“Tough love is a good thing, but you have to bring the love before you bring the tough.” – Betsy Butterick This past month, we were able to witness some incredible basketball in the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. The games were intense, competitive, played in front of huge crowds, and showcased some incredible…
(This blog is contributed by our great friend Mackenzie (St. Onge) Morse. Mac was a collegiate hockey player and rugby player at Dartmouth, our intern at our first Way of Champions Coaching Conference, and then spent 4 years with the US Ski and Snowboard Team in an athlete support role. Today she is the Athlete…
As we wind down the year 2020, a year in which Dictionary.com named the word “unprecedented” as its word of the year, I have been using some holiday downtime to think about 2021, and how to improve upon the challenges of the past 9 months. And the word I keep coming upon is “grace.” I…
“Imagine youth sports was a room. On one end of the room, there is a door where everyone enters. At the other end, there is another door where everyone leaves.” So began a long conversation I had with Peter Hugg, the Head of Football (soccer) for Football New South Wales in Australia, on my recent…
I got an email from a distraught parent the other day. She described a scene where the coach was screaming at the girls after a loss. She was beside herself at how the coach treated the girls. He was demeaning, he was loud and scary, and he had lost perspective on the age he was…
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?…
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…
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…
By John O’Sullivan “Coach, can I talk to you?” “Sure,” I said. “What’s on your mind today Michael?” “Well, I just want to know what I can do so I get to start more games and get more playing time as a center midfielder. I don’t think I am showing my best as a winger,…
On a recent sunny Saturday, I took my kids out to the local park to play soccer with some friends. They ran, they jumped, and they competed hard. They laughed, they schemed, and they made the rules. Everyone played, no one was excluded from the game, and all the kids tried and failed over and…