From the Roots Up ... Done Right

Some coaches get pulled into their roles because they have a strong sense that coaching is a calling, some because there's just no one else to do the job and still others do it out of a sheer sense of obligation.  I work with coaches of all stripes.  In the case of one Michigan program, the coach is a little bit of a combination of all three of those.

Coach Shannon Zinser, the Varsity Volleyball Coach at Clare High School, accepted the Varsity Volleyball Position last year.  She did this in order to serve her community and try to ensure that her daughter and the rest of the volleyball players' experiences where positive.  Oh, and she'd like to build the program into a winning one if at all possible.

Admittedly and commendably, Shannon doesn't have all the answers on exactly how to do that, so she reached out for help.  It wasn't enough for her to just coach a team as it's been done there in the past.  She is reaching for a much deeper experience for all involved.  In other words, she wanted to grow a program from the roots up.

So she set out to find a way to do that, eagerly finding people who would join her on the mission.  All along the way admitting her shortcomings and knowledge shortfalls while working to overcome them.  She looks for the 'right' people to fill staffing positions and roster spots, just as Herb Brooks did on his mission to shock the world with his 1980 USA Hockey team.  In other words, she's doing it right.

The results this year didn't shock the world, although there were some measurable improvements in overall results.  There is still a long way to go to convince the community and some of the players that this process takes time, but that it will be worth it.  There is also some work to be done to inspire the type of increase in work that needs to be done to improve fundamental skills to reach their big picture goals.   To call on Western Michigan University Football Coach, PJ Fleck's idea about reaching success, it is not a straight line:

Credit: www.whatdriveswinning.com (PJ Fleck)

To do it right, you will get worse, first.  You will see most of your wins behind the scenes.  You will be frustrated and second guessed.  You will have days it doesn't seem worth it.  However, if you stay the course and continue to evolve yourself and inspire your players, their parents and your community, you will find success.  

I commend coaches like Shannon Zinser and her staff that have the gumption to fight the good fight for the right reasons.  Keep moving forward!  

The "Bucks" Will Not Stop Here

They may still be one field away from the BIG GAME when they suit up at Traverse City’s Thirlby Field this coming Saturday against Maple City Glen Lake in the Division 6 Michigan state semi-final, but Pine River High School has been playing on the field of dreams, from a sports culture perspective, all season long.

A few shining examples sent to me from Pine River softball coach, Laura Mumby, points to some of the evidence of that.  Here is a school, literally in the middle of nowhere, alongside US-131 near the small Michigan town of Leroy.  The home of the ‘Bucks’.  A town with one of the best summer time festivals around, but not a whole lot else.  This is the setting you think of when you picture a small town.  LeRoy comes together with the towns of Luther and Tustin to make up the Pine River High School Community. Just like everywhere else, they have good and bad.  This is a quick note to point out and high five some good.

A good culture is, I think, most coaches' wish.  Creating a good one provides for an interesting journey and is often much harder than anyone can imagine.  At Pine River, they’re winning, and that’s great.  However, the more exciting thing to those that are around the program is that they’re winning by way of inspiration behind the scenes.  That’s more important in the grand scheme of things.  

Last year, Pine River player Tristen Nelson made an impact on little 7 year old Carter Norman while visiting a few lunches and sharing recess with Carter and his friends at their school.  As the Bucks geared up for they’re District final game back on November 4th, Carter geared up to cheer on his favorite player.  His grateful mom, Crista, made sure the world, and Tristen knew and as gracious growing leaders do, Tristen responded in the most heart warming way.  Take a look:

This run means a lot to Tristen, and I'm sure every player on the Bucks' roster.  They've clawed and scratched their way further than almost every other team in the state.  The team has undoubtably been uncomfortable and been made to conquer mountains more times than they can count this season.  I haven't been at one practice, I've never met Tristen or any of his teammates, so I can't know any of the above for certain.  I can, however, look at the pictures below and the raw emotion and sum up what I know to be common of any great journey.

 

Coach Terry Martin of Pine River Football seems to have built a winning team and solid program, making the playoffs most years and winning a district title a few years back.  The Pine River community is proud of the success of its football team and their advancement through this state tournament, no doubt.  That they also have upstanding players that freely show their humanity and humility as youngsters look on makes the journey not just fun, but important.  They’re playing from a deeper place of meaning and there are many hands on deck to reinforce that important point.  All of that makes this type of journey not just important to one rural Michigan town, but to our society as a whole.

Good luck to the Pine River players, coaches, and community on Saturday.  Continue to be great role models and growing leaders on your journey. Regardless of Saturday, these Bucks will NOT stop here.  They'll continue out into the world as successful young adults, and that's the greatest victory any coach and any community can ever hope to have.

‪#‎uracoach‬ if your players know you love them

‪#‎uracoach‬ if your players know you love them

This seems pretty straight forward, but so many coaches get it wrong.  Coach, you cannot just say you love your players, they have know it without a doubt and they can only get there when your actions tell them.  Why do you have to love them?  You don't have to love them, but if you want your team to reach the highest level possible, you sure better be genuine in your care for them.  

Whether you're a weekend warrior coach or someone hoping to climb the coaching ladder to make this your profession, trust me when I tell you to go find Simon Sinek's books and watch video of him speaking - ASAP!  Some much information from him and so little time...  One of Sinek's key topics is the importance of safety for our brains to operate at an optimal level.  

When you come from a place of love, and again this doesn't mean 'the I'm soft and have low standards for my players' kind of love, you will start to feel synergy.  Synergy is what happens on teams at times when everything and everyone clicks. It's like a magic school bus appears to drive your team directly over every opponent and piece of adversity in your way.  It's the result of every member of the group feeling like every other member is a trusted and important spoke in the wheel and instead of 1+1 equaling 2 it equals 3 trillion.  That all starts when your players know, regardless of their performance on the court, that you love them as a people. 

Some of the toughest, meanest, most hard core coaches in the world talk openly about how much they love their players.  It's not a crutch or a sappy admission of weakness.  It's a the most powerful driver of human greatness.  

#uracoach when you set a standard....and hold it...regardless of how it will affect the game...

#‎uracoach‬ when you set a standard for behavior based on great character and hold every player-especially your most gifted players - to that standard regardless of how it will affect the game

The standards spoken about above come from your personal values and vision for your program and your way of coaching.  It's when you don't come from your values or roots that you get yourself into trouble.  You see, there are too many decisions that happen day to day to address short term success that will trip you up, as a leader, if you aren't acting from a deep rooted and articulated place of value.  

From Daniel Goleman's book, Focus: 

If a leader is to articulate such shared values effectively, he or she must first look within to find a genuinely heartfelt guiding vision.  The alternative can be seen in the hollow mission statements espoused by executives but belied by their company's (or their own) actions.

Just some of the possible reasons you as a coach are enticed into not holding team standards:

1. Avoidance of unrest, as in avoiding the parental outburst that will surely come if you uphold the child of the wrong parent. (hey parent genius - your kid probably needed that standard the most and now she won't learn the lesson because her out of control mom just 'got her back' - What is that?!  You're not her friend, Mom!  And you just robbed her of the chance to learn a lesson that might have prevented her from getting fired from the 10th job she's had. Way to go 'Mom of the year'!)  You are literally preventing coaches from helping your child go through the rigors of life so that he or she can one day fly independently.  Your reward will likely be a child-adult at home with you for life so you'll have that to look forward to at least.  Assume the best of your child's coaches and teachers - the vast majority are trying to help.
2. Loss of a game.  Oldest one in the book.  This is on you, coach.  You have to determine if you're about winning first or teaching lessons first.  This is where the roots and values being your deeply held beliefs come in handy - when you're willing to deal with a loss and even a loss of a job to hold a kid to a standard - you are coaching for a purpose.  If you find yourself rationalizing a way to get that kid in the game when you know they shouldn't, you're just coaching to coach.  It's different.
3. Team unrest.  If you built your team standards on solid ground.  The rest of the team will appreciate and respect you for upholding the standard so team unrest will be short term at best.
4. Administrator overreach.  You players will respect you more if you leave rather than let an overreaching administrator dictate your actions.  Living on principle isn't easy, but at least you'll have definite peace of mind.
5. Be the cool coach - have players like you.  Listen they might like you in that moment if they get to have fun or fly below the level of a high team standard, but you better believe that all things being equal they will respect a coach who makes them better far more than they will ever like a cool coach that let's them coast.  I asked a player one time who was giving me a hard time about not ever goofing off in position training, 'would you rather make funny videos or be awesome?' They choose awesome every single time.

Bottom line.  There are a lot of reasons to undercut the standards so arming yourself with indisputable reasons to hold your players to the standards will help make extremely hard decisions, easy.  You don't have to have 100 page rule book if your why is right and you coach from that why regardless of the outcome.

For more on this- get yourself signed up for the August 3rd Intentional Coaching Workshop in Big Rapids, Michigan.  After June 17th the price goes up so get everyone on your staff in right away!!!  www.treerootsllc.com

Happy Coaching!

‪#‎uracoach‬ if you teach fans of your team to respect

‪#‎uracoach‬ if you teach the fans of your team to treat the officials and opposing players & coaches with respect

I hate to put it so bluntly...who am I kidding? No I don't.  It should be blunt.  Maybe blunt is the only way to get the attention of your fans.  Look coach, we want them to be fanatical, I get it.  You can chose to let that turn into ugly, disrespectful behavior - it's your call.  However, in a world where players have unprecedented access to information and spend time unconsciously sorting out the world's hypocrites, don't expect to teach lessons based on character while simultaneously rooting for - or silently allowing - bad fan behavior in the hopes of gaining a home court advantage of some sort.

Be proactive with your parent groups, student sections and community members by talking about their role and your expectations for their behavior.  Each group will have a different set of expectations and you can still encourage intense and enthusiastic support, but they can do that without being nasty and disrespectful.  Help them learn how.

‪#‎uracoach‬ if you teach the parents.....#3

‪#‎uracoach‬ if you teach the parents of your team what their role really is-and help them understand and accept the role their child earned on your team.

Coaching IS recruiting.  Regardless of the level you coach, coaching is absolutely about recruiting the people in your charge to believe in the vision you have for your team and program.  A mistake some coaches make, however, is only taking the time to recruit the players on the roster to believe in and fight for that vision.

If that is you, let this be a nudge to get you to focus on the other influences in your team members' lives.  Every time your players walk out of your practice or away from a contest they are inundated with the opinions and thoughts of their classmates, program fans, other coaches/teachers in the department/school, and the BIGGEST influencer, their parents.  

If you are not taking the time to make sure your players' parents are buying into the vision you have for your team, you are playing a high stakes game of roulette.  Sooner or later you will lose.  You might not get fired, but you'll lose in the way that your team will underperform.  This is especially true in the case of the role player who is working to accept their place on the team, who goes home to the former star athlete mom or dad who just can't understand what you could possibly be thinking.  Or the player whose folks are confident that he or she would be the perfect captain, not because they are the greatest servant to their teammates, but for status....usually their own.  Little Susie or Tommy can have the best intentions in the world, but to overrule the authority of their parents as they compare to you, the coach who spends less than 20 hours a week at most, with them - it's not going to happen.

Sure, there was a time when parents innately understood that even if you didn't agree with a coach, you simply would never let your child know. As a parent they would NEVER, and I mean NEVER, work to undermine the authority of a coach if, for no other reason, they understood that they couldn't possibly have all the required information to give their input - since they are not at practice, in the locker room and privy to the inner workings of the team.  That sadly is not the norm in today's climate.  

Take the time to recruit your athletes to see your vision and believe in it thoroughly.  Teach them that their parents largest window into your program is through their eyes.  Make sure in all cases you help your players advocate for your vision by having preventative conversations with parents about roles, about handling disagreements, and about the sacredness of the team.  In some cases, the player might have to carry the burden of countering parents quick to complain about a coach by not allowing themselves to use their parents as people they vent to.  Unfortunate as it is, some parents just can't handle not acting on the partial information that comes up in conversations like that. 

If you take the time to recruit the groups of people that surround your team, you'll find the sails of your boat always full of wind pushing your program through the roughest of waters.

Happy Coaching!

Standards vs. Rules

In the MIVCA speaking appearance from a couple of weeks ago, I failed to get to some of the points in my outline.  In an attempt to make up for that, this blog will cover some of the points I didn't get to.  This installment will be about the bullet point 'Standards vs. Rules'.

This is a subject I've been asked about a couple of times and also a point I make with those that I'm working with on the construct of their program books.

Most coaches and leaders would agree with the idea that a high level of trust is the cement that the foundation of any high functioning group of people is built upon.  Yet, many say that and then pursue ideas and policies that breed the opposite.  Rules are limitations.  Rules, by their nature, lead teams to feel like they can't be trusted to do right by the organization or team.  This is not to suggest you shouldn't have any rules, but they should be broad and values based.  They should also be enforceable and be enforced on an extremely consistent basis.  If not, all the rest of the rules might as well not exist - no one will know which ones to follow and which ones are BS.

Even a coach as harsh and discipline-based realized this during the course of her career.  Pat Summit in the late 80's/early 90's started to realize that in order to help her team be champions on a more regular basis, she should adjust when it came to rules.  She did this before the craziness of texting, social media and every other influence we, as a coaching community, say changed our players forevermore.  She did this, because humans are humans and ten or fifteen years into her career, she realized it was her job to adapt to them, not the other way around.  On page 208 of her latest book, Sum it Up, Coach Summitt talks about it:

"I also made our team rules fewer and simpler.  I'd learned that if you have one hundred rules, then you have to police them, and kids are going to break them, and that just creates problems.  Better to have a few rules, but strictly enforce them.  I treated them as adults, until they gave me a reason not to, and usually they didn't.  As long as they abided by the rules, I was pretty flexible.  But if they didn't, I could be as tough as any person they'd ever met.  But I also prided myself on being fair, firm, and consistent."

"...But it was my observation that young people wanted discipline, even craved it, because they wanted to succeed.  They wanted an environment of healthy structure, one in which they felt I cared about them and cared that they did things the right way.  Deep down they understood there was a relationship between discipline and success, and they wanted me to show it to them."  Our rules and policies were just another expression of caring.  There is an old saying: 'Rules without relationship result in rebellion.'" 

Standards vs. Rules if I had gotten to it, would have been my plea to every coach in the stands to be very careful about what you put in your rulebook for your team.  Your players often time fail to trust you when you fail to trust them. A quick way to show them you don't trust them is to load them up with a bunch of rules right off the bat.  It's more than just semantics, and I really don't think it matters which word you use.  It's about the concept.  Are we telling our players what they can't do or is one of our main purposes as a coach and leader to show our players what they CAN do?

Remember Coach, the old saying that "we tend to judge ourselves by our intent, but we tend to judge others by their behavior."  A good place to start with your team is to have the generosity of spirit to assume the best of them and to judge them as you tend to judge yourself - by your intent.

Be careful when you set the construct for your team. Be sure to set your standards or rules based on your program's core values and not in reaction to misdeeds done by those before.  Be sure that your rules are consistently enforceable and as simple as possible.  This is the framework upon which trust and team success is built upon.

Make it about the what, how and why - not about the who

There's a trend in college coaching.  I don't think it's totally new and based on conversations I've had in the past few weeks, I know I'm not the only one who has noticed.  The trend is not good, is somewhat dangerous and it's growing.

First of all, I will concede that networking is indeed important.  Regardless of your occupation, it is extremely helpful to grow your sport, business, customer base, etc.  However, networking in college volleyball, as of late seems to be less about sharing great information and having deep conversations about how best to attack the complex job of building a great program than being seen out with the right group of coaches.

Coaching is complex at every level.  Coaching a college sport is insanity run amuck.  Coaches are tasked with the following things:

• Understanding at a deep level the nuances of their particular game
• Having great skill at training the skills associated with executing that game
• In game tactical skills
• Expert communication skills so they can communicate that game to players with an ever changing communication skill set
• Skills to both identify and evaluate the right talent and people to fit in with their program philosophy
• Budgeting expertise
• Fundraising abilities
• Knowledge and business skills to market and run camps
• Culture building skills
• Public speaking abilities to inspire their players, administrators, fellow coaches and fans to support the vision they have adopted for their program

So I'm just saying, perhaps the majority of the pie chart that makes up the skill set of the typical college coach should be focused on the what, the how and the why you do it.  Networking is important, sure, but perhaps lets spend 10% of our efforts on that and 90% on gaining the skills for the most important aspects.  We owe that to the profession, our players and the sport we coach.

Perspective...Choice...Little Moments

Over the weekend I had the chance to attend the celebration of the 2015 season of the CMU Volleyball team.  It doesn't go unnoticed by me that this wasn't a given.  After all, I had been released by the CMU Athletic Department at the conclusion of the season once our head coach resigned his post.  The new coaching staff, led by Mike Gawlik, extended the invitation.  They didn't have to.  It was a classy move only to be topped by his ask that I say a few words to the team at the event when I arrived.  Again, classy.

Not having prepared anything in advance I let the moment take me and trusted that whatever came out, it would be right for the moment.  When you speak from your heart and from a place of love and gratefulness, you really can't go wrong.

After I faced the crowd and fought back the sentimental tears that have a tendency to overtake me, I told a story that seemed right for the moment.  I heard it a long time ago on from Wayne Dyer.  He was walking along a beach in Hawaii where he spent the final years of his life.  As he tells it, he came upon a women who was looking to move there with her family.  She asked him what the people were like.  Wayne asked her what the people were like where she was coming from, she beamed about the people in her community.  "They're great, people help one another out, they're interested and care about your success, it's like a big family," replied the woman.  Wayne simply replied, "that's pretty much what you'll find here," and continued on.  A while later on the walk he came upon another woman who asked the same question.  Wayne again asked her what the people were like where she lived. "They're not nice, everyone is in each other's business, no one stops to help or cares at all how you're doing," replied this woman.  "Well, that's pretty much what you'll find here," he said before he carried on.

The story is about perspective.  Everything in your life, every person, situation and circumstance you find yourself in is about you and the way you see things.

I asked the players to move forward, work hard and demand that their teammates work hard and to be the very best version of theirselves everyday.  Isn't this what athletics and life should be all about?  To do things you never thought possible, you will have to seek the uncomfortable.  That banquet, as great as it was to be there, was extremely uncomfortable for me.  The reward of seeing and getting to hug and laugh with those players one more time made it worth it times a million.  It seemed the least I could do was to implore them to live up to their awesome potential as I had done many times before.

Everything in your life, every person, situation and circumstance you find yourself in is about you and the way you see things.

So it is for everyone, so it is for me.  I have chosen to make my journey the fault of no one else.  I have chosen to make the best of every situation I am in.  I am grateful for my circumstances, regardless of outcome.  It is my hope that my choice of response inspires the players I used to see everyday do the same.

I grew a little over the weekend.  I hope I helped them grow a little too.  We all grow in little moments.  

Reactive vs. Proactive Language in Coaching

Excerpt from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People….
From Pages 78 – 79
Listening to Our Language                  Because our attitudes and behaviors flow out of our paradigms, if we use our self-awareness to examine them, we can often see in them the nature of our underlying maps.  Our language, for example, is a very real indicator of the degree to which we see ourselves as proactive people.
                  The language of reactive people absolves them of responsibility. “That’s me.  That’s just the way I am.”  I am determined.  There’s nothing I can do about it.
                  “He makes me so mad!” I’m not responsible.  My emotional life is governed by something outside my control.
                  “I can’t do that.  I just don’t have the time.” Something outside me-limited time-is controlling me.
                  “If only my wife were more patient.”  Someone else’s behavior is limiting my effectiveness.
                  “I have to do it.”  Circumstances or other people are forcing me to do what I do.  I’m not free to choose my own actions.
Reactive Language:                                                                                                Proactive Language:There’s nothing I can do.                                                                                     Let’s look at our alternatives.
That’s just the way I am.                                                                                      I can choose a different approach.
He makes me so mad.                                                                                            I control my own feelings.
They won’t allow that.                                                                                         I can create an effective presentation.
I have to do that.                                                                                                      I will choose an appropriate response.
I can’t.                                                                                                                            I choose.
I must.                                                                                                                            I prefer.
If only.                                                                                                                            I will.
                   That language comes from a basic paradigm of determinism.  And the whole spirit of it is the transfer of responsibility.  I am not responsible, not able to choose my response.(Covey, 78)                
                  A serious problem with reactive language is that it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.  People become reinforced in the paradigm that they are determined, and they produce evidence to support the belief.  They feel increasingly victimized and out of control, not in charge of their life or their destiny.  They blame outside forces – other people, circumstances, even the stars – for their own situation. (Covey, 79)

        In coaching there are plenty of opportunities to see and work with athletes covering the entire spectrum of reactive versus proactive.  When a coach works with a student-athlete in regards to academic studies, the biggest and most prevalent task to tackle first is that of moving them into a more proactive way of thinking.  “My teacher just doesn’t like me.”  “I just don’t do well with numbers.”  “The professor’s lectures aren’t about anything to do with the class.”  These are all actual quotes from college students I’ve worked with in the last few years.  Moving them off of statements like that and into more proactive thinking is the challenge.

        We work to solve this problem in a few ways.  For example, we have constructed a pre-season classroom session that incorporates parts of Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People with study habits known to be successful in helping students make the transition from high school to college.  Coaches also talk to them and help them understand the concept of getting a degree versus getting an education.  Feeling like they are doing much more than just trying to get the grade really makes a difference in how they approach their classes.  It encourages them to take more responsibility for learning materials rather than wanting to passively sit and absorb random facts for the sole purpose of doing well on the exam.

      We find this type of ownership carries over to the court as well.   When an athlete is more engaged in learning new techniques rather than just doing reps, the ability for deep practice is much greater.

      Much more to come on this topic…

6 Ways to Make Life's Negatives into Positives

On October 6th of last year, my life course encountered an interruption.  I have been an assistant volleyball coach at the D-II and D-I level for the past 11 years and a head coach at other levels for 10 years prior to that.  On October 6, 2015 at about 1:30 in the afternoon, my head coach was suspended.  The staff did the best we could to steer the ship for the reminder of the season with many high and low points.  Then, on December 1, 2015 I was told my contract wouldn't be renewed as they started a search for the next head coach.  For the first time in 21 years, I was without a coaching gig.

So what to do next.  I said at the time, and many times before and since, that every time something has happened in my life that may seem like a missed or lost opportunity something better always - and I do mean ALWAYS - came along.  So what did I do next?  The 6 things I always do when faced with adversity....

1. Be Positive.  If you are not a naturally positive person, I don't know if I can help you.  I've been blessed with a positive outlook always.  I don't know why, let's credit Mom (Thanks Marge Beeckman).  If you aren't that way, regardless of how ridiculous it may seem at the time, find a handful of positive things to say about your situation everyday.  Literally a handful - 5.  It's called framing.  I read a quote somewhat recently about life isn't about the things that happen, it's about the the story you tell yourself.  Now there's a fine line between framing and delusion so it's always helpful to have a trusted circle that will tell you when you have gone completely 'round the bend.
2. Ask yourself, EVERYDAY, the following question:  If money were not a factor, what would I do?  In a case like mine, where the seemingly negative life experience is a job loss, this is a great way to figure out your next step if you don't already have an idea.  Actually take the time to let your mind dive into this one.  For me it helped to pretend I won the lottery rather than money just not existing at all...so of course I went on a day dream filled with luxurious vacations and a trip to Europe, Hawaii and new homes in multiple locations.  That was fun!  Then, I focused on reality and really thought hard about the question, day after day.  My answer: help as many athletes and coaches from multiple teams and levels of play, rather than just one; write the book I always said I would; construct a more formal education curriculum for coaches.  There are schools for acting, teaching, engineering and everything in between.  Meanwhile for coaches, we get playing experience and trial and error for the most part.  Really?!
3. Make daily commitments to yourself that you keep.  While mentoring players over the course of my career, this has become one of my favorite 'life-hacks'.  This can be something as simple as picking a time to meditate or work out, plan your day, read for a short period, anything.  But pick something and commit to yourself to keep that appointment.  In my case, I decided to train for a half marathon.  Just so the reader is aware, I am NOT a runner, not even a little.  Furthermore, I have always adamantly said I would never do something so unbelievably insane as to agree to run 13.1 miles on purpose.  Fast forward to today: I purchased a new running belt and headphones, it was the highlight of my day.  Help me!!!!
4. Focus on 3 things.  Regardless of what the nature of the negative life event.  Focus on accomplishing 3 things everyday that will make you a slightly better person.  Perhaps that means better family member, friend, spouse, spiritual being, community member, or better at your craft.  It doesn't matter, get better at 3 things everyday.  Don't try for 10 - just 3.  If you accomplish 5 things - cool!  Gold star!  If you try for too many you may accomplish none of them.  You'll chase your tail around the house until your family gets home and then feel like crap about your day.  3 things - everyday!
5. Be stubborn.  Look for signals.   The world will try to tell you that you should settle.  Change course completely.  Take the safe route.  Be stubborn.  If you figured out what you would do if money weren't an issue - work your butt off to make it happen.  However, keep your eyes wide open for signs.  They're all around you trying to guide your path.  Work hard and trust your gut on what they mean.
6. Read.  Read a lot, even if you aren't a reader.  I don't mean fiction fantasy escape novels to get away from the bottomless pit that has become your life... you negative pessimist!  Find journals, blogs and books from your industry.  Tap into the 'saved' portion of your Facebook account and check off all of those articles you tagged to read later...well, it is later and what else do you have going on?! Read anything you can get your hands on. Make it one of your commitments if you must.  Why?  While reading things your mind will make connections and have ideas, sometimes about completely unrelated things.  You never know where the journey of constant reading will take you.  

Bonus #7: HAVE FUN! EVERYDAY!  EVEN IF YOU DON'T FEEL LIKE IT.  That's a must.  Life is too good and too short to not love the crap out of everyday.  And I like to read so if you must, email me and we can chat...tbeeckman@gmail.com

Happy Life-ing!

Why not coaches too?

I recently read an excerpt from Sum it Up, the latest book by former Tennessee basketball coach, Pat Summitt.  Who, in case you've been living under a rock, or a mountain of rocks with a giant glacier on top of them, is one of the best coaches of all time.  I found this gem of a quote:    

"Coaching isn't social work, but it's more than just a game-it's a heartfelt vocation in which you are powerfully bonded to students.  Often, they need you more than they know they need you.  It's a job in which you grab kids by the arm and pull them out of their emotional fires, and show them what real self-worth looks like."

 And of course, I went straight over to Amazon and bought the book.  I mean, why haven't I already read this one twice?!

Coaches have a vehicle to teach character and develop kids for good and bad in ways that sometimes academic teachers don't.  While teachers and college professors are required to get a degree, in teaching, numerous certifications and continue their professional development in a formal way throughout their careers, it is acceptable for coaches to use on the job training or past playing experience as their certification.  I sat through English, history and math classes for several years but that doesn't necessarily qualify me to educate our future generation on the proper use of the comma.  You're reading my writing, so you're likely experiencing that by now.

This is not to say that those in the coaching profession don't try to develop themselves.  The best are absolutely avid lifelong learners.  There are plenty of growth opportunities.  There are countless clinics and workshops I myself have gone to for years hungry to hear the best drill design methods, most effective statistic for predicting winning strategies and the like.  Some are even great, some have seemingly evolved into a networking first party where many roam around looking for the coolest coach to stand next to.  Coaches need more.  Coaches at all levels should be provided more opportunities to grow in areas like teaching techniques, motor skill development, communication, character development, diplomacy, public speaking, parent group training, etc.

If sports are going to continue as they are, the coaches who get roped in because no one else would do it must have a place to turn to develop their skills.  Players, who may have had great potential, are being driven from the sport because of under-skilled coaches who made playing the sport miserable.  Meanwhile good coaches are being driven out of coaching at an alarming rate because of overzealous parents who didn't answer the call when no one would fill the post but seem to have all the best ideas from the stands.

We should do better.   We can do better.

I want to see coaches from all sports, schools and levels come together for real collaboration.  I want coaches to be required to attend formal workshops to improve in areas that affect their players as people, not just the play on the court.  I want athletic directors and the administrators above them to recognize coaching education as the most pressing resource and help to fund it.  I want college administrators to demand that candidates have more than name recognition or recent playing experience to be considered for their positions.  I want parents and athletes to expect and demand qualified and educated coaches, just as they would expect it from every classroom teacher.  Character development is getting lost in sport, the time to address it has come.

If you are a coach or athletic director and are interested in hosting a workshop, please email tbeeckman@gmail.com

Happy Coaching!