Performance is a Behavior, NOT an Outcome!

Last week I received the following email (edited for anonymity). We get calls and emails like this quite often from amazing, passionate coaches who are trying to make a difference. Take a read: Dear John, I’m currently a head football coach…I took over the program last January after being on staff for the previous 10
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A Final Game of H-O-R-S-E

A few years back, my wife Lauren and I took our kids back for one final visit to her childhood home in Fairport, NY. Her parents were preparing to sell their house and move to a warmer climate, and we took the opportunity to fly across the country to say some final goodbyes to the
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Google it! What Youth Sports Can Learn from the Tech Giant About Building Great Teams

110-2. 24-0. Headed into the 2004 Olympic Games, the Men’s USA Basketball team was 110-2 all-time. They were 24-0 since the introduction of the 1992 “Dream Team”(NBA-era). The team consisted of current and future NBA stars. The best of the best. The greatest players from the greatest league in the world. LeBron James, Dwayne Wade,
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Looking for Answers? Get Our FREE Booklet With Links to Our Most Popular Articles for Parents, Coaches, Athletes and Youth Sports Organizations

Here at Changing the Game Project, every week we get a call or email that says “remember that article you wrote about…? We want to use it in our newsletter and we can’t find it. What was it called?” Well, after four years of publishing thousands of words a month, we have realized that we
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How to “Win at Losing” and our Other Favorite Books of 2017

As the summer holidays roll around for those of us in the northern hemisphere, it is a great time to do some reading. Twice a year we compile a list of the books we have enjoyed in the fields of athlete development, leadership, coaching, and parenting, and share them with our readers so that you
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When Will What We Know Change What We Do in Youth Sports?

“My daughter and I had to miss her grandfather’s funeral when she was 12 for a cheerleading competition.” I had to read that twice to be sure what I was reading. This was an actual comment we received recently on Facebook. We receive a lot of heartbreaking stories from readers, but this one sentence stopped
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How Would You Spend $100 Million to Improve Your Favorite Sport? My Advice for US Soccer

What would you do with $100 million to improve the sport you love? It’s kind of a magic wand question, isn’t it? You have enough money to make a significant impact in a sport on every level, how do you spend it? Recently in the news, it has been reported that the US Soccer Federation
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A Case for Nurture Over Nature

“Your daughter is so beautiful.” The kind woman said, smiling at my 18-year-old daughter. “Thanks, she got her mother’s looks.” I said reflexively. Then I cringed. That’s my “go to response”. Anytime I receive a compliment on my daughter’s looks, I immediately reply about her genetic connection to her mother. She did get her mom’s
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Can We Shift the Paradigm in Youth Sports?

I was recently in Ohio for a family event. At this event, my father and his friends began sharing stories of their childhood. Everyone shared stories of their days of triumph on the sporting fields in their small Midwest town. As the event progressed, it evolved into a full on discussion about youth sports coaching
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Lionel Messi and the Will to Compete

Lionel Messi lay battered on the turf. As he raised his head from the grass, he spit out a mouthful of blood and a tooth. He’d just taken an elbow to the face, one of many kicks, elbows, and bruises he would endure that day. Soon after another player was given a red card for
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The Talent That Whispers

The scouts snickered. They looked at the time again. To this day the 5.28 second 40 yard dash time is one of the slowest for quarterbacks in the history of the NFL combine. His 24.5 inch vertical leap didn’t have them lining up at his door either. He had been a good, but not an
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It’s Time to End the Sideline Sportsanity

As soon as I stepped out of my car in the parking lot, I could hear it. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon of travel soccer, but there it was. You know what I’m talking about: that sometimes beautiful, often times excruciating cacophony of sounds that we have come to know as “cheering for our
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Is Your Child’s Youth Sports Experience Transactional or Transformational?

Back in January 2017 I moderated a panel at the National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention on “Reimagining Youth Development in the United States.” An audience member asked us very interesting question. He spoke about how families were always jumping ship to the neighboring club that focused on winning and not development. The neighboring
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Should My Child Play Up? The Do’s and Don’ts of Moving Kids to Older Age Groups

Manchester United’s Carrington Training Center is not only one of the finest youth soccer academies in the world. On every field, the future of the club is evident, as aspiring young players dodge, weave, pass and move the United way. At the same time, everywhere you turn you stare at history. Images of Ryan Giggs,
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Don’t Turn Your Young Athlete Into a Mini Me

“Dad, am I a disappointment to you?” My son asked, choking back tears. I stopped dead in my tracks. We were walking out of a local amusement park on our way to the car. We had spent the day at the park to bond. It seems the plan backfired. I gathered myself. Inside I was
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Is “Fear of Missing Out” Ruining Youth Sports?

I remember the day I coached my son TJ’s first soccer game. He was only five, and I was so proud, so excited, and couldn’t wait for him to play the game I loved. There was one problem. He didn’t want to play. When the game was about to start, he said, “Dad I don’t
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Developing Warriors, not Winners, is the Path to Excellence

(This week’s blog is written by Reed Maltbie, our new Chief Content Officer and Lead Presenter for Changing the Game Project. If you haven’t seen Reed present for us yet, check out his amazing TED talk on the lasting power of a coach’s words. Drop him a line at Reed@ChangingTheGameProject.com to say hello or if you interested
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The Way of the Champion

All-American. World-champion. Greatest shooter on the planet. Most Valuable Player…twice. Yes, I am talking about Steph Curry, the all-world guard for the Golden State Warriors. These are the things we all say about him – we all know about him – when the lights are shining brightly. What about the when no one is watching?
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An Open Letter from the Back Seat

Dear Mom and Dad I wanted to start this letter by saying I love you, and I know you mean well. I appreciate all the time and energy you put into taking me to my games and practices, and I know you sacrifice a lot to do it. I also appreciate when you try to
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The Unspoken Problem in Sports

(This week’s blog was written by Alecko Eskandarian (@alecko11), former US National Team player and current Assistant Coach of the NY Cosmos of the NASL. This article originally appeared 11/18/16 on the Players Tribune and they have graciously granted us permission to reprint it. We have read many articles about concussions, and this one really
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Why Kids Play Sports

“What do you think is going to change in the next ten years?” That is a question that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos gets all the time. He thinks that is an interesting question, but not the best one people could ask. “I almost never get the question: ‘What’s not going to change in the next
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Coaches, Stop ‘Dealing with Parents’ and Start Engaging Them!

(This article was written by Nate Sanderson and originally appeared on Breakthrough Basketball. Nate is a great friend of Changing The Game Project and coach of the Iowa State Champion Springville Girls Basketball Team.  We highly encourage every coach and parent to read this and institute this in your team). For the past 14 years
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Our 2016 Books of the Year

“You cannot open a book without learning something.” – Confucius Yes, it is that time of year again, the time where our staff shares some of our favorite reads in the world of coaching, parenting, and athlete development. We are all avid readers and lifelong learners, and every year we pour through numerous books, articles,
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The Rule of One: How One Person, One Comment, One Time Can Change a Life Forever

I remember it like it was yesterday. I was a junior in high school, and sat three rows back, middle row of my English literature class at St Anthony’s High School in New York. Brother Jeff, a Franciscan brother who was a pleasant combination strict and jovial, was my teacher. He was handing back some
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Four Words That Can Change the Culture of Youth Sports

If you have ever flown Southwest Airlines, you know that they do things a bit differently. If you ask an employee of the airline what that difference is, they will tell you one word: culture. The culture of Southwest is one they have worked very hard to cultivate, and every pilot, flight attendant, mechanic, and
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8 Coaching Mistakes I Wish I Never Made

In 2002, I received a phone call from Patrick, a former high school player I had coached. He had graduated college and was applying to medical school. “Coach,” he said, “I just wanted to let you know that I am studying for my medical school exams, and it is really hard. But every time I
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Let’s Stop the Early Sport Specialization Madness!

“I have a question,” said a mother recently at one of my speaking engagements. “I have an 8-year-old son who loves soccer. But the only soccer team in our town requires that he play all year round, and he still wants to play other sports. What are we to do?” Sound familiar? Across the country,
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Yes, I Do Play My Favorites

(Article written by James Leath (@jamesleath)) “I am sick and tired of coaches playing favorites” a parent once told me at a speaking event. “A coach should be completely impartial. It teaches the wrong message when he or she only plays favorites. Am I right?” I smiled, took a breath and responded, “I actually think
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An Open Letter to My Dad, who Makes Me Want to Quit Sports

Dear Dad, I was afraid to say this to your face after the game today, but I was thinking that maybe you could stop coming to my games for a while. It doesn’t seem that fun for you anyway, and I know it’s not fun for me when you are there. I used to love
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The Extra Mile

The extra mile is a lonely place, but it is the only path to greatness. There are no fans lining that mile. No cameras. No bright lights. Most of your teammates won’t join you there, because your dreams belong to you, not them. Many of your “friends” will tell you that you are wasting your
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