A Coach's Diary

With the transfer portal blowing up and transfer culture pouring down to club sports, high school sports, and youth sports, creating a great TEAM and HUMAN experience might be the most important thing that we do as coaches.  According to the book Making Work Human , PURPOSE, MEANING, and GRATITUDE are at the heart of the team experience. Purpose belongs to all. Meaning is unique to the person. Gratitude builds lasting connections. Purpose, meaning, and gratitude help teams THRIVE because they connect us to the work we do, why we do it, and who we do it with. Simon Sinek has said, “ Teams with a strong purpose and a strong sense of ‘WHY’ are able to inspire their athletes. ” Our purpose is our reason for being together. Without a shared purpose, our athletes (and coaches) might see our work as transactional and not transformational. Create a shared purpose through regular communication and building connections between the work we do together and how it can benefit the athl...

On a random Facebook post on the topic of implementing Ralph Miller's 8 Drills For a Fundamental Practice, someone in the comments mentioned a book regarding Ralph Miller's college basketball coach, the legendary Phog Allen.  In the book it states how the inventor of basketball, Dr. James Naismith, ‘ was very much against sport being anything but a human development tool to enhance physical well-being, social acumen, and spiritual growth, truly the educational model. ' After doing some research on Dr. Naismith’s beliefs on the true purpose of sports, I ran across this article from Aleteia.org in which it discusses in good detail Dr. Naismith's vision and mission for athletics and the role it can play in developing young people's lives, especially in relation to becoming a better Christian. The articles states that Naismith was convinced that, “ he could better exemplify the Christian life through sports than in the pulpit ” and sought to “ develop the ...

Great quote from the guys at Proactive Coaching .  Its important to have purpose in what we do, and this quote outlines the 'why' to competing, having a strong culture, leadership development , commitment and sacrifice, accountability, selflessness, discipline , grit, and integrity.  This is why we coach, this is why they play.  Sure the wins are great, and the accolades are amazing for recognizing talent and hard work , but the life lessons learned through sports are what make them really worthwhile.