Tag: Aspen Institute

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:

2016-04-05t035134z2lynxnpec3403qrtroptp3college-basketball

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:

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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The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance – by W. Timothy Gallwey

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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:

Focus on the process, not the outcome – Link
Practice is the best preparation – Link
Imagery & Self-talk – Link
‘Play present’ & Mistake-recovery routines – Link
SIMPLIFY! – Link
How do you de-emphasize the importance of the moment? – Link
Developmental stages & celebrations – Link

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.

The Hardwood Hustle podcast – Alan Stein and Adam Bradley
The Football Coaching podcast – Joe Daniel
The Sports Parenting podcast – Janis Meredith
Teamsnap Youth Sports podcast – Emily Cohen
100% Athlete podcast – Reed Maltbie and colleagues
Mind over Sport podcast – Warren Nye
Athlete on Fire podcast – Scott Jones

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

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

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.

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 18, 2016

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

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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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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

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Dr. Michael Cathey: ‘Talk TO your players, not AT them’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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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

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Cameron Gish: ‘When you encounter adversity, your character is revealed in how you respond’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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Joe Daniel: ‘Keep everything simple so that your kids build confidence, confident kids play fast, fast kids win games’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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Mark Linden: ‘Kids don’t sign up to practice baseball, they sign up to play baseball.’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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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

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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

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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

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Stacie Mahoe: ‘Leadership is action not position’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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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

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John Doss: ‘Make the right lacrosse play, we’re not worried about the results’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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Al Ainsworth: ‘Don’t’ hold back – We want big fat ugly mistakes’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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

The Talent Code – by Daniel Coyle

Ginga Futsal

Website: thegingatouch.com
Greater Cincinnati area

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

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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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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

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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

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Randy Montgomery: ‘When asked about how he handled a player: ‘You don’t handle people, you work with people’’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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Rich Czeslawski: ‘It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts’ – John Wooden Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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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

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Robert Taylor: ‘At the youth level of sports – you don’t want more reps- you want better reps.’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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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

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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

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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

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Niyi Sobo: ‘Leaders are stubborn on vision but flexible on details and approach’ – Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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Caz McCaslin: ‘Billy Graham on sports: ‘It’s the last thing left where there is immediate discipline for wrongdoing’ Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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Brian Brunkow: ‘We run a forward-looking operation’ – Chip Kelly after tough loss Click to Tweet Podcast episode

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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

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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

March 7, 2016

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

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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.

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Diane Renzi: ‘Do what you can, with what you have, where you are’ – Theodore Roosevelt Click to Tweet

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Luke Dunnuck : ‘Focus on the process not the outcome’ – Butler coach Brad Stevens Click to Tweet

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Todd Grosse: ‘Iron sharpens iron as one man sharpens another’ – Proverbs 27:17 Click to Tweet

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Ken Stuursma: ‘Other than Dad, the best thing you can be called is Coach’ Click to Tweet

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Damien Wong-Ken: ‘Life as a Vapor – Life Is Short. Eternity Is Long. Live Like It’ – John Piper Click to Tweet

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Dr. Lindsey Blom: ‘Catch them Being Good’ – Tony DiCicco Click to Tweet

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Rob Jones: ‘Good, better, best. Never let it rest, until your good is better, and your better is best.’ Click to Tweet

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Lance Akridge, Dr. Michael Phillips, and Drew Maddux: ‘The Enemy to Great is Good’ – Jim Collins in Good to great Click to Tweet

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Kent Julian: ‘What you believe in is evidenced by how you live not by what you say’ Click to Tweet

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Brent Kreid: ‘You’re the leader, but it’s not about you’ Click to Tweet

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Brian Beaman: ‘I’m not trying to raise great kids, I’m trying to raise great adults’ Click to Tweet

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Alan Stein: ‘Always, always, always – do what is in the best interest of the player’ Click to Tweet

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Shane Sams: ‘Don’t just tell me about problems. Tell me about some solutions’ Click to Tweet

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Michael Langlois: ‘In youth sports you cannot play with a piano on your back’ Click to Tweet

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.

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

Pyramid of Success by John Wooden

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’

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:

Be concise, no fluff
Be intentional and purposeful with your words
Be honest

Check out this podcast episode, really good info:

Hardwood Hustle podcast episode 214 link

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.

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.

February 4, 2016

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

Screen Shot 2016-02-04 at 9.54.15 AM

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

Positive Coaching Alliance
Podcast: Janis Meredith’s Positive Sports Parenting
USA Wrestling
Book: 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey
Book/Podcast: Entreleadership by Dave Ramsey

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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.

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

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

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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’

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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

sportsessionplanner.com

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

TEDx talk – ‘Whats Your Echo’ – http://youtu.be/EhRXQs0K6ls
Coachreed.com – Teaching coaches how to coach beyond the game

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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.

Twitter: @jamesleath; @wcdrummy15

Listen Now:

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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:

Show how to do it
Let them practice with slight opposition
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

Screen Shot 2015-10-20 at 1.08.24 PM

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

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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:

Ballfield – a man’s worth is based on his athletic performance
Bedroom – a man’s worth is based on his sexual conquests
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:

Man was built to be in relationships with God, themselves, and others
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

Season of Life, Jeffrey Marx

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:

Did they learn something?
Did they have fun?
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:

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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:

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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.

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