coachKidsSports.com

If you've read this site before you know I believe coaching is teaching.  What is the highest honor given to a teacher?  The Golden Apple Award.  You may not be eligible for a real one, but on August 30th I gave you some tips on how to be a better teacher anyway.

5 Steps to a Golden Apple Award

By : Coach Bigs

The eye of the master will do more work than both his hands. - Benjamin Franklin

As a coach it's your job to teach, so if you're going to be a better coach, you need to be a better teacher.  Here are five things you can do at your next practice which will make it — and you — more effective.

Take a knee – Especially with the youngest players, getting down on one knee when talking to a player helps get your point across.  Bring yourself to their level, maintain eye contact and talk directly to the kids.  Taking a knee helps maintain eye contact.  It's easier on you than bending at the waist, it also allows for a more natural conversation between you and the player.

Ask more questions — You're the coach, you should have all the answers, right??  Maybe so, even if it's only 10 seconds before the kids know the answers, but that doesn't mean the best way for kids to learn is for you to tell them the answer.  Ask questions — lots of them.  Challenge the kids to remember what you've taught them.  Challenge them to understand game situations.  Get them thinking as they are practicing.  Scrimmages are a great time to ask the questions.  During any short break, announce the game situation then ask one or more players what they should do.  "Runners on second and third, second base, where do you go with the ball if it's hit to you?".  "Red throw in.  Red team, where should you be?"  Sometimes you aren't looking for a verbal answer, you just want to see the correct action.  Other times you'll want the player to answer so you know if she understands the concept.  Either way, resist the temptation to give the answer.  Sometimes they will surprise you with a different perspective on the situation.

Smaller is better — Practice in small groups.  I try to divide my teams into four groups with three practice stations.  That leaves two small group activities and one larger activity.  Assign the coaches depending on the level of attention the drill requires.  Many times I'll have one assistant, so I recruit (forcibly draft) a parent from the sidelines.  I ask them to monitor the drill the team is most familiar with and requires the least intervention from the coaches.

Fundamentals are fundamental — If you've ever watched professional sports you have heard an announcer lament that today's players have poor fundamentals.  Of course, this has been an epidemic since the Roosevelt administration — Teddy — so the announcer is probably remembering a time that didn't exist.  But that doesn't mean fundamentals aren't important.  When kids master the fundamentals they enjoy the game more.  Chose one or two fundamentals to concentrate on for the season and build your practices around mastery of those skills.

Tell 'em, show 'em, then tell 'em again  –  Introducing a new drill can be a difficult experience.  You have to take a lot of time to explain the drill then three times as much time correcting the players as they try the drill.  Next time try a three step approach; Verbally explain the drill, physically demonstrate the drill, then reiterate the first two by going over the drill again.

1. Explain the drill — do not demonstrate the drill or turn your team's attention from your words in any way.  You want them concentrating on what you are saying, visualization will come next.
2. Demonstrate the drill — do not talk during the demonstration or otherwise divert attention from the physical demonstration of the drill.  All attention should be on the demonstration.
3. Explain the drill again — bring the first two parts together.  Reiterate what was said and what was shown to allow the kids to process it further.

This three step approach gives the kids more time and more ways to understand the drill.  You'll have an easier time introducing new drills and getting them to actually work.

If I'm putting together a top 5 list, I don't know how I can leave this one off.  My first post represents my coaching philosophy in a couple hundred words.  I asked a simpe question to start this web site back on August 1st:

Can You Coach?

By : Coach Bigs

Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability. — John Wooden

I've been fortunate to coach both my son and daughter for several years in a few different sports. Working with them and their teammates has been a wonderful experience. I've learned how my kids react to wins and losses, how they handle success and I've helped them learn how to cope with adversity. Another benefit of my time with the whistle is learning the same things about thier friends. Not only do I know the children my kids will grow up with, but it's given me a better understanding of what to expect from my kids.

But when I volunteered (more accurately, was volunteered), the first time, I wasn't sure what I was going to do. I had played almost every sport growing up — if you kept score, I wanted to play — but I wasn't sure about structuring a practice and working with the kids.

I learned pretty quickly that those skills, while very important, can be learned. For the drills, I bought a book. At last count, Amazon returns 259 books when searching for Soccer Drills, (don't worry, I've narrowed it down a bit for you in the Stuff You Need section). As far as handling kids, I knew I would have an assistant, I figured we could divide and conquer…

So you can buy the drills, and you're a parent so handling the kids is no problem, so anyone can be a coach, right…. To quote Lee Corso, not so fast my friend. I found coaching to be fun and rewarding. What it has given me is far more than anything I put into it. But, coaching isn't for everyone. I've seen many coaches who are on the sidelines for the wrong reasons and that leads to problems with their kids and/or the other players on the roster.

The challenges for a rec league coach are different than for a coach in a highly competitive league. The expecations are different. But that doesn't mean that it's easier to coach a rec league team, I actually think it's more difficult. In a competitive league, everyone has the same goal, winning. Parents will disagree on the tactics — my Suzy would have scored on that play — but there is no disputing the ultimate goal of the team. Rec leagues present a different challenge. Not every kid has the same level of dedication, drive or talent. Some parents want to see victories, others want to get the kid out of the house for an hour. As a rec league coach you have a balancing act to manage those different expectations.

I believe there are five traits of a good rec league coach. They are present in varying degrees in different people, but I think they are all important regardless of the sport.

You will be a good coach if:

1. You like kids You aren't coaching in the World Series. These are kids and the best of them will make you pull your hair out. Enjoy the kids for their enthusiasm rather than trying to keep them from being kids.
2. You understand the basics of your sport This isn't the pros, but don't volunteer to coach if you aren't sure why hockey is played on skates. As I said above, you can buy some knowledge. So you'll either have to bring some into the party, or spend more time getting prepared before the season starts.
3. You are willing to teach John Wooden said that coaching is teaching and who am I to argue? No one is born with the innate sense of the perfect fundamentals of any sport. As a youth coach it's your job to teach the fundamental skills to your team.
4. You can commit sufficient time If you know everything there is to know about your sport, if you can make kids listen and learn through the force of your personality, but you have too many other obligations to devote time to the team you're better off taking a pass. I never found coaching to be overly time consuming, however you are making a promise to be there and be prepared. If the time committment concerns you, volunteer as an assistant. Whatever help you can provide is appreciated and maybe you'll learn you can manage one more thing in your schedule.
5. You are willing to coach the entire roster Your child has you at practice. The star players never have to worry about getting noticed. But it's easy to overlook the marginal kid. Maybe he doesn't want to be there, maybe she isn't very talented, but they are all on your roster. If you're in a rec league, you'll have these kids on your team and the better you can teach those kids, the better your team will be.
   I had a father tell me at the beginning of a season that his daughter was his third child and neither of the older two had ever scored a goal. Jokingly, he said if she scored a goal he could "die a happy man", but after the first practice I thought he would go through life unfulfilled. I continued to work with her and put her in situations where she could succeed. It took two seasons and a bunch of close calls, but the look on her face when she scored was only matched by her father's.

 

It occurs to me, Jim, that you spend too much time trying to be interesting.  Why don’t you invest more time being interested. - John Gardner (said to Jim Collins, author "Good To Great")

This fall I ran a series on how the book "Good To Great" can be adapted to youth coaching.  I really enjoyed the book and writing the posts caused me to think the book through in greater detail.  Out of the series I picked three posts to share the #4 position.

Who Are Those Guys

By : Coach Bigs 

Wise are they who have learned these truths: Trouble is temporary. Time is tonic. Tribulation is a test tube. - William A. Ward

The last time we got together I wrote quite a bit about what a Level 5 leader isn't.  In fact, I'm pretty sure my membership in the Mike Ditka fan club has been revoked.  I guess I'll have to find someone else…  Today, rather than write about level 4 qualities and what they don't have, let's discuss what sets a Level 5 leader apart from the rest.

The Good to Great leaders never wanted to become larger-than-life heroes.  They never aspired to be put on a pedestal or become unreachable icons.  They were seemingly ordinary people quietly producing extraordinary results.

- Jim Collins, Good To Great (pg. 28)

This makes it sound as if these Level 5 leaders are somewhat meek or introverted.  But that's not quite right.  Collins says these people don't look to bring attention to themselves, yet they are firm in their resolve to whatever is necessary for the long term benefit of the organization.

Demonstrates an unwavering resolve to do whatever must be done to produce the best long-term results, no matter how difficult.

- Jim Collins on The Two Sides of Level 5 Leadership

Introverted, possibly, but that doesn't sound like someone who is meek.  It sounds like someone who is thinking beyond this week's practice or this season's games.  It sounds like someone who realizes teaching a level swing may be hard, but an uppercut swing will only produce easy fly outs next year.

To move your coaching from Good to Great, keep a few things in mind.

• It's not about you
• It's not about today's game
• It is about the kids
• It is about their love of the game

These are hard to remember and harder to stick to when you have two dozen parents yelling and cheering on the sidelines.  But just as the CEO's profiled in the book had their doubters but persevered, so will you.  Next I'll write about a strategy to help you persevere and move your team forward — The Hedgehog Concept .

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Big Hairy and Focused

By : Coach Bigs 

The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing. - Archilochus (7th-century b.c.)

Foxes have to know many things to be successful, but the hedgehog only has to know one thing.  As a youth  coach with other priorities laying claim on your time, which would you rather be?   You don't have time to know everything, but you can know one thing really well.  Lucky for you, that is a part of the recipe for Good to Great

Concentrating on one thing, building your practices around that central idea provides for clarity of purpose.  I've said this before, figure out the one fundamental that is important to your team and build your practices around perfecting that fundamental.  But, there is a problem with that approach.  Doing the same thing gets boring! 

That's a problem, but it isn't insurmountable — after all, you're smart.  There are two things you need to do to make this approach work: 

1. Find several drills and games to teach the fundamental
2. Build your BHAG around the fundamental

What's a BHAG you ask? A BHAG is a Big Hairy Audacious Goal.  They are the things that get people excited to work hard, even at things that might be boring.  Give your team a something to work towards and — most importantly — stretch for, and you can keep them motivated through all sorts of drills.

In Good To Great, Jim Collins says companies have to determine what it is that they can be the best in the world doing.  He gives the example of Abbott Labs.  They knew they could not be the best pharmaceutical company in the world because they didn't have the research capabilities to achieve that goal.  What they could do was be the best in the world at creating products to lower the cost of health care.  They were very specific in their focus — they knew one thing very well — which allowed them to concentrate on only those things that contribute to their primary mission.

There isn't one right answer to the question of what to focus on.  As the coach, you have to answer that question.  However, Collins does guide you to your answer with three questions.  He calls them the Three Circles.

1. What can you be the best in the world at?
2. What drives your economic engine?
3. What are you deeply passionate about?

How about if tweak the questions to apply directly to coaching…

1. What can your team be the best in your league at?
2. What will contribute to your team's performance?
3. What are you willing to keep working at?

You may not have a lot of talent on your roster so being the best goal scoring team in the league may not be realistic.  But being the best team in the league at defending corner kicks is reasonable.  Maybe your football team can't catch a pass, but they can be the best at running the trap play.  Don't have anyone who can hit a jumper?  Don't try to make the team into the best perimeter shooting team, concentrate on setting picks and hitting the cutter with a pass.

Regardless of how focused you make your BHAG, your unlikely to be the best in the world.  But you're dealing with kids, so their world doesn't extend much beyond your league.  Focus on one specific thing and regardless of your talent level your team can be the best in their world. 

Get the kids excited about becoming the best at something, show them how one practice builds upon the next.  Allow your kids the chance to see what it takes to master a skill.  That's a lesson that will last a lot longer with your kids than anything else you teach them.

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You Have Your Who

By : Coach Bigs

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?

I'm never been a big Bo Schembechler fan.  I went to Penn State before it was in the Big 10, so I always thought the Big 10 was over-rated.  Now that Penn State is in the Big 10, I just think Michigan is over-rated…

But that doesn't mean I can't appreciate a great coach.  When Bo died on the eve of the Michigan - Ohio State game this past November there were many tributes to the man.  I chose a slightly different path, I chose to highlight the impact coaches have on everyone who plays in this post from November 20th.

The Echoes of Time

By : Coach Bigs

It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. - James Thurber

We coach for a lot of reasons, but I'm guessing immortality isn't one of them.  But in a way you do achieve immortality in a way.  I know I can remember nearly every coach I ever had.  From my first hockey coach at 5 years old to the raspy voiced basketball coach who always smelled like cigarettes, through the burly Bolivian soccer coach, not to mention the one armed baseball coach or the southern accented hockey coach.  They were all rec league coaches who volunteered their time to teach me and a bunch of other boys the finer points of a game.  I remember them not for anything they said or any move they taught me — the next "move" I make on the basketball court will be my first — but I remember them because they were there.

I'm thinking about these men tonight because I've been reading the many tributes to Bo Schembechler.  Bo was the head football coach at the University of Michigan from 1969-1989.  His teams were always highly ranked, winning 10 Big Ten Conference championships.  He is considered a legend in Michigan and as a truly great coach in the rest of the country.

What struck me about the response was the fact Bo hadn't coached in 16 years.  To put that in perspective, the seniors playing in Saturday's Ohio State vs. Michigan game were in Kindergarten when Bo coached his last game.  An entire generation has grown up seeing someone other than Bo Schembechler on the Michigan sidelines on Saturday afternoon.  Yet he was as revered as his last day as coach (maybe more).

One comment in the Detroit Free Press article from the son of a former player illustrates the impact a coach can have long after the games end.

My dad played for Bo 40 years ago, at Miami of Ohio. We've followed Michigan ever since he moved there and became fans almost solely because of him. My dad stayed in touch with Bo after his playing days, and we traveled to Michigan bowl games all over the country. I got to meet Bo two or three times in the locker room before or after games, one moment I'll remember all my life is when he looked me in the eyes and said, "If you grow up to be half the man your daddy is, you'll be something else". I think my dad's head almost split open with pride. It was amazing what a communicator he was, the power of commitment and confidence.

I called my dad (a successful professional) today when I found out the news, and he was pretty down. Played for him 40 years ago, and look at the impact he still has on my dad's life. It was like losing a surrogate father. Now that's something I long to get out of my own life.

God bless you, Bo. And God's peace to your family.

Indeed.

Our deeds still travel with us from afar, and what we have been makes us what we are. - George Eliot

I've really enjoyed writing for this site over the last four months.  Just looking at my post from December 20th reminds me that it's been an eventful year.  But as I wrote in that post, I'm not interested in the bad parents and coaches, I'm interested in the positive stuff that happens when kids get to play sports and parents work to teach them the right way.

With that in mind I looked back on all my posts and pulled out the top five.  I'll re-run those posts over the coming week.  I had trouble picking only five, so excuse me if you get some bonus material… 

Hope you are enjoying your New Year's Day.  See you Tomorrow.

Merry Christmas from Santa, Mrs. Claus and a couple of great kids

The greatest gift is a portion of thyself. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

I had the chance to have a quick email conversation with Morgan Singel.  Morgan is the founder of Kids First Sports Safety and the friend of one of my baseball confidantes, Tom Foote.

Morgan's company has created training programs for several sports, from football to bowling, based on the principle of teaching fundamentals in a safe controlled manner.  They stress good body position and balance, while incorporating skills and proper technique into their programs.

Looking through their website I was impressed with the number of participating park districts and colleges and the enthusiasm from the parents. 

"Coach Singel brought me on the field and showed me what a difference a solid body balance position can make in blocking and tackling, the kids feel safer and now I feel safer about Joel playing." (A letter of thanks; says): I feel more comfortable with him starting football with your safety camp as a spring board.

- Merrie Peterson

Morgan did have a reason for our email conversation.  He wanted to tell me about a football camp he's running this summer at Elmhurst College for players from junior high through college.  it's a five day overnight camp; check-in July 8 @ 3:00pm and check-out July 13, 12:00pm.  The players stay in the Elmhurst College dorms and use their facilities.

If you need a last minute Christmas gift or are otherwise interested, you can register On-Line at KidFirstSports.net, or by phone at 888-890-KIDS (5437).

For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name,he marks-not that you won or lost - but how you played the game. - Grantland Rice

As great as youth sports are for the kids, every year gives us examples of what happens when parents lose sight of what youth sports is truly about.  Here are the bottom 5 youth sports moments from 2006:

1. Utah Little League "Winners"
   Coaches for the 9-10 Mustang League Yankees order an intentional walk to the Red Sox best hitter to bring up a cancer survivor who still had a shunt in his head to drain fluid from brain surgery.  The fact the batter was a cancer survivor with obvious physical limitations is what got this story national attention.  But what caught my attention was the intentional walk.  That just isn't done at that level.  Not because the coaches don't care about winning, but because it's obviously over the top.  These leagues have rolling batting orders — everyone bats, regardless of who plays the field.  If a team calls for an intentional walk, the team at bat can't substitute another batter, so there is no balance to the strategy.  Plus — the kid had a shunt sticking out of his head!!  C'mon, have your kids win rather than force the other team to lose.

   Here's my take on Little League and intentional walks: link
   

2. Corpus Christie Football brawl
   I know football is important in Texas, but these kids were five and six year olds! I think this says it all:

   (T)he coach had been warned several times about cursing on the sidelines before his ejection from the game between five- and six-year-olds.
   

   Here's a link for those of you who would like to see the brawl.  The video is on the left bar.  Watch for Mom running into the frame around the :30 mark…

3. Parents get what they want, then sue
   Parents love their kids.  They want whats best for them, sometimes even if it isn't…  A group of parents in Castro Valley didn't like the Girls Basketball Coach - Nancy Nibarger.  They felt she played favorites when picking the team — because their kids weren't picked for the team.  They pressured the school board to order the coach to use a six person panel to select the team.  When the roster was posted - and none of their kids were on the team - the parents erupted, again.  Geez, almost makes you wish for a good old fashioned brawl…

4. Coach Protects Son By Tackling Another Kid
   Parents can get protective when their kid gets hit, especially if it's a late hit.  But few go as far as Corey Petero.  The Stockton, CA coach was suspended for hitting an  opposing player.  He rushed the field after a player hit his son after the whistle.  The referee called a penalty on the play but I guess 15 yards wasn't enough…

   You've probably already seen it, but click here if you want to see video of the play

5. It's My Ball and I'll take it home if I want
   The common theme here seems to be parents going overboard trying to "protect" their kids.  I recently wrote about the Northern Virginia dad who owned a football league.  He's not in it for the love of the game or encourage kids to play his favorite game.  He's actually very upfront about why he created the league:

   This entire league exists so he (his son) can play defense on the best team in his weight class. . . . He is my son, I own the league, and he plays every snap on defense."

   Well, in the last game of the regular season the coaches thought the son would help the team more on offense.  Apparently they were right because the team won and advanced to the playoffs.  But they didn't get to play in the playoffs because the coaches were fired.  All the other kids, all the coaches, all the parents were only set dressing so a 12 year old can play were he (more likely his dad) wants.  What are the odds he thinks the Castro Valley parents aren't going far enough?

There were other contenders such as the Utica, NY hockey brawl, or the father tasered when he rushed the field at his 8 year old's football game and of course the parent riot in New Castle, Pa.  Yes, it was quite a year.  Let's hope we don't have another one like it in 2007… but I won't hold my breath. 

Reading this list can make you cynical about youth sports.  But I know these stories aren't representative of all the positive things sports brings to the kids who play.  So share with everyone the story about the kid who scored her first goal, the shy kid who came out of his shell, the walk off homer or the game saving tackle.  Thousands of those great things happened this year — and everyone of them was more important than any of the over involved parents listed above.

It gets late early out there. - Yogi Berra

I'm a little late to this controversy, but I've never let a little mold put me off of anything…

On December 8th, Tommy Craggs wrote an article in Slate titled "What John Wooden Gets Wrong About Basketball".  Anyone who has read this site knows I have great admiration for the man.  But I'm not enough of a basketball savant to judge his basketball knowledge.  As a rec league player and, despite my height, perennial late round pick, I had to rely on the fact that the man won 10 NCAA titles and 16 Conference titles as a coach, and as a player he was a three time All-American and Player of the Year in 1932.  He is also one of three people inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and as a coach.  With that resume, I figured he was pretty good at the basketball in addition to understanding how to train and motivate people.  But that's just me with my limited understanding of basketball.

I do like to read differenct perspectives.  I like to know why people believe different things, maybe learn something I didn't know which could change my perspective on a person or issue.  So when I saw the title of Craggs' article I thought I'd give it a try.  After all, a guy that last coached when I was in 4th grade probably has been proven wrong about a thing or two.

But my hope for enlightenment was shot in the fourth paragraph.  When I read this passage I knew the article wasn't about Wooden or his philosophy as much as it was a chance for a writer to get noticed by taking a shot at a 96 year old man.

But it's time we retire this notion of Wooden as basketball's wise old man and see his legacy for what it is: a triumph of rigidity, bureaucracy, paternalism, and anal retentiveness.

Wow, that's a lot of things for one man to get wrong and still be admired at 96!  So what is Craggs' evidence for the indictment?

Wooden was a relentless taskmaster who counted discipline among the game's most important tenets. He had a hand in everything, from his players' grooming habits down to the wool content of their socks (50 percent). In one incredible passage in his coaching textbook, Practical Modern Basketball, Wooden details the Bruins' eating routine: "The meal usually consists of a ten-to-twelve-ounce steak broiled medium or an equivalent portion of lean roast beef, a small baked potato, a green vegetable, three pieces of celery, four small slices of melba toast, some honey, hot tea, and a dish of fruit cocktail.

Taskmaster indeed…  I don't know a college coach worth his shoe contract who isn't concerned about his athlete's feet and doesn't consult a nutritionist.  Wooden didn't have the benefit of a Nike research center or Gatorade Training center.  He had to figure out what kept his athletes from getting blisters and what food gave them the strength to play the game as he taught it.  Craggs may not like the certainty that Wooden had about what was right, but if the noted conformist Bill Walton could survive then Wooden's UCLA was probably a little looser than Stalin's Russia.

John Wooden is the father of modern basketball because he taught an up-tempo, attacking game.  It was revolutionary at the time and required each player to perform his specific task perfectly.  Yes he insisted his players do things a particular way — because that way worked!  Coaching is about making the whole better than the sum of it's parts.  Regardless of the titles, there can be no argument that John Wooden was very good at doing that.

Bum Phillips , former NFL Houston Oilers head coach, once said about Don Shula , the legendary NFL Miami Dophins Coach, "He'll take his and beat your's, then he'll take your's and beat his".  The same is true of John Wooden.  He had tremendous talent at UCLA, but there were other teams with great talent too.  John Wooden used his discipline, knowledge and talent to beat them all.  Sounds like an American success story to me…