Tag: unleash the athlete

June 18, 2018

WYC 151 – The Circle of Intentional Influence – James Leath

James is the Founder of Unleash the Athlete and former Head of Leadership and Character Development at IMG Academy. He helps college, professional athletes, and business professionals develop the mental and relational side of their craft through interactive lectures and teambuilding activities. James is also the director of performance for Complexity, the esports organization owned by the Dallas Cowboys.

Website: utathlete.com or jamesleath.com

Instagram: jamesleath

twitter: @jamesleath

Previous episodes with James:

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Don’t sell yourself short

James was going to apply for an internship at IMG, his mentor told him to go for the full-time job
Do you ever sell yourself short, thinking you’re unqualified?

I’ve arrived – the destination of a championship

‘I wished I would’ve enjoyed the journey more’
‘Who am I now? I’ve always been the person going after this’

The Circle of Intentional Influence

Influence -> Relationship
Relationship -> Trust
Trust -> Authenticity
Authenticity -> Ownership
Ownership -> Credibility
Credibility -> Influence

How to Communicate Effectively

Take your sunglasses off
Take a knee
Take note of what’s behind you (the sun, the cheerleaders)
Take 2 minutes or less

Unleash the Athlete

Online curriculums for coaches
Mental toughness, teambuilding activities, and much more
Website: utathlete.com or jamesleath.com

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May 18, 2018

WYC 149 – Athletes with special needs – Amanda Selogie & Vickie Brett talk leveling the playing field

Amanda and Vickie practice Special Education law in Southern California. They also run a non-profit called Inclusive Education Project where they aim to level the playing field in academic settings for students living with disabilities. They co-host their own weekly podcast by the same name – the Inclusive Education Project Podcast and they feature conversations on how parents and teachers can best ensure an inclusive school environment.

Website: http:www.iepcalifornia.org
Podcast: Inclusive Education Project Podcast: www.iepcalifornia.org/blog

Facebook: /IEPcalifornia

Twitter: @IEPcalifornia

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A different approach

Kids learn differently – kids with special needs might need things slowed down, show visually, or some other approach
Utilize the parents – they have lots of techniques that work well with their child
Peer role models and buddy systems work great, and benefit not only the kid with special needs but equally (if not more) it benefits the peer role model
Positive reinforcement is much more effective than negative reinforcement. Catch them doing something right

Breaking down skills into small pieces

The steps: Hearing what you’re being asked to do, then seeing what you need to do, then physically doing it. Sometimes actually taking their arm or leg and doing the motion for them.

Handling emotions with kids with special needs

Address it, don’t hide from it. Handle it the same as you would with any kid who gets upset – address it, teach them what is acceptable. Then re-focus them.
The parents are a great resource to get ideas

Reach out to the school to get more inclusive

P.E. teachers, school administrators could recommend a few kids that could be good candidates to join your team

Favorite Quotes

Quote: ‘Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose’ – Friday Night Lights
Quote: ‘All of us do not have equal talents. But all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talents.’ – JFK

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May 4, 2018

WYC 148 – Youth Soccer – John Adair talks Constraints-based Coaching

2018 will mark John Adair’s fourth year at Coerver Coaching. Adair is the Regional Director for all of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, overseeing player development and coaching education. Prior to joining the Coerver Coaching staff, he has enjoyed success at both the club and high school levels in the South Jersey area.

Instagram: coachjohnadair
Twitter: @coachjohnadair

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Cringe moment

Early on John did a lot of cone drills and isolated movements without decision-making and learning the game through their own mistakes

Creativity and problem-solving

Instead of cones, set up small area games in confined spaces. 2 v 1’s. 3 v 2’s.

Training better individuals vs just winning as a team

Instead of 11 v 11, break the game into corridors and small area games
Use this mentality to create mini-goals so each unit has accountability and measurements to look at after games, not just wins/losses as a team

Constraints based coaching

Create games where players have a variety of choices, they learn skills while making decisions

Self-confidence for players

Focus on the process – so it’s different for each player. Don’t compare them with other kids. Use guided discovery through side conversations with players for them to uncover solutions to what they need to improve.

Team Culture

Involve the kids to get buy-in. Have the kids write down what they thing a good player on this team will do.

Great teambuilder

Have play days. The kids run the day, play mini-tournaments. Kids make all the decisions.

5 for 5

Spend at least 5 minutes talking to 5 different kids about something other than sports

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

John coached a kid who had the physical tools but not the technical and mental tools needed. The kid approached John and worked his butt off over the summer and went on to play college soccer.

The one that got away

Coaching a state playoff game, they played the underdog role too much, changed their tactics too much, and went away from what got them there. This led to a lack of confidence.

Best learned/stolen idea

Constraints based coaching. Make everything in practice relate back to the game and involve decision-making. Don’t be reactive in practice-planning – set objectives and have a plan that you stick to.
Great resource: Youtube channel: Opposite Direction Coaching – Task constraints; Environmental constraints

Favorite Quote/Book

Quote: ‘If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room’
Book: Leading by Sir Alex Ferguson

Parting Advice

Value the experience over winning, and the results will follow

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April 20, 2018

5 Simple Questions (to ask your coaches)

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”

– George Bernard Shaw

Coaching staffs all have disagreements. They should. You have smart people with different solutions to common problems.

But how often do we discuss these ‘elephants in the room’?

We are 3/4 of the way through our lacrosse season, and we had some unresolved elephants in the room.

So we had a a coaching meeting last week, and I asked these 5 questions to start the dialogue:

List 2 things going well with our team
List 2 things we could do better as a team
List 2 things I am doing well to support you as an assistant coach
List 2 things I could do better to support you as an assistant coach
List 2 elephants in the room – some dynamic that is going on with our team or coaching staff, that everyone knows about, but no one is talking about

A powerful, honest conversation ensued. No one’s feelings were hurt, and as the head coach I got great feedback and we implemented a few tweaks that will powerfully change the direction of the remainder of our season.

Build trust, be open and honest, and value everyone and your team’s dynamics will be infinitely improved.

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Make winning your habit starting today!

April 20, 2018

WYC 147 – Thriving On & Off the Field – Tywanna Smith talks Preparing for Transitions

Tywanna Smith, President & Founder of The Athlete’s NeXus, has several years of experience working with professional athletes in a financial and business capacity. Smith earned her Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.) in Marketing and her Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) from The University of Mississippi (Ole Miss). She was also a four-year starter for the SEC program’s women’s basketball team, eventually taking her talents to Europe for a 2-year professional career.

As a Registered Financial Representative, Entrepreneur, and Best-Selling Author of Surviving the Lights: A Professional Athlete’s Playbook to Avoiding the Curse, Tywanna takes pride in her business professionalism and integrity. She is committed to helping each professional athlete become a better citizen, a better role model, and a better businessman.

Website: theathletesnexus.com

Book: Surviving the Lights

Facebook: /TheAthletesNeXus

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Transition

Athletes are always preparing for the next transition, on and off the field
Tywanna tore her ACL her junior year of high school – she used this as fuel when people starting to write her off.

The importance of education

Even if a student athlete’s priority is to play college athletics, their grades will be extremely important in determining what opportunities they will be afforded

Off the field keys

Grades
Social media – future coaches, employers – will look over your entire history of social media posts

Mental toughness

It comes from the top down. The coach’s energy and confidence in the players is very contagious.
Tough practices teach athletes how to deal with adversity, and they want competition
Visualization – Have the athletes close their eyes and visualize favorable results

Surviving the Lights

Preparing for all the different areas of life beyond sports
Book link
Coaching system: survivingthelights.com/

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

An athlete trying to play professionally was struggling to make in into the pros.
Tywanna worked with him to re-center – and reaffirm him what his gifts were and that he had great talents off the sports field

The one that got away

The day Tywanna tore her ACL her junior year, and her team was poised to win the state championship
But she says it was the best day in her life because it gave her the perspective on life that there’s more to life than sports

Best learned/stolen idea

The balance between sports and life. Tywanna’s college coach, when she walked out of practice was done with sports and focused on life off the court

Favorite quote

‘If you stay ready, you never have to get ready’

Parting Advice

Take the edge off a little bit, it’s just a game.

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April 6, 2018

WYC 146 – Youth Sports – Ben Kissam talks having a Four Quarter Mentality

Ben Kissam is a youth sports coach and writer in Denver, CO. Ben’s areas of expertise are in relationship-based coaching and teaching, effective communication, and fusing lessons in sport and entrepreneurship.

Website & podcast: thecoachkshow.com

Facebook: /thecoachkshow/

Twitter: @thecoachkshow

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Coaching role models

Ben had 2 examples from his athletic career – 1 very positive and 1 very negative. He learned from both

Cringe moment

His attitude towards the kids – he thought they should just always do what he says. The lesson learned was to focus on getting buy-in instead of just mandating what should be done.

Practice format

Routines help. Teach them to run their own warm-ups.
Lots of reps, but get creative in making it competitive. It’s also very important to start with the basics when explaining a skill and continue to reinforce what good looks like.

Good practice games

The gauntlet – Set up a 10 yard tunnel, and kids go 1 on 1 in it
Odd man situations – 3 on 2

Self-confidence

Teaching a growth mindset is key. Every failure is a step on the journey to success and it is a necessary part of learning.
Be a relationships-based coach. Focus on having as many 1 on 1 conversations with your kids as possible.

Captains

It’s important to have a right-hand man. They can also help with communication – group texts, etc.

Four Quarter mentality culture

Setting up a practice plan that builds up the intensity throughout and emphasize finishing strong

Best team builder

Eating together. Pasta nights.

Connecting with kids

A goalie who Ben coached lacked confidence, and after working with him for 3 years he sees a totally different kid who now is confident

Favorite quote

‘Athletes don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care’

The one that got away

Ben coached a team of super talented, super knowledgeable kids.
They rolled through the regular season, and played a way lower ranked team in the first round of the playoffs, and lost.

Best Stolen Idea

Have a sense of urgency in practice. Create a long-term vision but create a sense of immediate urgency of the importance of every drill and everything you do in practice.

Favorite book

How to win friends and influence people – by Dale Carnegie

Parting Advice

Know one thing about each of your kids that has nothing to do with the sport, and check in with them about it.

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March 22, 2018

WYC 145 – College Recruitment – Carter Armendarez talks college recruitment do’s and don’ts

Carter Armendarez is a senior at Wesleyan University, where he’s also captain of the wrestling team. Getting recruited to play sports in college is confusing to lots of athletes, but it really shouldn’t be. Carter has seen too many athletes fail to get recruited. So he made Acute Recruit’s College Recruitment Guide for Athletes so that doesn’t happen anymore.

Website: acuterecruit.com

Facebook: /Acute-Recruit-369368080173002/

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The best coaches…

Believed in me
Had me focus on becoming an expert in one skill vs trying to be OK at everything

Getting Recruited to college

The most overlooked area is grades
Start early
Coaches want to hear from the athlete, not their parents
Start a website to have as a landing page to share with coaches. Include:
- A page with highlight films
- An ‘about me’ with your accomplishments and bio
- A contact page with your contact details and your coach’s contact details

A big opportunity

A lot of D3 schools have trouble recruiting quality athletes because their academic standards are too high. This is a great opportunity for athletes who may not have been the highest level elite athlete in high school.

Contacting Coaches

Meet them in person at tournaments
Research schools you want to pursue and look up the coaches online

The one that got away

Carter lost by one point his senior year on the match to qualify for state
What he learned: He learned to play to his strengths

Best Stolen Idea

Quote from Tim Ferris when he asked an professional skier what the most important turns are on the run: ‘The most important turns are the 3 years I spent preparing before the run.’

Parting Advice

Focus on the basics
Keep it fun!

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March 14, 2018

WYC 144 – The “Owner’s Manual” for parents – Michael Richards talks Your Student Athlete: Must Do, Should Do, and Don’t

Michael Richards is the Owner and Operator of Elite Athletic Performance in Benton, Arkansas. After missing out on an opportunity to play collegiate baseball due to what he describes as “Youthful ignorance and a slightly bad attitude”, Michael began playing semi-pro baseball and attending his sophomore year of college. Shortly thereafter he began training fitness clients and young athletes as a sole proprietor. What started as a fun way to “Not get a real job” and make extra money in college, has turned into 16 years and approximately 30,000 hours of “in the trenches” training experience.

Today he strives every day to help kids be the best athlete and person they can be. A particular love for Velocity and Accuracy training for baseball and softball pitchers has led to a number of 90+ MPH clients, professional and collegiate coaching contacts, and a burning desire to learn new information whenever possible.

Website: eaperformancellc.com

Book : Your Student Athlete: Should Do, Must Do, and Don’t: The “Owner’s Manual” for parents to maximize their kid’s time, help them perform better, and avoid injury

Facebook: /eliteathleticperformancellc/

Twitter: @EAPerform

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Grades and attitude as a high schooler

Michael had the athletic ability to play baseball beyond high school, but his attitude and his grades prevented him from that opportunity

Myths around youth sports

1 – Pitchers running day after pitching to flush the lactic acid buildup. J-bands (Jaeger bands) or massaging the muscles makes way more sense.
2 – Everyone needs to be hyper-flexible. Some people just aren’t very flexible, and while some stretching can add a bit of flexibility, there are other things such as massage rollers and dynamic stretches that are much more beneficial.

Multi-sport athletes

If kids love multiple sports, they should play them. But the belief that you must be a multi-sport athlete to be recruited to college is not always true. Especially in your junior and senior years – Don’t play a 2nd sport just to do it if you don’t love it.

Travel ball and showcases

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking the most efficient use of time is travel teams and showcases. Private lessons are often a much more time and cost efficient. And the lessons don’t need to be year-round.

Favorite books/quotes

Book – Start with why by Simon Sinek
Quote – ‘If I had asked my customers what they needed they would have told me a faster horse.’ – Henry Ford

Parting Advice

Keep it simple and make sure they’re having fun

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March 1, 2018

WYC 143 – Performance Anxiety – Kathy Feinstein talks Developing a Growth Mindset

Kathy Feinstein is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Sport Performance Consultant (CMPC). Since 1998 her unique practice has empowered adolescents, adults, couples, families and teams to achieve greater satisfaction in sport, health and life. Kathy’s practice focuses on the 3 key areas: counseling, sport performance psychology and education through seminars and workshops. Kathy works with youth, high school, collegiate, adult amateur and professional athletes in such sports as golf, tennis, hockey, volleyball, basketball, figure skating, cheerleading, track and field, swimming and cycling. In addition to sport and exercise psychology consulting, she also offers team and coach consulting.

Website: kafcounselingandsportperformance.com

Podcast: Parenting Peak Performers Podcast

Facebook: /kafcounselingandconsulting/

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Being a crazy sports parent

Kathy got really excited about her daughter riding horses, but she lost sight of doing what’s best for her daughter

Performance Anxiety

The first step is to normalize the need – kids need to know that performance anxiety is very normal

The importance of breathing

Anxiety is all about the future. What if…
Breathing is all about the present.
If you can do this 20 minutes per day, it changes your mindset
When you inhale, there will be a cool sensation at the tip of your nostrils. When you exhale, there is a warm sensation at the tip of your nostrils.
When you do this, you will start having some thoughts. Without any judgement, bring your focus back to the breath. Do this over and over again.
Do this for 5 minutes with your team, your coaches, your players, etc.

Recovery routines

Having a discharge routine – if you are upset about something, have a quick discharge routine to flush away the past. Then have a different re-focus routine that gets you back in the moment and focused on the future.

Growth Mindset

Encourage kids to take risks, risk making mistakes. Mistakes are an opportunity to get better.

Confidence inventory

Have kids make a list of all of their accomplishments. Then have them read it before a performance.

Post-competition routine

After routines, write down what you did well, then add 1 or 2 things you want to do better next time

Visualization

You have to train how to visualize: Have the athlete do a simple activity (touch your toes and and jump in the air.) Then have them close their eyes and visualize doing that same activity.
The more vivid the visualization is, the more effective it is. Try to involve as many senses as possible
Visualization exercise: Imagery Exercise – KAF

The one that got away

Kathy had a presentation that went bad and she got stuck. She learned a new way to prepare for presentations, where she focuses on the audience and their needs.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

The post-performance routine
Well-better-next

Favorite Quotes/books

Quote: ‘What is before us and what is behind us are small matters compared to what’s within us’ – Emerson
Book: The Champions Mind by Jim Afremow
Book: Getting Grit by Caroline Adams Miller

Parting Advice

Ask kids about what mistakes they made today – and be excited about them and celebrate them

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February 21, 2018

WYC 142 – Physical Literacy – Steve Boyle talks living life as a Walk-on

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

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Walking-on to his college basketball team

Steve was probably the 4th best player on his high school basketball team. He approached his coach and said he thought he could play D1 basketball. His coach did everything but laugh at him.
That fueled him to go on and start for his D1 team in college
He now takes pride in living life as a ‘walk-on.’ Trying things he has no experience with and taking risks.
Lesson for coaches: Be careful about ever telling a kid ‘this just isn’t your sport’- you never know when someone will be a late-bloomer or just outwork the others.

Physical Literacy and Project Play

Physical Literacy – The ability, the confidence, and the desire to be physically active for life
The Quality Coaching Collective – QCoachingCollective.com
Livewellpower.com

2-4-1 Sports

Camps that promote sport sampling
Now in Connecticut, Denver, and 2 more locations coming soon

Recent great books read

Deep Work by Cal Newport
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Born a crime by Trevor Noah

Parting Advice

Be as genuine and honest as you can with your athletes. Value being trusted over being liked.

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February 16, 2018

Dang. I saved our lacrosse team $7600

I was just doing some math – and realized I saved our lacrosse team $7600 in uniform costs by doing a little homework.

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Our county has a ‘deal’ with one of the big sports apparel companies. As a club sport, we have the benefit of getting the same 40% discount, but we don’t have to use that company.

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So I priced out getting our uniforms with that discount. For 44 sets of uniforms, which included 2 pairs of shorts and 2 jerseys, the price was $10,400.

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That was a tough hit for our parents, so I did some research. What I ended up with was awesome uniforms from a brand name – total cost: $2,800.

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That savings of nearly $175 per player was huge for our program, considering parents were already paying close to $700 to play a club sport.

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I know most of us coaches don’t have time to do this kind of research and just end up ordering whatever is suggested.

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But what I did is pretty easily repeatable, and if you or a team manager have a few minutes, you could save your program a boatload of cash.

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I’m would love to share these ideas – if you want more info – just click below, which will send me an email and I’ll share the goods.

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February 15, 2018

WYC 141 – Youth Sports – Jenn Casey talks Fun in Movement & Crossfit Kids

Jenn Casey is the Program Director for CrossFit Kids and Swing Fit (a Kettlebell Sport class) at CrossFit Kennesaw in Marietta, Georgia. She is the President and Co-Founder of Georgia Kettlebell Sport, which has the mission to develop and promote Kettlebell Sport in the state of Georgia and the greater Southeast Region of the US. She is developing a youth-focused Kettlebell Sport program and is taking her youth team on their first road trip in December 2017. Jenn is an active Kettlebell Sport athlete and in 2017 was chosen to participate in the IUKL World Championship in Seoul, South Korea as part of Team USA where she placed 4th in 16kg One Arm Long Cycle.

Facebook: /CrossFitKennesaw/ ; /gakettlebellsport/

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Quitting at age 13, because it wasn’t fun anymore

Jenn was on the team track in gymnastics, but by age 12 or 13 she quit because it wasn’t fun anymore. Then she didn’t do much of any athletic activity for 2 decades.
At age 39 she jumped into Crossfit

Kettlebell

Look like a cannonball with a handle
You can use them for hip-hinge movements, but they also can be great for cardio
The competitive side of the sport involves Kettlebell overhead lifts
The competitive side involves how many overhead lifts you can do in 10 minutes

Keeping the fun in movement

Give kids lots of opportunities for success and catch them doing things right
Ask lots of question – ‘where do I put my feet in a squat?’, etc.
Definitely praise when they self-correct
Rep / No-rep – Coach does a rep, some correctly and some incorrectly, then the kids call out whether that was a good rep or a no-rep.

Good analogies

‘Glue your feet to the ground. Pretend you have concrete blocks on your feet’
‘Your knees don’t like each other’
‘Pretend you are lifting an elephant over your head’

Mental toughness

Jenn was a kid who was good in practice, then would freeze up in competition/tryouts
Breathing is key to keep your heart rate steady
Do practice reps using the same routine you will use in games
The Talent Code – by Daniel Coyle
Mindset – by Carol Dweck
Mastery – by Robert Greene
Coaching Better every season – by Wade Gilbert
Start with Why – Simon Sinek

Best borrowed/stolen ideas

Gamifying deliberate practice

Parting Advice

Find the fun in whatever you’re doing.
Get the kids involved. Have them help design a practice.

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January 30, 2018

WYC 140 – Player feedback – Ian Goldberg talks goal setting and the feedback loop

Ian Goldberg is the Founder and CEO of iSport360, Inc. a SportsTech venture that helps youth sport coaches and parents share objective player feedback. As a sport parent and coach, Ian has witnessed the chaos on the sidelines and in the bleachers when coaches’ and parents’ expectations are not aligned….and the kids suffer. His company has developed a solution to the pain in the form of an app and an informative (and frequently humorous) newsletter “The Chaotic World of Youth Sports”.

Website: isport360.com

Facebook: /isport360/

Twitter: @isport360

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The feedback loop

Ongoing feedback is way more effective than end-of-the-year feedback
Regular feedback is important, but can be time-consuming. Ideally coaches should be able to spend a few minutes and quickly evaluate and provide feedback to all players

Objective goals

It’s easy to just look at how many points/goals players score, but most coaches are trying to evaluate many things beyond just scoring. The key is to define measurable objectives of what you are trying to improve in players.

Empowering kids

Ideally kids should be able to:
- Talk to the coaches themselves
- Set their own goals

What happens in a parents’ brain when watching their kids play sports

Fight or flight mode – Parents’ stress levels and cortisol levels are skyrocketing when being on the sideline watching their kids

Parents are either part of your process or part of your problem

Involve them – they want to know what’s going on, regardless of age
A good way to base how much parents are involved – how much money they are spending. So for cheap low-level rec sports, not as much. For high-level travel teams costing thousands of dollars – the parents should be communicated with more.

iSport360 – The feedback loop

Mobile app – Coaches can work with players to set goals at beginning of season and allows the coach to provide feedback
Parents can also send other players on the team positive emojis
Weekly newsletter with funny stories

Best Stolen Idea

Barbara Corcoran from the Shark Tank: ‘To be successful, you have to have a certain level of stupidity, so that when you keep getting knocked down, you continuously get back up, expecting better results.’

Parting Advice

Don’t let sports take over your life. Enjoy it and keep it in perspective.

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January 23, 2018

WYC 139 – Practice design – Coach Kav talks competition and how kids learn

Coach Kav owns a sports performance facility called The Sport and Speed Institute. On top of that he runs NFL Combine Programs and All-American Football Camps every year, and just published a #1 bestselling book on Amazon.

Website: coachkav.com

Facebook: /justin.kavanaugh.75

Twitter: @CoachKavanaugh

Instagram: @CoachKav

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How kids learn

Remember what you want them to work on is what they are most insecure about, so be strategic about how you approach it

Trust

The key is building trust, the kids will know when you don’t truly have their best interest in mind

Practice design

Teach and deconstruct a skill
Compete. There needs to be a winner and a loser. Positive conditioning- the winners get to do additional workouts. But at the youth level, this takes the right situation
Make sure you’re not just teaching a skill and doing a drill for 10 minutes – you have to keep reinforcing what you teach continuously throughout that practice and throughout the season
Try not to use the term ‘suicides’ for running. Powerful word that should not be used in this context.

Auditory reactionary drill

Two lines in a relay race – have multiple cones – you stand behind them and call which cone they have to go around (#1,2,or 3). This also helps you balance the teams so you don’t have to worry about evening up the teams.
Also can reward the team that has better team spirit

Good practice games

Tic tac toe – 2 teams – throw cones/pinnies in a square
Tag – great competition/conditioning game with lots of cutting. You can add a cognitive element – give everyone a number – then use math to call out the numbers of who is ‘it’

4 things every parent can do with their kid to prepare them for life:

Read
Learn a 2nd language
Play an instrument
Play a team sport

Favorite books/quotes

Quote: ‘Character strong as steel won’t develop with skin smooth as silk’
Book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Book: Mastery by Robert Green
Book: Inside out Coaching by Joe Erhmann

Man up – The book

The 5 areas of focus to guarantee your athletic success
BALLS – Balance, Accountability, Lust (your drive), Sacrifice
Link: Man up

Parting Advice

Remember all kids you coach are telling others about you – so treat them all with respect

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January 9, 2018

WYC 138 – Leadership – John Moyer talks Overfunctioning Leadership

John Moyer is a current teacher at Stow-Munroe Falls High School, where he has taught since 1990. John is certified coach in Resilient Leadership, based in the Washington DC area. John currently is employed by the Stow City School District as their District Leadership Coach, where he helps teachers, coaches and administrators become more effective leaders.

Podcast: iTunes link

Facebook: /theofpodcast/

Youtube: youtube link

Listen Now:

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Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link–

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Every system(or team) desires 5 things: SCARF

Status
Certainty – This takes time for a newer coach.
Autonomy
Relatedness
Fairness

Good places to start

Read books
Attend conferences, talk to other coaches

Critical thinking in the stress of a game

If you have established your guiding principles, it greatly increases your ability to calmly think through and stay focused on what’s important

Overfunctioning=Underfunctioning

When one overfunctions, there is a reciprocal reaction of underfunctioning
The best balance for a coach is to be there to be a calm presence in a storm, but not overreact to negative situations that will occur in every game

A child-focused society

If a parent over-focuses on their children, the child is worse off
As a coach- do your coaching well, but think less about it.
Game theory – There is a fear our kid/team will get behind if someone else practices more or plays on more travel teams.
A 2 person relationship is inherently unstable. For parents – it is far easier for them to talk about their kids than it it is to talk about their own relationship.

Connecting with and impacting kids

John works with kids to help them start establishing who they are and identifying their self

The One that Got Away

In John’s senior year, he played against a tackle that went on to be an all-pro center. John got worked over pretty bad by this guy, but he learned resilience and knew to focus on process over outcome.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

Relentlessly eradicate hurry from your life

Favorite books/quotes

Book: A Failure of Nerve by Rabbi Ed Friedman
Book: Resilient Leadership by Bob Duggan and Jim Moyer

Parting Advice

Smile a lot.
Be organized.

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December 15, 2017

WYC 137 – Youth Baseball – Jack Perconte talks Creating a Season to Remember

Jack Perconte has dedicated his post-major league baseball career to helping youth and their parents through the complicated world of youth sports. Combining his playing, coaching and parenting experiences he continues to help create better sporting experiences for both athletes and their parents. He has authored multiple books, including his most recent, Creating a Season to Remember.

Website/Book: baseballcoaching.tips

Facebook: /BaseballCoachingTips

Twitter: @Jackperconte

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Cringe Moments

Early on Jack was bothered by the ‘know-it-all’ kids, but over the years he has learned to stick with them and they can become some of your best supporters

Teaching skills

Start with talking with the kids about their individual strengths and weaknesses
Set up short-term and long-term plans with them
Utilize multiple stations with small groups to keep everyone

Achieving peak performance mentally

Confidence comes and goes, it’s the coaches job to keep stay optimistic. Good things happen in the players’ heads when you have confidence in them and let them know you believe in them.
Confidence comes from perfecting the fundamentals

Attitude

When Jack was playing in the Dodgers organization, the Dodgers came down to watch a couple players in the minor leagues. One player was on fire, and the other was struggling. A few weeks later they called up the player who was struggling. They said it was because they were so impressed with the attitude of the player while he was struggling.

Parents

It’s critical to have a meeting with the parents before the season and explain your philosophies on playing time, strategies, etc.
Continue that communication with updates to the parents throughout the season

Coaching your own kids

Each kid is different. Some embrace learning from their parent, some resist it.

The One that Got Away

Jack made the last out of the season in a one game playoff when with the Dodgers
Failure is a great motivator to work harder

Favorite books/quotes

All books by John Wooden

Baseball coaching

Website/Book: baseballcoaching.tips
Creating a Season to Remember – A great A to Z resource for coaching a team
Podcast: Something Worth Catching

Parting Advice

Stay ahead of the curve. There are so many resources, keep learning.

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December 8, 2017

The Big 3 (ways to win at sports)

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all time thing.

You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time.

Winning is habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.”

– Vince Lombardi

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I am not a ‘winning’ apologist. It’s in the name of my podcast.

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I spend a lot of energy talking about building strong children and developing awesome team cultures.

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That is why winning is important. One of the fundamental cornerstones in building strong children is teaching them to not be satisfied with ‘good enough.’

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That’s what’s so powerful about competition. It is a measuring stick that provides tangible results on how we are progressing.

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The key is defining the end goal. John Wooden defines it like this:

Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.

A win, in and of itself, should not define whether you were successful. If you let it, you will become complacent after a win. You shouldn’t. You should continue the striving ‘to become the best you are capable of becoming.’

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We discussed this at length in this week’s podcast. Strategies on how to lead your team to perform it’s best.

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Lynden Gwartney has studied winning coaches in sports and compared the results with military leaders who have been successful on the battlefield.

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Looking at 45 components of successful teams, he narrowed it down to his ‘Big 3.’

Find your opponents weakness and attack it
Stick with what’s working
Find your opponents strength and neutralize it

These are great in-game tactics for a coach to use to give their teams the best chance to perform at a high level and have success in the game. (And dare I say, give their teams the best chance to win?)

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Check out the podcast with Lynden here.

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Make winning your habit starting today!

December 8, 2017

WYC 136 – How to Win at Sports – Lynden Gwartney talks the Science of Winning

Lynden Gwartney is the founder of Mind Of A Champion Sports, and trains athletes and coaches in the principles of winning in sports. He is the author of How to Win at Sports, where through examples from Marine Corps history and analysis of the world’s top athletes and coaches – as well as thirty years of exprience as an athlete and coach – Lynden reveals the concepts that all champions use to gain an advantage over their opponents.

Website/Book: sportstrainingsecrets.com

Facebook/podcast: /scienceofwinningpodcast

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Coaching 6 year olds

Break every motion into 3 simple steps. Step bend pass, step bend pass.
Maximize touches!

Winning – The big 3

Find your opponents weakness and attack it
Stick with what’s working
Find your opponents strength and neutralize it

Find your opponents weakness and attack it

Physical
Mental
What are their tendencies

Stick with what’s working

This changes game to game. What’s working TODAY.
You have to use statistics to make these decisions. Don’t just go on ‘feel.’

Find your opponents strength and neutralize it

The Science of Winning Podcast & How to Win at Sports book

Facebook/podcast: /scienceofwinningpodcast
Website/Book: sportstrainingsecrets.com

Parting Advice

Focus on the big 3.

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November 29, 2017

WYC 135 – Coaching Education – Dr. Clayton Kuklick talks Random practice design & the power of analogies

Dr. Clayton Kuklick is a University of Denver Clinical Assistant Professor of Master of Arts in Sports Coaching and a PhD in Athletic Coaching Education. Clayton played college and pro baseball and has coached at all levels from youth through college.

Twitter: @DrKuk14; @DU_sport_coach

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

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Listen Now:

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Coaching your own kids

Make sure to communicate the different roles you will be having with your child – coach vs. parent

Cringe moments

Initially Clayton was very structured and controlling. He learned to incorporate different ways to facilitate and teach vs. structure and commands.

Teaching Skills

The difference between learning and performance – Create variation in activities vs. blocked practice design.
Dynamic systems theory – Provide a few guidelines, then allow athletes to try different strategies and learn. Small-sided tactical games are a great way to do this.

Mental toughness

Routines can reduce stress – Having a pre-bat routine in baseball reduces stress. Practice it. In practices, before they perform a task, have them: Take a deep breath, one positive thought, then we go. A positive thought is best when process related: fast and loose vs. get a hit.

Culture

It starts with core values. Keep it tight – have only a couple core values. Then you have to define what behaviors demonstrate those core values.
Great analogies to reward behviors –
- The Sugar Shaker – who made practice sweeter today?
- The Live Sponge – who learned and applied something new today?

Connecting with and impacting kids

Clayton coached a kid who was struggling in school, he had a big presentation coming up – so they used some of the same mental skill approaches they use in athletics to apply to his presentation

The one that got away

Clayton played on a team in college that went to the playoffs, and they got pampered and ate a bunch of unhealthy food. They had not educated their players throughout the season about the importance of their diet.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

Clayton played with Justin Gordon – and Justin did a great job using analogies

Favorite Quote/Book

Book: The Mental Game of Baseball by H.A. Dorfman and Karl Kuehl
Book: The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge
Book: The Double Goal Coach by Jim Thompson
Book: Mindset by Carol Dweck
Book: True Competition by David Light Shields and Brenda Light Bredemeier
Book: Understanding Sports Coaching by Tania G. Cassidy and Robyn L. Jones

Parting Advice

Challenge: How can you embed life skills into your practice drills? Decision making, resiliency, social skills.

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