Coaching Conversations – Ask Don’t Tell

Posted Monday, November 16, 2009 at 10:02 pm

Effective coaching is not so much what you say but what you ask.  Asking your players powerful questions is much more productive than telling them what to do.  True coaching is about developing a strong relationship with your players for the purpose of THEIR growth and development.  It’s about helping your players fulfill their goals and commitments.  Applying effective communication skills in coaching helps you to develop a strong relationship with your players. One of a crucial coaching skill is having open coaching conversations... [Read more]

Harbaugh’s modeling toughness has Stanford rising in College Football

Posted Monday, November 9, 2009 at 6:25 pm

Resilience is a key component of mental toughness. Stanford football Coach Jim Harbaugh embodies it and his team is following his lead – all the way to their first National Ranking since 2001. Harbaugh honed his resiliency during his tenure as an NFL Pro Bowl quarterback – a time when he studied with Dr. Jim Loehr. “As an NFL quarterback, my job was to perform under pressure. During the heat of battle in a big game, I often only had seconds to make critical decisions — and those decisions could win or lose games.... [Read more]

Baseball players coaching each other to the World Series

Posted Tuesday, November 3, 2009 at 1:47 pm

I recently had dinner with Brent Rushall, one of my former professors from San Diego State (Master’s program).  The man is a wealth of coaching science knowledge (check out his site, http://coachsci.sdsu.edu/ if you ever need researched based answers to coaching questions). One of the stories he told me is unfolding right now in professional baseball.  It seems that a consultant to the Philadelphia Philles convinced the team to practice “peer coaching” where players coach each other.  The inside scoop reveals that the players... [Read more]

Gossip Derails Team Development

Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 at 5:47 pm

Just got off the phone with one of my former athletes who’s now coaching.  She’s pulling her hair out!  Gossip is running rampant on her team. A top killer of team development is gossip.  What is gossip?  It’s any third party conversation.  What’s that?  Basically it’s talking about someone when they’re not there – you’re talking about them instead of talking to them. What’s wrong with a little gossip?  We all do it.  Celebrity gossip is a billion dollar industry!  Gossip distorts the facts, causes... [Read more]

It’s Not Funny

Posted Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 7:27 pm

Everyone enjoys a witty teammate, but sarcasm often sabotages a team. Witty wisecrackers may see their remarks as clever, but because the distinction between a joke and an insult can be nebulous, they can easily damage relationships with their one-liners. Check out the where the word sarcasm comes from – “deriving from a Greek word meaning “to strip off the flesh,”.  I definitely recommend sharing this definition with your team. Sarcasm is so prevalent in teen culture that I’m afraid that young athletes might be losing... [Read more]

Don’t Say It – We Just Didn’t Execute!

Posted Wednesday, October 7, 2009 at 12:37 am

Fall is in the air and scholastic sports are in full swing.  Post competition comments are also flowing freely.  In the last few days I’ve heard the following comments from various coaches: • “We had our chances there. We just didn’t execute well” • “We just didn’t execute the way we wanted to” • “We just didn’t finish off the drives, you know. We had one little thing go wrong. We have to get all eleven on the same page” • “We tried to battle it out,... [Read more]

Breaking the Momentum Chain

Posted Monday, September 28, 2009 at 10:19 pm

Watching the 6th ranked Golden Bears get blown out by the Ducks on Saturday left me shaking my head.  What happened?How can such a competent team suddenly look so incompetent? Broadcasters talk about the “Big Mo” in sports.  Momentum.  Athletes can feel it on both sides of a big play, teams feel it when they come back late in a game and fans feel it when their team catches fire or goes cold as ice.  I sure felt it on Saturday. There are a lot of opinions in the sports science literature about the existence of momentum.  It’s... [Read more]

Laws of Learning

Posted Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at 8:19 pm

It’s amazing, coaches are directly responsible for literally hundreds of hours of learning. Our effectiveness depends a great deal on how well we apply our understanding of the learning process. The “laws of learning” below provide valuable insight into the learning process that will assist in providing a rewarding experience to your team. Law of Readiness. An athlete learns best when they are ready to learn – they will not learn much if they see no reason for what they’re are doing.  It’s imperative to provide... [Read more]

I understand Serena’s reaction

Posted Monday, September 14, 2009 at 11:29 pm

Why?  Because I see it everyday in youth sports – parents, coaches and fans losing their cool over a game.  There’s just something about “competition” that CAN cause temporary insanity if we let it. Serena definitely had a temporary moment of insanity.  Yet, you and I should not “judge her actions” from the comfy confines of our living room couch.  Instead, imagine yourself on the sidelines as a coach or parent at one of our children’s games.  It’s a great game.  The score is tight.  The lead goes back and forth. ... [Read more]

Sign of a Strong Team Culture

Posted Wednesday, September 9, 2009 at 7:15 pm

You set up your team code, now what happens if somebody breaks it? Simple.  Call it!  If you someone breaks the code, it up to someone on the team or the whole team to pull that person aside and say, “We agreed on X.  I’m calling you on it right now.  We are not going to do that here.” The Code is useless unless folks are willing to “Call It”. In a strong team culture, “stuff” gets handled informally – by the players.  It is not the coaches responsibility to “call it” on folks.  It is up to the players to... [Read more]

Defending the Code

Posted Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 1:19 am

While sorting through the sports sections after my recent trip to the East Coast, one headline jumped out at me, “Oregon’s Blount down for the count after decking Hout”.  Having recently relocated to the Bay Area from Portland, all things “Oregon” still catch my eye.  It seems University of Oregon football player, LeGarrette Blount punched a Boise State player after their game and just like that his college career ended. At first I was shaking my head at yet another sport low light getting thousands of You Tube hits. ... [Read more]

Team Code of Honor

Posted Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 3:30 am

I just got back from delivering 4 Positive Coaching Alliance workshops for the town of Sisters Oregon. The leaders are up to big things for a small town (pop . 1750). The goal is to a youth sports “council” comprised of members from community sport groups. I met with coaches, community leaders, athletes and parents. On the way home, it hit me that an important piece in developing a culture or “the way we do things here”, is to create a written code. I’ve worked a bit with Blair Singer, author of The ABC’s of Building... [Read more]