Month: October 2017

October 27, 2017

Overfunctioning = Underfunctioning

Newton’s third law of motion:

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Had a great conversation this week with a friend who was one of my mentors and church youth group leaders when I was a rambunctious teenager.

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He is now a certified leadership coach through the Resilient Leadership program in Washington, D.C.

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We discussed the empowerment experiment I am going through with my current team, and he provided a powerful A-Ha moment.

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I was drawn to start the conversation with him when I saw he was part of a new podcast titled ‘The Overfunctioning Leadership Podcast.’

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Overfunctioning. That word drew me in.

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As we discussed the empowerment experiment, he shared the simple, yet profound concept:

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When there is an overfunctioning leader in any group, whether it is a sports team, a work team, or any group environment – the team members will always underfunction.

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There are no exceptions to this rule. It is a law of nature, specifically Newton’s third law of motion. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

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He validated that our empowerment experiment is dead on. If the coaches and parents are doing all of the work, the children have no opportunity to ‘carry the water’ or ‘sweep the sheds.’ How can leaders be developed if we are taking away their opportunities to lead?

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So we will continue to look under every rock for opportunities to allow our athletes to own this team and experience. To be empowered. To lead.

October 26, 2017

WYC 133 – Youth baseball – Dave Holt talks drills and practice design

Dave Holt is a high school administrator/ teacher, operates a private baseball teaching school, helps with an American Legion baseball team and constantly is researching, writing articles and guidebooks, and adding to his coach and play baseball website.

Website/books: coachandplaybaseball.com

Facebook: /Holtbaseball

Thank you to our sponsors! – Lead ‘Em Up – Save 10% using discount code ‘wyccoaches’ at leademup.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

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Quote

‘A good coach can give correction without causing resentment’ – John Wooden

Coaching your own kids

Dave’s dad did a great job of just going out and playing with and throwing with his boys, and not instructing them. Just let them learn to enjoy the sport and don’t antagonize them by nitpicking their mechanics.

Cringe moments

Dave wishes he had spent more time on the one-on-one relationship side of coaching

Teaching Skills

Maximize # of touches!
Get lots of touches in some type of competition
Fast catch – Line up with a partner and when you’ve caught 10 in a row, take a knee (competition)

Mental toughness

You want kids to be ultra-aggressive and play without fear
Be thinking long-term development, not short term wins.
Don’t focus on winning. Focus on playing well.

Travel sports options

Travel sports lite – you can do travel teams and compete within your own area, not all over the country

Culture – Rewarding success

Dirtiest uniform, biggest sweat ring on their hat, best encouraging teammate

Connecting with and impacting kids

Dave coached a kid who was going to quit, Dave got together with the principal and they encouraged him not to quit. He stuck with it and went on to start on the baseball team his senior year.

The one that got away

Dave had a player who was the best player on the team and skipped a team event. Dave played him instead of disciplining him, and regrets that decision.

Best Stolen Idea

3-team it: Break the team into 3 teams and rotate them together. Great way to practice with lots of touches and you can scrimmage with these 3 teams.

Favorite Quote/Book

Book: The Matheny Manifesto by Mike Matheny
Book: Inside-out Coaching by Joe Ehrmann
Book: Go for the Magic by Pat Williams
Book: Why Johnny hates sports by Fred Engh
Quote: ‘A good coach can give correction without causing resentment’ – John Wooden

Coach and play baseball resources

Books, dvd’s, articles, and many more resources
Website/books: coachandplaybaseball.com

Parting Advice

Baseball has a very high level of failure. Embrace and expect mistakes. Help kids manage the failures.

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October 23, 2017

Silent Saturday – An experiment

“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

Our fall practices culminated this past weekend with a scrimmage against another local team. As a continuation of our empowerment experiment, here is a quick summary of the conversation I had with my main assistant coach (who is 24 years old) after our last practice:

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Me: ‘Hey man. We’re going to implement a silent Saturday approach to our coaching during our upcoming scrimmage. The only 2 things we are going to yell from the sidelines are substitutions and praises.’

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Assistant: ‘But 2/3 of these kids have never played in a lacrosse game before. I think we’ll be setting them up to be confused and frustrated if we aren’t giving them some guidance.’

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Me: ‘Your concerns are valid. What if we do this: 1- Utilize our experienced players to coach up the newer players and explain to them where to be/what to do on the field. 2 – Use timeouts and play stoppages to answer questions to minimize their frustration’

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Assistant: ‘I will try it out. I don’t agree this is the best way to do it, but I’ll give it a try.’

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Me: ‘OK I respect that. Let’s debrief after the game, and we’ll write down what we were most tempted to yell out as instructions, and that way we’ll know those are areas we need to focus on in future practices to better prepare them for gameday.’

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I read a post by my friend James Leath this week that was discussing the same thing, teaching in practice and letting players play in games. He said it like this:

‘make sure every athlete understands the expectations you have for them and the knowledge to live up those expectations.’

You can read his full post here: James’ blog

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I told James about my experiment and here is how he said he does it:

I keep a 5×8 card in my pocket and fill it up after the game with areas I need to teach better in practice. The game is not the time, it’s too late!

So full disclosure – it was very hard to bite my tongue during the game! 🙂 But we did it for the most part, and the whole experience was much more enjoyable – for the coaches, players, referees, and parents!

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We are meeting as a coaching staff next week – and we are going to take the notes from after the game and use that as a starting point as we prepare for practices in the spring.

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John O’Sullivan writes about this process and summarizes the issue very well:

“It’s the introduction of adult values into kids’ games,

When I grew up, it was children competing against children.

Now, more often than not, it’s adults competing against other adults through their children.”

– John O’Sullivan Changing The Game Project

Teach in practice, let kids play in games!

October 19, 2017

WYC 132 – Mental Toughness – Christian Buck talks Goalies having a ‘Bring it’ Mentality

Chris Buck, President of Get It Done Consulting (www.getitdoneconsulting.net), has his Masters in Exercise and Sport Psychology and is a Certified Consultant and member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). He has consulted with professional and amateur athletes alike, implementing mental conditioning programs in a wide variety of sports, including lacrosse, golf, tennis, soccer, basketball, track/field, crew, fencing, hockey, and baseball.

Coach Buck works with multiple NCAA lacrosse programs as a Sport Psychology Consultant to the team as well as a Goalie Psychology Specialist. He is also the Goalie Psychology Specialist for G3 Lacrosse.

Chris is the author of “Thinking Inside the Crease,” a book describing how to become a mentally tough dominant goalie. He also wrote the Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 goalie coaching certification materials for US Lacrosse.

Chris grew up and played lacrosse in Wilton, CT, winning two state championships during his time there and finished his four-year high school career with a 46-1 record as the starting goalie. After high school, he played lacrosse at Ithaca College.

Website/book: thinkinginsidethecrease.com

Professional Website: getitdoneconsulting.net

Twitter: @GetItDoneCT

Thank you to our sponsors! – Lead ‘Em Up – Save 10% using discount code ‘wyccoaches’ at leademup.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

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Quote

‘What you believe is more important that what is objectively the case’ – Albert Bendora

Cringe moment

Chris coached a girls team, and didn’t know the difference in the rules between boys and girls rules, so he was telling the girls the wrong things

A-ha moments

Grades are just as important as on-the-field skills to earn a scholarship!
Remove self-limitations, believe you can accomplish huge things. ‘What you believe is more important that what is objectively the case’ – Albert Bendora

Mental toughness

The physiological affects of fear cause you get into Fight or Flight mode. Chris teaches his goalies to develop a fight mode, ‘bring it!’ “Let’s see how many bruises you can get”
Focus on doing your job, not on impressing others or getting the win
Don’t provide physical solutions to mental problems
When making goalie changes – communicate! Even if you are just wanting to get someone else some playing time, they may view a switch as them getting benched. Talk to them about exactly what is going on. Something as simple as ‘Wasn’t your best game, but you’re still my guy.’

Practicing in a game-like environment

Practice doesn’t make perfect, practice makes permanent
Ask who wants to take a pressure shot in practice – good way to see who might be clutch player at the end of a game

Flushing routines

Take your hat off, brush some water in your hair, when you put your hat back on you are starting anew
Release, replan, refocus – Turn your back to the field of play, replan, then when you turn back around you are refocused
Serena Williams – has notecards at her bench with 2 or 3 points of emphasis, she looks at them every time she changes sides
Evaluative environment vs Expressive environment: Players don’t perform well when they feel they are being evaluated every single play, they perform much better in a expressive environment
Dump card – write down everything that is stressing you out – then leave it in their locker – you’re not bringing that to the field with you – you can stress out about it again when you get back to your locker

The Sport of School – the book

5 different types of student athletes:

The workhorse
The rookie
The natural talent
The spectator
The intellectual

3 ways to be successful:

Work hard
Solve problems
Have intellectual curiosity

Book: Coming soon!

Best Stolen Idea

Brendon Burchard – Influence
CUP: Connect, Uplift, Praise

Favorite Quote

Quote: ‘The man at the top of the mountain didn’t fall there’ – Vince Lombardi

Parting Advice

Have the players control the controllables. Focus on effort.

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October 11, 2017

WYC 131 – 14 Great Coaches – Chris Trieste talks John Wooden, Vince Lombardi, and more

Chris Trieste has over 20 years experience in K-12 education as a teacher, school administrator, athletic director, and coordinator of physical education. For more than 10 years he has coached numerous youth sports, primarily baseball and basketball, from the elementary through high school grade levels.

He has extensive experience in tennis, serving as the head men’s tennis coach at Mount Saint Mary College where he was twice named Coach of the Year and playing for four years at Marist College where he was a team captain.

Chris also recently authored 14 Great Coaches. Based on a study of the best practices of 14 of the most respected and successful coaches in the history of sports, and combined with the author’s experiences and observations as a coach and instructional leader, this book provides a road map for all coaches who want to have an enduring positive influence and provide a transformative experience for their athletes.

Book: /book link

Twitter: @CTrieste2

Thank you to our sponsors! – Lead ‘Em Up – Save 10% using discount code ‘wyccoaches’ at leademup.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

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Coaching your own kid

Coaching should end on the field. The ride home should be you as their parent, not their coach.

Cringe moment

Chris had some coaches he coached with that humiliated some of the kids, he quickly disassociated from those coaches

Teaching Skills

Teach in a games approach: Deliver some instruction – then create some type of game setting (competitive) activity to start the learning.
Innovative scoring – Reward activities that you are trying to encourage. If playing tennis and trying to get players to the net – if you win a point at the net you get double points.

Mental toughness

Encourage athletes to picture times they have been successful – Play a movie in their head
Other athletes don’t want to think about much – encourage them to think of something simple like ‘just see it and hit it’

Culture

Coaching staff should answer the question – in twenty years how do you want your players to remember their experience
Have kids help own the experience by incorporating them in the standards you set for your team
Captains – one good method might be to have rotating gameday captains based on merit (demonstrating leadership skills)

14 Great Coaches – the book

60 timeless concepts that coaches
Vince Lombardi – Had zero tolerance for any type of racial discrimination. Also believed in simplicity over complexity.
Nick Bolleteri – You don’t have to be a great player to be a great coach.
Pat Summit – Her players changed a play she called. She self-reflected – and realized she had not analyzed who the best player for that moment was.
Tom Couglin – Tom changed his coaching style – he went from trying to force his compliance to a new style of trying to listen and incorporate their feedback. He established a player council who met regularly and communicated with Tom.
Joe Torre – Had a great skill for working with huge egos, and making sure they all felt their role was important no matter what it was on the team
Book: /book link

Parting Advice

Enjoy the experience. Don’t take wins/losses too seriously.

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