Upward Stars

April 11, 2017

WYC 113 – Youth Sports – Morgan Sullivan talks 3 P’s: Prepare, progress, push

Morgan Sullivan is a youth sports coach. He has coached his daughter and sons in multiple sports, and is an avid student of coaching. He also shares coaching wisdom on his blog and in his Facebook group Coaches Corner.

Blog: coachmorganssportschannel.wordpress.com

Facebook: /coachmorganscorner/

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘Push your players to the point of uncomfortable but attainable.’

Coaching your own kids

Make sure all the players know you are there to coach and treat all the players equally
Treat all the kids equally – your child shouldn’t have to be 50% better than the next kid to earn a spot – If they earn it, they earn it!

Cringe Moment

Morgan’s 5 year-old son was running the game-winning touchdown, and his shoe came off and he stopped. They lost the game and Morgan ran out and yelled at his son. Morgan realized he had lost perspective, apologized to his son and the team, and learned to keep perspective during games.

Teaching Skills

The less talking the coaches do and the more playing the players do, the better it will be for everyone. A quick demonstration goes a long way.
Use stations. Run from station to station.

Self-Confidence

Mistakes are learning points. We want mistakes. You only get better by making mistakes.

Championship Culture

It starts with great assistant coaches
Approach communication from the positive side of things: use words like ‘I would like to see…’ instead of ‘I don’t want you to do …’
Focus on process and making the right decision
Reward hustle, sportsmanship
Great team builders – Start practices by playing fun games, have a potluck cookout

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

Morgan has coached a boy who is his neighbor and followed his growth, and got to see him catch his first TD recently, Morgan doesn’t know who was more excited, the boy, his parents, or Morgan

The One that got away

Morgan had some scouts come to watch him in a high school game and he gave up 7 runs and only recorded 1 out. Morgan’s mom did a great job afterwards of keeping things in perspective and reminding him that this doesn’t define him.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

Hardwork and dedication will reap benefits
Morgan’s best coach had great passion and loved hardwork and fun.

Favorite coaching book/quote

Book: Quiet Strength by Tony Dungy
Book: Leading with the Heart by Coach K
Book: Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson and Joseph Grenny

Parting Advice

3 P’s – Prepare, progress, push. During practice – Push your players to the point of uncomfortable but attainable.

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April 4, 2017

WYC 112 – Championship Culture Part 8 – What are the 4 cornerstones of building Championship Culture?

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Craig Haworth is the founder of Winning Youth Coaching, whose mission is to empower and train youth sports coaches at all levels to build championship programs by creating a culture that values the contribution of each individual and accelerates deep training to achieve peak performance.

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘Be a coach that builds up children and teaches them to overcome adversity, instead of being the adversity the child has to overcome.’

The 4 Cornerstones

1 – Establishing Core values

2 – Accelerate deep training

3 – Defining an important role for everyone & Developing your leaders

4 – Achieving Peak Performance

Taking action – How to implement the 4 cornerstones

Your equivalent to attending a live conference, but at the convenience of listening on your own schedule.
6 sessions that are about 40 minutes each
Do-it-yourself worksheets and attachments to put pen to paper and make a plan of action for your program.
Networking – 2 month membership to our culture bus masterminding network group to help encourage you and to learn from each other along the way.
Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign – this will allow me to understand the size and scope of the audience, and take feedback through comments on the kickstarter campaign page itself – to tweak this course to make it exactly what you, as a coach, need and want.
IF NOTHING CHANGES, NOTHING CHANGES.

Get started here

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Caz McCaslin’s 2 minute Coaching tips

Spirituality – It’s one of our most important influences to help kids see they why behind what we do, and help them find their own why

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Today’s Sponsors

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

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

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

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Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

March 20, 2017

WYC 111 – Championship Culture Part 7 – Jim Harshaw Jr talks Wrestling & Developing Leaders Who Aren’t Afraid to Fail

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Jim Harshaw Jr is a speaker, consultant and former Division I All American wrestler. Here is a quick story by him:

I grew up in a blue-collar home so learned the value of hard work early on.

I have spent my life surrounded by Olympians, CEO’s and millionaires. They’ve all struggled and failed on their way to success. Just like you.

On March 20, 1998, my sixteenth year of wrestling ended in a locker room with blood on my face and tears in my eyes. I’d just lost the match to become an NCAA Division I All American.

But I had one more season at the University of Virginia. One more chance. And exactly one year later, in front of over 14,000 fans at the NCAA Championships, I did it. I earned a place on the podium as one of just eight wrestlers in the country with the status of Division I All American.

I followed a blueprint for success to get there. The same blueprint got me invited to the Olympic Training Center and took me overseas to compete on a US National Team.

Website, TEDx talk, & Podcast: jimharshawjr.com

Twitter: @jimharshaw

Facebook: /jimharshawjr

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘There are 2 pains in life: the pain of discipline, and the pain of regret’

‘We all need an unreasonable person in our life that holds us to a standard higher than we believe we can attain.’

Outwork everyone

Jim’s goal from day one was to outwork all of his competition

Coaching your own kids

Each kid is unique and has different needs and ways to communicate

Success through Failure podcast

Most of what we do starts with a failure.
The failure along the way is only because we set our goals high. The more successful the person, the more failures they have in their past. You don’t see the grind and struggles and times they wanted to quit after they succeed, but it’s there. ‘Failure is an option. In fact, it’s quite likely.’

Goal setting

Set audaciously high goals. Then reverse engineer the process it will take to get there. And then forget about the goal. All you can control is your actions. Set action goals.
‘We all need an unreasonable person in our life that holds us to a standard higher than we believe we can attain.’

Caz McCaslin’s 2 minute Coaching tips

Kids today are digitally connected, but struggle to connect socially face-to-face – Sports is a great place to make this happen.
Best-practice – At end of practice once per week – have one player on team share a story about themself for 3 minutes while all the other players squat against the wall – then ask the players questions about the story afterwards – if they can’t answer they have to keep squatting – great combination of teaching listening skills while under physical exertion

Championship Culture

‘The coach cares more about me as a person than he cares about me as an athlete’

Connecting with kids

A young man Jim coached who was hearing impaired wanted to quit, but Jim had a great conversation with the young man and he has stuck with it and his confidence has gone up and he’s doing great with it. Someone believed in him.

Best Stolen Idea

Variety

Quote

‘There are 2 pains in life: the pain of discipline, and the pain of regret’

Leadership and life coaching

Website, TEDx talk, & Podcast: jimharshawjr.com
Coaches people and former athletes on goal setting, success, and leadership

Parting Advice

Focus on the life lessons. Translate the actions they are doing into life lessons.

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Today’s Sponsors

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

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

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

–

Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

March 13, 2017

The 4 Cornerstones Of Championship Culture – Part 6 Of 8- Leadership Development

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

The 4 Cornerstones of Championship Culture – WYC is excited to partner with Upward Sports to kick off 2017 with an exciting new way for your to raise your coaching game for you and your coaches!

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4th Cornerstone – Developing Leaders

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This week we have the privilege of being joined by TJ Rosene, head basketball coach and 3x national coach of the year at Emmanuel College, director of coach development at PGC Basketball, and co-host of the Hardwood Hustle podcast.

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Captains

TJ had a very unique answer when I asked him how his teams choose captains. He said they don’t. I was very interested in this idea, in fact I wrote a previous blog post about this: click here.

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When leaders arise who he wouldn’t have chosen – he is honest with them and works to develop them and train them how to be a better leader. He is also honest about what the 2 or 3 behaviors are that will affect their teammates adversely if they don’t work on improving them or eliminating them.

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Leadership development

The first step is asking the players who wants to lead. They create levels of leadership around 4 traits: Character, Courage, Consistency, Communication. They define levels 0 to 3 with tangible steps on to how to reach level 3 for each characteristic, which is hard to attain.

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Our special thanks to our corporate partner for this series – Upward Sports- check them out at upward.org!

March 13, 2017

The Culture Journey Week #23 – The Bus Trip

Week 23

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Regular Season week #2

Positive Energy

I continued what I have affectionately self-named ‘Coach Craig’s Goofy Games‘ to start each practice.

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This week’s best game:Great Teammate Tips Challenge

After one of our seniors shared the 2 new tips for the week from The Hard Hat, we broke into 4 teams: freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. I gave them each a page from the sketch pad which we use to write the tips on (by the way – love this sketch pad I bought for $14 on Amazon: link) and gave them each a Sharpie and asked them to write down as many of the 8 teammate tips they could remember. The correct number ranged from 3 to 7 (the seniors obviously had an advantage since they are reading the book.) It was good to get the groups brainstorming together, plus put the emphasis on how much are they really listening to these tips being presented by the seniors.

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Culture Update – The Bus Trip

This weekend we had 1 of our 2 bus trips, a 3 hour ride over to Knoxville to play 2 varsity games and 1 JV game. I had been thinking about this for some time, because last year our bus trips were a bit shocking to me how immature and disrespectful much of the conversation was. We discussed this as a coaching staff, and decided rather than trying to ‘police’ the conversation, to instead fill the time with productive activity. We brought a DVD with the 2015 Div II lacrosse national championship game which was 1 hour 45 minutes long and played that as soon as we left. Then we spent the last hour bringing up the different position groups to the front of the bus with the coaches to discuss the gameplan for the day. This seemed to work really well and our mindset getting off the bus seemed to be much more focused and excited to play great lacrosse vs. last year where they were just goofing off and not focused. The results on the field paid off as well as we played a great first half and won the first game.

The return bus trip was less organized but we stopped for pizza then most of the boys fell asleep as it was a long day and we were all pretty exhausted. Overall it was a night and day better experience vs. last year.

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We also continue to have the seniors presenting 2 of the teammate tips from Jon Gordon’s The Hard Hat, this weeks we covered points 7 and 8:

7 – Do it for your team, not for applause

8 – Show you are committed

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

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

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

March 13, 2017

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

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

Twitter: @CoachTJRosene

Websites: pgcbasketball.com; hardwoodhustle.com

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

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

1st steps in building culture

The first step is believing
Then define key cornerstones

Buy-in & Building great teammates

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

Empowering players

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

Communication needs 3 things:

Truth
Love
Transparency

Start each practice talking for 5 to 8 minutes

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

Communication – Life skills

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

Caz McCaslin’s 2 minute Coaching tips

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

Captains

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

Leadership development

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

Connecting with kids

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

The One that got away

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

Best Stolen Idea

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

PGC Basketball Clinics

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

Parting Advice

Keep perspective. Define your legacy.

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Today’s Sponsors

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

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

—

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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Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

March 6, 2017

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

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

Twitter: @serdner

Facebook: /sara.erdner

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

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

Competition

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

Relational Resilience

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

1 – Positive outlook

2 – Intrinsically motivated

3 – Focused

4 – Confident

5 – Perceived social support is high

Coaches’ & Parents’ role in resilience in athletes

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

Mental toughness

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

Caz McCaslin’s Coaching Tips

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

Empowering kids

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

Positive Energy

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

The One that got away

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

Best Stolen Idea

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

Favorite coaching book/quote

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

Parting Advice

Start practices with something fun and something motivational/positive.

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Today’s Sponsors

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

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

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

–

Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

February 27, 2017

The 4 Cornerstones Of Championship Culture – Part 4 Of 8- Creating Mentally Tough Athletes

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

The 4 Cornerstones of Championship Culture – WYC is excited to partner with Upward Sports to kick off 2017 with an exciting new way for your to raise your coaching game for you and your coaches!

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3rd Cornerstone – Creating Mentally Tough Athletes

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This week we learn from Pete Jacobson, founder of Win Smarter and long time wrestling coach in New York

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Pete has his teams focus on 3 things to create a culture of mentally tough athletes:

1 – Focus on the process not the outcome

2 – Embrace failure as a necessary step towards success

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

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Do these 3 steps and you will create fearless athletes who are not afraid of failure. Their mental approach will be to embrace and get excited for challenges instead of fearing them.

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Our special thanks to our corporate partner for this series – Upward Sports- check them out at upward.org!

February 27, 2017

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

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

Website: winsmarter.com

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

Twitter: @PJacobsonEmont

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

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

Cringe Moment

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

Teaching Skills

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

Self-confidence and peak mental performance

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

1 – Focus on process over outcome

2 – Embrace failure as a necessary step towards success

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

Free E-book on mental toughness

Just go to winsmarter.com/wyc/

Caz McCaslin’s Coaching Tips

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

Championship Culture

Defining core values: TAAO

Teamwork

Attitude

Accountability

One More

Before the season begins they do 2 things:

1 – Off-site team building ropes course

2 – Team community service project

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

Favorite coaching book/quote

Quote: ‘The best aren’t born that way. They work harder and practice more to master their craft.’ – Jon Gordon
Book: The Energy Bus, The Hard Hat, Training Camp, and You win in the locker room first – All by Jon Gordon
Book: The Carolina Way by Dean Smith
Book: A Wrestling Life by Dan Gable
Book: How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie
Book: The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson

Win Smarter

Blog to help coaches up their game
Email Pete at [email protected]
Website: winsmarter.com
Website with free WYC offer: winsmarter.com/wyc/

Parting Advice

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

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Today’s Sponsors

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

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

—

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

–

Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

February 21, 2017

The 4 Cornerstones Of Championship Culture – Part 3 Of 8- A Cause Bigger Than Yourself-Leaving A Legacy

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

The 4 Cornerstones of Championship Culture – WYC is excited to partner with Upward Sports to kick off 2017 with an exciting new way for your to raise your coaching game for you and your coaches!

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2nd Cornerstone – A Cause Bigger than Yourself – Leaving a Legacy

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This week we learn from Ted Quinn, director of coaches programs at Nations of Coaches. NOC is a group whose mission is to equip, serve, and connect with men’s basketball coaches.

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Ted broke down creating championship culture into 2 priorities:

1 – Know your why

2 – Prioritize building relationships with your players. Get to know them before getting to know their game.

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The first priority as a coach is to know why you are doing it. Being a coach is a calling and usually is a huge time commitment that takes you away from your family a great deal. You need to understand what legacy you want to leave behind. Is it your win/loss record? Or is it more important to be a role model to the young men and women you coach, develop them as athletes and as people, children, teammates, future parents, workers, and leaders?

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Know your why. Write it down and remind yourself of it daily. Say it out loud to yourself and to others. Leave the right kind of legacy.

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Our special thanks to our corporate partner for this series – Upward Sports- check them out at upward.org!

February 20, 2017

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

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

Website: nationsofcoaches.com

Twitter: @NationofCoaches

Facebook: /nationsofcoaches

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

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

Nations of Coaches

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

Character Coaches

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

Caz’s Coaching Halftime

Coach towards victory instead of just trying to win

Building a team with great culture

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

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

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

Best borrowed/stolen idea

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

Favorite coaching book/quote

Book: A Lifetime of observations and reflection off and on the court by John Wooden and Steve Jamison.
Quote: ‘The journey is the destination.’ ‘It’s better to have flown than to have landed’ – John Wooden
Cool stories about Coach Wooden on WYC Episode 24 with Randy Montgomery

SEC Legacy Breakfast

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

Parting Advice

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

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Today’s Sponsors

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

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

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

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February 13, 2017

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

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

Websites: NashvilleCoachingCoalition.com; TheCoachForum.com

Twitter: @TheCoachForum

Facebook: /TheCoachForum

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

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

Early Influence

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

‘To be a man, you have to see a man’

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

Building a team with great culture

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

Caz’s Coaching Halftime

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

Building Self-confidence

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

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

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

The One that got away

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

Best borrowed/stolen idea

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

1 – Look them eye to eye

2 – Shake their hand

3 – Call them by their name

4 – Share one thing of personal value to them

Favorite coaching book/quote

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

The Coach Forum

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

Parting Advice

What kind of legacy do you want to leave?

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Today’s Sponsors

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

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

—

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

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Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

February 6, 2017

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

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

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

Websites: TheHittingVault.com & coachlisle.com

Twitter: @CoachLisle

Facebook: /coachlisle

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Listen Now:

Listen on iTunes: iTunes link

Listen on Stitcher: Stitcher link

Listen on Google Play Music: Google Play link

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Quote

‘Good is the enemy of great’

Coaching your own kids

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

Cringe Moment

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

Teaching Skills

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

Self-confidence and peak mental performance

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

Championship Culture – Core values

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

1 – Don’t be late

2 – Don’t let your teammates down

Captain’s meetings every Friday morning to train their captains

Rewards

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

Best Teambuilder

Team Olympics – Team handball can be a great game

Connecting with and Impacting Kids

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

The One that got away

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

Best borrowed/stolen idea

Bruce Brown – Proactive Coaching

Favorite coaching book/quote

Quote: ‘Good is the enemy of great’

The Hitting Vault

Great resource for hitting advice – TheHittingVault.com
Speaking/clinics – coachlisle.com

Parting Advice

Love your athletes the way you love your children

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Today’s Sponsors

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

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

—

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

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Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter:

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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February 10, 2015

WYC 034 Upward Sports President Caz McCaslin talks about Playing with Purpose

What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Caz McCaslin shares stories and discusses God’s journey in developing Upward Sports to reach Hundreds of Thousands of kids through youth sports.

Caz is the founder of Upward Sports. Established in 1995, Upward Sports is the world’s largest Christian youth sports provider. Today, approximately half a million players at more than 2,000 churches in 47 states participate in camps, clinics, and leagues through Upward Sports’ Recreation Division. In 2012, Upward Sports created its Performance Division – Upward Stars – aimed at young athletes wanting to further develop their skills and participate in a higher level of competition. Within the first year, approximately 900 athletes competed on Upward Stars teams. Caz is married and has 3 grown daughters.

Website: upward.org

Twitter: @CazMcCaslin; @UpwardStars; @UpwardSports

Facebook: /UpwardSports

Listen Now:

Listen in ITunes: Itunes link

Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link

Coaching/Leadership Quote

‘Caz, you don’t need another gym…What you need is 1,000 gyms.’

Coaching Your Own Kids

Remember that each kid is different so you have to coach them differently

Teaching Children & Keeping it Fun

HUGE IDEA #1

The 360 Progression – Grow children mentally, athletically, spiritually, and socially
- Children want to grow – so give them the right direction
- The progression for each kid is very different – you have to build on where they are at – then progress them. It has nothing to do with their age or grade.
- The greatest challenge for a parent/coach – is to understand where each child is in their journey – then progress then appropriately

Mental Peak Performance

Confidence and arrogance are 2 very different things – They are the same on the inside, but the difference is on the outside – are you confident internally or are you bragging externally?
Getting better, progressing – builds self-confidence on and off the court

Coaching Resources

Upward equips and trains their coaches in all elements of coaching

Discipline

HUGE IDEA #2

Billy Graham on sports: ‘It’s the last thing left where there is immediate discipline for wrongdoing’ – so make discipline immediate and make it be something the kids really want:
- Freezeball: If a kid is dribbling and picks up his dribble – yell ‘Freeze’ – everyone freezes, then explain to the child that he cannot dribble again or it is a double-dribble. His options are to pass or shoot. Then unfreeze.
Let the team come up with the rules – i.e.: If someone talks when the coach is talking – let the team decide at the beginning of the season what the punishment is

Teambuilding

Every team should do a service opportunity in their community as a team

Inspiring Story

Being on a team often has a powerful impact on individuals but on and off the field
Coach K response to Duke’s only loss of one season: ‘How could I be disappointed in how these kids have grown and matured? I don’t have one ounce of disappointment in anything that has happened with this team’

The One that Got Away

In Upward Stars’ early days – they had a game ripped away from them by a referee – but Caz actually wouldn’t change a thing – because the Upwards Coaches, players, and parents handled it perfectly with class

Created to bring the positive impact of Upward Sports to post 6th-grade athletes in competitive levels
480 areas across the country targeted
Currently 41 areas served and growing

Parting Advice

The tagline for Upwards – ‘Play with Purpose’ – Coaches have a purpose with everything you are teaching these young men and women – a purpose on the court and more importantly a purpose off the court
‘The moment you decided to be a coach – you became a legacy. What kind of legacy are you going to leave?’

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