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Strengthening Programs for Kids
Every athlete and their coach wants them to be bigger, stronger and faster. With this in mind, youth coaches should incorporate some sport-specific strengthening exercises in youth practices. Even as little as 5 minutes of practice and even for kids as young as 7 or 8 years old, youth coaches can have players  perform some easy strength exercises that will complement that sport. This emphasis during practice will also serve to express the importance of overall conditioning and strength to kids and parents, alike. In this day of over-weight kids coaches can start to make an impact beyond the normal exercise that each sport provides.

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Positive Sports Tip of the Day

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Knowing When to Shift Gears
Good youth coaches are very observant and the second they observe boredom setting in with players they are prepared to shift gears with a new drill or practice routine. Generally, there are three signs that they are becoming bored: 1. When kids begin to look around 2. screw around  3. get lazy with their actions. When a coach sees any of these signs it is good to be prepared to switch to doing something else. Of course, learning ways to make doing the same actions “fun” is a way of staying with the same routine. Spicing the same drills up with a little competition can take the boredom out and keep players working on the necessary skills.

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Positive Sports Tip of the Day

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The Power of Hope

Confidence is great and so valuable in sports. Unfortunately, confidence comes and goes. Additionally, confidence isn’t something that someone else can just give an athlete, they pretty much gain it or lose it from time to time on their own. Hope, however is something that someone can give a player, especially when their confidence is waning. Parents and coaches should continually give players hope with words of encouragement and most importantly through some well-founded fundamental tip. Giving players an educated fundamental tip provides players hope that if they try the suggested tip, they will have athletic success. Sometimes, the tip may be the solution, but most important, the player will have renewed hope, however fleeting, that athletic success can be achieved.

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Positive Sports Tip of the Day

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3 Things My Sports Coaching Experiences Have Taught Me
It astounds me when parents bring their kids into see me and say “It’s all in their head,” as to why they are not performing well. I have found this is rarely the case.
1. Every day a player spends reinforcing bad habits, makes it that much more difficult to change to good habits. 2. Learning and practicing the correct fundamentals as soon as possible will pay off, if not immediately, then definitely with the increased level of fundamentals at the start of the following season. 3. The money parents spend to help improve a players fundamentals is usually well worth it, as long as it is spent with a well respected, knowledgeable coach.

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Positive Sports Tip of the Day

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Fun Sports Practice Ideas
Sometimes the season starts to drag for players and coaches. For coaches or parents looking for a couple of fun sports practice ideas for your team they can try the following. 1. Let the players (team) design a practice but telling them it can’t be just playing the game. 2. Have an autograph day where each kid brings some sports pictures of themselves and pens, and parents, family members and teammates sign autographs before and after the game. 3. Have a parent or two film a game or practice game and include pre-game and post-game interviews of players. On a rainy day or team party team can watch it.   

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Positive Sports Tip of the Day

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I often encounter kids that play baseball because their parents want them to. I can tell their heart is not in it and are only playing to please their parent. This is unfortunate at times, especially when the parent gets upset with the childs attitude. The problem is that parents may have waited too long to help the child develop a serious interest in that activity.
There is a reason children of professional and Olympic athletes follow in their parents footsteps. Kids of pro athletes grow up around the fields and locker rooms of theit sports playing parents. The point is that it is the personal experiences of being there that develops a love for the sport. It didn’t come from the kids watching the sport on TV or from playing the video game of the sport.

     You never know for sure when a kid develops a love for something but it can be sparked by a very simple event. I believe I can trace my son’s  love of baseball to age 3, when he hopped in a battting cage at my sports academy and was able to hit the ball from the pitching machine.
     Parents that want their kids to develop a love for a particular sport should attend games of that sport with their child from a young age. Seeing and feeling the electric and fun atmosphere of physically being at the games as often as possible may create the spark that develops the love of sport in the child. Of course, this does not have to be a professional game, but even a high school, college or sibling game of the sport. You never know when the spark will develop in your child and it cannot be forced on them later in life.

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Love of Sport

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    I have received this comment many times from parents over the years, “Would you make him a major leaguer.” I always respond with “only he can do that, but I will try to instill the correct fundamentals and impress upon him the importance of a great work ethic.” To avoid having regrets later and to reach one’s potential, a great work ethic is mandatory in sports and life. With that in mind, follwing are some of the statements that I often repeat to my students:
1. It is not the fast one out that wins in the long run but the steady methodical athlete who continually works at their skills.
2. An athlete can not always control the outcome but they can control their amount of effort and preparation, which usually helps determine the outcome
3. Keep positive images in your mind – think about that great  play you made and forget your mistakes and losses
4.  Everyone has the will to win – the winners are those that have the will to prepare to win. (Qoute is from some famous person who I am not sure)

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Sports Parenting Tips – Developing a Good Work Ethic

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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:

1. Attention – showing legitimate interest in activities that kids are involved with provides inspiration. Attending games, asking questions, practicing with, showing enthusiasm and providing financial support are all means of showing kids that you are interested in the same things that they are.
2.  Approval – positive words, well timed smiles, recognizing little improvements and effort help kids feel like a success and are inspiring.

      3.  Knowledge – providing players with fundamental knowledge and strategic know-how inspires confidence in athletes.

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How to Motivate Youth in Sports – Positive Parenting Actions

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Previously, I had written about my favorite word when talking to athletes was “we.” It gives off the feeling to youth that all (parents, athletes and players) are in it together and that the athlete does not have to figure it out or go it alone on their journey to be as good as they can be. That brings me to my least favorite word that people use sometimes when speaking to athletes - embarrass. “You embarrassed me out there” or “that was embarrassing the way you played” or “You should be embarrassed with that performance.”  All of those statements only serve to demean athletes and give the impression that the athlete is playing for the “sayer” of the statement. Kids should be encouraged to play for themselves, the team and for the love and fun of sport, not necessarily to please their parents or coaches. Of course, the by product of parents and coaches who are encourraging and positive is that players also play to please the adults too. In this way, all benefit and the word embarrass will not be part of youth sports. 

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One Word Never to Use with Young Athletes – Keys to Successful Parenting

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     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 thing is I’ve realized that it does not mean that the players who look away are the ones who are not paying attention. Some kids listen better when they are not looking at the speaker. So, I have learned to live with the fact that some kids will not be looking at me when giving a talk. What I have also learned to do is to ask questions after talking to see who is listening and to reinforce the spoken material.
    The problem is that not looking at the speaker is considered a sign of disrespect by many coaches. Players who are not looking at the coach, even if they are listening, are at a disadvantage for making the team or for being on the good side of the coach. WIth that in mind, parents should encourage kids to look at the coach when they are speaking as often as possible so they have equal opportunuties as the players who are looking at the coach. Of course, all players should be encouraged to listen and try the things that coaches suggest. 

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Are the Athletes Listening? Positive Coaching

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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 agree with this article completely and would like to add something to it. Simply put –  leagues, schools and organizations need to have better training for their coaches. There is the age-old complaint that coaches are just out to win and don’t work enough on player development. That is true, but the reason it is true is that most youth coaches do not have the training to observe players to see if players are perfroming the fundamentals correctly. Just because a parent played the sport in their day, does not give them the power of observation to know if players are doing something correctly. I played major league baseball before teaching baseball for 21 years. Just playing did not make me a good coach. It took many hours of study and observation. Because most youth coaches do not have this experience does not make them  bad coaches, they just are not rained enough. The one thing they can fall back on without this observation abilility is to put all their effort in trying to win. This is unfortunate, but without better trained coaches, the situation will not change. Once again, coaches will just fall back on the only thing they know – trying to win. Leagues should put more emphasis on their coaches training – one preseason coaches clinic is not sufficient. 

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Youth Coaches Training

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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 turn their practice drills into competitions for kids. I just finished up a baseball camp – after the first day of camp or at the start of practice the next day, kids would ask me if we could do a certain competition that we had done before. Coach can we do the “such and such” drill? That is a good feeling for a coach when athletes become enthused about doing certain drills or having competetive contests. Coaches should always have a watch or stopwatch available so they can turn any drill into a competition – for example, most throws completed in one minute or most free throws made in two minutes are examples.
    Coaches should teach correct fundamentals and then make things more exciting for kids by adding contests and competitions – athletes love to compete.

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Making Sports Fun by Jack Perconte

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Raising an Athlete

Had a great time talking sports with Joe Magennis – he is doing neat things over at his website. Check it out at:
http://baseballisms.com/podcast-author-jack-perconte.html

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Positive Parenting Podcast with Jack Perconte

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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 should be taken into account when coaches are drawing up their philosophy. Three main objectives of playing sports revolve around winning, player development and fun. Coaches need to decide how much emphasis they are going to spend on these, once again, based on the age and competitive nature of the league and playing level. It is important to note that having fun should be an objective for all, but many coaches do not know how to make things fun. This does not make them bad coaches, as long as they teach the game to all players in a respectful manner.
    Coaches should write this philosophy down before the season and share it with team members and tem parents. This will help keep everyone on the same page and help keep the coach accountable to this philospohy as the season progresses.
   With younger athletes, most of the emphasis should be placed on player development. Coaches can still play to win but they should not dwell on winning or losing with these players. This is best done by keeping the same demeanor after wins and losses, and by not mentioning the importance of winning to the team. Coaches of young athletes should spend a great deal of time with developing individual skills and teaching basic game strategy.
    As kids age level increases, coaches expect a certain level of expertise from players and can start to emphasize the importance of winning more. This “winning attitude” should not be an obsession, but treated as a reward for coaches and athletes. This reward of winning creates good feeling with all because it shows that players executed better than the opposition and that the coach better prepared their team for competition.

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ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Coaching Philosophy

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Sports Coaching

There are a number of considerations adults should take into account before volunteering to coach youth sports. Youth sports coaching is not as easy as it may appear because there is the responsibility of helping youth and at the same time keeping parents happy at the same time. With this in mind, adults should keep the following in mind before taking on the sports coaching task.
1. Knowledge of the sport is important, obviously. Coaches should have enough knowledge of the skills and strategy of the game to be able to help players of that age and enough knowledge to justify their decisions to inquisitive parents. With this in mind coaches should continue to learn more about the skills and strategy as the season approaches and as the season progressses.
2. Enthusiasm for the sport is important. Just having the knowledge is not enough if soem passion for the sport is not there. Enthusiasm is contagious and will rub off on the team, which is the goal. For example, many adults volunteer to coach only so there child can play on a particular team when they really don’t have a passion for that sport.
3. A desire to help every child on the team is important. Some youth sports coaches help only the better players and neglect others. Of course, some kids are not very coachable and coaches should not be expected to spend excess time with these type players at this level of play.
4. Fairness and honesty are crucial. As mentioned, coaches being able to deal with parents is crucial to an enjoyable season for all. This is most possible when coaches are fair with their decisions with regards to positions played, time of play and discipline. Additionally, coaches who are honest about their own strengths and weaknesses with players and coaches will have an easier time. Pretending to know everything about the sport, coaching and game strategy is a big mistake of many youth coaches.
5. Communication is always a key. Keeping players and parents abreast of important decisions is important. Coaches should not have to justify every move but should inform players and parents when big changes are being made or when they appear very upset with decisions.

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Positive Parenting in Sports – When to Volunteer

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Sports Coaching Tips

     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 outlook. Confidence is great, optimism is even better. Just like people in general, some athletes are naturally confident whereas others have no confidence. Players also have different confidence levels, ranging from very confident to somewhat confident. Usually, the higher the confidence levels of the athlete the better chance of a good performance. Confidence helps but it does not guarantee good results.

     Likewise, some players have an optimistic outlook and others are pessimistic. Optimistic players would say, “My fault, but I’ll get them next time,” while pessimistic players would say things like “I’m no good,” or “the umpire screwed me.” I was an example of a player who played and succeeded without much confidence, yet always had an optimistic feeling about where I was headed in my career. Players can succeed and progress without high levels of confidence, but I have never known a successful player who did not have an optimistic outlook.

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Raising an Athlete – Book Excerpt

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A little info on my hilariously funny friend Jimmy Scott:
I don’t want to publicly state that I’m one of the best right-handed pitchers of all-time.  I’ll just think that.  Instead, I’ll state in a public forum that my 330 wins, 4000+ strikeouts, 2 no-hitters and 3 championship rings put me in elite company.  The top of my resume says A Great One.  I think that’s a proper heading, don’t you? Read more at http://www.jimmyscottshighandtight.com/

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A Must Read – So Funny – Sports Coaching

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Reprint from Jack’s Press Enterprise Blog – Southern California Newpaper
http://blogs.pe.com/moms/2009/09/not-so-harmless.html

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Negative Gestures Hurt as Much as Negative Words – Sports Coaching

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Parenting Advice

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 put on winning? Of course not, but playing to win is a good message for kids to understand. When coaches do not play to win they give the meassage that mediocrity is acceptable.
For kids under the agea of 12, I don’t believe any more than a 33% emphasis should be put on winning though, with much of a coach’s goal being to develop player’s skills and kids having fun. As long as these two latter points are emphasiszed there is nothing wron with playing to win, showing kids that they should strive for perfection and success.
How coaches deal with winning and losing is very important and hopefully it is in a positive, educational and gracious manner. Teaching kids how to deal with winning and losing are valuable lessons that kids need to learn and good coaches and parents are there to provide this instruction.

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ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – W

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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

activity does not get boring or seem too important. Creating a love of sport and and fun in sports is dependent on a wide variety of teaching methods. As kids age, they will begin to sort out which activities they enjoy the most.
Victory – Another word for winning, and how coaches and parents deal with winning and losing is vital for kids devlopment in not only sports but life also. teaching kids how to accept defeat and at the same time how to be gracious victors is important.
Voice – The tenor of the voice that parents use when talking to their kids determines their kids attitude toward an activity. Teaching sports with a unemotional voice is vital so that excess pressure is not exerted on thier kids. Learning to teach with a matter of fact voice is good and not a pleading voice is the key.
View – This was talked about when discussing perspective but being able to view a players career with perspective (as from a distant view) allows parents to make good decisions for their kids.

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ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – V

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4. Positive Coaching – Check Ego in at the Door Image by melissajonas via Flickr Over the years, one...
5. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – P Patience & Perspective Now we are talking – there are...

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Sports Coaching

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 how to make them feel good about themselves and their play.”

These are some quotes from my latest book and show the importance of the word beginning with the letter U.
In “Rasing an Athlete” I have a coach’s quiz to see where coaches rank on a effective coaching scale. There are 50 questions asked with some valued higher than others. The intent is not really to evaluate coaches but to give people an understanding of how many ingredients go into making a great coach. Parents of athletes should not expect their volunteer coaches to rank super high on the quiz because they don’t have the experience, training and time to devote to being a great coach. Most great coaches are found at the collegiate and pro levels, with some at the high school level and even fewer at the youth level. However, this is not to say that there are not some very good youth level coaches because there are. Also, the good news is that coaches can and do improve over time with this often being a trial and error process to bring out the best in young players.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – U

Positive parenting posts:

1. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Coaching Philosophy   Sports Coaching Philosophy Coaching Philosophy     It is important...
2. Showing Understanding – Sports Coaching Following is Jack’s article he writes for the Press Enterprise...
3. Positive Parenting in Sports – When to Volunteer There are a number of considerations adults should take into...
4. Positive Parenting (Coaching) Tip of the Day Image by jfre81 via Flickr Parents should not underestimate...
5. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – N Negativity – First word that comes to mind when I...

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From Raising an Athlete – Jack Perconte’s second book due out September 1 -

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Reality Check – Sports Coaching

Positive parenting posts:

1. Positive Parenting Podcast with Jack Perconte Had a great time talking sports with Joe Magennis –...
2. Training for Fun – Great Blog for Moms Image by Axel Bührmann via Flickr I have been...
3. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – N Negativity – First word that comes to mind when I...
4. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – U Understanding - ”I understand that just because a skill is easy...
5. ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – Y Youth  – Things are getting tough down here at the...

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