A Coach's Diary

Here in Texas, girls' basketball practices just started, boys' basketball practice starts this week, and football and volleyball are gearing up for the playoffs. Whether you are a freshman just getting your career started or a senior starting your last season, ENJOY every second of it because when it's over, it's over.  Enjoy the excitement of the first practice, the first scrimmage and the first game.  The tournaments are the best way to get to know your teammates and coaches because you spend so much time with them. Recharge right before district starts and half-way through district.  Cherish those Saturday morning practices and those holiday practices.  Time in the gym alone with your team without having to worry about school is a BLESSING. Make a scrapbook, make a blog, video as much as you can.  Just enjoy it all.  Get to know your coaches on a different level than just sports.  Get to know their family.  Build a strong rela...

I think themes, slogans, and mission statements for teams are GREAT.   Villanova: Attitude Minnesota Football: Row the Boat LSU Football: One Team, One Heartbeat They are inspiring and provide a fresh start to the season. They bring us together, and it can be a quick way to establish expectations and norms.  Without a vision, the people will perish, and teams can benefit from as many things as possible that can bring them all together. But at the end of the day, you have to play.  You have to work.  You have to work together.  You have to act.  It's not enough to just have a slogan.  It's not enough just to have a goal.  You have to live out the purpose behind the slogan.  You have to use that slogan to make you better and to keep you focused on the same goal throughout the grind of a season and the year. So often, we will see a team or even individual players create a theme or set goals and all that it does it ta...

ATHLETE: Am I good? PARENT: Why do you ask that? ATHLETE: Because I'm not starting.  Does that mean that I'm not good? PARENT:  Not starting doesn't mean that you aren't good.  You play alot, you make plays when you get in the game, you add value to your team and your team appreciates you and accepts you, and your teammates love playing with you and your coach lives coaching you.   In sports and in life, you have to learn how to be the hunter and be the hunted. The hunted is the starter.  The All-Star.  The MVP.  The champion.  The one who gets all of the attention and all of the love.  It's great being the hunted as long as you never forget that people are hunting you and want your spot. The hunter is the one coming off the bench, wanting to start.  They are watching, waiting, and working.  It's great being the hunter because the expectations aren't there yet and you are still the underdog, and you are st...

For Players When you are bored, what do you do?  Do you do something that gets you closer to your goals, or do you play with something that is a distraction?  Do you find ways to work on your game or do you have other outlets like your phone or your TV? The best players know how to fill their downtown appropriately.  A lot of times this means rest, relaxation, and getting away from the game.  A lot of other times, this means practicing on your own, watching film, doing skill work, stretching, conditioning, or watching YouTube videos that can help you get better. Someone is always working, even when you aren't.  A big difference between good players and great players is how much time and effort they put into getting better. For Coaches I used to worry about parent phone calls, parent meetings, and parent emails.  Then I realized that parents just want to do things:   1) What's best for their kid and  2) To be heard. O...

Be the thermostat that changes the energy and changes the culture, not the thermometer that adapts to or accepts, or reflects the energy and culture. I always tell my athletes or young teachers and coaches to 'remember who you are' when they go into a new situation.  When you are young, you are full of energy, life, and new ideas.  But some locker rooms and teacher's lounges have their ways of zapping all of that positivity out of you if you let it. I also tell them to guard their hearts and remember why they are here.  The more you are in sports and in education, the more you realize that everybody doesn't have the same intentions or 'why' that you do. That's why it is important to bring the energy that you value everywhere you go.  And it has to be thought about and intentional. Bring energy when you are going to a practice in December where everybody is dragging in. When you are going to that challenging conference road game - bei...

Every weekend, the best place to people watch is a youth sports event.  You hear coaches yelling at players, parents yelling at players, parents yelling at coaches, coaches yelling at parents, parents yelling at parents, and everybody yelling at referees. When done right, youth sports is a beautiful thing where kids come out and play, make friends, learn how to work with others, learn how to be active, and progressively get better over time with the right support and encouragement, with the right amount of practice, and the right amount of passion and commitment level. When it's done wrong, it's a circus. One thing that I think is dangerous is having unreal expectations for our athletes.  We can have unreal expectations for our athletes when we think that they are better than what they are.  We can also have unreal expectations for our athletes when we know that they can perform to a certain level, but we haven't given them certain skills yet or they are put in c...

Kids want to play.  We want to teach.  The next time you are working with your kids or wanting to teach them something, start with a game, then lead into teaching. Purposeful play is the best way to learn something.  Skill work is the best way to master something. Start with a game, lead into skill work, finish with a game. Right now, I'm trying to teach my basketball player how cut and move better defensively and how to be lower and more explosive offensively.  I'm trying to teach my soccer player how to shift her body offensively to shift her defenders body. I used to say, 'Let me show you something,' or, 'let me teach you something.'  Now I just say, 'Let's play.' When I try to teach them first, I sometimes get a positive response and I sometimes get an eye roll.  When I try to play with them first, I usually get a smile.  This happens with my own kids and the teams that I coach.  Instead of trying to start with som...

Coach Urban Meyer called it, 'Living above the Line.'   We have to model and set the example for the behavior, attitudes, habits, work ethics, and character that we teach and expect from our athletes. We have to bring it every day.   If we can't, who will?   If we can't, we risk losing it all. Coaching is a hard job.   Leading is a hard job.   You have to be the brick that holds everything together and you have to be the brick that everybody else stands on. Make sure that you are taking care of yourself so that you can take care of others.   Find ways to reset after tough days.   Find sources of inspiration that can keep you going when it gets tough. Find ways to get away and calm your mind during those hard stretches of practices or games when the mood in the room gets low. Find people that fill your bucket and bring you peace, joy, and positive energy when you need it.   Find ways to remove yourself from people who bring y...