Image by melissajonas via Flickr
Over the years, one of the most trying situations I encounter as a youth coach is dealing with the “Know it All Player.” More often than not this player tends to be a young teenager who is not afraid to be bold and let me know that his way is better
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
A few posts back I wrote about always being on the lookout for little inspirational quotes to have ready to say to athletes. Words are great but not as good as actions, of course. With that in mind, here are the three key ways to motivate athletes:
Image via Wikipedia
I work with baseball and softball palyers all the time because that is what I do for a living. Inevitably, when I begin talking to a group of players, many of them will immediately look elsewhere than at me. Is that a little annoying? Yes, but the
Image by Getty Images via Daylife
A great way to develop enthusiam and love for a sport is to go to upper level games in that sport. This may seem obvious but the trick is to follow it up with some action. Going to professional games is great and creates enthusiasm, but it may not create [...]
Image by Brian Sawyer via Flickr
If you are a coach or parent and are not reading blogs and articles at sites like this one http://baseballparentguide.blogspot.com/2009/12/too-much-emphasis-on-winning-not.html then you are not maximizing your potential as a sports parent and/or youth coach. I
Image via Wikipedia
Parents often become concerned because their kids come home from practice and don’t appear very enthusiastic. “It was so boring,” is a common response. What to do? Good coaches know what to do – everything in sports require players learning how to do things quicker and faster. With this in mind, good coaches [...]
Following are parenting tips to help bring out the best in athletes and to guarantee athletic success.
1. Begin working on skills at least 6 weeks before the start of practice and gradually increase the work load each week leading up to the season.
2. Begin teaching basic fundamentals at a young age without being overbearing with [...]
Sports Coaching Philosophy
Coaching Philosophy
It is important for coaches at all levels to have a philosophy of coaching. Of course, this philosophy should be arrived at based on the age of athletes and the competitive level of the league the athletes are playing in. For example, travel leagues tend to be more competitive so this [...]
Another common concern parents have is that their child has no confidence. Often, they would ask me to help build up their child’s confidence. Of course, I would work on that because that is what good coaches do. Of more importance, I felt, was to make sure the young players had an overall optimistic [...]
Reprint from Jack’s Press Enterprise Blog – Southern California Newpaper
http://blogs.pe.com/moms/2009/09/not-so-harmless.html
Burnout – Another common word when talking about yout sports. Burnout occurs when playing the game just stops being fun anymore. The causes of burnout generally occur in three ways – over-playing, over-sporting and over-expecting. Kids are often heading for burnout when one or more of these situations occur: 1. When they play one particular sport too often or [...]
From Jack’s blog at the Press Enterprise – Southern California Newspapers
http://blogs.pe.com/moms/2009/09/keeping-sports-in-perspective.html
Xample – OK, I know I am cheating a little on this one but I want to keep the streak going. Everyone knows how important it is for coaches and parents to lead by example. Just as important, especially as players reach the high school level, is that players learn to also lead by example. [...]
Winning – The first word that comes to mind when thinking of words that begin with W and sports is winning. It is often debated whether coaches of youth should play to win. I believe it is OK to play to win, even at ages as young as 8 years old. Does that mean allot of emphasis should be [...]
Parenting Advice
Variety,Victory,Voice,View -
There is no one word that sticks out when thinking of the letter V so I will mention some thoughts that apply to some V words that apply to sports.
Variety – It is important that coaches and parents provide a variety of options to their kids at younger ages so that one
Understanding - ”I understand that just because a skill is easy for me or appears easy from the sidelines, does not mean it is easy for everyone.” ” I play to win, with the understanding that player development and fun are of equal importance.” “I do my best to understand each player’s personality so I can determine [...]
Trust -
The obvious word that comes to the sports mind with the letter T is Talent. Talent is a combination of God-given athleticism and some develped skills and generally manifests itself at a young age in kids. The word that I want to talk about is trust because this is an extrememly important concept when parents and coaches work [...]
Optimism – One of my favorite words and concepts that obviously goes beyond sports. In my book, Raising an Athlete, I go into detail talking about comparing confidence and optimism and how to build optimistic kids. Confidence is not something that can be given to someone but is attained by good performance and/or good work ethic. Confidence [...]
Negativity – First word that comes to mind when I think of the letter N is negativity. Negativity unfortunately is way too common in sports coaching today. Coaches and parents who are negative are always looking at the downside of players performances and make it a point to express the negative to their players. This [...]
Motivation – The first word that comes to mind with sports and the letter M is motiavation. Motivation is a lot like love because it can be developed and it can come at different stages of a child’s career. All kids are diferent – some are naturally motivated whild others have little motivation. There is [...]
Justify – Not a lot of words beginning with this letter. Of course, coaches and parents should always be judicious with their teams and kids when making decisions about athletics. But one of my favorite words is justify. Most kids stop playing sports not because they get burnt out but because they cannot justify working [...]
Inspiration
- This is an obvious word that initially comes to mind when I think of words beginning with this letter. Many parents get frustrated with their kids because they do not show much motivation to play to practice their skills. Often, motivation comes from within a players innate personality so that is hard to change with many kids. However, [...]
Fundamentals
If you have been following my writings over the last few years you know that this is the concept(s) I discuss the most frequently. To me, this word contains the two most important ideas pertaining to youth sports. Youth sports is albout developing fundamentals and having fun. The two go hand and hand. It [...]
Effort & Expectations – The first two words that come to mind when I think of the letter E when it comes to sports are effort and expectations. They actually go hand and hand. The thing that parents can “expect” from
Development
When you think of the letter D when it comes to sports, desire and determination come to mind. However, the concept that should not be left out of the “D” conversation and the one I most associate with athletics is development. Obviously, every player brings different genes and athleticism to the game. But no matter how [...]
How to Instill Confidence, Build Skills and Inspire a Love of Sport -
