Motivation in Sport – the Number One Source

Posted Tuesday, March 1, 2011 at 9:22 pm

A popular pondering of most team coaches is “How can I motivate my athletes?” There are many sources of motivation for your team. Unfortunately, you are not on the top of the list. In order to strengthen your athlete’s mental game, it’s important to understand the most influential factors. Let’s look at the number one source of motivation in sport The strongest source of motivation lives within the athlete. When an athlete has a burning desire for something, motivation is high and consistent. So “self-reinforcement”... [Read more]

Coaching Awards for Desired Behavior

Posted Saturday, February 26, 2011 at 7:48 pm

Want more effort from your players? If so, then make sure you reward it. What kinds of awards do you give out as a coach? Are your rewards and awards just for the standard “outcome” goals of your sport – points scored, shooting percentage, runs etc? Not a problem. Yet, how about rewarding the stuff that leads up to the outcomes? Hustle, defense, assists, picks, floor burns? If you want more of these behaviors from your team, then reward it. I’m not talking about expensive trophies or gifts. Watch today\’s... [Read more]

High Performance Coaching and the Many Kinds of Smart

Posted Monday, February 21, 2011 at 11:11 pm

Some say, “Variety is the spice of life” – it might also be a key to coaching.  Variety not only keeps things interesting it also taps into the various ways our athletes learn.  All athletes learn differently:  they have their own unique learning style. Learning styles are different ways of thinking and learning.   High school and colleges coaches that understand their athletes’ learning styles and vary his or her style of teaching strategies accordingly, have the best shot at truly impacting all their players. In 1983,... [Read more]

Effective Team Leaders Handle the Dissatisfaction Phase

Posted Tuesday, February 15, 2011 at 9:32 pm

Teams are living breathing organisms – constantly changing and adapting. They progress in phases just like a child goes through development phases; from a toddler to an adolescent to an adult. In essence team coaches are excellent ‘course correctors.’ Like airplanes that fly off course 99% of the time, the pilot is however always constantly correcting. The same can be said for team leadership. A good high school or college coach recognizes where their team is and what the team requires at any given phase. Ken Blanchard’s... [Read more]

Coaching the Mental Game – where to begin?

Posted Tuesday, November 30, 2010 at 8:55 pm

One of the most crucial yet most ignored area of training is the mental game. Team Coaches and athletes sometimes hear mental strength training and think it implies only to people with major mental issues. Not true. My goal is to see the mental game become a normal, everyday part of training. Where does one begin? In developing any skill, the best place to start is with an assessment of the current situation. A tool I’ve used with all of my teams is the Competitive Adjective Profile (C.A.P.) developed by Dr. James Loehr. Each... [Read more]

A Team Building Strategy for the Team Coach – Stay in Touch!

Posted Friday, November 26, 2010 at 7:43 pm

Team Coaches are always looking for great team building strategies.  Well, recent research shows us that “reaching out and touching someone” goes along way in creating great team chemistry. The fist bump, the high five, a quick hug or even the Bryan Brothers famous chest bump – are all powerful forms of non-verbal communication used by high performing teams. Scientist at UC Berkeley recently analyzed physical interactions among every team in the NBA.  Michael Kraus led a research team that observed and coded every... [Read more]

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]