Multi-sport athletes are becoming a rarity. Today’s young athletes face increasing pressure to specialize in one sport at an early age and train year-round. So it was a joy to read Ron Kroichick’s recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle about Jahvid Best’s journey from a “track-loving kid to a Heisman Trophy candidate.”

Best is the nation’s leading returning rusher. Kroichick described him as “a human blur who won the state 100-meter title as a high school senior and now routinely zooms past Pac-10 tacklers.”

Jahvid’s first athletic loves were basketball and track. He started running at age 9 and competed for various track clubs throughout his youth. I loved reading what Best said about how his track days are helping him today:

“I learned how to calm myself down. Track taught me to block out everything else, for 30 seconds at a time, and focus on what you’re doing right now.”

Luckily the adults in Jahvid’s youth did not believe the growing misperception that competitive sport requires exclusivity and that players who play one sport year-round get an edge on those who split time between multiple sports.

Research by Tudor Bompa, a leading expert in the theory of training and coaching, recommends that athletes avoid early sports specialization. He found that those who participate in a variety of sports and specialize only after reaching the age of puberty tend to be more consistent performers, have fewer injuries, and adhere to sports play longer than those who specialize early.

Yes, it’s a rarity that kids play more than one sport these days, and they’re specializing at even earlier ages, but you can counteract that trend even within your own program. One simple way is to encourage your players to play (or at least practice) various positions at different times. In the long run, variety minimizes burnout and gives athletes a 360-degree view of their given sport. My hope is that the next time a youth coach or parent asks you about their child specializing in your sport, you encourage them to reconsider. Maybe your track athlete, who plays basketball and softball, won’t be the next Heisman winner, but their attitude and participation will be energized by the diversity of their experience and their versatility will only add to their athleticism.

Finding the right fit in the recruiting process demands preparation. In the first part of this conversation we looked at how to narrow down one’s choices. The recruit needs to focus on the handful of schools that fit her criteria while the recruiter need to focus on their short list of prospective student-athletes.

Now that the list is a manageable number, it’s time to dig a little deeper. It’s time for the interview. Remember, recruiting is a 2-way street. The interview process goes both ways. If you are the coach of a prospective student-athlete, help them prepare to interview prospective coaches. If you are a college coach, review your interview questions and involve your current student athletes in the process. Help your athletes ask intelligent questions of prospective student-athletes – this is a skill that will come in handy when they enter the work force.

Here are some starter questions for recruits to consider asking prospective coaches:

• What is your coaching philosophy?
• What are your goals for the program?
• How long have you been with the program? Where did you go to college? Why?
• What are the strengths of the program?
• What are the weaknesses of the program?
• Describe a typical practice session for me.
• What is the daily schedule like including weights and conditioning?
• Do you work individually with each athlete? How often?
• What are the support services like here? Sports Medicine? Academic? Athletic Training?
• Have you ever refused to renew a scholarship? If so, why?
• What is your best coaching memory? Worst?
• How do you determine the line up or playing time?
• What is your philosophy in terms of scheduling outside of conference?
• What is provided in terms of equipment?

Here are a few starter questions when talking to prospective teammates:

• Why did you choose this program?
• What do you like best about the program? Least?
• What are the strengths of the program?
• What are the weaknesses of the program?
• What do you like most about coach? Least?
• What do you like most about practice? Least?
• What do you think of the support services on campus?
• What are your best memories of the team? Worst?

Our job as coaches (high school, club or college) is to ensure our athletes are prepared on and off the playing field. Spend some time creating your interview questions – as Noble Prize winner Naguib Mahfouz said, “You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions.”

Creating the right recruiting fit is a two-way street. Whether the recruiting road ends in a dream or a nightmare is the responsibility of the recruiter and the recruit! Preparation is key to a happy ending. It is imperative for the prospective student-athlete and the college coach to do their homework.

If you are the coach of a prospective student-athlete, help them get properly prepared for one of the most impactful decisions they will ever make – where to go to college. Have them start with what I call “The Grid”. The grid is a chart of all the things the athlete deems are important in their decision vs the schools they are considering. Sample criteria the athlete may consider include the following:

• School size
• School location: close to home, diving distance, flight time, urban, rural
• Academics: reputation, majors offered
• Population: diversity
• Coach: reputation, stability of staff, male or female, age, pro background
• Strength of team: national ranking, conference standing
• Strength of schedule
• Program reputation: competitive, fit/strong, nice, team oriented etc
• Potential for playing time
• Quality of facilities
• Level of athletics: division, conference, football team
• Financial

Once the selection criteria are determined, help the athlete put them in rank order. In building the grid, list the criteria in rank order from left to right across the top of the chart. Now begin to list the schools under consideration down the far left column. Finally rank each school from 1 to 5 on how they rate on each of the individual selection criteria.

Over time, the top choices will begin to reveal themselves. These are the schools the athlete will want to consider visiting – either officially or unofficially.

The “Grid” also applies to the college coach as well. The recruiter’s grid lists all the things they are looking for in a prospective student-athlete. Examples include:

• Academic ability
• Athletic ability
• Playing time potential
• Role on the team
• Coachability
• Team player
• Leadership
• Mental Toughness

At Cal, we would list all the players we were interested in along the left hand side of the sheet and rank them on a 1-5 scale on each of our selection criteria. This process helped us determine who we wanted to bring in on an official visit.

Stay ‘Tooned’ the next entry will look at part two of preparation for the recruiting process – the interview questions.

Do you want your athletes to believe in themselves? Easier for some than others. Why is this such a struggle for some of us?

I’m re-reading Noah St. John’s book The Secret Code of Success. St John talks about our “head trash” or the subconscious roadblocks that keep folks from acting on their real hopes and dreams. His “fun-house mirror” concept explained why some of my most talented athletes unconsciously sabotaged their own success.

Remember what it is like to look into a fun-house mirror? What happened? You’d see a weird, distorted view of yourself. It kind of looked like you, yet it wasn’t you.

Looking back at my coaching career I now see how some of my players were raised with fun-house mirrors. The self-image reflected back to them growing up was distorted. They failed to receive accurate information about who they really are. This negative reflection formed the basis of the “head trash” they are still carrying around.

It’s the little voice in their head that says things like:

“You’re not good enough”

“If only you had more talent”

“What were you thinking?”What’s missing for these athletes is a true reflection of their real self or what St. John calls a “Loving Mirror.” A loving mirror is a person who gives unconditional support – sounds like a good coach to me. Nearly every successful person has someone in their life who believed in them when they didn’t believe in themselves.

St. John summarizes the evolution of success into the following stages:

1. Someone believes in you.
2. You believe in someone.
3. You believe in you.

So instead of telling our athletes to believe in themselves, we need to start with believing in them! Look for greatness within each of your athletes, find the things they may never see in themselves. Encourage them: “I know you can do it,” “I see a great leader inside of you,” etc.

Remember, according to St John:

Human beings perform best in an environment of unconditional support. That happens when someone looks at you and sees your full capacity, potential, and greatness. That person knows that you can do it, and holds you to it.

Coaches are often seen scouring the land looking for tips to improve their programs. Yet, we tend to forget the insightful, readily available source of great coaching advice – our athletes! If our end users are our athletes, are our programs “user friendly”?

I just spent the weekend with 16 amazing “teachers” at Positive Coaching Alliance’s 2nd annual Student Athlete Leadership Conference held at Stanford.  This incredible group of young women and men serve on PCA’s National Student Athlete Advisory Board to identify and address key issues facing high school athletes.

After delivering a 90 minute presentation on my new book, “Get Your Game Face On!”, I met 1-on-1 with each student-athlete for a coaching session. At the end of each session I asked each athlete to offer their top 2 pieces of advice for coaches looking to build an effective team culture. Here are their insights:

1. Spend time as a team away from the sport, this helps build friendships among players. Favorite activities include team dinners at coaches house, ice cream or Jamba Juice runs, movies, pizza night, attending the school play and bowling. [Note: this idea was mentioned by 14 of the 16 student-athletes]
2. Take the time to get to know and care about your players as people as well as athletes.
3. Gain the respect of your team first by establishing your authority before trying to be their “friend” – especially important for young coaches.
4. Build a team with a balanced selection talented players AND good teammates.
5. Personalize your coaching, workouts and instruction. Make them specific to each individual and their needs.
6. Treat every team member the same.
7. Captains are important – don’t take this choice likely. The captain often makes or breaks the team. Involve your players in the selection.
8. Find out what your players consider to be their strengths and work with them from there.