A Coach's Diary

The most valuable lesson I learned this week is that we should take a breath — or 3 — between meetings. In an interview with Emma Grede, podcaster and author Jay Shetty said everyone should take a breath between meetings or before a meeting so we don’t carry the baggage from the last meeting into the next one. Most of us walk into a new meeting carrying with us what happened in the last one — especially if something bad happened — and we don’t give ourselves a second to decompress or regroup before we throw ourselves back into the storm. Pause and calm your energy by taking a few breaths between high impact meetings so you can be fully present. He then named 5 habits high performers practice: 1 - Thankfulness — If you aren’t thankful for where you are at, you will never be — no matter how much you achieve. Be thankful. 2 - Insight — Learn one new thing — or one new insight — every day. 3 - Mindfulness or Meditation — Schedule meetings or check-ins with yourself at the beginning, mid...

Rainer Martens, the father of modern coaching education, famously challenged the "win-at-all-costs" mentality with a simple, disruptive motto: "Athletes First, Winning Second." What made him a legend was that while many focus on "winning at all costs," Martens revolutionized the field by arguing that the best way to win is actually to put the athlete’s development first. Martens argued that when winning is the only objective, performance actually suffers. Why? Because the fear of losing creates paralyzing anxiety. However, when the focus shifts to the development of the athlete — physically, psychologically, and socially — the scoreboard often takes care of itself. To Martens, a "winning mindset" is about three core psychological skills: Realistic Self-Confidence: Martens defined this not as "hope," but as a realistic expectation of success based on preparation. Energy Management: You can’t reach peak performance if your energy is to...

The most valuable lesson I’ve learned this week is how being a better communicator can lead to a better life. In a video on YouTube titled: “Leveling Up Your Life = Leveling Up Your Communication,” Myron Golden says, “If you learn to talk better, you will do better. In fact, the fastest, best, and most thorough way to level up your life is to level up your ability to communicate. The quality of your life is always going to be in direct correlation to the quality of your communication.” Golden says there are two types of communication: Internal Communication: What we say to ourselves External Communication: What we say to others. Internal communication is made up of our beliefs — the stories we tell ourselves about our expected outcomes. Most people tell themselves unfavorable stories and wonder why they get undesirable outcomes. If you get better at communicating with yourself and telling yourself better stories, every part of your life will get better. Positive thinking doesn’t nece...

Anson Dorrance is a retired American soccer coach widely regarded as one of the most successful coaches in the history of athletics. He spent 47 years at the University of North Carolina (UNC), where he built an unparalleled dynasty in women's college soccer. In an interview on The Great Coaches” Leadership & Life podcast, Coach Dorrance said when he first started coaching, he identified 5 great coaches and selected the most prominent quality from each to add to his own coaching philosophy. In the interview, he said he learned how to exude class from Lynchburg College coach Bill Shellenberger, he studied the presence of European coach Bobby Gansler, and he wanted to have the humility of UNC men’s basketball coach Dean Smith. He wanted to be the best coach he could be, so he studied the best in different areas. Then, Coach Dorrance talked about how he was watching a political news show where the hostess was asked what she was an expert in. When the hostess replied, “Reading com...

Karl Weick is an organizational psychologist best known for one powerful idea: sensemaking — how people make meaning when things are unclear, chaotic, or changing.  Weick argued that leadership isn’t about having all the answers. It’s about helping people understand what’s happening and what to do next, especially when the path isn’t obvious. Weick showed that teams form culture by how they talk about what’s happening. When leaders name situations clearly — “Here’s what we know, here’s what we don’t, here’s what we’re trying next” — they create a culture of clarity, trust, and learning. When leaders avoid tough conversations or pretend certainty where there’s not, teams fill the gaps with fear, assumptions, or blame. Culture follows the stories people tell themselves, and leaders help drive culture and performance by improving the stories being told about what is happening and helping people make sense of it all so they can move forward together.

Often called the “Father of North American Applied Sport Psychology,” Bruce Ogilvie revolutionized how coaches understood athletes. Before him, competitors were viewed as machines built for performance. Ogilvie argued that personality, self-concept, and mental health were just as vital as physical ability. In the 1960s, he helped create The Athletic Motivation Inventory (AMI) —one of the first tools to measure traits like drive, aggression, coachability, and emotional stability. His research showed that elite performance is primarily mental. A truly “tough” athlete, he said, wasn’t one who suppressed emotion but one who understood and directed it. Ogilvie suggested that every athlete has a “psychological ceiling” that limits performance, and it’s the coach’s role to identify and manage the traits holding that ceiling in place. He proved that high-level sports are 90% mental , and that a "tough" athlete isn't someone who suppresses emotion, but someone who understands and ...

Vince Lombardi was a game changing coach of the Green Bay Packers. When he first became the head coach of the Packers, after being a high school coach and assistant at Fordham University, the Army, and the Giants, he was taking over for a team that went 1-10-1 in a town that most people couldn’t find on a map. But he won 5 NFL championships including Super Bowl 1 and 2, never had a losing season, and built one of the most disciplined, values-driven dynasties in sports history. Lombardi led through uncompromising standards, relentless preparation, and deep care for people, believing that excellence is built through daily habits and moral clarity — not motivation or talent alone. He once said, “The quality of a person’s life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.” Excellence is being outstanding or extremely good. Excellence is consistently doing better or more than average — or even good. Define what excellence is in your...

Geert Hofstede was a Dutch social psychologist best known for his work on cultural differences and how national culture shapes behavior at work and in organizations. Born in  1928 in the Netherlands, Hofstede was an engineer by training who later became a management researcher and was famous for creating the Cultural Dimensions Theory. Geert Hofstede taught us that culture isn’t just traditions or language — it’s the invisible rules people learn about authority, teamwork, risk, and success. He called culture the “software of the mind” — deeply learned patterns that shape how people behave, lead, follow, and make decisions. Hofstede once said: “Culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another.” He understood culture drives a lot of what we do — how we are motivated, how we act, how we respond to leadership and adversity. His theory has helped leaders avoid assuming everyone is motivated the same way and...

Coleman Griffith is widely considered the father of sport psychology in the United States because he applied psychology to athletics decades before it was common or accepted. In his book, “Psychology of Coaching,” Coleman wrote: “Athletic ability is not alone sufficient for success in athletics; there must be present also the qualities of courage, determination, and confidence.” To perform your best, you have to have a combination of skill and mindset. Great performance is learned, trained, and reinforced — not just talented into existence. Instead of thinking confidence, focus, and toughness are things you either have or don’t have, Griffith believed mental habits are trained, just like shooting, tackling, or footwork. Griffith believed coaches were teachers first. Coaching isn’t yelling effort into people — it is designing environments where mental skills like confidence, focus, and habits are taught, training, and built daily. If you don’t intentionally train the mental side, you’r...

The most valuable lesson I learned this week is that a better life starts with a better morning. Arthur C. Brooks — a Harvard professor and "happiness scientist" — argues that you can’t leave your mood to chance — you have to engineer it. I watched two different videos this week where he talked about how important it is to win the day by winning the morning. Brooks categorizes people into 4 profiles based on their intensity of positive and negative emotions. Understanding your type helps you manage your productivity: Cheerleaders — People with high positive and low negative emotions; naturally upbeat and optimistic. Judges — People with low positive and low negative emotions; calm, steady, and unflappable. Poets — People with low positive and high negative emotions; deeply feeling and introspective. Mad Scientists — People with high positive and high negative emotions; intense, passionate, and emotionally reactive. Brooks identifies as a Mad Scientist, meaning he must aggres...

Pat Summitt was one of the greatest coaches in sports history, best known for building the University of Tennessee women’s basketball program into a national powerhouse. She was a standards based leader, meaning she clearly defined what “good” looked like and consistently expected, modelled, and reinforced it — every day, in every situation. Coach Summitt had 12, non-negotiable standards she called the “Definite Dozen.” Responsibility – Be accountable for your actions and choices. Hard Work – Nothing substitutes for effort. Discipline – Do what you’re supposed to do, even when it’s hard. Loyalty – Be committed to the team and to one another. Mental Toughness – Stay strong, focused, and resilient under pressure. Team Attitude – Put the team above yourself. Self-Discipline – Control your habits, emotions, and preparation. Desire – Bring passion, hunger, and competitive fire. Conditioning – Be physically and mentally prepared to perform. Fundamentals – Master the basics; never s...