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THREE. There is a danger (a considerable one, based on the evidence so far) that over-coaching can promote an atmosphere where the pro athlete's brain neutralizes his physical gifts rather than augments them. - Matt at Battle of Alberta

That's the fine line of coaching isn't it.  As a coach you need to teach, but you want your players to react instinctively rather than think.  The teaching process takes time — something you don't have much of as a rec league coach — which is why it's a good idea to narrow your focus…

Confidence is contagious. So is lack of confidence. - Vince Lombardi

I spent the weekend talking to the people with the Positive Coaching Alliance.  I've written about this organization before in connection with the book Double Goal Coach.  The double goals are 1) Winning and 2) Using sports to teach kids life lessons. 

PCS's mission tracks closely with my belief that a coach's priorities are:

1. Teaching the kids
2. Creating a fun atmosphere
3. Winning games

And the kids priorities are:

1. Winning games
2. Having fun
3. Learning the game

The way PCA puts it:

PCA was created to transform the culture of youth sports to give all young athletes the opportunity for a positive, character-building experience.
We have three national goals:

1. To replace the "win-at-all-cost" model of coaching with the "Double-Goal Coach" who wants to win but has a second, more important, goal of using sports to teach life lessons
2. To teach youth sports organization leaders how to create an organizational culture in which Honoring the Game is the norm
3. To spark and fuel a "social epidemic" of Positive Coaching that will sweep this country

I'll write more about them in the coming days.  Today take some time and check out their site.  They have several tools to help you teach your kids in a positive way.  One of the best is Positive Charting.  You create a chart for each player along with the activity you want to track.  Have an assistant coach track the game and give each kid a mark when they do the activity you are tracking.  After the game or at the next practice you can use the charts to reinforce what the kids did in the game.

Positive Charting is only one of the tools PCA has to implement positive coaching.  Over the weekend we talked about several others that are all part of a PCA Double Goal Coach clinic.  Do yourself a favor and go to one of these clinics if you have the chance to attend.

We are not retreating - we are advancing in another direction. - Douglas MacArthur

Dirty Harry must have been the first one to understand the latest Good To Great principle.  "A man's gotta know his limitations".  That's not just good advice when you are looking down the barrel of a .45 Magnum, it's pretty good anytime.

Understanding what your team can and — very important — can't do is the only way to work on the right things.  Collins calls this Confronting the Brutal Facts.  

When you start with an honest and dillegent effort to determine the truth of the situation, the right decisions often become self-evident.

In the book Collins relates a powerful story from Admiral James Stockdale.  Stockdale was the highest ranking American Naval POW in Vietnam.  He was shot down in 1965 and held captive until 1973.  Collins asked him the type of people who didn't make it as POW's.  He said it was the optimists who couldn't handle it.  He said the optimists were hoping they would be released soon, they didn't accept the fact that they were POWs and likely to stay that way for a long time.

This doesn't mean that Stockdale gave up on his situation.  He never gave up believing he would be released, but he "retained faith that he would prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties."

What does this mean for coaching kids?  Remember the Hedgehog?  Figure out what your team can be the best at and work towards that goal.  How can you become a hedgehog if you don't confront the brutal reality?  But then how brutal is the reality when you're talking about coaching kids?

Managing is getting paid for home runs someone else hits. - Casey Stengel

You're a rec league coach.  When you volunteered you knew one kid who would be on your team — yours.  Otherwise your roster is a combination of kids whose parents knew to ask for you, some geographical coincidences and random placements.  In short, you're not Tex Schramm looking to build through the draft, you built your team by picking up a packet at league headquarters.  You have very little choice or input on who is on your team, so how can you follow the second principle of Good To Great, First Who, then Where.

Well, I have some ideas — after all it's my website and if I didn't have some ideas on the subject I'd be writing about something else…

Collins uses a bus analogy to describe running a company.  He says the great companies first decide who should be on the bus before deciding where the bus should go. 

They said, in essence, “Look, I don’t really know where we should take this bus. But I know this much: If we get the right people on the bus, the right people in the right seats, and the wrong people off the bus, then we’ll figure out how to take it someplace great.”

Obviously, in a rec league environment you can't shape your roster, but you do have more control over your coaches and other helpers.  It's up to you to set the tone for the team. 

You may have an assistant assigned to you and he may have different ideas about how to run the team, but you are the coach and you set the culture.  Because if you don't, you're still setting the culture, and it won't be one you like.

You want people helping you who understand the course you are taking and will help you move forward.  You don't want people who are working at cross purposes with you.  Be sure your team, your coaches and - especially - the parents understand your core values.

Don't confuse this with a "my way or the highway" approach.  Core values are only the most basic needs for running a team.  My core values are:

1. Coaching is teaching
2. Players improve when they understand what they are doing

Take a few minutes to think about why you coach and what your core values are.  How can you apply those with your team and how can you convey them?