  Click to Tweet
–
Shane Sams: ‘Don’t just tell me about problems. Tell me about some solutions’  Click to Tweet
–
Michael Langlois: ‘In youth sports you cannot play with a piano on your back’  Click to Tweet
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March 4, 2016

WYC 072 – Coaching up sports parents – Janis Meredith talks 11 Habits of Happy Sports Parents

 

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Habit 1

  • Be the parent, and let the coach do his/her job

Habit 2

  • Think realistically

Habit 3

  • Avoid comparisons

Habit 4

  • Show gratitude

Habit 5

  • Learn from your mistakes

Check out all 11 Habits in her book – great resource for coaches to hand out in their pre-season parent meeting:

http://jbmthinks.com/11-habits-happy-positive-sports-parents/

 

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February 29, 2016

Did I really just do that? – Being a great gameday coach Part 8 of 8

Being a coach is such an amazing opportunity to be engaged with and influence young people. Billy Graham once said:
‘A coach will influence more people in 1 year than most people will in a lifetime’
Yet it’s so easy to get caught up in the moment and lose perspective when in the heat of the moment of the game. In the podcast interviews I do with coaches, I always ask about their biggest ‘cringe’ moment from their coaching experiences – and the vast majority of answers I get involve their behavior towards officials, other coaches, or parents.  The reason we regret these type of actions so much is that we know there are a bunch of little eyes watching us, and those kids will emulate what they see. You can give all the speeches you want to the kids about character and integrity, but what really will influence their behavior is how you behave. Here are a few simple things to focus on to make sure you are acting like the type of person you want the kids to emulate:
  • Be present. In practices and games. This starts as soon as warmups begin. Turn off your cell phone. This isn’t time to chat with the parents or referees or former players, that can happen afterwards, you need to be focused if you want the the kids to be focused.
  • Do you yell at the referees or your players?  Then don’t be surprised when the kids you coach yell at their teammates and/or referees.
  • Recognize greatness – on both teams.  Tell a kid from the other team ‘nice shot’ when he goes by your bench. This is contagious.
  • Be excited to be there, have passion for the game, relax and enjoy the experience.
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February 25, 2016

WYC 071 – Elite Hoops Basketball – Lee Miller talks Living by Numbers

 

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

  • ‘Success is the direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you did your very best’ – John Wooden

Coaching your own kids

  • Lee believes in letting the kids express interest before ‘forcing’ them into sports
  • With regards to travel sports: ‘What is too much?’ – Lee’s answer – if he or she has an off day, and they don’t want to go out and shoot in the driveway, then they are probably playing too many organized sports.

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Early on -‘I started teaching players what I was taught’ and did not take the time to study whether it was really the best way to teach

Teaching Skills

  • Set up the expectation that the players need to bring the excitement and passion for the game, and as a coach you will be teaching them the skills they need to achieve success
  • Spend 75-80% of your practice time on fundamentals – not X’s and O’s. Great question to ask yourself at the younger ages: ‘How many times per game do we score from one of our offensive sets?’ – If it’s rare -then quit spending so much time on it and focus instead on teaching the kids fundamentals.

Building confidence

  • Living by numbers – They have created 15 core drills that can be measured numerically. The focus is on improvement.

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Lee is a big believer in energy in the gym. This starts on Day 1.
  • The three T’s:
    • Talk
    • Touch
    • Tap
  • Every player is either a proton or an electron – they are either bringing positive energy or negative energy

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Lee coached a kid who was on the bubble as to making his middle school – but he committed and stuck with it and worked hard – and went on his make his freshmen team

Memorable Game

  • When Lee was coaching in high school – he had a loaded team that lost in the Elite 8 of the state championships – one lesson learned was that they should have gotten some of their younger players more experience earlier in the season

Best Stolen Idea

  • Go to other teams/coaches’ practices! At every level.
  • Watch the way different coaches motivate different players in different ways.

Best Book

Elite Hoops Basketball

  • Website: elitehoopsbasketball.com
  • Focus on fundamentals:
    • Skill development 90 minute sessions
    • Shooting club – Players get off 300-500 shots in 90 minutes
    • 3-on-3 leagues

Parting Advice

  • ‘Success is the direct result of self satisfaction in knowing you did your very best’ – John Wooden

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February 22, 2016

It’s Not About You – Being a great gameday coach Part 7 of 8

90+% of all problems in youth sports could be eliminated if coaches(and parents) could remember, and act on, this one point:
‘It’s not about you. Or your win/loss record.’
Development>Winning
Fundamentals>Schemes
Individuals>’The program’
Yes, that’s right, I said it: Individuals>’The program.’ Coaches often misuse this concept. Team sports are awesome and powerful opportunities to learn about sacrifice, playing for someone other than yourself, and the whole ‘play for the name on the front of the jersey not the name on the back’ concept. But remember that is all from the player’s perspective. This is where coaches can lose perspective and confuse this. The best way to picture this is to ask this question:
‘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?’
I think most would answer with an emphatic ‘No!’ Yet so many of the decisions around playing time, rewards/recognition, and who coaches focus their attention on is doing just this – tearing down the self-confidence of the children they coach. I’m not an advocate for equal playing time or ‘everybody gets a trophy’ – kids who work harder in the offseason absolutely deserve to play more than kids who don’t. But from a coach’s perspective – all decisions and actions need to factor in ALL the players on the team. It can be small things – Coach Drew Maddux, multi-time state champion at CPA in Nashville, TN – makes sure he talks to each player on his team and calls each one by name at every practice. And he doesn’t do cuts, so this can be 30+ kids at practice.
John Wooden often referred to his college coach at Purdue, Piggy Lambert, who when asked whether he had a successful season said:
‘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.’ 
Listen, I’m as competitive as the next guy, probably more so, but when I coach it’s not about me. My friend Alan Stein shared with his #1 rule to remember when coaching:
‘Always, always, always – do what is in the best interest of the player’
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February 17, 2016

WYC 070 – Youth Baseball – Rod Huff talks building championship teams

 

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

 

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘The will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital’ – Joe Paterno

Coaching your own kids

  • Rod gave a game-ball at the end of each game to a player, and he always would wait until every other kid had earned one before he would give one to his son. One year when the time came to give his son his game ball, his son had a terrible game, so Rod and the assistant coach had to ‘manufacture’ a creative way to reward him for something he did in the game. Lesson learned: should you save your son for last – or try harder to just treat him as every kid and give it to him when he deserves it?

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Communication about playing time – If a player is not playing/starting because of their attitude in practice – be sure to communicate the reason to them.

Teaching Skills

  • If you are struggling with something in games – make a fun game out of it to practice. And repeat it, maybe for the entire practice, until the kids are comfortable and know what they are supposed to do.
  • Use stats to set your lineups. This is a good way to motivate improvement, and also it takes subjectivity out of it.

Building confidence

  • Humor can often be used to ‘lighten the mood’ if kids are taking a game too seriously
  • Be observant – some kids get real uptight if their Dad is there

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • You have to lead by example
  • Draft kids:
    • With older brothers (seriously)
    • Age is huge, this is important if you can draft an older player vs. a younger one
    • The talented troublemaker is never worth it

Memorable Game

  • Coach Huff had a game against their rival where his players were struggling hitting, and when they came into the dugouts, he told his players to keep quiet – because their bats were asleep and he didn’t want to wake them up. This relaxed his team and they turned it around after that.

Best Stolen Idea

  • Tim Corbin – Vanderbilt coach: Empty your bench in inning changes – Anyone on the bench, between innings, go out and throw/stretch to stay involved. Also does a huddle with his team at they come off the field from defense, including everyone on the bench.

Parting Advice

  • Take it seriously, but have fun

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February 12, 2016

Drop the mic- Pre-game,Halftime,Post-game Talks – Being a great gameday coach Part 6 of 8

We’ve all seen movies with powerful emotional pre-game, halftime, or post-game speeches given by the coach that inspired their team to play over their head and beat a Goliath-type opponent. So it’s easy to think this is what we should emulate to get our team fired up. Is this what the best coaches do? In my experience and observations, it is not. In fact, having done some of this early in my coaching days, it accomplishes just the opposite- it tightens the players up. Dave Cisar from Winning Youth Football discusses this in his book, stating:
‘I don’t go for much of the rah-rah stuff, and most of the very successful coaches I studied didn’t either’ 
Alan Stein from the Hardwood Hustle podcast had a recent episode where he discussed the 3 things to focus on in any pre-game, halftime, or post-game talk:
  1. Be concise, no fluff
  2. Be intentional and purposeful with your words
  3. Be honest
Check out this podcast episode, really good info:
A practical application that works well:
Pre-game/Halftime:
  • State your 2 or 3 goals for the game
  • Remind specific players/groups of a particular focus for having success in that game. ‘Offensive line remember to communicate as this coach loves to move around his defensive linemen to try to confuse you’
  • Have the players fist-bump their teammates and tell each other they believe in them and are playing for them, not themselves
Post-game:
  • Be extremely brief. Remember post-game is typically not a good time to teach. Kids minds are tired and they usually know what they did wrong or right. And usually when you go back and watch film you’re not as bad as you think in a loss, and you’re not as good as you think in a win.  Use gamefilm to truly analyze your performance and then make improvements in the next practice.
  • Let 1 or 2 teammates recognize each other and acknowledge someone who they saw give extraordinary effort or teamwork
  • Then… drop the mic. Let the kids go be kids.
I’ve heard differing opinions on whether to review how you did accomplishing your goals during your post-game talk. I do not. I do this at the start of my next practice. It is a great way to set the tone for your practice after you have had a chance to review the game on film. Then you can begin the practice by celebrating successes and talking about how you are going to fix shortcomings.
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February 5, 2016

Are you ready for this? – Being a great gameday coach Part 5 of 8

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:

  • What is we’re up by a bunch – who do I want to get some extra playing time to? What if we’re down by a bunch – same question.
  • What is our plan if our base 1 or 2 plays are not working?
  • What if the referees make several costly big calls against you (they will!)?
  • You need a back-up plan for every player on the team- what if we lose our starting point guard or quarterback? You need to act calmly and prepared for every scenario – your team will respond in accordance with how you respond.
  • What if one of my coaches or I get sick or have an emergency? Who will take on that coach’s responsibilities?
  • Have backup equipment (i.e. mouthpieces, jerseys, etc.)
  • Bring a copy of league rules. And know them.

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.

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February 4, 2016

WYC 069 – Wrestling with Character – Robert Murphy talks developmental stages in the Passion First Academy

 

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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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

”Wrestling at young ages without training is like human cock-fighting. It’s child abuse.’ – Robert Murphy

Coaching your own kids

  • It’s really hard as a parent to watch your child struggle, cry, and have difficulties – but we have to allow them to go through this so they can grow.

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • It’s not about me – ‘I’ve got to focus on developing the kids, not on satisfying my ego’

Developmental stages

  • Reference to previous guest episode Melody Shuman: link
  • ‘Wrestling at young ages without training is like human cock-fighting. It’s child abuse.’ This leads to huge turnover and burnout.
  • Need to change the environment of having kids go to a few practices then throwing them into tournaments

HUGE IDEA:

  • Passion First wrestling academy – based on developmental stages. Kids graduate from levels by testing out of levels. Instead of belt colors (like in Karate), they have shirt colors. When they are ready to master a skill, they test on it, and move on to the next level after passing the test.
  • Each individual’s experience matters. The kids ‘in the middle’ in many sports are the ones who get left behind.

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Robert coached a kid who reminded him of himself in high school – a bit of a loose cannon. He didn’t try to change him overnight – just supported him and believed in him.
  • Don’t try to compare athletes – ‘I want Joe to be the best Joe’

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • 6 Pillars of Character:
    • Respect
    • Attitude
    • Passion
    • Integrity
    • Discipline
    • Honesty
  • Steel Sharpens Steel – We all need each other to make each other better

Best Stolen Idea

  • Coach Mike Denney – Taught Robert the importance of character and creating a family environment. He lived it too – re recruited Robert out of high school, and Robert chose to go to his rival – and yet every time he saw him he always came over and shook his hand and said hi.

Recommended Resources

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January 29, 2016

The best playbook ever – Being a great gameday coach Part 4 of 8

The search for the perfect playbook for their team consumes many coaches’ focus and energy. The irony is, the great coaches I have observed consistently have playbooks than can be boiled down in 2 simple ways:
1 – They have 2 or 3 base plays and a few variations off of these
​2 – They don’t change much throughout the season
Do you know what the best playbook is for your team? It’s probably the one you have right now, but probably should have less plays. Keep it simple. One of the best football minds I know is Joe Daniel, he shared this with me:
‘Simplify so kids build confidence-confident kids play fast-fast kids win games.’
During every season most likely there will be a game, or a stretch of games, where it feels like your playbook is not working. Here are a few Do’s and Dont’s to consider when evaluating how to fix it:
​
– Do this: Spend time perfecting your base plays in practice the next week.  Re-visit the fundamentals of what makes the base plays work and analyze any shortcomings.  Lots of reps vs. air with attention to the ‘little things’ that make your system work
– Do this: Seek input from an expert. Show video of a couple plays to your local high school coach and ask for his advice.
– Don’t do this: Panic/over-react. Think your system is flawed, scrap the whole thing, and implement a whole new system.
– Don’t do this: Think you need more plays to ‘trick’ the other team.  Often if things aren’t working you have too many plays.  And sometimes the other team is just really good.
Keeping things simple and sticking with a consistent plan allows you to focus on what the great coaches focus on: teaching kids to be great at fundamentals and to play games freely without overthinking complicated systems.
Next week we’ll look into gameday scenarios to be prepared for.
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January 27, 2016

WYC 068 – Player Development – Stuart Armstrong talks The Talent Equation

 

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘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

Coaching your own kids

  • Stuart coaches his own 8 year-old son in field hockey. He also plays ‘house hockey’ with his 4 year-old daughter and son

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Use video to have someone record you while you’re coaching – then watch it back and make improvements on what you don’t like
  • Most gameday frustrations are really just showing your own shortcomings as to what you are teaching (or not teaching) during practice

Talent development

  • 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. So the players shouldn’t think everything is easy and fun – it should be a little frustrating and uncomfortable.
  • Design your practices like a video game designer:
    • Create ‘levels’ that are within their reach, but it’s a big stretch that might feel just out of their reach. So when they figure something out – ask them ‘are you ready for level 2 now?’
    • Use terms like ‘power-up’ and ‘freeze’ to mix up games during practice. One team can ‘freeze’ the other team for 5 seconds
  • Mark Upton and Al Smith – My Fastest Mile – Thought leaders on Task Design
  • Is your coaching on TARGET?:
    • Task Design
    • Autonomy
    • Repeatability – Repetition without repetition
    • Grouping
    • Engagement
    • Time
  • Implicit Learning – False praise and spoon-feeding kids actually creates a fixed mindset in them.  Create the task, then say very little – and observe their attempt to solve the problem, and observe what choices they make, then allow them through a questioning approach subsequent to the activity to feed back to you what they are experiencing, then allow them to solve problems. Link: Tharp-Gallimore paper on verbal cues

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • How do you know if learning is taking place? – Teaching Games for Understanding founder Rob Thorpe: ‘It’s great now that kids are playing games instead of doing drills, the problem is if all they are doing is playing games- it’s not a great deal better.’ You have to be doing games in a certain way to create positive learning experiences.  One element of this – is to create games that create pressure, or scenarios that have cognitive stress that replicate the competitive environment. One of the ways to do this – is ritual humiliation: i.e. if you lose this competition the winning team will get to choose the song the losing team has to sing.

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Amanda Visek’s research on 81 Fun Maps – top of the list is team dynamics.
  • First priority for team dynamics is to get them aligned to a set of behaviors. Establish:
    • Unacceptables – We do not accept this behavior
    • Acceptables – This is what we are looking for
    • Exceptionals – This is what we are striving for
  • The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lensioni

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Stuart coached a young man who he challenged to really start to think through the game and challenge himself.

Sports specialization

  • Although generally specializing at a young age is not good -there are some young athletes whose have  the ‘rage to master.’ i.e. – Rory McIlroy was obsessed with golf and to have forced him to play other sports probably didn’t make sense for him.

Concussions

  • Rugby players he coaches have a graduated return to play – that is 21 days!

Parting Advice

  • Don’t be afraid to make mistakes – be creative, try out some new games. Move away from ‘cone-pawn’ – we don’t want to see fields full of cones and kids following cones.

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January 13, 2016

WYC 067 – Leadership Development – Adam Bradley talks Lead ‘Em Up

 hardwood hustle pic

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘The drug of choice amongst the youth of today is popularity’ – Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in California

Hardwood Hustle Podcast

  • Website: hardwoodhustle.com
  • Designed for players, coaches, and parents
  • Episodes are either basketball focused or hustle related
  • New episodes every Monday and Thursday

Character development

  • Adam teaches kids that being cool and being a leader don’t have to be either/or, you can do both
  • Many kids would rather be cool than be great, but they don’t realize that it’s when they become great that they become cool
  • Think about the word the kids will call each other: ‘Try-hard.’  Why is that a bad thing?

Lead ‘Em Up

  • Website: leademup.com
  • Adam partnered with Game On to gamify his leadership curriculum so that he can really engage the kids and get them excited to learn how to be leaders. Game On’s created an acronym for gaming, people are drawn to games because of the MILE: Mystery, Incentive, Laughter, Empowerment.  During the games – they often forget to try acting cool.
  • Lead Em Up has developed a plug-and-play curriculum you can use with your teams – It’s a 12 week program with a new theme each week to be done in a 30 minute session with your team.

Parting Advice

  • The first thing you have to evaluate as a coach – is how much you really care

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January 7, 2016

WYC 066 – Concussion – Emily Cohen and Janis Meredith talk the movie ‘Concussion’ and Roundtable on how it relates to youth football and other youth sports

          Janis

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

Janis:

Website: jbmthinks.com

Twitter: @jbmthinks

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Links mentioned:

The Knockout Project – theknockoutproject.org

Concussion App – Concussion Quick Check by the American Academy of Neurology

Other concussion links:

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

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December 17, 2015

WYC 065 – Youth Football – Jason Hahnstadt talks Getting Players to Commit to Each Other


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

Listen Now:

 

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘Hey Joe, go Joe, Attaway’ – Coach Hahnstadt

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Coach shares a story of making a tough decision to play a junior over a senior, then 2 days later the junior got hurt. The lesson he learned was to make playing decisions more on a week-by-week basis rather than permanent.
  • A-ha moment – Learned from Andy Lambert at Trinity – You can always control your attitude.
  • A-ha moment – Learned from Frosty Westering, Pacific Lutheran University coach – If you focus on winning, it can be a lose-lose situation.  When you win, you become overconfident therefore you cannot achieve your potential; when you lose, you become discouraged and again cannot achieve your potential.

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Be honest, and always positive when teaching. And get buy-in that they agree when something needs to be improved.
  • Fun games:
    • Fox and hound – Hounds have the football, foxes chase them, if fox tags you, you have to give them football
    • Relay races
    • Four-corner tag – All the kids start in a corner and run to the middle, then you yell out a corner number, and the kid from that corner has to tag the other 3 kids in 10 seconds.  You see some great open-field juke moves with this.
  • Steps – You cannot progress to the next step until they master the current step. Walk through it, then run through it, then add competition, then add the whole team.

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • The key is to get them to focus on the process not the outcome
  • Practice the key situations.  Practice is the key to building confidence

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Establish routines and processes and hold high expectations
  • Couple of key rules: Pay attention, don’t use foul language, treat others with respect
  • Recognition – They bring all the levels together and will recognize kids who did something special.  They also have sessions where the team recognizes fellow teammates.  Part of the process is the player who is recognized has to ‘accept’ the compliment and say thank you.  Then the team affirms the compliment ‘Hey Joe, go Joe, Attaway’, then 3 claps.

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Jason coached a kid who got in some off-field trouble.  Jason kept pouring into the kid and really helped guide him out of trouble.

The One that Got Away

  • Jason’s biggest regrets from games is as a player – he let the fear of failure motivate him, and he regrets that approach

Best Stolen Idea

HUGE IDEA

  • Asking for commitment: When running team sprints, Jason asks each player to raise his hand when he’s ready to give his absolute best on the next sprint.  Raise your hand when they are committing to their teammates that this will be their best effort.  They don’t run the next sprint until they are all raising their hands.

ProStyleSpreadOffense.com

  • Website: prostylespreadoffense.com
  • Blog, and eClinic with all the details on how to install this system with your team – it works at all levels!
  • Also has a bubble screen package
  • Includes Champions Manifesto by Scotty Kessler

Parting Advice

  • Your planning and preparation is everything.  Have a minute-by-minute practice plan and be prepared for things going wrong.

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December 10, 2015

WYC 064 – Martial Arts World Champion – Melody Shuman talks Developmental Stages by Age


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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘Have every student become a better version of themselves’ – Melody Shuman

The evolution of martial art schools

  • Most martial art programs were developed for adult males. Melody has studied teaching and designed her schools to teach males and females at the appropriate age level.

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Identify 7 or 8 skills appropriate for their age:
    • Pre-schoolers – Kicking, punching, blocking, crawling, hopping, running, catching
    • Kindergarten/1st-grade: Focus, teamwork, control their body, memory, balance, discipline, fitness, coordination
  • Then focus on one of these in each practice.  Then they have a test at the end of the practice, and if they pass they get their ‘stripe’ for that skill. To earn

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

HUGE IDEA #2

  • Creating age-appropriate challenges is the key
  • Goldilocks concept – Not too hot, not too cold.  Create just the right level of challenge that is a slight challenge, but attainable.
  • Catch kids having a great attitude during practices – and prop them up and let them know that that attitude is great and what is going to make him/her succeed

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • #1 rule – Mutual respect amongst students/teachers and each other
  • Our goal: ‘Have every student become a better version of themselves’

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • One kid Melody coached would get nervous and cry when in pressure situations.  Melody and her team kept supporting him, and it slowly got better and better over time.  Melody emphasized: ‘You’re measured best by how you carry yourself under pressure.’  When this boy took his first black-belt test – he was the first student she ever had achieve a perfect score.  He has gone on to win national level competitions.

The One that Got Away

  • Melody was competing in nationals as a 21 year-old.  She made it to the championship round, and they went to extra-time. Melody got cocky and spit out her mouthpiece – her competitor knocked out 2 of her teeth and chipped 5 others.

Best Stolen Idea

  • Vince Lombardi: ‘The greatest accomplishment is not in never failing but in rising again after falling’

Skillz Connect

  • Website: skillzconnect.com
  • They license out the children’s curriculums they have created.  1,000’s of drills, planners
  • Currently martial arts, they are expanding to other sports and will soon launch at skillzworldwide.com

Parting Advice

  • Focus on the athlete’s mind.  When creating drills – make them age appropriate and make them competitive and fun.
  • Recommended reading: The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel Siegel

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December 2, 2015

WYC 063 – Youth Soccer – Willie Cromack talks creating Better People, Better Players via ‘Go Play Better’

 Screen Shot 2015-12-03 at 11.21.49 AM

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/

Listen Now:

 

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Quote

‘Who is going to be brave enough to try this new move during the game this week?’

Coaching your own kids

  • Boys are very different than girls.  Boys tend to be more aggressive, girls have the tendency to be more passive and be just as happy passing the ball.

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Teaching is complicated.  You have to break things down to the simplest form and start with the basics.
  • Don’t coach for the result, instead coach to get the kids better.  ‘It was all about me early on.  Then I realized it was all about the kids.’

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Simplicity is key
  • Skill acquisition is what keeps kids coming back – the thought they are getting better.  And sports has the quickest feedback loop to whether the kids are learning and improving.

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Set goals to try a new move during a game that you have been working on in practice: ‘Who is going to be brave enough to try this new move during the game this week?’
  • Your demeanor and body language is more important than anything you say.  If you look relaxed like you could be sitting in a lounge chair on the sidelines – the kids pick up on that.

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Culture – The one word we are going to define our team with is ‘Brave’
  • Coach your parents on what you are asking the kids to do – so they aren’t freaking out and telling the kids to do something different than you are teaching them

The One that Got Away

  • Coach Cromack shares a story of a very talented 11 year-old boys team getting whipped the day after Halloween – it was a reminder to him that they are just kids, don’t take it too seriously

Best Stolen Idea

  • ‘Better people, better players.’

Recommended resources

Go Play Better – HUGE IDEA #2

  • website: goplaybetter.com – Watch the 3 minute video on the homepage to hear what it’s all about!
  • It’s a way to replace win-at-all-cost attitudes with creating grateful attitudes and working for a cause bigger-than-themselves
  • You set a lofty goal (make 100 passes in the game), then instead of rewarding with ice-cream or a treat – they reward with donations to a charitable cause

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November 17, 2015

WYC 062 – Youth Soccer – Reed Maltbie asks Whats your Echo: Coaching Beyond the Game

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

Listen Now:

 

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘What’s your Echo? Coach beyond the game’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Being a coach is all about evolving
  • When young, Coach Reed was very aggressive, focused on winning
  • A-ha moment – Reed’s son started disparaging the referees while watching a game on TV, and Reed realized he was just imitating his Dad

Coaching your own kids

  • It’s a great blessing to spend time with your kids and coach them, but it comes with challenges
  • Enjoy the time, then pass them along when it’s time for someone else to coach them

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Kids are very literal – ‘Grab some grass’ – they all grabbed grass and handed it to coach
  • Kids hang on every word you say – they will mirror your actions
  • Set up a proper classroom environment

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Scaffolding – Break down everything into chunks
    • 4T Model – Technical, Topic, Tactical, Tie-in
  • Words echo – the words you use when coaching kids matter – be careful choosing what words you use

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

HUGE IDEA #2

  • Begin by reducing stress by reducing constraints:
    • Lots of physical space
    • No defense or few defenders to gain confidence first
    • Stress can be good – but only if it’s manageable because they have had success and know they can overcome it
  • Turn the confidence internal so that they are doing it for themselves.  Let them ask question and begin to solve the game themselves, so they get excited about solving the problem.  Seek the joy- help them find the things they love and keep doing it.
  • Give them a challenge, and see if one of the players can figure it out on their own.  If one does – let him/her show the team.  If not, give them a hint and let them keep trying.

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

Discipline

  • It’s all about building a culture.  Instead of calling them rules – have the team create ‘Habits of excellence’

Rewards

  • Kids need constant feedback.  Not just meaningless praise.  Specific positive feedback that is something they can control.
  • Reward the actions you want to see, not just the goal-scorer.  If a defensive player made a good stop and then passed the ball to the goal-scorer – make sure to acknowledge the defensive player and celebrate his great play too, not just the goal-scorer.

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Reed was struggling with how the system was only helping the top 1% athletes, when he went to a speech by one of his players who talked about how he taught that kid integrity, brotherhood, teamwork, etc.  It really helped Reed realize he was doing the right things for all the kids.

The One that Got Away

  • Coach Reed had a conflict with a league director who mandated that Reed coach the players in a way that the director wanted to build up their own development academy, but didn’t make sense for the team.  Reed coached one game in the way the director wanted, and it went horrible.  Reed regrets not standing up to the director and letting his team down.

Coachreed.com & TEDx talk

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November 5, 2015

WYC 061 – Mental Toughness – James Leath and Will Drumright talk Sports Psychology at the AASP

 

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

What was the biggest ‘a-ha’ moment you had during the meeting?

James

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Teach the human, not the athlete. Children are not mini-adults, they are children.  If you don’t first build a relationship – then the gameplan you develop doesn’t matter.  Tim Elmore quote from Generation iY book: ‘Great teachers build a relationship so strong that it can bear the weight of truth.’ If they understand that you have their best interest in mind, they will respond to and listen to coaching and constructive criticism.
  • Love.  What do you love about your sport? And as a coach I need to love my players for who they are, not for them to please me.

Will

  • The athlete is a human first.
  • Speak to athletes in a way that increases their intrinsic motivation

Were there any discussions on how sports psychology has changed over the past 10-15 years as our society and our society’s approach to youth sports is very different today vs. 10-15 years ago?

Will

HUGE IDEA #2

  • The importance of providing resources to athletes so they can take care of themselves as individuals outside of athletics.
  • Quote: ‘Sport doesn’t inherently build character, it just has the opportunity to do so.’- Dr. Greg Dale, Duke University
  • Is your message slippery or sticky?  Your message is only effective if it resonates with your athletes.

James

  • ‘Culture eats strategy for lunch’ – Dr. Greg Dale, Duke University. One way to create culture – address the elephants in the room.
  • You can’t coach the kids today the way you were coached growing up.  There are too many other options and they will quit.

Learn any new routines for brushing-off mistakes?

Will

  • Develop a flushing routine. It has to be unique, something that is meaningful to the individual athlete.
  • Take a centering breath.

James

  • It’s all about giving meaning to things. Shared terminology. James has worked out a ‘word’ that has meaning with his wife – if he says ‘I’m in a folder’ – it means ‘Hey honey, I love you, so great to hear from you, I can’t talk right now because I’m in the middle of something, I’ll call you as soon as I can.’
  • ‘Great cultures have a ton of inside jokes’

What’s the best story or analogy you heard?

James

  • Yoda on the back of Luke Skywalker – Justin Su’a.  Coaches who fail are the ones who want the spotlight – instead coaches should want to have their students rise up and be stronger than their teacher.

Will

  • Matts Stutzman – Holds world records for longest archery shot – and he was born without arms – ‘How do you become the best.  Period.  No excuses.’  His parents didn’t modify anything for him, they allowed him to struggle.  And that’s what made him a champion.  Failure is a key part of learning!

Hear any out-of-the-box approaches that you thought might have some validity?

Will

  • Dr. Greg Dale, Duke University – ‘Are you effective when you are listening to 3 things at the same time?’ – Realize as a parent you are 1 of 3 voices the kids are hearing – so think about if you need to say anything while the athlete is playing a game
  • Coaches need to spend more time on warm-ups. Spend time addressing all the different aspects of the game – the technical, the tactical, the mental.

James

  • Do you say ‘My team’ or do you say ‘Our team’?  Parents and coaches – give the experience back to the kids -it’s not about you.  Great John O’Sullivan post about this:

 

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October 29, 2015

WYC 060 – Youth Soccer – Creed Larrucea talks The only rule you need and PCA’s ELM tree of success

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.

Listen Now:

 

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out’ – John Wooden

Coaching your own kids

  • The first key is open communication – ask your kids – ‘Do you want me to coach your team?’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Inaction – could have started 2 teams since he had great demand for his team – but he didn’t have the confidence that he could pull it off  (he since has done this.)

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Patience and understanding the age-level you are at are key
  • Say less, have them do more – make it fun and have ‘hidden’ teaching in there
  • Soccer shooting drills:
    • Knockout
    • Bring out different style balls – tennis ball, big huge ball

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • Positive Coaching Alliance’s ELM tree of success:
    • Effort – is one of the main things you can control
    • Learning – is what we’re here for
    • Mistakes – are normal and part of growth

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

Discipline

HUGE IDEA #1

  • One rule: ‘Don’t let your teammates down’ – this one universal rule can apply to almost any situation
  • Have fun games right at the beginning of practice – this is a great way to encourage kids to get to practice on time

Rewards

  • Set team goals

HUGE IDEA #2

  • Coach Creed gives effort scores – scores based according to their effort capability

The One that Got Away

  • Writing down mistakes is one of the best ways to not let history repeat itself
  • Creed had one girl on his team who had a family member able to attend one of her games for the first time – so he tried to get her extra opportunities – but he didn’t really put her in the best position to succeed and probably added pressure to her.

Best Stolen Idea

When teaching skills – 3 steps:

  1. Show how to do it
  2. Let them practice with slight opposition
  3. Let them practice in game-type setting

Using this you can see progress every practice, not just at the end of the year

Best Quote/Book

  • Quote: ‘Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out’ – John Wooden
  • Book: The Double Goal Coach – Jim Thompson from Positive Coaching Alliance

Parting Advice

  • Make sure you’re winning twice

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October 21, 2015

WYC 059 – Youth Basketball – Drew Maddux talks Manhood Mondays at CPA and Elite Hoops Basketball

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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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘We were running the program with a fear-based approach instead of a freedom-based approach.’

Career decisions

  • Drew had the opportunity to lead a large sales organization, but felt the calling to leave the business world and become a full-time coach

Identity being tied to athletic performance

  • As an athlete growing up, Drew felt he was only as good as his last sports performance
  • ‘My total mission in coaching is to release that identity-driven performance bug out of the lives of our kids and out of their hearts, and that they would understand and be able to perform with freedom and be able to experience all that they have been provided with.’

Joe Ehrmann’s 3 big lies being told to our kids

Coach Maddux teaches the boys he coaches about the 3 big myths/lies being taught about masculinity:

  1. Ballfield – a man’s worth is based on his athletic performance
  2. Bedroom – a man’s worth is based on his sexual conquests
  3. Boardroom – a man’s worth is based on his business successes

Coach Maddux contrasts these myths by teaching the real truths about what being a man is all about:

  1. Man was built to be in relationships with God, themselves, and others
  2. Man was built to be part of a cause that is bigger than themselves

To see more details about this see here: winningyouthcoaching.com/3-big-lies-2-truths/

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • In Drew’s early years he remembers still being too focused on outcomes and placing his worth on the team’s win/loss record
  • ‘We were running the program with a fear-based approach instead of a freedom-based approach.’

Creating a Winning Culture

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Jim Collins book – Good to Great
  • Every aspect of your program becomes about excellence – Coach Maddux began an early morning regiment with his coaching staff
  • Jon Gordon – The Energy Bus – Get the energy vampires off the bus and surround yourselves with energy-givers and life-givers
  • 4 Word Mission statement: ‘Christ-centered, Others focused.’

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • ‘It’s not what I know, it’s what the kids know.’ So keep it simple. Be great at 1 or 2 things instead of trying to be great at a bunch of things.

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • Boundaried Freedom – Create the culture and boundaries – and then give them the freedom to go make plays

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

Discipline

  • Life happens in the gray – every kid we serve have unique situations and unique families
  • Long-term transformation only happens when you create the right habits
  • Shared sacrifice with shared accountability

HUGE IDEA #2

Teambuilding

  • Coach Maddux does not do cuts – if you want to be on the team – you are
  • Coach has a goal to call every kid’s name to them at some point of every practice
  • During circle time they’ll call out a few of their leaders to speak a blessing about another player on the team.  This creates the culture built on loving each other, complimenting each other, encouraging each other.
  • Manhood Mondays – every Monday during the season they have different coaches and players create a shield with 4 parts to share with the team:
    1. Tell a childhood story that defined them
    2. Tell a recent story that defines them
    3. How does the public view them
    4. Who their private self is

Winning

  • Excellence and the pursuit of greatness should be a goal.  The scoreboard doesn’t define this.

Best Stolen Idea

  • Billy Donnovan, former Florida Gators and current Oklahoma City Thunder coach, the way he sets up his practices and team to be great passing teams.

Best Book

The One that Got Away

  • Drew lost his last game his senior year for the state championship in overtime
  • Drew lost a game at Vanderbilt to Kentucky at the buzzer
  • Lessons learned: to keep the game in context, the sun does come up the next day

Elite Hoops Basketball

  • Located in the Southeast – elitehoopsbasketball.com
  • Teaches basketball skills and life skills – to live an elite life
  • 3-on-3 leagues, camps

Parting Advice

  • ‘Pick up the trash’ – Use the opportunities given to leave people, places, and things better than we found them

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October 9, 2015

WYC 058 – Youth Softball – Valeri Garcia talks Growth Mindset and Starting at ground zero

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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.

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘Stop trying to coach at a pre-college level – coach them at the level that they are right now.’

Coaching your own kids

  • Utilizing the concepts from Carol Dweck’s book ‘Mindset’ has been big help – her girls know she will focus on their effort rather than be critical of their results
  • A big compliment is she has had parents who don’t know she has a daughter on the team

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Valeri wishes she had started teaching the value of pursuing greatness and using their skills to win at a little earlier age – she was focused on effort, which was great, but she says she might have instilled a little more of the competitive part of the game a little earlier for her 12 year-olds

Travel Sports

  • Valeri is struggling with what to do with her daughter who is becoming good enough to play for some higher level travel teams, but Valeri is concerned with the coaching mindset and philosophy on those teams.  Common struggle – the most important thing is to do the research and understand the philosophy of the organization and coach before signing up!

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • To encourage aggressiveness – she rewarded them with effort points
  • Always start with ground zero: you have to know where your athletes are with regards to knowledge – what do they know and what do they not know.  You have to meet them where they are.
  • HUGE IDEA #1: Great way to make sure you are teaching at their level: Try to teach one your assistant coaches to do a skill with their off hand: i.e. If they are right-handed try to teach them to throw left-handed.  This forces you to break down the skill into it’s most elemental pieces.  Then add in variables a little bit at a time.

HUGE IDEA #2: FUN GAMES THAT TEACH SKILLS:

  • 1 – Last player standing – player bats with 2 strikes – if they hit it fair they keep going.  If you strike-out you go play defense.  Then you add complexity – they have to hit it to the grass, etc.  Great game to teach the girls to play in pressure situations.
  • 2 – Throwing accuracy – Kids weren’t hitting their targets when throwing – so she put a ball on a cone at 1st base and they took turns throwing from shortstop trying to hit the ball on the cone.  Then she said first one to hit she would give $1.

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • Positive Coaching Alliance: ELM tree – Effort, Learning, Mistakes
  • Brush-off routines: One effective way to help kids brush off mistakes is for teammates to pick each other up: ‘I’m ready, are you ready?’

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

  • Valeri sometimes gives homework assignments – involving things like John Wooden’s pyramid of success
  • Transferrable skills – Valeri understands and teaches the importance of teaching kids that being on this team will teach as much about life as it will about sports

The One that Got Away

  • Any game where the team does not play up to their potential
  • They had one game where they had the chance to beat a team that was much better than them, and it slipped away.  She wishes she had told them more – during the game – of how proud she was of them.

Parting Advice

3 questions to ask yourself at the end of the season:

  1. Did they learn something?
  2. Did they have fun?
  3. Do they want to come back?

‘Stop trying to coach at a pre-college level – coach them at the level that they are right now.’

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October 1, 2015

WYC 057 – Youth Hockey – Warren Nye talks Mental Fitness and Mind over Sport

What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Warren Nye shares stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth sports coach.

Warren has been coaching youth sports for over 30 years, mostly hockey teams from the youth level through junior national teams in which he has won the national championship in Canada.  Coach Nye is a student of the mental aspect of the game, and over the last few years he has launched ‘Mind over Sport’- which is a passion of Coach Nye’s to work with people and companies as their peak performance life coach. Warren lives in Ontario, Canada, with his wife and 2 teenage children.

Website: coachingmindoversport.com

Website: ultimatehockeysource.com

Facebook: /warren.nye.73

Twitter: @coachnye

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘Success is a peace of mind, which is a direct result of self satisfaction, in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.’ – John Wooden

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Warren admits to thinking he knew it all when he first started coaching
  • He also shares a story about trying to fire up his team in the locker room so he kicked a garbage can and it accidentally hit a kid in the head.

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • You have to gain the kids’ trust before they will buy into what you are teaching them.  Really listen to them.
  • Start practices with a fun game – it helps get the blood flowing and gets their mind in the game.

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • Practice and reps are key.  Coach Nye wrote a blog about the 5 Habits of a Successful Coach – and point #2 deals with performance practice: ultimatehockeysource.com/2015/09/29/the-5-habits-of-a-successful-coach/
  • Visualization – if they are thinking about mistakes – have them picture a time or game when they were  doing really well – and have them keep replaying these times/games in their mind.
  • The process to excellence – If a kid is beating himself up over mistakes – it’s usually a symptom of bigger problems – and it can’t be solved overnight.  But pour into the kid and be a positive role model in their life by truly caring.

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Mental fitness – It starts with repeating positive self-talk.  But the core is action. ‘I can do it’ is great – but you have to define the actions and repeat them.

Culture – Creating a Winning Attitude

  • Discipline – Establish the culture up front with the players and parents.

HUGE IDEA #2

  • Lay out a game plan for the 1st half of the season and the 2nd half of the season to set expectations and create the vision of where this team is going.

 

  • Don’t overlook anything that needs corrected – correct it immediately.
  • Rewards – The kids vote after each game to nominate player of the game
  • Encourage the kids to carry forward their success at this sport towards some other activity they are passionate about (this requires for you to get to know them and other interests they have)

The One that Got Away

  • Coach Nye shared a story about one team he was involved with who changed their identity going into final tournament of the year – and how it ended up preventing them from winning the tourney.

Leadership Quotes

  • ‘Success is a peace of mind, which is a direct result of self satisfaction, in knowing you made the effort to become the best of which you are capable.’ – John Wooden
  • ‘If your mind can conceive it, and your heart can believe it, then you can achieve it’

Mind over Sport

  • Peak performance life coach
  • Coaches athletes and their parents, and businessmen, and performers.  Live and over Skype.
  • Website: coachingmindoversport.com

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September 18, 2015

WYC 056 – Sport Sampling – Steve Boyle talks Life is 2 short 4 just 1 sport

  

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘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.’

Coaching your own Kids

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Talk about the elephant in the room – Don’t work too hard to treat your own kid as a coach – it’s good to be truthful and authentic in front of the team and treat your own kid from a parenting point of view sometimes.  Don’t be over the top – but kids enjoy and learn from watching you enjoy spending time with your child.

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Steve shares a great story about his team having to help rescue a man from the river – and how he fainted afterwards.

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Teaching is 85% about relationships.  Connect with the kid first – then you just need to stay one step ahead of them regarding the technical skill teaching.
  • Consider the cross-over effect.  Know what sports kids have played then use their knowledge from the other sport to teach.
  • Make all drills competitive – they are not fun if they are not.

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • Visualization – Your mindset is a choice. ‘Look at everything as an opportunity to enjoy the moment and have no regrets.’

Culture – Creating a Winning Attitude

  • Discipline – First impressions are really important.  Don’t have a policy that says ‘you can only miss 2 practices’ – that sets up the expectation that it is OK to miss 2 practices.  Coach doesn’t expect to have any discipline issues, so predominantly – he doesn’t.  It’s not allowed.
  • Coach Boyle doesn’t use running as a punishment – that doesn’t mean they don’t run gassers- but if they do it’s because they need to be in great shape.
  • Rewards – Coach starts every practice in a circle – and he shares about his day, and they share about their day.  This allows everyone to get a pulse for where everyone’s mentality is that day.

HUGE IDEA #2

  • Coach asks every kid to write him a letter after each season – evaluating their experience on the team, and his performance.  He reads and keeps them all and uses the feedback to improve

Connecting with Kids

  • Influence the influencers.  One of Steve’s former players is now a Major in the army – and he wrote to Steve telling him that many of the leadership skills he uses with his men in the army are skills he learned from watching how Steve coached.

Winning

HUGE IDEA #3

  • Sports games are not fun without a winner and a loser.  But if you hear ‘it’s too competitive, it’s not fun’ – but the ‘too competitive’ part comes from the projection of the adult onto the kids.  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.
  • Focus on the process, not the winning.

The One that Got Away

  • Steve remembers his last high school basketball team where another team took away the 2 best scorers on his team, and he wasn’t really prepared to be the primary scorer so he didn’t shoot very well.  Lesson – always be prepared to step up.

Best Stolen idea

  • The power of the assistant coaches.  Especially how much they can care for players – Steve had several assistant coaches when he played college ball that really cared for him and his teammates and Steve saw the power in that.

2-4-1 Sports

  • Every organization agrees – kids should be playing more than one sport
  • Recognized by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play as 1 of 8 model programs in the U.S.
  • Sport sampling – they have found that if a kid can try a sport, without having to commit to an entire season – they often find new sports they really enjoy that they might not have tried otherwise.
  • Currently in Connecticut, starting programs in Denver and Pasadena.

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September 10, 2015

WYC 055 – Youth Soccer – Jill Kochanek talks Communicating without Talking and Soccer Without Borders

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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.

 

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Quote

‘The perfect time to build confidence is in practice’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Coming from very competitive college sports as an athlete, it was a big adjustment to coach girls who were just learning the game.  But it was a good chance to reassess the goals for the team and set priorities that really come down to teaching the fundamentals and teaching the team to play for their teammates.

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Have a theme for each practice
  • Practice format:
    • Start with a dynamic warm-up led by your captains, then always start with some type of drill that focuses on some fundamental.
    • Then do 2 or 3 drills that are building up the intensity.
    • Then let the kids do what they really want to – play the game.  Either small sided or full team scrimmages.  Minimal stoppages, but pull kids aside for one-on-one coaching as needed.
    • Then finish practice with some type of physical exercise when they’re exhausted – it’s a great time to stretch the kids physically and mentally.

Life is bigger than sports – ‘Soccer without Borders’

  • Jill has been involved with an organization in Nicaragua that gives girls in Granada the social, educational and economic support they need to overcome obstacles to success and achieve their personal goals.  Check them out: soccerwithoutborders.org

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Her biggest takeaway from this has been the importance of communication without words – you can communicate with your actions, visually demonstrating.  This applies even when you don’t have a language barrier – your body language is critical when you’re a coach.

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

HUGE IDEA #2

  • ‘The perfect time to build confidence is in practice’
  • Set your practices up with lots of small actions that kids can succeed at – this will build up their confidence.
  • Have some type of physical way to ‘brush off’ mistakes – It can be a trigger word – ‘next one’, or some type of physical action like brushing your shoulder off

Culture – Creating a Winning Attitude

  • Lean on your most intense players who are the hardest workers to be leaders on the team.
  • If your team is less talented and you struggle with being able to win games – keep the players motivated by establishing mini-goals within the game and practice -things that are within their control. These can be attitude-based too – Set a goal of players saying at least 5 positive things to teammates during a game.

Connecting with Kids

  • Jill had an athlete who came into the season with a little trepidation – but she totally bought-in throughout the season and really embraced being a member of the team and loved it.

Best Stolen idea

  • Passion and energy as a coach – including sensing when the team just needs a break or some fun – Jill had a coach who would occasionally back her car onto the field and play loud music during some of the drills.

The One that Got Away

  • While Jill didn’t enjoy the first couple games of her first season when they lost 8-0, 7-0, etc.  But in retrospect she realizes that failures are a part of any process – so she wouldn’t say she would want a do over.

Parting Advice

  • Communication is critical. Not just verbal communication – but your body language and passion are just as important if not more important than what you are saying.

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August 25, 2015

WYC 054 – Youth Soccer – Chris Stricker talks turning around a culture so kids believe they can win

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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

Listen Now:

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Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Quote

‘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.’

Turning around the culture on a team

  • You have to instill the vision so the players believe they can win
  • Have them set goals – and every practice you’re reminding them of what there goals are

HUGE IDEA #1

  • 4 Pillars of the program:
    • CALI:
      • Commitment
      • Accountability
      • Love
      • Integrity

Establishing goals/guides

  • Break everything into relatable levels: Barclays level, National level, College.

HUGE IDEA #2

  • If your best players are your hardest workers – you’re going to always have a good team:

    ‘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.’

  • Every kid on the team needs to be crystal clear on what their role is on the team

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Everyone will be treated fairly, but that doesn’t mean everyone will be treated equally

Teaching Skills

  • At the younger ages – the most important thing to teach is technique.  To keep the kids engaged you have to find creative ways to keep it fun.
  • An effective way to teach is have your most talented kids help teach the less talented kids.

The One that Got Away

  • Losing to their big rival the first 2 years, which kept them out of the playoffs.  But those losses were used as fuel

Favorite sports movies

  • When the Game Stands Tall
  • Miracle
  • Remember the Titans
  • Facing the Giants

Best Stolen idea

Parting Advice

  • Don’t try to be the kid’s friends – be their teacher who cares about them
  • Have a plan

 

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August 13, 2015

WYC 053 – Youth Baseball – Al Ainsworth talks coaching defense first and making big ugly mistakes

  

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Quote

‘Coach defense first’

Coaching my own kids

  • Al coached some of kids early teams, but really saw the value in handing them off to experience other coaches.  With Al’s extensive coaching background – he was often asked to help, but he preferred to help coach the coaches instead of coaching the kids, so that the coaches could learn and keep all the authority.

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Al had to learn that if you coach players who might not be as die-hard about the sport as you are – you can still value them and enjoy coaching them.
  • Have fun.  In Al’s early years he was too focused on the box score and winning.
  • Don’t coach between every pitch – competitive situations are tough enough – don’t talk too much – game time should be minimal instruction.

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • Remember that sports seasons are long – so you really have to make an extra effort of keeping things fun towards the end of the year

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Define roles.  If a kid understands his role, he is far more likely to perform at the highest level.
  • Good analogy – in singing: you can’t hold back – ‘Make big fat ugly mistakes’

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Establish the culture, but don’t overdo it trying to set up a bunch of rules
  • Celebrate the non-obvious things – the bunts, the sacrifices, the little things
  • Andy Stanley: ‘What is celebrated is what is repeated’

Connecting with Kids

  • Al had to make a move to move a younger kid into a position over a senior who was a super hard worker.  But the kid later told him that he really respected that he made a tough decision.

The One that Got Away

  • Al’s team lost a state championship in a 7-6 game.  But the other team rode one pitcher’s arm most of the way, whereas Al’s team used several pitchers – and his pitchers went on to have more successful college careers.
  • Al also shared a story of coaching basketball – and how he learned from a mistake he made early in his career and benefited from that mistake by getting it right later in his career

Best Stolen idea

HUGE IDEA #2

  • ‘Coach Defense first’ – Learned from Bill Marchant at Delta State University
  • Kids will lose focus as the practice goes on – so when you need their full attention teaching them something – do it early in the practice.

Coach Dave – The book

  • Fictitious account of a recreational baseball league
  • Written at a player’s level, through the eyes of a parent, with the catalyst being the coach
  • Lots of game action, very positive
  • Great book for fathers to read with their sons
  • Find it at: coachdavebook.com or on Amazon

Parting Advice

  • Don’t try to coach above what you know – reach out for help
  • If you can, try to stay with the same group for several years
  • Have fun

 

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August 5, 2015

WYC 052 – Youth Lacrosse – John Doss talks Committing to your Dream and Using the bench to teach not to punish

 

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Quote

‘Play hard, have fun’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • ‘The Dreaded Playbook’ – installing too many plays and confusing the kids.  Learned that simple is better, fundamentals are more important than game theory.
  • Teach kids: ‘That’s a cone, not a magnet’

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Lots of games to keep kids engaged and competitive
  • Teach a concept, drill a concept.  Then allow time for free play for them to try it on their own

Free Play

  • John grew up playing with kids in his neighborhood – and had to figure it out on his own without parents/coaches hounding him

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • The Knute Rockne-type speeches by a coach often take the fun out of the game and cause the kids to tighten up – just let them go play and have fun
  • Coach says these 4 words before every game: ‘Play hard, have fun’
  • Coach has a goalie that beats himself up after any goal allowed – he tells the kid he can take 3 seconds to be upset, then move on.  He will even count 1,2,3 out loud so the kid remembers.
  • ‘Make the right lacrosse play, we’re not worried about the results’

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Have a well-thought out team meeting with parents to set the expectations and guidelines
  • 1 rule: Respect.  Respect coaches, teammates, opponents, referees, yourself, and the game.
  • Coach Doss uses the lacrosse game format to discipline during practices – he has the player take a knee for 1 minute – he is taking away what they really want, which is to play.

HUGE IDEA #1

  • John will pick out a kid before practice and tell that kid to keep his eye out for a player putting out extraordinary effort during practice, then let that kid recognize the player they choose at the end of practice
  • John asks his players what they are seeing during a game – but they have to phrase it as a ‘we’

Connecting with Kids

  • One of John’s goalie’s parent was debating about having their son try out for a travel team – John encouraged the parent to have the kid tryout – regardless of the outcome – try it!  Don’t be afraid of failure, just go for it.

The One that Got Away

  • John’s team was overmatched, got down early, then scored several goals and had a bunch of momentum – and John called timeout to set something up – and he totally killed the team’s momentum.

Best Stolen idea

HUGE IDEA #2

  • When coaching a kid in a game – if you want to pull them out to teach them something – don’t pull the kid out and put them at the end of the bench.  Pull them out, teach them, then put them immediately back into the game.  That way kids don’t see coming to the bench as a punishment, they see it as an opportunity to learn.

Recommended resources

Coaching/Leadership Quote or Book

  • Roger Federer when asked his definition of mental toughness: ‘Committing to your dream’

Parting Advice

  • As a coach – you have to set the example of every behavior you want to see

 

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July 30, 2015

WYC 051 – Youth Softball – Jenn Starkey from FastPitch Fit talks confidence, teaching players to go not stop, and the MVP Leadership Academy

 Screen Shot 2015-07-30 at 2.53.53 PM

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Quote

‘If you can’t explain it to a 6 year-old, you don’t understand it yourself’ – Albert Einstein

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Learning to not let the emotions of the game and the emotions of coaching affect your personal life – One rule Jenn has with the parents is that if they want to have a discussion – they need to schedule an appointment (so you’re not being interrupted throughout the evening)
  • One cringe moment – Failing to act when a parent was out of line

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • ‘If you can’t explain it to a 6 year-old, you don’t understand it yourself’ – Albert Einstein
  • Use funny words, ask a lot of questions, ask them how they feel

HUGE IDEA #1:

  • Steps in teaching:
    • A good strategy is to ask the kids if they want to learn something new before you teach it – increases buy-in
    • Then demonstrate what doing it the right way looks like.  If you can’t physically demonstrate it yourself – have someone else do it, or even show a video.
    • Now break it down into steps and explain the why on what they are doing
    • Then do a dry run
    • Then go game speed

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

  • Give genuine compliments on how the player makes the team better
  • The best way to keep the pressure from mounting is to keep the game fun – and practice pressure situations in practice

HUGE IDEA #2:

  • 7 confidence Hacks:
    • 20 minute video: fastpitchfit.com/confidence-hacks/
    • #1- Extra Practice
    • #2 Anchoring
    • #3 Unleash the Alter Ego
    • #4 Power Pose
    • #5 Master Self Talk
    • #6 Visualization
    • #7 Play Up!
  • As a player – it’s your job to go; as a coach – it’s my job to stop you.  So be aggressive until I tell you to do otherwise.

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Make sure you are only punishing things that the kids can control
  • Jenn has a baby elephant story, and a baby elephant award at the end of each week of practice is given to the kid who has worked the hardest and been the best teammate
  • The Tony Robbins triad for you to change how you feel:
    • Move your body
    • What you focus on
    • What you say

Connecting with Kids

  • MVP Leadership Academy
  • Book: ‘A League of Your Own’ – loyobook.com

Winning

  • Winning is an outcome, the goal is growth

The One that Got Away

  • Jenn believes in having a post-game review – then moving on

Best Stolen idea

  • Jenn’s dad attitude about being a coach – He said he is a parrot – learn from the best and do the same things.

Coaching/Leadership Quote or Book

  • Anything by John Wooden or John Maxwell

Parting Advice

  • Athletes aren’t going to remember what you say – they are going to remember how you make them feel.  Write down how you want your kids to feel when they look back.

 

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July 21, 2015

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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July 2, 2015

WYC 049 – Youth Softball – Stacie Mahoe talks leadership involving action not position

 Stacie Mahoe - 61296 - 01

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

 

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Quote

‘Leadership is action not position’

Coaching your own kids

  • ‘She listened to other coaches much more than she listened to me’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Make sure you show the kids how you can help them – then they will buy-in and listen more

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Explaining the concept instead of just telling them increases buy-in
  • Fun game – Like red rover, but with nerf balls – trying to get the balls through the other line

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

HUGE IDEA #1:

  • Try to get the athlete to see the small picture – don’t get overwhelmed by thinking of the big picture – ask the athlete to think of a small victory they can picture

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Coach present – If you are asking the kids to play present – you need to coach present.  Don’t be distracted by cell phones, thinking about other things.
  • Consistency – you have to consistently enforce things.

HUGE IDEA #2:

  • Individual punishment vs. team punishment – If it’s something the team can help an individual with – i.e. coming back late from a water break – if no one on the team is encouraging/yelling at a player who is running late – then the whole team can do the punishment
  • Celebrate a lot!  Kids will work harder when they are having fun!

Connecting with Kids

  • Sometimes the toughest players – just want to be listened to – and if you listen to them and value their input they become much more connected and valuable teammates

Winning

  • Help the players learn, develop, grow – the winning will take care of itself.
  • The winning is not the top priority as a coach – developing the kids is the top priority.

The One that Got Away

  • As a player – Stacie had a game where she felt like she could have played better – she didn’t like that feeling so it motivated her to prepare that much harder so it wouldn’t happen again

Best Stolen idea

  • Stacie learned from her father what being a great coach looked like – he was very organized and very prepared

Coaching/Leadership Quote or Book

  • Quote – ‘Leadership is action not position’, and ‘True leadership is serving the people you are leading’  It’s not about being the boss.

StacieMahoe.com

  • Blog – about softball skills, and sports parenting advice
  • Partnering with Janis Meredith from jbmthinks.com on webinars with parenting advice

Parting Advice

  • You are there for the kids – all decisions should be what’s best for the kids (NOT the kid’s parents!)

 

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June 18, 2015

WYC 048 – Youth Sports – Rich Clayton talks eliminating the pressure of mistakes

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

 

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

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Quote

‘In coaching, people will only listen to you, because they truly believe that you can make them better’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • It’s much different approaching kids as a coach vs. as a player. As a player – you can push teammates and call them out, but as a coach it’s a different dynamic so you have to change your approach.
  • ‘As a coach you can run out on the field- but if you don’t have quality teaching and skill development – you’re going to charge out and no one is going to be with you’

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • A teaching analogy – ‘I am going to teach you to cut the lawn.  First – this is a lawnmower.  This is how you start a lawnmower, etc.’
  • Teaching model: 1st – teach; 2nd – evaluate, is it working?; 3rd – Re-teach
  • Whole-part-whole: Show whole team concept; Break down into small groups to work on it; Then develop circuit or drill where coaches can check progress
  • Look at skills needed in a game – then develop drills that break down the skills into pieces you can practice.  Make sure these drills simulate real-game experiences.  Name the drill – so you can refer to it during a game: ‘Johnny remember during the waterski drill what we focused on.’

Self-Confidence and teaching kids to achieve peak performance

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Book: Mindset by Carol Dweck – Fixed mindset vs. Open mindset – Teach kids that failing is a highly valuable part of the improvement process.  Eliminate pressure on the kids that makes them afraid to make mistakes.  Kids are often getting pressure from family members, parents, grandparents, uncles – so as a coach you have to be intentional to not negatively

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Think through your coaching philosophy before establishing any type of rules.  Then involve the kids in creating any team rules.  Then make sure you are fair, trustworthy, and equitable.
  • Do rewards in groups as much as possible – i.e. offensive line, special teams, etc.

Connecting with Kids

  • Sharif Williams – Tore 4 ligaments in his knee his senior year – the whole coaching staff, and community – rallied around him and helped make sure he had the support he needed to rehab his knee and pursue his dream of playing college football at Univ of Arizona

Can my kid play college sports?

  • Parents – know what the academic requirements are by middle-school.  You need to have your child cleared by the end of their junior year.

Specialization in youth sports

  • You want your kid to get as much teaching as possible from as many different resources as possible

The One that Got Away

  • Rich’s senior year he got a pass interference call on 4th and 2 against the other undefeated team in his league.  Still has no idea why he did it.

Coaching/Leadership Quote or Book

HUGE IDEA #2

  • Book – ‘The Education of a Coach‘ – Bill Belichick – ‘Why would a coach making $12 million a year listen to someone making $100k a year?’ – Belichick’s answer: ‘In coaching, people will only listen to you, because they truly believe that you can make them better’

Parting Advice

  • Constantly be giving positive feedback to the kids.  Show them what they are doing and where you are taking them.
  • Network with other coaches.

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June 11, 2015

WYC 047 – Youth Sports – Kevin Kennedy talks how to tap into pre-game nerves as an energy source

  Screen Shot 2015-06-11 at 1.44.59 PM

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

 

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

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Quote

‘Isn’t that interesting?’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • ‘When you are young – you know how everything is supposed to be.  As you age – you realize it’s not what you are supposed to do, it’s what you can do.’
  • ‘Isn’t that interesting’ – Don’t be judgmental when coaching – rather, make observations and analyze why things are happening
  • Everyone has insecurities – even an Olympic-level athlete.  Figure out what insecurities your athletes have about their performances – let them know it’s OK to admit they’re not perfect at everything, and give honest feedback and break down walls of communication barriers that arise from both the athlete’s and coaches’ insecurities

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Use a kid to demonstrate proper technique.  You can also demonstrate the ‘why’ – such as holding a kid’s sweatshirt to show them why their body has to be in the proper position.  Demonstrating is much more important than talking – to keep the kids engaged.

Teaching Kids to achieve peak performance

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Set up small achievable tasks as goals for a kid before a game – get them to say ‘I can do that’

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Use fatigue as your friend – When the kids first get out of school – let them get the blood flowing and burn off a little energy.  But at the same time make sure you do skill work early in the practice, because you can’t learn very well when fatigued.
  • Rewards – You can team-build by having someone help someone else get better.  You can recognize the person helping privately, while the one getting the help usually gets recognized more publicly
  • Paper-Plate Awards – At end of season ceremony – On a paper plate write down something about each kid that he/she uniquely brought to the team and give them out during awards ceremony

Connecting with Kids

  • Kevin coached a kid who was very anxious, and was a goalie so he felt personally responsible for every goal scored.  In the last game of the year the whole team tried to get him to score a goal.  Even though he didn’t – the whole team dogpiled him afterwards and they had a blast.

HUGE IDEA #2

  • For pre-game nerves: Don’t deny it or try to squelch it!  Embrace it – be excited that you are having pre-game excitement.  It means that this is important to you.  Your body is responding to make you as sharp as possible by waking up all of these feelings and nerves, and you can tap into that strength.

The One that Got Away

  • ‘I have a comment that I want back.’  Coaching his own son – he yelled at him during a game – it shook his son’s nerves and he asked to come out of the game.

Coaching Tools and Resources

  • Youtube
  • Ask the kids: ‘What do you see happening?’

Coaching/Leadership Quote or Book

  • John Wooden when asked how his team is this year:’I won’t know for 20 years’
  • ‘Isn’t that interesting’ – used with no judgement

Parting Advice

  • Coach the kids, not the parents.  It’s all about the kids.

Kids U

  • Facility in Paramus, NJ
  • Gymnastics and sports gym for kids ages 1-9
  • Non-competitive gym.  Not trying to find travel athletes, goal of giving kids confidence to try something new.
  • Website: kidsu.com/paramus.html

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May 28, 2015

WYC 046 – Youth Football – JJ Lawson from CoachSomebody.com talks how Attitude reflects Leadership and establishing a Warrior Society

 

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

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Quote

‘Attitude reflects leadership’

Coaching Your own Kids

  • Coach shares a funny story of what kids do when they have to use the bathroom during practice and there isn’t a bathroom available.

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • JJ cringes at how he yelled at the officials his first year of coaching.  He thought ‘that was what I was supposed to do.’
  • He also shared a story of another coach who threw a football at a referee.  It caused nerve damage and long-term concussion damage to the official.
  • Remember the Titans quote: ‘Attitude reflects leadership’

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

HUGE IDEA #1

  • You have to show kids multiple ways.  Some learn more from listening, others learn more from watching, others learn more from doing.
  • Chalk it, talk it, walk it, rep it
  • Break your teaching down to 3 steps, any more than that causes the kids to think too much
  • 3 step Progression for football: LEG – Load, Explode, Go

Teaching Kids to play without fear

  • Coach JJ encourages competition in every aspect of practice.
  • Your schemes have to be simple and aggressive if you want the kids to play aggressively.  He teaches his defensive backfield to be walking forward when the play starts.
  • ‘We don’t teach our offensive linemen to block – we teach them to hit.’  Kids don’t want to block – but they often want to hit.

Setting Goals

HUGE IDEA #2

  • Set mini-goals within each game to keep the kids focused.  Be careful about making a goal of not allowing the other team to score at all – because if you give up a score – the kids might be so upset they hang their heads and can’t refocus.

Culture – Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • The Warrior Society – ‘It’s tough to play against us – but it’s tougher to play for us, because we’re going to work hard.’  The kids gain a sense of pride from working hard.
  • The best memories that most players have is what they accomplished from working harder than they even thought they could do
  • Sprints – coach worked with another coach who would set a goal of being able to do 30 50-yard gassers at the end of practice.  At the beginning of the season, they couldn’t do 5.  By the time playoffs come around – these kids are tough as nails.  His kids would have a mental toughness that comes from the pride of knowing how hard they worked to accomplish this.

The One that Got Away

  • Coach shares that he doesn’t really have any games he regrets
  • Al Pacino in ‘Any Given Sunday’ – “Inch by Inch” – Life is about the 6 inches right in front of you.

Coach Somebody

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May 21, 2015

WYC 045 – Youth Baseball – Mark Linden from BaseballPositive.com talks practice planning and the pace that kids learn

 

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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Quote

‘Kids don’t sign up to practice baseball, they sign up to play baseball.’

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Mark tried to emulate the style of the head coach he first worked for – This was a mistake for several reasons – he didn’t have the 30 years of experience and credibility.  And he had a very different personality, so it didn’t work trying to be somebody else.
  • Mark admits his temper and style carried over off the field – and it cost him his first marriage

Practice Planning

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Every minute counts!  Plan your practices minute-by-minute.  Start with a baseline template and plug different activities in.  Kids enjoy having a routine.
  • Mark starts his practices with a skill-building-warmup.  Small stations with very basic drills that involve a lot of movement. Nothing that requires hard throwing b/c they haven’t warmed up yet. This works as a great transition for the kids coming from school/home to get into practice mode, and gets them focused.
  • Then they do team time/group time- fly balls, throwing, catching, etc. Break into several groups to keep kids moving.
  • 3rd – Batting practice drill – 4 different groups so they aren’t just standing around.
  • 4th – Scrimmage/play – ‘Kids don’t sign up to practice baseball, they sign up to play baseball.’ This will work best with mostly free play – don’t keep interrupting this with coaching – let the kids make mistakes.  Kids don’t pitch to each other – coaches pitch from short distance to keep things moving.

The pace that kids learn

  • Remember that kids are just that-kids.  They haven’t developed mentally or physically yet – so be patient

Parents afraid to coach?

HUGE IDEA #2

  • Don’t let the fear of not being a guru in a sport prevent you from coaching
  • Identify 5 things they need to learn in that sport and focus on that
  • Kids don’t learn from information – they learn from repetition

Connecting with Kids

  • Mark has hundreds of kids he’s coaches – and he enjoys pouring into them and having them learn and feel good about themselves

Best Stolen idea

  • Gene Stephenson – one of winningest college coaches, from Wichita State – Mark learned from him that there are no secrets to winning

Leadership Quote/Book

Baseball Positive

  • Baseballpositive.com – Simple to use resources for adults to use coaching 12 and under baseball and softball
  • Includes blogs, video, audio for parents, coaches, league leaders

Parting Advice

  • Be prepared for practice in advance.  Have a written plan.  Have all equipment set up before practice starts.  Be disciplined with time – follow your plan.

 

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May 7, 2015

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

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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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April 30, 2015

WYC 043 – What a Sports Coach can learn from a Band Director – Cameron Gish talks Harnessing Enthusiasm and Creating a Vision

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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.

 

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Coaching/Leadership Quote

Whenever you encounter some adversity, your character will be revealed with how you respond

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • Focus more on the process than the final product

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • You have to figure out the motivation for the age group you are coaching (it’s different than what motivates adults)
  • One important skill to develop in children is for them to understand deadlines and how to get things done
  • Motivator idea: Cameron created a competition – a band Olympics – with multiple rewards and competitions

HUGE IDEA #1

  • The ‘Music Video Game’ – Cameron utilizes a program for the kids to use at home that scores their performance while practicing at home – this fuels competition for the kids to want to beat their own score – and they will keep practicing until they can get their score up to a 100.  Practice doesn’t make perfect – Perfect practice makes perfect

Mental Peak Performance

  • ‘The more I practice, the less nervous I get’ – You will have game-day jitters out of excitement, but eliminate the jitters that come from not having practiced
  • The game/performance is just your showcase to have fun and shows off the hard work you have been putting in

Discipline/Rewards/Teambuilding

  • Harness their enthusiasm – A positive energy and a little bit of chatter is OK
  • A good strategy is to start pretty tough and then back off slowly
  • Cameron handles discipline offline and one-on-one
  • Praise often and catch them doing something right
  • Kids often act-out to get attention – so give the attention to kids doing it right instead of the on the ones mis-behaving
  • Cameron tries to set up a big year-end fun trip and other offsite activities to just allow the kids to build relationships with each other and with you as the coach

Connecting with Kids

HUGE IDEA #2

  • The Sunshine File – Cameron keeps a file of positive emails he gets from kids/parents – he then can open and read these when he’s having a bad day

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]

Winning

  • Trophies are what happens after you do something great.  Prepare to do something great, then don’t worry about the results and just enjoy yourself.

The One that got away

  • ‘Whenever you encounter some adversity, your character will be revealed with how you respond.’

Best Stolen idea

  • David Aydelott – Taught Cameron a model around creating a vision

Parting Advice

  • It’s all about the relationship above everything else

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April 23, 2015

WYC 042 – Changing the Game – John O’Sullivan talks Sports Specialization vs Early Engagers

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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

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

 

Coaching/Leadership Quote

 

‘When you are coaching sports – you don’t coach a sport, you coach a child’ – Dr. Martin Toms

 

Coaching Your Own Kids

  • Coaching your own kid is a tough challenge because you are discipling their friends and can off-the-field ramifications

My Cringe & ‘Ah-Ha’ Moments

  • There is so much to learn as a new coach – early on John didn’t realize how powerful his actions and words are as a coach – they will stick with these young people for their lifetime
  • A-ha moment: John coached a young man in high school – and after college he called John to thank him for the lessons he had taught.  This was eye-opening on the seriousness of the responsibility of coaching young people.
  • You’re going to make mistakes- and that’s OK – but use this as an opportunity to be humble and apologize – this is a great example to the kids.

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

  • Dr. Martin Toms’: ‘When you are coaching sports – you don’t coach a sport, you coach a child’
  • Don’t professionalize youth sports – focus on developing the kids, not for the win today.  Long-term goals instead of short-term.  What do kids need from a youth sports coach? – Enjoyment, ownership, and to be intrinsically motivated.

Winning

  • It very much depends on what/who you are coaching – if you are coaching a prospective olympic gymnast, who’s physical activity peaks at 14-15 – you have to start earlier
  • But for all of us coaching kids ages 6-12- the focus has to be development over winning – so don’t not play a kid just because it’s a close game

HUGE IDEA #1

  • Study done by Amanda Visek from George Washington University – asked kids: ‘why do you play sports?’ – 9 out of 10 answered because it is fun.  Then she asked them to define what fun is: they came up with 81 different characteristics of what fun is – and ‘winning’ was down at #48 on the list.  Link to article: Fun not winning
  • Coaching high-level youth soccer – Coach O’Sullivan started every player 1/3 of the games – this gives you the opportunity later in the season/game you can go with who is ‘hot’ because they are all having opportunities to shine

Specialization in Youth Sports

HUGE IDEA #2

  • Unless you are coaching female olympic gymnastics, figure-skating, diving – the rest of athletes don’t hit their peak until their 20’s
  • Kids who specialize early:
    • 70-90% more likely to get hurt
    • Far more likely to burn out
    • Far more likely to develop psychological issues
    • Don’t develop all-around sports athleticism
  • There is a huge difference between specialization and early-engagers:
    • Specialization is adult-driven, organized environment, focused on long-term goals
    • Engagement is child-driven, play-centered, focused on enjoyment of the game
      • There is tons of free-play
      • They fall in love with the game
      • They have the space to fail, the freedom to be creative without an adult looking over their shoulder telling them what they are doing wrong
    • What if your 7-year-old says he only wants to play 1 sport? – You are the adult and you need to guide them to branch out and try different things.

Mental Peak Performance

  • Every kid is different.
  • Preparing a kid doesn’t start the night before a tryout
  • The important thing is to encourage kids to work hard, and learn from situations, good and bad.  Don’t make excuses, don’t blame coaches – just learn teaching moments.

Discipline

  • Great teams don’t have rules – great teams have standards.  Rules are meant to be broken – standards are expectations that the team agrees upon and holds each other accountable to.

The One that got away

  • John shares that the games he looks back upon with the most regret are ones where the opponents just produced such a toxic environment of negativity

Best Stolen idea

  • Jerry Yeagley from Indiana Univ – Jerry could make whoever he is talking to feel like the most important person in the room

Changing the Game Project

  • Teaching parents how to help kids become the most competitive athletes they can be
  • Teaching coaches to develop positive significance in your players’ lives
  • Online coaching and parent education, books, blog
  • Currently developing 7-week online course for coaches with world experts in each area

Parting Advice

  • You don’t coach a sport, you coach a child
  • Coaching is a calling – respect that.  ‘I am not going to be disloyal to a sport that has given me a life’

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