Key Coaching Skill – Getting Things Done!

Posted Tuesday, August 10, 2010 at 12:00 am

Coaches wear many hats – teacher, counselor, administrator, fundraiser etc. A daunting coaching challenge is to balance one’s focus on the big picture of the program with implementing the important daily details.  Yet striving for “stress free productivity” is critical for long-term success on and off the playing field. David Allen’s Getting Things Done is a brilliant system.  It works yet it takes some time to get comfortable with implementing it.  Here are the 5 phases of Allen’s system. 1.  Collect.  Capture all... [Read more]

Sport Motivation is an Inside Job

Posted Thursday, July 22, 2010 at 2:08 pm

The question coaches ask a lot  is “How can I motivate my players?” The answer to this is twofold. First, it’s time that coaches STOP TRYING to motivate their players and start helping athletes CONNECT to their own motivation. Second, when coaches foster the right mindset, a growth mindset, in their athletes, then commitment and motivation will automatically show up without having to force it. I’ve read Carol Dweck’s book Mindset: The New Psychology for Success and I recently participated in a talk she gave to Positive... [Read more]

Clarity of vision is critical coaching skill

Posted Tuesday, July 6, 2010 at 12:56 pm

If you had a “magic wand” and could have your program look anyway you wanted, what would it look like?  This wand is special and designed to give you exactly what you want – so be specific! I originally learned this concept as “begin with the end in mind” from Stephen Covey’s book the 7 Habits of Highly Successful People.”  Now that I have kids, it’s all about magic wands and super heros! Life is constantly changing and challenging us.  Around every corner is yet another problem,... [Read more]

Effective Coaching Tip: Go Ahead – Push My Buttons

Posted Thursday, June 17, 2010 at 2:59 pm

Unfortunately, button pushers get a bad rap.  They’re considered rude, inconsiderate, disrespectful, intrusive, self-absorbed and insensitive. They are the difficult people in life.  Teachers send them to the principals office, coaches pull their hair out and bosses fire them. I see it differently.  I believe my job as a coach, partner and a parent is to push buttons and to welcome my buttons being pushed.  Why?  I’ve found that the best at anything – sports, public speaking, sales or surgery, have the fewest buttons... [Read more]

What Happened???

Posted Thursday, June 10, 2010 at 3:56 pm

Success can be tough.  While UCLA Softball won its 11th title in program history this week, the Arizona Wildcats, with 6 titles, finished runner up for the fifth time in it’s history. I interviewed UA Coach Mike Candrea at the beginning of the season.  While his words inspired me, some of them haunted me.  Success is tough – it breeds expectations. Coach noted, “The expectations are very high. It’s a unique situation here because when we finish second, the College World Series people say, “What happened?” They don’t... [Read more]

Effective Coaching Skills by way of the Tao Te Ching

Posted Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 11:36 pm

With a coaching philosophy deeply influenced by Taoism, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Deepak Chopra, Jim Sochor helped turn a mediocre UC football program into a Division II dynasty. My first exposure to Coach Sochor came years ago through my work with Positive Coaching Alliance.  I was instantly smitten.  His presentation and presence captivated me.  When I started Inside World Class Coaching, Coach Sochor made the short list. I recently had the privilege of interviewing Jim and walked away again in awe.  I now refer to him as the... [Read more]

Front-end effort pays off big

Posted Monday, May 3, 2010 at 5:00 pm

“The more you do on the front end, the fewer problems you’ll have on the back end.”  This is one of my all time favorite Jack Clark quotes. California defeated BYU, 19-7, Saturday night at Steuber Rugby Stadium to win the 25th national championship in program history. The Golden Bears finished the year at 26-0, their first perfect season since 2002, refusing to allow BYU to repeat as champs in the two teams’ fifth straight meeting in the title match. “There is a lot of trust and a lot of commitment,” Clark... [Read more]

Coach – Put Your Pet Peeves Out There

Posted Wednesday, March 17, 2010 at 6:13 pm

No matter how long we coach, no matter how much we grow as people, some of our athletes will still bug us!   I loved it when my athletes became juniors and seniors – they finally knew how best to deal with me.  The first few years were often an arduous training process on how to best interact with one another. I am all about shortening the learning curve whenever possible.  In my recent Inside World Class Coaching interview with Cal swim coach Teri McKeever, I discovered a brilliant way to address our pet peeves with our... [Read more]

Every Body Says Something

Posted Tuesday, March 9, 2010 at 3:36 pm

Flying home yesterday on Southwest, I came across an article about the book What Every Body is Saying, by Joe Navarro. Joe’s been studying non-verbal behavior for over 30 years – Twenty-five were spent in the FBI catching spies. I loved reading what my different poses mean to other folks. Knowing that a large percentage of our communication with our players is non-verbal, I became fascinated to learn how I could be more intentional with my physical messages. Here are a few examples: Standing With Hands on Hips Use It When... [Read more]

True Team Culture Gets Cal Share of Pac-10 Title

Posted Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 3:10 am

If a team is a reflection of its head coach, then the Cal men’s basketball team is in great hands. Smart. Steady. Calm under pressure. Professional. These are just a few of the characteristics I’d use to describe Cal head coach Mike Montgomery. He has certainly put his mark on the program in his first two seasons as the Golden Bears head coach.  I was one of the fortunate ones crammed into Haas Pavilion on Saturday to watch the Montgomery led bears end a 50-year wait for a Pac-10 title.  It was awesome. As much as I enjoyed... [Read more]

Every Team Leaves a Clue

Posted Thursday, February 11, 2010 at 11:15 pm

I just had an awesome 7-Minute Clinic interview with Kevin Grimes, coach of the Cal Men’s Soccer team.   The first words out of Kevin’s mouth were, “Every team leaves a clue”.  I’d never heard this line before.  I was instantly intrigued. I caught Kevin coming off a very UP and then a very DOWN season.  He and his staff are right in the middle of completing their post-season evaluation.  This is not some chit chat over a beer.  The coaching staff conducts a top to bottom review of the previous season – what worked,... [Read more]

Be an Incessant Seeker

Posted Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 10:43 pm

Successful coaches are passionate about mastering their craft – not just the Xʼs and Oʼs of their sport. Sport specific knowledge is important, yet it doesnʼt separate average coaches from great coaches. There are a lot of brilliant people in every sport who canʼt coach a lick. Great coaches realize that there is so much more to their craft. They study and understand group dynamics, motivation, personal growth, goals, communication and so forth.  They love the game, they love learning about the game and this feeds how they... [Read more]