Positive Coaching - Building Team Chemistry

Building team chemistry is always a challenge for youth sport coaches. Trying to mold numerous personalities and different skill- level athletes into a cohesive unit is difficult, even for professional and college coaches.

Expecting, often-untrained youth coaches to create great team chemistry can be asking a lot. The good news is that youth sport coaches do not have to deal with oversized egos or over paid athletes that college and professional coaches have to deal with.

The bad news is that youth coaches have to deal with over-zealous parents that can put a thorn into building great team chemistry. Often, it only takes one uncooperative player or parent to disrupt team chemistry.

Team chemistry building is a process that takes time to develop. Good coaches are continually on the lookout for teaching moments that will enhance team chemistry as well as build positive character in team individuals.

With that being said, there are many ways that youth sport coaches can incorporate into their coaching that leads to great team chemistry.
1. Open communication is one of the main keys to maintaining team chemistry. Coaches who clearly explain all team rules and coaching philosophy are off to a good start in developing team chemistry. Of course, following their stated rules and philosophy is always necessary, too.
2. Coaches should devote equal time to each team member, which makes every player feel like an integral part of the team. On the other hand, coaches, who display overt favoritism to some, often create factions on teams, which is detrimental to overall team chemistry.

Even young players notice when teammates may be slighted with the coach's attention or negativity and this can be detrimental to team chemistry development.
3. Youth coaches should always watch for team members who comment or act negatively towards less talented players. Coaches should not allow any negativity to be displayed from one player or group of players towards others.

Additionally, coaches should keep an eye out for any negativity displayed by parents towards players, coaches or towards other parents.
4. Teams often take on the attitude of their coach. Youth coaches who display an enthusiastic, fun and encouraging style will see their team display this attitude. Happy coaches often translate into happy kids, which leads to good team chemistry.
5. Coaches should teach sportsmanship and teamwork and watch for examples of these on their team, on other teams and in the news.

6. Team members that hang out together, even when not practicing or playing, often create stronger bonds. Coaches, or a designated parent, should organize team outings away from the game itself.

7. Fun is always a key - youth sport coaches, who can make things fun for kids, have a great chance of molding teams into a cohesive unit. Fun for athletes includes: overcoming challenges, activity, positive feedback, chances to compete, knowledge, winning and having the opportunity to win.
8. Coaches should teach the philosophy of "we." Explaining to players "we win as a team and we lose as a team" is key, as well as emphasizing the importance of each team member's contributions to the group.
9. Coaches should encourage players to "reach out" to all players so that cliques are not formed. Breaking up kids into groups with different players each practice is a good start to helping kids get to know each other.
10. As mentioned, it only takes one player or parent to disrupt a team so coaches should try to "get ahead" of any negativity with open communication before gossip and disruption can form.

Of course, winning teams often feel better about themselves. That should be motivation enough for coaches to the best job they are capable of to help teams win. Finally, creating an atmosphere where "kids can be kids" is important.

This does not mean that coaches have to be friends with all players, but that coaches use their authority role to promote a positive experience for all, which leads to team chemistry.

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Good Coaching

Coaching a sports team takes a lot of work and effort. Coaches are rarely better performers than the players they coach. In fact many coaches these days were fairly average players back when they played the game. They are responsible for getting sporting teams or individuals ready to compete, and lead them through their particular game or event with success.

Drills, practices and scrimmages are done before the event to get the athlete or team ready for competition. To also aid in the win, coaches usually have a playbook and make sure the team properly executes the plays in it. Some other duties coaches have include player recruitment and some general manager responsibilities.

Great sports coaches inspire their teams to believe they can win. Some well know coaches who were known for stirring emotion and inspiration are former UCLA coach John Wooden, Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, Tennessee Vol's coach Pat Summit, and long time gymnastics coach Bela Karolyi.

To be a successful coach you must know your players (or team) needs to be mentally, physically and emotionally in tune. A coach who seems to master balancing these elements within his team is Phil Jackson. Jackson realizes his players must learn to expand, sharpen, and focus all these areas to really excel and master their sport.

Now the question shifts to why do some coaches constantly win and others seem to always loose? One element of a winning team is to be in shape. A good coach understands this learn to motivate their players to stay in shape, eat healthy and avoid drugs and other substances which are bad for their body. Another element good coaches use to assure wins is making sure players know the game time situations.

We all remember in 1993 when Chris Webber called a timeout in the final seconds of the game when the team did not have one. I am not blaming that loss on the coach but that's an example to show how vital relaying key information to your team is. This turns into good coaches testing their athletes mentally, which means winning teams are smart teams.

The last element that makes a good coach is making sure your team plays as one and within the spectrum of the rules. Top coaches mold teams into cooperative units working as one. Great teams are instructed by their coach to play within the rules of the game.

Also if team is playing as one unit they learn to win as a team and lose as one. Teams that continuously win, are usually coached by people that see sports as a way to lead a richer, fuller life. They help their players prioritize sports into their daily life rather than let the sport consume it.

In conclusion, good coaches are good teachers. They work hard at developing skills, ensuring values, and guiding their athletes to success. Winning coaches win because they have utilize players' skill, know the rule, understand the value of communication, and believe in commitment.

A coach's character and his or her ability to teach are the leading winning elements. Good coaches usually have a bond with their players long after they complete their athletic competitions.

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Important Cover For All Coaches

There is always plenty of insurance for sportspersons but many are not aware of the levels of cover available for coaches and instructors. If insurance is important for competitors it is arguably even more important for coaches as they are responsible for all competitors during training sessions and competition.

Whatever level of sport you coach at you should be fully insured. This is true for all sports including football, hockey, gymnastics and many others. Insuring yourself as a sports coach means you are protected against lost, stolen or damaged equipment during any sessions in which you are in control of.

As a coach you will put a considerable amount of time and effort into making training sessions useful and tasking and this will normally include a range of equipment. Fitness instructors probably have the widest range of equipment that is under supervision during any given session. Fitness equipment is expensive and if anything happened to it and you did not have sufficient cover you would be facing some hefty bills for replacement.

You are also responsible for the safety of the participants as ensuring that you all operate in a safe environment is your responsibility. However, we all know sport does not always go to plan and anything can happen at any time; a slip, fall, broken bones are common in most sports. Again, failure to be comprehensively covered could result in you covering these medical bills.

It is not just about having a certain policy, it is vital that you choose a product that will cover you against all eventualities. All sporting coaches and instructors need to ensure they have the required cover as it provides you with peace of mind during training sessions and also you can use this when advertising your services. You are much more likely to have people come to you knowing they are in safe hands.

Policies cover coaches at all levels so whether you coach amateur, professional or just do it in your spare time you will find the right level of cover for you. You can use many policies abroad if, for example, as a football coach you take your team on tour, you will still be covered.

There are also some coaches that may coach different sports and there are selected policies specifically designed for these coaches. Go online now and see what deals you can find.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3016799

Stay Protected With Coach Sports Insurance

What a rewarding experience to have the job of a personal trainer or a sports coach. It's a great experience to be able to assist an athlete by training them to perform the exercises that best fit their body.

It is not only important that the sports coach or trainer helps other people to stay physically healthy, but they should also have protection for themselves as well. There are so many accident situations that can happen during training sessions, and this is why a coach should be protected at all times. For the most part, the athlete's protection is what the trainers and couches are most focused on, but what about the safety of the trainer too?

The great news is that there is insurance coverage available for the coaches and training instructors. The fact of the matter is that coaches have every right to be protected just like the athlete because they can never know what kind of injury accidents might incur during training sessions.

Choosing to take advantage of sports coach insurance is a great way to stay safely covered in the case that such an accident might occur. Sports coach insurance is also a great option for coaches or trainers that have their own business as well.

Depending on what factors might be most important to a coach or a trainer there are different policies of insurance to choose from. These policies also depend on what kind of sport or routine an individual is the trainer of.

If you are involved in coaching more than one type of sport you can still have one coverage plan provided for both. There are many policies of insurance that offer flexibility depending on what you want on your coverage plan. It would be an easy process for you if you obtained a sports insurance quote online. It is a much simpler than having to fill out several pages of paperwork at an insurance office.

You can find what coverage you need very fast and easily when applying online and you can get approved for insurance coverage faster as well if you do it online. It could perhaps take as long as an hour for approval, but once you are approved you can relax and have peace of mind knowing that you are covered in case an accident occurs.

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Why Getting a Business Coach is a Good Investment

Recent studies have proven that business coaching is an up-and-coming industry - the second-fastest growing industry in the world. Business coaching is just like sports coaching - like a sports coach coaching an athlete and trains them to get better, business coaching not only helps businesses establish organized plans for every challenge they come across, it helps set those plans in motion.

Business coaching is just like sports coaching - like a sports coach coaching an athlete and trains them to get better, business coaching not only helps businesses establish organized plans for every challenge they come across, it helps set those plans in motion. Companies that have business coaching tackle challenges with a plan and business strategy from the business owner's view and an outside view: the business coach. This way, the business owner can achieve all he wants.

Here are some general statistics about business coaching today:

"Annual spending on executive coaching in the United States is estimated at $1 billion." - Harvard Business Review, November 2004.
"Use of coaching is widespread in UK organisations, with almost nine in ten respondents reporting that they now use coaching in their organization (88%)." - University of Bristol Newsletter, 2005.

"The Australian Institute of Management says 70% of its member companies hire coaches." - Inside Business Channel 2, July 2006.

"A recent study estimates that 40,000 people in the U.S. work as coaches (work or life) and the $2.4 billion market is growing at a fast-paced 18% per year." - MarketData Report, 2007.

"Coaching is the second-fastest growing profession in the world, rivaled only by information technology." - National Post, April 2007.
What Do These Statistics Mean?

The statistics and reports don't lie - business coaching is not only a fast-expanding industry, it's expanding because it's a successful industry. Just like sports athletes have to keep ahead of their competitors with a coach, business industries, especially in this recession, are getting extremely competitive.

Think about if a sports athlete didn't have a coach. He might keep doing the same things that have worked for him many times before, and he might be fine for a while. But eventually, since he's doing the same things and not necessarily getting better at his sport or his skills, the competition will surpass him.

It's the same thing with business. With all the industry changes, innovations and management strategies, business owners can't keep doing the same thing they've been doing. Eventually competitors will leave the company in their dust, so to speak.

It's even true with the big brands - McDonald's, Starbucks and Coca-Cola are constantly ahead of the game and dealing with challenges. Especially in the recession - how many brands that used to be around (Fannie Mae, Bombay Co., Circuit City) aren't anymore?

When it comes to a company's competitors, business coaching is a sound investment in your company's future because it keeps you ahead of them.

It's still a relatively new business industry, but the statistics don't lie: business coaching is fast-becoming a great investment because it keeps the company ahead of competitors.
Business coaching is the second fastest growing industry for several of the following reasons:

- Business coaching helps increase staff and business performance. Coaching develops the best qualities of people and teams, making the most of everyone's qualities and significantly increasing productivity, making the most of everyone's talents and skills for the company.

- Business coaching enables owners to motivate their staff. Coaching helps people to work to their utmost potential, increase their self-esteem and thus raise the quality of their work and increase productivity at the same time.

- Business coaching improves staff development. Staff development means not only educational seminars and trainings, but also unlocking the inner potential of the company's employees. Whether the employees are going to develop themselves or not depends mainly on the company's management style. Initially, all of us have a great potential which can be revealed through coaching. Coaching allows the employees to develop themselves directly in the workplace, thus increasing their efficiency.

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Does Coaching Involve Teaching?

Although coaching will result in the person being coached to learn something, that really is not the point of coaching. A coach is someone who deals with, helps and trains those who have already learned more than the basics of what they are involved in. The coach normally comes after the teacher has taught a person the basic grounding in a sport or subject and the coach is there to help them achieve their goals or become better at what they are doing.

A coach is different from a teacher or even a counselor in that they get people to excel in helping them with goal setting, encouragement and answering their questions but a coach rarely offers or gives advice. Many people believe a coach provides expert opinions and "how to" advice and answers to the people they coach. This is not the case in that it is not their job to give a solution to a problem but to rather show those being coached how to solve the problem or a question themselves.

The origin of coaching seems to go back to the mid 1800s in traditional English universities where the students were helped by others to pass their exams successfully. This began to be known as "cramming" (as it still is today) and those that helped the students became known as the coaches. By the late 1800s American college sports teams started having their own coaches too.

It was only a short time later that the non-sporting coach started to appear and during the 20th century people who were not experts in the chosen field of those they were coaching started to emerge because they only needed to offer more general motivation and inspirational advice. In the last 20 years this industry has exploded with all kinds of people entering the field of personal to business coaches through to sports and fitness coaching.

Today the business of coaching has expanded all over the world in both sporting and the non-sporting environments and listed below is a sampling of the diversity of the coaching industry. You can have individual coaching or personal coaching which is often referred to or marketed as life coaching. Along side this there is the more traditional area of team coaching and as with individual coaching, team coaching focuses on improving performance.

Coaching itself can be broken down further into organizational coaching, business and executive coaching, systemic coaching, dissertation coaching, all the way though to dating, co-coaching, music and leadership coaching, to list only a few areas.

Today coaching in both the sports and non-sporting environments does involve some form of teaching (although it is more learning through what those being coached pick up) but focuses more on non-directive questioning and provocation to help teams and clients to analyze and solve their own challenges and problems, rather than offering advice or direction in solving them.

In the very competitive world we live in many national teams that do not win consistently will consider replacing the coach before changing the make-up of their team. So you will also find 'the coach', in many instances, is "result driven" - if they want to hold on to their position.

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Become A Certified Mental Game Coach

Thinking about improving your coaching abilities? Want to add a unique specialty to your resume? Interested in the mental approach to sports training? You may want to consider becoming a certified mental game practitioner.

The International Mental Game Coaching Association certifies qualified individuals at four levels as Certified Mental Game Practitioners. The IMGCA courses of study include academic and fieldwork, written work and a final examination. Candidates who successfully complete certification receive 16 premium benefits as long as they maintain certification.

They also have the right to call themselves IMGCA Certified and display the IMGCA certification logo at their level of certification. To learn more details, go here: http://www.mentalgamecoaching.com/IMGCACertification.html

The Four IMGCA Certified Mental Game Practitioner Levels

Level I - IMGCA Certified Mental Game Instructor

Level II - IMGCA Certified Mental Game Coach

Level III - IMGCA Certified Mental Game Master Coach

Level IV - IMGCA Certified Mental Game Professional Coach

Candidates for IMGCA certification come from all walks of life, and have varied backgrounds in sports, coaching, teaching, consulting and the mental game. The IMGCA has designed four levels of certification to address the needs of persons wishing to advance their knowledge, training and capabilities as mental game practitioners.

These levels range from beginning practitioners all the way to highly experienced, advanced professional mental game coaches. The commonality among all candidates is that they possess a love of sports and movement, a willingness to learn more about the mental game, and a desire to help others through state of the art mental game coaching.

Each applicant is assessed on an individual basis, and does not need to satisfy each of these qualifications to enter the program. Possible qualifying capabilities include:

o Experience as a teacher, trainer or coach.

o Experience in various sports, or deeply in one or two sports.

o Experience in movement or mind-body disciplines.

o Excellent communication skills.

o Academic preparation in a field that is in sport and movement or that supports these fields.

An ideal candidate for the two advanced IMGCA certifications would have a background as an athlete, coach, teacher, consultant, researcher, administrator or trainer, with academic preparation in appropriate, similar fields at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

How IMGCA Certification Can Improve Your Abilities As A Mental Game Practitioner

The IMGCA certification process is a rigorous and thorough system that prepares you to deliver mental game services to many types of sports, mind-body and movement participants across a wide range of applications. You will be able to deliver mental game services to individuals, groups and teams at a much higher level and will be much more effective in helping them overcome mental and emotional obstacles and in achieving their goals in sports and movement.

These certifications are not programs leading to licensing or qualification as a sport psychologist. That requires additional training and school work.

Specifically, with our certification programs, you will experience these enhancements:

o Deeper levels of awareness, analysis and assessment of the mental game.

o Improved teaching, consulting and coaching effectiveness in the mental arena.

o Confidence of knowing how to facilitate mental game interventions across a variety of disciplines, skills levels and situations.

o Better 1-1, group and team coaching in the mental game.

o Enhanced speaking and training abilities for use in conducting mental game workshops and seminars.

IMGCA Tools You Can Access During The Certification Training Process

o Mental game assessment tools

o Turn-key handouts for teaching the mental game

o Turn-key handouts for coaching the mental game

o An IMGCA workbook

o IMGCA articles

o Athlete feedback forms

o Post-competition assessments

What Are Your Reasons For Undertaking IMGCA Certification Training?

Our students are excited to begin IMGCA certification training because they want to be recognized for completing a rigorous, internationally-respected mental game certification training program, own a unique and impressive resume item and possess distinct job-hunting advantages over those without such a credential.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/388002

Sports ALL Kids Should Play

One of the questions that I get asked most routinely is which sports I believe offer the best development capacity to young athletes.

This is a loaded question for several reasons...

First of all, ANY sporting activity lead by a quality-based coach is wonderful for kids.

That being said, the true crux and efficacy of that statement is based largely on the 'quality-based coach' comment.

It is only when poorly educated and over zealous parents and coaches (i.e. adults) get involved too heavily in youth sports that the experience can become sour. Parents often push too hard and seek success at a young age; coaches often are limited in their understanding of developmental science and routinely 'drill' kids with 'sport specific' (I hate that phrase) exercises that are too narrow in scope (not to mention that many youth sport coaches don't know how to TEACH specific aspects of movement or speed and yet get annoyed when their athletes don't perform a given drill to a high enough standard).

One the most prominent and problematic realities of the above comments is that there don't seem to be many (any?) outlets for kids just to play anymore. Every young sporting activity is a life or death struggle that MUST climax in a victory... heaven forbid we actually teach developmentally sound skills in a fun and energetic way in order to promote a wholeness to our youths development - which by the way should include emotional stability (for instance highlighting the skills gained in a given season rather than the 'wins' and trophies accrued) and mental stimulation (in the form of engaging life lessons that instill a lifelong love for physical activity rather than a win-at-all-costs mentality which can burden kids with various complexes for years).

Having said that, I encourage parents to remove the desire to watch their 8 year olds win the weekend tournament; I encourage coaches to remove there 'Lombardi' hats when they walk into a practice or game situation; I also encourage strength and conditioning coaches to remove there yearning to 'test' young athletes from a biomotor perspective and look only to increase a child's ability from a performance outlook.

In fact...

My message is simple...

Play sports seasonally.

Find coaches and programs that highlight skill acquisition rather than victory.

Find trainers who do the same - work towards instilling skills into kids rather than creating performance markers.

So, here than are my top four sports that all kids should play (in no particular order)-

1) Soccer

In most parts of North America, kids lack foot dexterity and soccer is a wonderful natural enhancer of both foot dexterity and foot-eye coordination. Don't pigeon hole this ability as only necessary for soccer either. Remember, the crux of developing a 'whole' athlete is to engross them in as much athletic stimulus as possible at a young age. Increased foot dexterity will, in time, round out a youngsters overall ability and allow them to progress in there 'chosen' sport more proficiently.

Additionally, although many North Americans find soccer to be 'boring' (although I will need an explanation on how soccer is boring, but baseball and golf are America's pastimes) it is a wonderfully athletic and tactical-based sport. Sudden bursts of explosive power, change of direction, looking two plays ahead, playing a 'forcing' based defense in which the defender uses their body/skills to change what the offensive player wanted to do - these are fantastic athletic lessons that can be filed away in the nervous system and used at a later point in any sporting activity.
2) Swimming

Unloaded shoulder and hip mobility adds a great deal of pliability to the frame of a young athlete. With so many injuries occurring due to restrictions and tightness in kids (yes... I do believe wholeheartedly that many of the youth sport injuries we see annually throughout the world could be prevented with a simple and basic increase in both systemic strength and mobility) hip and shoulder mobility initiatives are crucial.

Additionally, kinesthetic differentiation is a physical skill lacking in many kids (this refers to the knowledge of how much force is necessary to produce a desired result). My opinion on this matter is simple - everything we tend to do with kids, both in sport and training, is based on maximal efforts. In our zeal to search for those 'performance markers', we overlook the notion that sub-maximal efforts are both developmentally sound and build certain physical qualities not seen in high force-based outputs. Swimming is the essence of building kinesthetic differentiation - kids simply won't last long in a pool if they put as much force as possible into every stroke.
3) Martial Arts

Almost every martial art I am familiar with is based on skill acquisition as a primary marker. Not only is that mentally and emotionally good for a child, but it infers the teaching of patience and 'enjoying the journey' rather than 'searching for the destination'.

While a great deal of martial arts practices in North America have become watered down (8 year olds earning black belts - if you knew anything about traditional martial arts, you know how ridiculous that is), most organizations I am familiar with teach a wonderful style of patient skill development and discipline.

Athletically speaking, dynamic flexibility, end-range systemic strength, mobility, spatial awareness - the physical ability built through martial arts is awe-inspiring and can apply to any sport.
4) Gymnastics
Again, the physical elements that can be built through gymnastics are amazing - spatial awareness, flexibility, relative strength, dynamic and static balance - the list goes on.

If for no other reason, the ability to know where you are in space and take a fall 'well' is a required skill for any sport.

So... there's my list.

Don't get me wrong, the list is nothing without a quality coach at the helm of each of these respective sports. Martial arts instructors for instance, are often archaic in their knowledge of warm-up design as are gymnastic coaches in their practices of flexibility enhancement. Having said that, good coaches do exist and I urge you as a parent to find them. I also encourage trainers to seek out joint venture partnerships with quality coaches and augment a child's development with solid strength and skill acquisition-based training habits.

Play soccer in the autumn.

Swim in the summer.

Participate in martial arts through the winter.

Take gymnastics in the spring.

Mix in some developmental training and play other sports recreationally for interest and development sake (basketball and baseball for example).

By the age of 13 - 14, you'll have a solid athlete with limited injury who understands sport tactics and is strong, mobile and flexible...

Not a bad place to be!

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1014674

Teaching Kids to Respect Their Coaches

Wouldn't it be great if all youth sport coaches were caring, knowledgeable, fun, positive and fair. Most youth coaches do not have all of these attribute and parents should not expect them to. Unfortunately, most youth coaches are often untrained, volunteer coaches that are parents of players on the team.

Often, youth coaches have a lasting influence on kids' lives, positive or negative. When kids have coaches that have all of the above desired characteristics, parents should feel extremely fortunate. With this in mind, the importance of coaches, even for very young children should not be underestimated.

More common, in youth sports, is having coaches who have a few of the above qualities. When coaches are deficient in some area, it is usually noticeable to parents and/or athletes. This is when problems often begin to arise in youth sports. When unhappiness begins to percolate amongst players, parents or both, negative feelings are created that lead to negative situations in youth sports. When unhappiness with youth coaching escalates, things often get out of hand and lead to unpleasant situations.

Unhappiness with a coach often is expressed when parents or young athletes begin to complain about coaches in front of each other, or to others. Before you know it, negativity seems to permeate everyone's attitude.

Positive parenting in sports is all about parents teaching their kids to respect their coaches, even when coaches have shortcomings. Additionally, allowing kids to "trash talk" their coach is not positive parenting. Bad mouthing a coach reflects badly on youth and on adults who allow it. The good news is that many of these escalating situations can be avoided. Parents who are aware of this bad mouthing and disrespect of coaches can and should put a stop to it before it gets out of hand.

This is not meant to say that some negative coaching situations do not exist, have merit or need parents' attention. Often, they may have a legitimate gripe, but the point is that parents should not put young athletes in the middle of it. There is no reason parents should allow their kids to disrespect their coach.

How to nip this type behavior in the bud:
1. Parents should have the perspective that volunteer coaches are just that and that coaches should be appreciated for donating their valuable time to help kids. Reminding their kids of the same is the first step to having kids respect coaches.
2. Parents should not expect coaches to be great communicators or have "expert" knowledge. Those type coaches are usually only found at the higher levels of sport.

3. Parents should understand that coaches are doing their best with the limited training they have.
4. Parents and athletes should give coaches time to prove themselves. First impressions are often wrong, and over time, everyone will begin to appreciate what their coach brings to the table.

Additionally, it is important that parents use negative coaching situations as teaching moments and not as totally negative experiences. Explaining to kids that they will encounter many types of influence in their lives, and not all good ones, but that it is important that they show adults respect through it all is positive parenting.

This also does not mean that parents should not talk with and listen to their child's concerns about their coach. Kids should be encouraged to express their feelings to their parents but also be encouraged to keep their concerns between parents and child. It serves no purpose to allow kids to be disrespectful towards authority figures and to bad mouth their coaches publicly.

More often than not, the child's concerns are just "kids being kids" and not very serious matters. Other times, it is a sign of a frustrated athlete. As long as a coach is not abusive in any way, parents should help kids deal with their concerns and, at the same time, encourage them to respect their coach.

Along the same lines, parents should keep any coaching concerns to themselves, not speak badly of the coach in front of their kids and show the appropriate respect, also. When parents state discontent about the coach, it gives kids the message that it is all right to bad-mouth the coach. Parents should keep negative comments about their kid's coach to themselves and address the coach with their concerns when they feel it is necessary.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/5258783

Coaching Champions at Work

I saw Brian Kerr (the Irish national football coach) on television not so long ago and it reminded me of a platform I shared with him at a Banking Institute seminar in Dublin. Whilst I was waiting for my turn I listened to Brian and experienced two emotions - admiration and jealousy. Firstly I admired what Brian had already achieved at under 21 level and the passion with which he expressed his love of the game. Secondly I was jealous at the way in which coaching in the sports world is readily accepted whilst coaching in the business world runs the risk of becoming yet another fad.

In sports there is an unconditional acceptance that the coach is key to unlocking potential, in business coaching is seen as merely another name for training, and training as we know is for trainers to conduct, whilst management is on a different plane and status level altogether. In sports it is unusual for coaches not to be involved in training, indeed training is often an outcome of a coaching session. In business, managers at all levels appear keen to divorce themselves from the training function.

In sports, coaches have a clearly defined system and they stick to it. In business the goalpost is forever changing, as are the players, the rules, and tactics. To say that this happens as a result of changing market trends fails to recognise whilst markets change, people are essentially the same, and what works in sports can work in business. My experience is however, that many coaching initiatives in business fail to realise any improvement in performance, but then this is no different from training initiatives right across the development board.

That's not to say that it can't work, for my own experience clearly shows that it can and does. The problem is that whilst more and more companies have become focused on short-term goals, coaching is a long-term process. In addition, too many people believe that you can learn to become a coach by attending a one, two, or even three day training course, whereas the reality of sports coaching is that even with years of experience of being a player, you cannot learn to become a coach in three days. I am dismayed to hear people say to me - 'Oh we did coaching last year. We had somebody in for a couple of days and all our managers are now coaches'.

After years of research and experimentation I found that it takes a long time to train anyone to be a business coach and it can take an organisation at least two years to implement a coaching culture. Even then it is highly likely that senior managers in particular will require additional personal coaching sessions in order to embed the new behaviours. The involvement of senior managers in the coaching process and programme is critical to success.

Managers at all levels teach people more about work by their daily behaviour than any amount of training can. The difference between a high performing team and an average performing team is always the manager. This does not mean however that the manager, acting as coach is the person who produces the results. The coach influences the performance of the individuals who produce the results, but responsibility for results rests firmly with the individual performer.

Brian Kerr is not responsible for the performance of the individuals in his team. He is accountable for the performance of the team and can suffer the consequence of poor performance, but the only way in which he gets the best out of people is to treat each person as an individual and ensure that each person understands about personal responsibility.

My research shows that 'personal responsibility' as an attribute and as a philosophy is shared by all top performers in all walks of life. Personal responsibility however, whilst a requisite for successes as a performer is a major barrier for success as a manager. Being a performer and being a coach are two totally different activities, which is why player-managers are rarely effective or successful.

The skill sets, whilst complementary, are different, and the first job I usually face when training managers to become coaches, is to undo the behaviours which made them successful as a performer, before teaching them the essential skills and behaviours of successful coaching. This is why it takes time.

Coaches in sports understand the value and relevance of practice; performers in business seem oblivious to the relationship between practice and reality. Coaches in sports return to basics every training session and basic training sessions are a regular occurrence. Basic training is used in warm-ups and it is used to benchmark performance. Basic training and the insistence that performers are able to display a minimum set of skill sets are crucial elements of the rules of the game and everyone, from top to bottom in the organisation, understands and lives by the rules.

In a football club every single person clearly understands what the rules are. No one individual or department is doing something different. Everyone is focused on the same goal. How many of us can say that about our business? This doesn't just happen in sports, it is worked on and it takes time to build a winning team - years even. The same rules apply to business. There are no quick fixes and anyone who tells you that they can deliver a quick fix is a charlatan.

Business coaches, and sports coaches, must have a vision and get people to buy into it. They have to be clear about what they want and where they are going.

Coaches need to be aware of how their behaviour influences others. When I am conducting personal coaching sessions and the manager tells me of problem with a member of staff, my first response is usually - 'what did you do or say that caused them to behave that way?'

Coaches need to create a 'never satisfied' environment. Coaching is about getting better all of the time - it is about never standing still. It becomes a treadmill of improvement.

Coaches have to reward people for good behaviour. They have to make time available for regular coaching sessions, and most importantly they have to observe the results of their coaching sessions. Following a coaching session Brian Kerr does not say to the team - 'well, we've done all of the practice. Now what I want you to do is to go out and do your best. I'm off for a few days. Let me know how you got on, and I'll see you next month.' He watches the game from the stand. He takes notes. He reviews their performance at half time. He re-establishes the tactics that were agreed.

He focuses individuals and the team on the task in hand. If there's one thing that business coaches need to learn from sports coaches is that you have to watch people doing the job. You cannot rely on other people to tell you or on individuals themselves to tell you about how they performed. You have to watch it.

Which implies that you have to know what it is you are observing, which in turn means that the performer has to clearly understand what it is you want them to do; how you will be measuring them and how you intend to help them deliver your vision. I have said it before, and it is worth repeating - it takes time.

Training programmes should be aligned and constructed on measurable outcomes. Brian does not send his performers on training courses to teach them life skills. No doubt he would agree with Shankley's famous comment that football wasn't a matter of life or death - it's more important than that! His training sessions are directly related, without ambiguity, to the job that they have to perform.

All too often I see training courses being delivered which I call 'luxury' events - very interesting but completely inappropriate as a business training investment. Perhaps you need to ask yourself the question sometimes - if it were my personal money, would I spend it on this?

The benefits of adopting coaching as a business practice are that people perform better; relationships are enhanced; work is less stressful; the focus is on performance and not on promotion or job grade; and responsibility is placed where it should be - with the performer.

Business Coaching can and does produce champions at work.

Frank Salisbury is a motivational an inspiring business coach and trainer. He has designed and delivered a range of personal development programmes for individuals and organisations aimed at helping people achieve their potential. He has spoken at numerous conferences and seminars where his style has received acclaim from those who hear him speak with a passion for life and achievement.

Frank is Chairman of the BTSi Group and Director of Education for the Institute of Professional Selling. He is also a Fellow of the Institute of Commercial Management; a member of the Institute of Leadership & Development; and a Council Member of the Gerson Lehrman Group Business Services Council.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/21399

Winning Sales Coaches Don't Manage

How would you like to coach a team that wins at the sales game like top-ranked teams win in the NBA, NFL, and NHL?

Why wouldn't you? Who's better at producing consistent winning efforts than professional sports teams?

Business?
Education?
Government?
Science?
You gotta be kidding!

Professional sports teams excel where business, education, government and science fail because professional sports teams invest in developing extraordinary coaches who develop extraordinary players.

And there's a nugget of truth that ought to excite even the most jaded sales manager . . . don't you think? If an extraordinary coach in the NFL can develop extraordinary players, why can't you?
It's no accident that successful professional teams win off-field before they ever win on-field. No team reaches the NBA playoffs, plays in the Super Bowl, or wins the Stanley Cup simply because it pays big bucks for talented athletes. To make it to the top of its sport, a winning team, like a winning business, has to play well in every facet of its operations or lose.

Don't you agree that it's tough in field sales these days? In fact, it may well be tougher today than ever before in recent history. You and your sales force work your hearts out, day in and day out, struggling against determined competitors to sell your products and services to prospects and customers who demand the impossible: low prices, discounted financing and instant, top-notch service.

How can you rise above the fray, how can you set yourself and your sales team apart from your competitors, and how can you achieve the consistent success you so richly deserve?
Simple . . . you need to find new business models, new strategies and new tactics to cope with these challenges.

Where can you find these new business models, strategies and tactics?

Like we said before . . . look no farther than professional sports teams.

When you compare the way business plays the sales game to the way professional sports teams play their games, you discover some interesting dichotomies.

First and foremost, business does not demand the best from its greatest asset: sales professionals. Because business doesn't hold individual sales professionals accountable for their failures to perform, when you evaluate the win/loss record of the typical sales team in any company, large, medium, or small, you find it consistently loses many more sales than it wins . . . usually at a rate of about ten to one.

If you applied this win/loss record to the National Football League, which plays 18 to 20 regular season games a year, the typical NFL team would win 2 games a season.

Unlike professional sports coaches, sales managers typically stay out of the action on the sales playing field because they're too busy sitting behind their desks managing the administrative affairs of the sales department. How can the average sales manager get in the sales game when he or she is too busy working on projections, profit and loss statements, personnel problems, factory politics, and company politics?

If professional sports teams played the same way most sales organizations play the sales game, NFL quarterbacks would run failed play after failed play, quarter after quarter after quarter, with no input from coaches. If professional sports teams operated the same way most sales organizations operate, Major League Baseball pitchers would walk player after player, inning after inning, while managers ignored the action and sat behind desks shuffling papers in offices far away from action on the field.

Business seems to be perfectly willing to put up with sales managers who consistently run bad plays. And, as if that isn't bad enough, business is also willing to retain field sales people who consistently fail to achieve performance goals and sales projections.

Business doesn't lead . . . business follows economic cycles. As a result, business gets sales people-bloated during good times and goes sales people-lean during tough times. Why?

Because when times are good, business gets greedy and tries to grab every dollar it can by sending too many people after what ultimately turns out to be too few opportunities.
And then, when the next economic slowdown occurs, business panics and cuts back.
And then, when the inevitable recovery comes along, business gets caught flat-footed and winds up throwing too few people at too many opportunities, creating a costly cycle that plays havoc with sales, profits, and people's lives.

When business loses, it refuses to accept responsibility for its own failures. Instead of looking within to make necessary changes and improvements, business tends to blame outside forces including ad agencies, competitors, the government, even customers, for its problems.
Whenever a professional sports team loses a game or a season, it doesn't waste time playing the blame-game.

Professional sports teams take immediate responsibility for their failures. Nothing, not politics, money, and/or relationships, changes a professional sports team's motivation to achieve defined performance. Failure to perform (Win) causes the team to make immediate changes in management, coaches, players, training, or whatever else it takes to turn the team around.

Business bounces from loss to win to loss because it is unwilling or unable to invest the resources necessary to train sales professionals to perform at the top of their sales games.
Professional sports teams, on the other hand, are more than willing to invest whatever it takes to prepare coaches and players to compete and win against their toughest competitors.
So, what does this mean to you?

It means this: If you're serious about winning, you'll study, adapt, and apply professional sports team performance strategies and tactics to prepare your team to win against your toughest competitors.

Sales managers will become sales coaches.

Sales people will become sales players.

And, sales meetings will become sales practices.

After all, if you can't coach your sales team to renew and reinvent itself as well as a professional sports team so you can win more sales in changing market conditions, your team loses and so do you.

When all is said and done, your mastery of the skills and techniques we present in this article may be the most important contribution you ever make to your sales team, your business, and your profession.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1148150

Teaching Technique - Laying the Foundation for Sporting Excellence

Demonstrating good technique from a sporting perspective involves applying optimal movement ability in order to accomplish or solve a particular task effectively. A young athlete, for instance, who demonstrates sound technical ability while running is getting from point A to point B in an effective manner.

Technical ability in a sport is typically the underlying measure for potential success. Good athletes are more often than not technically sound athletes. This reality, however, does not start and stop with respect to sport specific skills; this fact extends itself into the realm of general athletic development and the promotion or advancement of general movement abilities.

The crux of athletic development as a science resides in the notion that before we create a sporting technician or specialist, we must first build the athlete by instilling competency in both basic and advanced movement abilities; this would include not only multi-directional movement skill but also the technical requirements of basic to advanced strength and power training exercises.

The technical abilities demonstrated in a given sport can be categorized based on the rules or requirements of that sport -

Group One -

A sport in which making a good impression on a judge is crucial (figure skating, gymnastics, etc.) often involves coalescing intricate movements together. Within these sports, the techniques being demonstrated are described or clear (and therefore can be judged for efficiency).

They are being performed within a fixed environment and without impediment (i.e. no one is interfering with you). The athlete's task is to develop technical skill that can be showcased in a performance of pre-determined and practiced movements.

Group Two -

The techniques in this grouping allow the athlete to attain maximal and impartially measured results; there is no consideration for how well the technical abilities were displayed, just objective measurement for how effective they were (i.e. how fast did they run, how far did they throw the object, how much did they lift etc.).

Sports in this category would include track and field events, swimming and weightlifting. Outside impediment is not an issue in this grouping either. In this grouping of sports, one's motor abilities will define success - Meaning, the fastest or strongest athlete will win.

Group Three -

The ability to display adequate technique within this grouping aids in overcoming an opponent. This would include combat sports, racquet sports and virtually all team sports. In this group technical ability is combined with tactical sense and reacting to a continually changing situation and varying conditions.

In this category, motor abilities (strength, speed, endurance and flexibility) are submissive to technical ability. That is to say that the fastest or strongest athlete in this grouping of sports is not necessarily the most successful. Motor abilities are developed in order to improve your application of technical skill.

How efficiently an athlete learns the technical skills of a sport, strength training exercise or movement is determined by several variables -

Age - Complex skills are often understood and comprehended better by more mature athletes (although individual exceptions certainly apply).

Emotional State - Relaxed and easy-going athletes tend to learn and reproduce new skills better than athletes who are uptight and self-critical.

Motivation - So many parents, coaches and trainers just assume that the kids they are working with WANT to be at practice or in that training session. This goes back to my argument on effective coaching includes knowing your athletes and what kind of stresses they are under OUTSIDE of your 60 minutes with them. Athletes who are motivated to learn new skills will do so more easily than unmotivated athletes.

Natural Talent - Athletes with innate natural ability are far superior at learning and reproducing new skills.

Critical to note within this topic are the methods being employed by the Coach/Trainer to teach new techniques. With the lack of stringent regulations at the youth sport coaching level and the youth training industry, it is certainly more than fair to consider the quality of instruction being given:

What kind of personality does the coach have? In a study released by the Journal of Applied Sport Psychology in 1999 (Youth Athletes & Parents Prefer Different Coaching Styles), it showed that adolescent athletes (ages 10 - 18) enjoyed coaching styles that involved concerns regarding the well-being of each athlete, a positive group tone & feeling and supported friendly interpersonal relationships.

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In the sports arena, peak performance in sports has always been a much sought after state by players and coaches of all levels. Whether the athletes are school boys soccer players or Olympians striving for their Gold medals, peak performance in sports has always attracted athletes and coaches alike.

In our modern age of sports, where sports science is at a stratospheric level and rising, what are the factors that when applied correctly can lead sports participants to peak performance in sports? Are there secrets to sporting excellence? Are these factors easily manipulated for the benefits of the athletes? This article discusses the factors that can lead athletes and coaches to peak performance in sports.

There has been many articles and books detailing principles, programs, success factors and the like that can lead to peak performance in sports. Many authors have written at length about them and in many ways, the principles and factors are universal. The principles of progressive resistance, variety, goal specific training, recovery, etc are all undisputed underlying reasons that allows athletes to achieve peak performance in sports. This article goes a step further by exploring these universal factors in a different light. In the process, I hope to give athletes and coaches alike how to practically apply these principles and which are the factors with higher weightage in terms of achieving success and peak performance in sports.

There are basically two set of factors we need to look into. Technical and human factors. Let us take a look at the former set of factors first;

Technical Factors

1. Quality Preparation
2. Mastering Individual Skills

1. Quality Preparation

The hard work for any sports season begins with the preseason training which is very intensive. No body likes this season, as the work and training required is often very boring and painful. But this has to be done for the athletes to be optimally prepared for the rigours of the competitive phase. The endurance, strength, speed and skill volumes must be done.

Not just the volume of work, but how much quality is put into the preparation phase is vital as well. When players cut corners and put in training at face value without their heart and soul, it will show up later in the competition as fatigue, injuries or lack of sharpness in their performance. Peak performance in sports cannot be possible under such circumstances. The quality of preseason preparation is even more important in youth sports.

Very often in schools, the playing seasons for many sports start almost immediately when the school year starts. With our children away for long vacations, our athletes very often return to school to face competitions with very little training time. Team play, fitness building and mental preparation are supposed to be done in 2-3 weeks, which in a sports world is almost impossible and impractical.

This kind of preparation is also detrimental to the development of our children. Under these circumstances, coaches and teachers (and parents if possible) have a very important responsibility to ensure that our athletes are well prepared for competition. Training programmes for sports ought to be drawn up and implemented at year's end previously.

Our athletes need to understand that that their season effectively began when their examinations are over. With a training programme started, coaches and teachers can than instruct athletes about a vacation training programme as well. Each athlete should have one whereby, they can do something to improve their playing abilities during their break away from school. It could include things like maintain a certain standard of fitness through endurance activities like cycling, running or swimming, playing catch and pitching in the backyard with their siblings, or even individual practices to improve certain skills.

The main thing here is to preserve and improve what has been attained in the preceding season, so that athletes do not return back to school and start from scratch. Simply planning and training this way will ensure quality preparation for the sports teams to attain peak performance in sports later.

2. Mastering Individual Skills

In all sports and games, there are certain skill sets and skills that are considered basic and necessary. These must be achieved by athletes before they can play at a higher level later. In basketball, dribbling and executing a proper lay-up are crucial. Throwing, catching and fielding skills are a must in baseball and softball. The push-pass and receiving a pass are necessary skills in hockey and floor ball.

The list goes on. In preseason training, or at the earliest playing stage, these essential skills must be made known to our young players, and all efforts and time must be spent on mastering these basic skills. Without these skills, a coach will find it very difficult to execute more complex team plays to achieve peak performance in sports.

If strikers cannot even control a long pass from a teammate, how can we expect the same player to hold up the ball well up field against oppositions defenders and execute lay-off passed to oncoming teammates in support. It will be wise for coaches to develop these skills early and also for players to keep improving themselves in these skills even though they might feel that they are good enough already.

Even at professional levels, these basic skills for their sports is important for peak performance in sports. The repertoire of skills required and the intensity of how these skills are performed at the highest levels are even more acute. At the highest levels where opponents are very evenly match in all areas, one mistake can often result in a win or loss. It is even more important for professionals to master all the skills required of the game or sports. Only under such intense conditions can peak performance in sports be possible.

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Progressing High School Sports - Coaching Routines

Conditioning: Dot drilling

Conditioning drills are effective in training and helping athletes be strong and reactive. The intent of this drill is to increase accuracy, timing, and speed. In order to execute the drill you will need a place with five dots, either marked on the grass or on a mat, forming an x shape much like the dots for the number five side of dice.

The player will start by placing a foot on the back two dots and then jumps together to the middle dot and then out separating his legs to the outer dots, much like you would see in hop scotch. The second phase is having the player touch each of the dots with only one foot, and then switch to the other foot.

After this, the player will touch all of the dots with both feet together. The last phase is really returning to the original starting phase of jumping together and apart, however this time the athlete will change directions after they have jumped to the outer dots. Players will need to increase their speed and accuracy to be effective with this drill.

The High Toss Football Catch

High passes happen, and as a receiver you need to be ready for something unexpected. Here are some simple steps when making a high catch: When you go to make the high catch extend your arms, but keep your hands close together with your hands coming together in a diamond formation.

When you try to catch the ball with your body there is a greater chance that it is going to bounce off and cause an incomplete pass. Important Tip: never, ever, under any circumstances, for any reason, take your eyes off the ball; even after you have caught it watch the ball until you know that it is safely in your grips. If you are taking your eyes off for any reason you will lose focus and have a greater chance to miss the pass, or worse, fumble the football.

Prevent fumbles with strong techniques

A team that prevents fumbles is a team that wins. Nothing is worse for your offensive team then turning it over carelessly to the other team in a fumble. Basic ball security can be broken down into four steps. First grab the football with your carrying hand with the tips of the football being covered with your fingers.

The second point is making sure that your forearm is wrapped tightly on the outer rim of the football. The third point is securing the other point of the football with your bicep making sure that it is right up against it. Fourth, pull the football up and tight against your ribcage closing the gap on the football from all four sides.

Practice holding the football and having defensive players try and knock out the football by any means possible. As your ball carrying continues to improve you will insure less turnovers and greater success on the field.

Catching the ball low

Great plays are made through dedicated practice of the fundamentals. Execution on a football field starts with practice. One situation that happens a lot in a game is catching the low passes. One not so perfect scenario is a low passed catch. Here are some basics to a great low catch. First, keep your hands low and lock your pinkies.

Second, keep your knees bent low and in extreme cases you should be flat on the ground or diving. Second, bend your knees and get low. Third, once you have caught the ball, tuck it away as soon as possible. Never use your body to catch a football. Last, concentrate on catching it first and then worry about the defense, and scoring some more yards.

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Elementary Sports Coaching Strengths

Protecting the football as you run

A team that prevents fumbles is a team that wins. There is nothing worse than almost getting a first down or even a touchdown and fumbling the ball, for this reason there is a great need for ball security. Basic ball security can be broken down into four steps

The claw position is the first point, meaning that you grab the football clawing at the point of the football with your fingers. The second point is making sure that your forearm is wrapped tightly on the outer rim of the football. The third point is securing the other point of the football with your bicep making sure that it is right up against it.

Fourth, pull the football up and tight against your ribcage closing the gap on the football from all four sides. Practice holding the football and having defensive players try and knock out the football by any means possible. In this way you can practice great defensive moves to force a fumble, and also focus on offensive ball protection.

Drive Block

Driving and blocking are the bases for a good lineman. The drive block is the most fundamental and should be practiced often. When you want to remove an opponent effectively you will use the drive block again and again.

It starts with the lineup, when you are facing your opponent notice which way they are aligned, if they are off to the right then you will drive them to the right if the play is occurring on the left side of the field.

When executing this block start with your play side foot, meaning if the play is on the right side of you it will be your right foot. Move quickly and in a speed bursting motion, make solid contact with your opponent to drive them off in the direction that you want.

The Proper Way to Catch a High Football

As a receiver, or any player that is going to catch a pass, you know that not all passes are going to go right to the chest. As such you need to practice the high passes so that you know to react, here are some basics: The first and most important is that you extend your arms and keep your hands together in a diamond type shape to catch that football.

When you try to catch the ball with your body there is a greater chance that it is going to bounce off and cause an incomplete pass. Important to look the catch through and tuck it away. When you practice a high catch you are going to perform it subconsciously on the field, so remember extend the arms, catch and follow through.

Weightlifting

Let's not forget weightlifting. It is one of the essential elements that will help you improve your game. The effects of weight lifting will add muscle to your body and increase strength, this straighten will add to your maximum power. Maximum power differs in importance to strength due to the fact that it is exertion during play and not just muscle mass.

It is the quickness and exertion that will enable a football player to accomplish their plays with skill on the field. As you continue in your weightlifting program, we highly recommend that you get a personal coach to push you in your goals, teach you proper techniques, and ensure that you are doing the right work for your position.

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Strengthening Professional Sports Coaching Routines

Football tackling 101

It has been stated many times that a defensive teams win games, and the most fundamental part of a defensive team is performing a great tackle. Tackling can be fun and exhilarating, but done improperly and it can be dangerous. Some points to remember when tackling:

First, you need to stop the opponent quickly so make sure to place yourself directly in front of the opponent's path. An excellent technique is to plant your foot in the middle of your opponents. Also, at this time thrust your arms backward to prepare for the next step.

Second, push your other foot keeping your knees low and bent, and in sync with your feet throw your hands up hard around the offensive player. At this point you are well planted in front and your head should be in direct contact.

The one golden rule in making a safe tackle is to never, ever lead with or try to tackle with the crown of your head. You need to literally imagine that the football is a big hamburger and you want to bite it and not slam your forehead against it.

Third, throw your hips up and hard as you drive the offensive player backwards. The more momentum that you bring to the table on steps two and three the more effective your speed will be in this last step.

Drive Block

Simple drives are important for linemen to practice and perfect. The drive block is the most fundamental and should be practiced often. This drive block means that you are going to push the opponent in the direction that they are aligned.

It starts with the lineup, when you are facing your opponent notice which way they are aligned, if they are off to the right then you will drive them to the right if the play is occurring on the left side of the field. When driving start with your play side foot. Move quickly and in a speed bursting motion, make solid contact with your opponent to drive them off in the direction that you want.

Weightlifting

No practice regime would be complete without lifting weights. The benefits of lifting weights are found in added strength, but more importantly it will increase your maximum power. Maximum power differs in importance to strength due to the fact that it is exertion during play and not just muscle mass.

It is the quickness and exertion that will enable a football player to accomplish their plays with skill on the field. Weight lifting can cause injuries, and as such we highly recommend having a professional coach on hand during weightlifting sessions. You trainer will also help you accomplish your weightlifting goals and teach you new techniques.

A great Handoff Drill

Running backs should constantly practice the hand off. This drill requires more than one player; it starts off with two lines, line A and line B, the front of each line facing each other a couple of yards apart. At the coaches signal player A leaves line A running with the football towards line B. In sync with that first player, a second player leaves line B, when they meet player A passes to player B.

At the point of the hand off another player leaves line A and runs towards player B, who hands off the ball to the new player. The motion should be constantly moving from one line to another in this drill, almost like a juggling pattern. Practice this drill every day to ensure that your running backs are effective on their hand offs.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/1762640

Youth Sports - Coaching a Youth Football Defensive Line

Did you ever imagine that you would be discussing defensive line strategies? Most youth football coaches just line up their biggest, slowest defensive linemen in the box and tell them to plug and penetrate into the backfield. But did you ever consider taking that defensive line a little further?

Yea, sure you want to get your defensive line to get up field but how many times have you seen these big guys miss the running back or worse run right by him oblivious to where the football is at. As well, how many of your defensive tackles have caught the quarterback from behind on a roll-out or have been fooled on a screen play?

Give your youth football defensive line assignments and responsibilities!

What if you taught your defensive linemen to read their football blocks and only penetrate to the heels of the offensive linemen and let the ball come to them? By reading the offensive line based on how they are being blocked a linemen can get in a better position to make a play! By penetrating only to the heels of the offensive line a defensive linemen will stay in the play, be harder to trap and not over pursue the ball.

Teach your defensive linemen to keep their heads in the game, know the situation, down and distance and react accordingly. If your contain guys do their job, they will filter the running game back inside to your defensive tackles who await patiently and are responsible to stop the oppositions running game from inside the box from offensive tackle to offensive tackle.

And move that line around. In other words the worst thing you can do is keep them in the same look all during the football game. Give them gap assignments and coach them to control their gaps. Either one or two gap assignments based on their alignment.

If your front calls for them to line up in the gap then coach them to shoot the gaps as hard as possible and get double teamed all the while trying to penetrate into the heels of the offensive line.

If your front calls for them to line up directly over an offensive linemen, have them jam the offensive linemen on the snap using a two point punch technique, and play two gap responsibility while making a read where the ball is going.

If the ball is coming into one of your two gap assignments either to the left or right of the offensive linemen your engaged with then shed the linemen and get your head and body into that gap.

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Coaching Youth Football - Reviewing the Past Season During the Off-Season

I always recommend spending a good portion of the youth football off-season reviewing the past year. You want to continue to do what works and get rid of what didn't. If this is the first year running a different offense or defense this is especially true.

I remember the first year we ran the Single Wing offense with 8-9 year-olds we had such an occurrence. Our Running Back position decided to cut every power play to the outside.

The power play is an inside run where you must follow the lead backs to the hole. By trying to cut the run to the outside he was abandoning the blockers and was getting tackled for small or no gains.

I learned that when coaching the young kids you really need to make sure they understand the importance of the play being run the way it is shown in practice.

It is best to wait a few months after the youth football season ends to reflect on what actually happened on the previous year. Is important to make sure you can differentiate from what really happened versus what you thought happened.

There has been many times when I felt we were doing one thing well by the end of the year and I was dead wrong. By waiting a few months you can clear your mind and review the past year looking for anything that will help you be a better coach in the upcoming year.

Every year you coach a different age or skill level you'll find things that have worked from previous years at previous levels, and things that do not. You must be honest with yourself and realize that not all things work best at all levels.

I always keep an entire log with detailed notes of the entire year. It is a wonderful reference for future years. I start each year by grabbing the binder from a previous year that most closely resembles the age and talent level I will be coaching this year.

Beware that each New Year will bring you new talent. What may have succeeded last year may not be appropriate for the upcoming youth football season. Make sure you keep an open mind at the beginning of the season before you make any final decisions.

Jim Oddo

Jim has over 22 years of hands-on experience as a youth coach. His system has had great success for both youth football and youth basketball. His personal teams have won over 80% of their games.

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Simple Basketball Plays For Youth Basketball Coaches

Do you need an easy basketball play to add to your offensive playbook? Coaches need to have several offensive set plays in their arsenal that they can use during the course of the game to get their best players good looks at the basket, to help their team stay composed and organized, or to take advantage of a defensive tactic or weakness of the other team.

As a coach, you need to understand the right timing and strategy for using a specific basketball play. This knowledge and expertise will make you value-added as a bench coach on the sideline and increase your team's scoring opportunities during the game.

Knowing When and What Basketball Play to Call

To develop your basketball play calling skills and intuition, I believe you need to specialize in a limited number of proven basketball set plays. Offensive basketball plays that can be run from a variety of different offensive sets (1-4 set, 2-3 set, 1-2-2 set, 1-3-1 set, etc.) and used in a variety of different game situations (half-court offensive play, sideline out-of-bounds play, baseline under out-of-bounds play, etc.).

How will this knowledge and expertise in a core group of offensive plays help you and your team? From my experience, it made me a better teacher during practice.

It limited the amount of valuable practice time I had to spend daily with my team repeating over and over our team's offensive basketball plays and individual player assignments for each set play.

During the game, it improved my team's execution of the basketball set play called because my player's had a complete knowledge and understanding of how to run the play properly and why the play called works.

But most of all, the knowledge and expertise in a core group of offensive plays gave me complete confidence in what I was doing as a bench coach during the game. Intuitively, I felt like I knew the right play to call at the right time to give my team a fighting chance!

Offensive Set Plays Basketball Playbook

All of our team's core offensive basketball plays are included in the Championship Basketball Playbook. These high school basketball plays are "proven winners" and they will work for your team.

You can photocopy all of the diagramed plays in the Championship Basketball Playbook and handout to the members of your team. This makes a great coaching tool for teaching youth basketball plays.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/244847

Want To Avoid Coaching Burnout? Try These 5 Things

Every coach says the same things to their team: make sure you're eating right, be sure to get enough sleep at night, don't procrastinate on doing your work, etc. But us coaches are the worst in terms of following our own advice! We stay at work making calls or watching video a little bit later than we'd planned and end up going to the vending machine and having Doritos for dinner.

We focus so much on our seasons that the project that our athletic director asked us to do a couple of weeks ago still hasn't been touched. And on and on it goes...you know the drill.

If we want to stay in this thing for the long haul, we've got to take care of ourselves.

Here are 5 things that I think are essential to avoiding coach burnout.

1. Workout: figure out a way to get some cardio and strength training in during your season. It'll keep you focused and energized.

2. Personal time: for me, that usually is my workout time. During the season, we're so available to our athletes and fans and parents that it can be mentally draining. Take time to recharge your batteries...whether it's meditation or prayer or a morning walk. Make time for yourself.

3. Have work buddies: we spend the majority of our time at work, so you need someone in the office that you can talk with when you've hit the wall, are frustrated, or just have a funny story to tell. For as much time as we spend at the office (whether it's your actual office or your gym or court or field), we need to be able to have quality down time at work.

4. Involve your fam: my husband comes to all of our home games and we'll have the team over for dinner sometimes. It's good for the team to see that their coach has some sort of balance in their lives and it's good for your fam to see you in your element.

5. Enjoy it: I love everything about being in season. The hard work, being in the gym, the ups, the downs, being tired from the non-stop pace, sweating through my t-shirt in our hot and sticky gym...all of it. Because I get to do the thing that I love to do. I love coaching and I love volleyball and this school is willing to pay me to do it. I think that makes me pretty lucky.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4957981

Top 3 Cheerleading Coaching Tips

A good cheerleading coach knows that building a solid team involves more than teaching a few short chants and instructing them on how to smile. Coaching cheerleaders is a very physically intensive sport, requiring focused attention and agility to be successful.

Although cheer coaching is challenging, there are some sport coaching tips that can help to ensure that one team can outshine another:

1. Keep the cheerleaders motivated. Motivating cheerleaders may sound redundant, but in order for them to do their best, they should keep a positive attitude.

Ways to motivate them can include best cheerleader contests, skill advancement awards, spirit awards and gift cards for team and individual achievements.

2. Schedule frequent practices. Cheerleaders are only as good as the frequency of their practices. The more they practice, the better they become. This can also help to instill discipline and focus in their lives in and out of cheerleading.

3. Recognize abilities. Learn how to hone in on those cheerleaders with superb skills (and those without) and manage them effectively.

Some cheerleaders may need to work to enhance their performance while others may have excellent skills and need advancement. Noticing and utilizing different skills can help to perfect the team's performance.

Coaching cheerleaders to success is not a goal that can be met in several practices or numerous awards. A devotion to seeing the team's success and helping them to improve in deficient areas is very important in meeting the goals and achievements that are set for them.

Cheerleading sport coaching tips should also include assessing the team's personality and incorporating things that work specifically for them.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/3539520

What Is Sports Nourishment?

A recent college graduate was in our office the other day visiting his Mom. I asked him what was next for him now that he had his Bachelors Degree. His response was: "I think I will go for my Masters in Sports Nourishment". I had absolutely no idea what that is, so I set out to learn.

Basically, I learned that Sports Nourishment mixes the fields of nutrition and exercise science.

While the concentration on most eating patterns is to reduce intake of calories and frequently to limit the consumption of carbs, it is obvious that sports nutrition is a little different.

Professional, and competitive athletes employ a large quantity of calories to fuel their bodies. Carbs are the body's ideal choice for fuel and this fuel is stockpiled in the muscles as glycogen. Proteins are wanted to help reconstruct and repair damaged cells of the body.

Wikipedia tells me' Glycogen functions as the secondary long-term energy storage in animal cells and forms an energy reserve that can be quickly mobilized to meet a sudden need for glucose, but one that is less compact than the energy reserves of triglycerides (lipids).'

Everyone understands that getting their nutrition right will make a significant difference to the way an athlete performs.

Okay, I can figure that out.

How about the exercise science? This, I learned combines coaching, the treatment of injury, the prevention of injury, and body conditioning. Plus lots more.

Sports Nourishment Masters candidates must study anatomy and physiology. They should also take a course in chemistry. To name just part of the curriculum. This is no slough off field.

So what are the job possibilities? Look at this partial list:

independent expert Sports Nourishment to the public,

sports coaching camps,

rehab centers,

fitness centers

diet drinks corporations

personal coaches

diet consultants,

diet consultants and advisers for pro sportsmen

beginners who need to improve their physical performances

concentrate on certain sports or groups of related sports.

consultant job in the gymnasium, as a resource for its members and groups.

pro sports teams and varsities

Lots of possibilities in this field. I believe we have a young man here who is after a real education in an ever growing field. I'm impressed.

Awesome, Garret! Wishing you much success.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4948077

Judging Whether You Need Expensive Sports Equipment and Training Aids

The best athletes and sports teams will often spend a lot of time training and practicing before any major competitions, this could be to gain extra skills and improve or just to make sure that their skills they already have are kept to a good standard and are not likely to deteriorate for the competitions and games that they will come to rely upon them for.

As a sports coach you may have to make tough decisions over what aspects your team and individuals need to build upon and what equipment you can provide to help them develop these skills to a good standard.

From general strength and conditioning to specific skills needed for your particular sport there are often items of exercise equipment and training aids that can help your athletes develop and it is up to you to choose which would be a worthy investment.

A lot of sports teams will have ties with local gyms and fitness centres so their equipment could be used, the problem with this is that you won't have exclusive use of this equipment and could have to wait for other members of that facility to finish with them.

Having your own equipment means that you will not have to worry about the availability of the equipment as well as the equipment being broken when your team or athletes come to use them.

The main problem with getting your own equipment is that if it breaks then you will obviously have to pay to replace or repair them.

The core problem is that this equipment often costs a lot to buy in the first place and not all coaches will have the funds to buy them again, especially if the money for the equipment came from other sources such as grants or fundraising.

The best way to ensure that you can afford to replace any broken equipment, as well as any lost or stolen equipment is by making sure your equipment is covered by a relevant insurance policy.

Some training items can be used at multiple locations and may not always be in one place so home insurance may not be applicable but sports coach insurance can help cover your equipment as well as any other related situations such as covering you as the coach with personal injury and professional liability coverage too.

So when choosing training equipment make sure you get the kind that will really help your sportsmen and women and make sure that they are covered by insurance to prevent any nasty expenses when things go wrong.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/4701060