Changing the Game in Youth Sports
Saturday, 21 June 2014
On April 26, 2014 I had the honor of presenting a talk at TEDx Bend Oregon entitled “Changing the Game in Youth Sports.” The power of the TED platform, and its international recognition as a brand that brings “ideas worth sharing” to the forefront of conversation, was such an incredible platform to be able to
- Published in Leadership, Problems in Youth Sports, TED talks
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The Mindset of High-Performers
Tuesday, 03 June 2014
“I lost my starting spot on the soccer team. I’m just not good at soccer.” “I failed my math test. I’m just not good at math.” Ever heard such a statement form one of your kids? From one of your players? If so, it is very likely that the single greatest factor limiting their performance
- Published in Confidence, Praise, State
Starting Your Athletes the Right Way
Thursday, 29 May 2014
(A child’s first contact and first impression of a sport goes a long way to determining whether or not he will fall in love with the game. As basketball great Steve Nash says, upon receiving his first ball and playing in his first organized league at age 13, “I felt like I had a new
- Published in Coaching, Motivation, Sports Parenting
Surviving Tryout Season
Monday, 12 May 2014
Spring and early summer usually bring about an annual rite of passage in youth sports: TRYOUTS! They can be a time of great joy, or tremendous disappointment. Tryouts can be a time filled with pressure, stress, politics and many of the other unsavory aspects of youth sports. They can also be a time where a
The Incredibly Massive Importance of Play
Tuesday, 04 March 2014
Let me be blunt and scream this from the rooftop: the best athletes PLAY sports. They don’t work them, they play them. When sport becomes more work than play, athletes struggle, they grind, and if they cannot get back to playing instead of working, they eventually drop out. From youth to pros, when the fun
- Published in Coaching, Deliberate Practice, Motivation, Sports Parenting
The Bare Essentials: Three Things Every Athlete Needs to Succeed
Thursday, 06 February 2014
Elite performance is determined by a number of factors, amongst them innate talent and genetics, hours of deliberate training, coaching, and luck. But performance is also great affected by what is between an athlete’s ears: mindset. An athlete’s state of mind is perhaps the single greatest factor that affects performance. In his great book The
- Published in Coaching, Motivation, Sports Parenting
Rescue Your Kids From “Affluenza”: Teach Them Grit!
Monday, 16 December 2013
The recent news out of Texas, where a 16 year old driver was only given probation for driving drunk and killing four innocent bystanders, popularized a new psychological term in the process. Apparently, parents raising children in wealthy suburbs with little oversight, few rules, and utter indifference to their behavior are causing “affluenza,” a supposed
- Published in Mental Toughness, Praise, Sports Parenting
The Missing Ingredient
Monday, 02 December 2013
If you have coached long enough, you have probably said this about a player: “He’s got a lot of talent, but he is just missing something.” I have written on similar subjects in the past, and there has been academic research in this area. In all likelihood, that missing ingredient was often the inner drive
- Published in Mental Toughness, Sports Parenting
Is Losing Stressing You Out? Try This New Mindset to Fix it!
Saturday, 19 October 2013
As a young coach, I was convinced that there were only two possible outcomes to a game, winning or losing. Of course, losing was to be avoided at all costs, even if that meant not playing weaker players, benching underperformers, criticizing referees, you name it. Then I started to study people whom I would call
- Published in Coaching, Leadership
Are Your Kids Mentally Weak?
Friday, 04 October 2013
Are your kids mentally tough? Can they be pushed to achieve great things, or do they need to be coddled? Do they deal well with disappointment and failure, or do they fear it, and thus avoid challenging situations? Do they fear strict, demanding coaches, or do they thrive on them? As parents we know our
- Published in Confidence, Mental Toughness
Mental Toughness Week
Tuesday, 01 October 2013
Why are we so afraid to challenge kids these days, or to let our kids be challenged? We all know that our greatest accomplishments, the things we are most proud of in our lives, be they building a business, or our family, or athletic achievements, all came with struggle! Nothing great comes easy. This week
- Published in Confidence, Mental Toughness
Why We Rage: The Science Behind Crazy Parents and Over the Top Coaches
Friday, 13 September 2013
Have you ever noticed when you go to your child’s soccer game that you react one way to bad calls, aggressive fouls, or intense situations in your game, but have little or no reaction to similar situations in the game prior to yours, where you have no emotional stake? Do you can sit there with
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Sports Parenting
“You Might Need New Friends!” Part II of Three Things Great Coaches and Leaders Do
Monday, 05 August 2013
In Part II of our 3 part series, I relate a simple business adage to sports. In business, it is said that if you take the five people who are your primary business advisers, add up what they make and divide by 5, that is probably what you are making. Coaching and leadership are similar.
- Published in Coaching, Leadership, Sports Parenting, State
Confidence is Earned!
Sunday, 16 September 2012
One of the most common questions I got as a coach from parents was “How do I make my kid more confident?” I wish there was an easy answer, but really, there is not. You see, one of the great misconceptions about confidence is that it can be bought, or given, and it CANNOT. Confidence
- Published in Article
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