A Coach's Diary

Like any parent, I would love it if my kid could be one of the better players on one of the better teams and, if they want, could go on to have sports pay for their college.   But more importantly, I want my kids play as long as they are having fun and I want to make sure that they are in a great environment that is conducive to them enjoying the game, getting better, learning social skills and learning resilience.  I also want them to grow up to be well rounded adults when this is all over. As a sports parent, I have very clear expectations for my kids when it comes to how the practice, how they treat their teammates, and how they treat their coaches, and how they treat their opponents.  And, we TEACH these expectations and model these expectations for our kids, and when they aren't correctly living up to these expectations, we give clear and honest feedback. Two things that drive good coaches crazy are athletes that don't pay attention to instruction and a...

Sports are full of ups and downs.  Successes and failures.  Every second in a practice or a game is an opportunity to do something good or to make a mistake, and as coaches, it is important to know how to effectively respond to each mistake that our athletes make so that they can respond appropriately, quickly and with confidence in their play.   Our reactions to our player's mistakes are critical, not only for the confidence of the individual player, but also for the outcome of the game. So, encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing. How we respond to each mistake a player makes can either build them up or tear them down.  If we tear our athletes down enough, we might not ever see them regain their confidence in this sport again, and this is often why many players quit playing sports altogether.  The last thing I ever want to do as a coach is the be an athlete's last coach because I took away their love, passion or...