This article was written and contributed by Scott Rosberg

At Wal-Marts, Targets, JC Penneys, and just about every other department store out there, the signs are plastered all over the place – BACK TO SCHOOL! While those three words conjure up all kinds of feelings for just about everybody who reads them, one thing they always indicate is that summer is coming to an end. The hope and promise of summer that we all had as Memorial Day hit (which seems like about three weeks ago!) faded quickly, as within no time we were watching the parades and fireworks on the 4th of July. And now the “Back to School” signs are telling us that it’s over. The never-ending sunshine, warm days, barbecuing, sleeping in (for students and many of you), the feeling that nothing is as urgent as it is during the school year, and overall feeling of freedom and laziness are about to be gone for another 9 months.

Don’t Wait For the Future – Create It

And yet, along with those signs are some other signs – signs of anxiousness, excitement, possibility, and hope. While the end of summer is just that – an end – it is also a beginning, the start of something new. Many people wonder, “What will this school year bring?” Well, here’s a thought for you – don’t focus on what the year might bring to you.

Go get whatever you want from the school year.

The concept that something or someone is going to bring me something is very passive. It means that I am waiting for whatever is going to happen to happen. While there is nothing wrong with hoping for certain things to come our way, it is much better to go after the things that we seek in life. This is an active mentality, a mentality that says, “I am going to create my future, not wait for my future to come to me.”

For coaches & advisors (as well as your athletes, and activities participants), it is imperative that you work to create your future. If you sit around and wait and see what happens, the success you seek will never come. In fact, many of you don’t take the summer off the way that others do. The best coaches, advisors, teachers, athletes, musicians, actors, etc. put in a lot of time and effort throughout the summer to work on their crafts. Many worked on their skills, read books, watched videos, strengthened their bodies, went to camps, and played in tournaments trying to improve themselves. They understood that the off-season is a great chance to impact their future by doing something in the present.

To those of you that put in the time to your professional development and your team’s skill development, strength training, and team-building, “Thank you.” You have demonstrated a commitment that is necessary for any team to develop to its potential.  The more of you and your team members who did so, the better the chances are that your teams will have the kind of success you are all seeking.

Commit to Be Your Best to Help Your Kids Be Their Best

For those of you who weren’t able to work as much as you would have liked to on your or your team’s development, now is the time to rev it up and kick things into high gear. While you can’t go back into the past and re-do your summer, you can do all that you are capable of now.  It’s not too late to get “caught up” on your own professional development, so that you are ready to move your teams forward in the direction you want to go, and to develop yourself and your teams to your potential.

The start of school is a great time to commit to your & your team’s future. Don’t wait for your future to come to you. Decide what you want your future to be and go get it. Determine what culture you want to create for and with your teams, and then do all you can to develop that culture. Attack this new school year with a sense of purpose, desire, and focus, and don’t let anyone or anything knock you off track. Create great habits that will help you focus and allow you to reap the benefits of your efforts and help you overcome the inevitable dips in motivation and excitement that will hit after the first few weeks back. Anything is possible this year if you focus your effort and attention, and you then act on that focus.

Before you know it, we will be in full swing with our fall sports and activities practices and competitions, and school will be back in session. Enjoy the last bit of summer that you have left, but make sure that while you are doing that, you are also preparing yourself for your seasons by taking care of last-minute duties and responsibilities. That way when it all starts up for you, you will be ready to go full-speed ahead.  Have a great end of your summer and a fantastic start to your new school year!

For those of you who receive my AD Newsletter and Coaches’ Newsletter to send to your coaches and parents, you saw this post a couple weeks ago in your Coaches’ Newsletter. For those of you athletic directors out there who would like to receive those two newsletters to send out to your people, email me at [email protected] and let me know you are interested in those. Around the 15th of each month, I will email you the following month’s newsletters, so you can tweak them for your specific audiences and send them out with your school’s newsletter at the beginning of the month.

About the Author of this Article

Scott Rosberg has been a coach (basketball, soccer, & football) at the high school level for 30 years, an English teacher for 18 years, and an athletic director for 12 years. He has published seven booklets on coaching and youth/school athletics, two books of inspirational messages and quotes for graduates, and a newsletter for athletic directors and coaches. He also speaks to schools, teams, and businesses on a variety of team-building, leadership, and coaching topics. Scott has a blog and a variety of other materials about coaching and athletic topics on his website – www.coachwithcharacter.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

Scott is also a member of the Proactive Coaching speaking team. Proactive Coaching is dedicated to helping organizations create character and education-based team cultures, while providing a blueprint for team leadership. They help develop confident, tough-minded, fearless competitors and train coaches and leaders for excellence and significance. Proactive Coaching can be found on the web at www.proactivecoaching.info. Also, you can join the 200,000+ people who have “Liked” Proactive Coaching’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/proactivecoach. Scott can also be reached through Proactive Coaching at [email protected]

The article was provided by Coaches Network

By Bill Cole, MS, MA

What makes for an excellent coach? What personal qualities do top coaches possess that separate them from the good coach? Is it more the training or the inner qualities? Is it more coaching technique or the artistry? Is it more coaching knowledge or its application? Is it more natural talent for helping people or cultivated abilities? Is it insightful analysis of people or an abiding presence with them?

There probably is no one single attribute that all excellent coaches possess. Top-flight coaches can be comprised of many stripes and can come from many places, but they all connect with their charges, they know how to make changes with their players and they know how to get results. Bottom line, they get the work done.

This is my own personal list of what I like to see in coaches. Over my 15 years as a college educator I trained many, many future teachers and coaches. I was master teacher to many of them. I mentor many coaches on a private basis now. Probably the major qualities I saw that distinguished the great from the very good were these three:

• They cared deeply about people.

• They had incredibly high personal standards and ambitions.

• They had a high level of self-knowledge.

Those three are at least a wonderful starting point. Now on to the other 15 attributes of top-notch coaches. Top coaches possess many of these:

• Exquisite self awareness.

• High emotional intelligence.

• Broad vision with focus on important details.

• Nuanced, crisp, superb communication.

• Highest regard, caring and respect for clients.

• Creative, innovative learner and developer of custom coaching methodologies.

• Perceptive, intuitive, curious and inquiring.

• Quick study with capacity for deep and wide learning.

• Student of coaching and other disciplines that support helping others.

• Sincere interest in clients and desire to help.

• Continuous learner of themselves and their experiences.

• See coaching as a two way interchange of energies and learnings.

• Humble, open, nurturing and grateful to the world.

• View coaching as a calling, an art and a discipline.

• Walking the talk and modeling a good life for their clients.

Expert coaches work on themselves unceasingly. They are open to new ideas and philosophies. They study coaching seriously and take coaching seriously. They care about the person across from them.

That’s what it’s all about anyhow, isn’t it? Helping people?

by Stephanie Zonars, LifeBeyondSport

Most of us have a boss.

Someone that has a lot of say as to our professional fate.

For head coaches overwhelmed with the demands of running a program, investing time in building a better relationship with their athletic director—often called “managing up”— can seem daunting.

Many coaches don’t feel heard by administration and don’t believe that their administrator is in it to help them.

I recently attended a panel discussion that addressed the challenges both coaches and athletic directors face in creating a stronger relationship.

The panel included:

• China Jude (Assistant VP/Athletics—Queens College)
• Elizabeth Naumovski (Head Women’s Basketball Coach—Queens College)
• Lindy Roberts-Ivy (Senior Associate AD/SWA— Oklahoma)
• Sherri Coale (Head Women’s Basketball Coach—Oklahoma) and
• Patti Phillips of NACWAA as the moderator.

The discussion offered some helpful ideas for coaches to develop a stronger connection with their boss.

8 Tips for A Better Relationship With Your Boss

1. Ask for two formal meetings a year (certainly you will meet more than this, but these two are the bare minimum)

• The first is to set expectations and mutually agreed upon objectives. This can help administrators take away obstacles in order for the coach to achieve his/her goals.
• The second is a mid-year review to check in on progress.

2. Attend other sporting events and take the opportunity to engage in conversation with your AD there.

This is a good way to address things that come up in a less formal way that doesn’t require setting up a meeting.

3. Be proactive and talk about things as they come up, not just at annual meetings.

Nothing should be brought up in an annual review that hadn’t been discussed earlier in the year. [Tweet That!]

4. Invite your administrator to practice.

And keep inviting them if they say no!

5. Ask for what you need, not just what you want.

6. Add value on campus.

Get involved by serving on committees, scooping ice cream, tasting chili, etc. How can you enrich the culture?

7. Be consistent in communication.

Talk about the great things happening with your team and make sure that he/she hears anything negative from you before getting a phone call about it.

8. Take the initiative to understand the climate/culture on campus.

Stay informed about campus happenings through whatever means available (daily or weekly emails, social media, etc).

A little proactivity and effort can go a long way when it comes to building a strong relationship with your boss. What would you add to this list?

8 Tips to a Better Relationship With Your Boss appeared first on Life Beyond Sport.

About Stephanie Zonars

Stephanie Zonars helps coaches build and maintain winning team cultures through her business, Life Beyond Sport. Teams at Penn State, Notre Dame, West Point and over 60 other schools have built stronger trust, communication and teamwork through her workshops. Stephanie spent three years on staff with the Penn State women’s basketball team, assisting the team to back-to-back Big Ten Championships. She’s also the author of three books. For more tips on leadership and team culture, visit LifeBeyondSport

This are article was provided by Coaches Network

Dr. David Hoch, CMAA, CIC

In the local newspaper, a coach was quoted as saying, “We didn’t bring our A game today. It wasn’t a very good effort.” That may be a very honest statement, but it might not be how you want to present yourself to the public.

A coach is responsible for preparing a team to play. This comment, therefore, simply points out that the coach did not do his or her part.

Another common quote from a coach is, “The kids have to learn how to win tough games.” Again, this is the coach’s responsibility–learning to win is part of the equation.

It’s okay to be disappointed after a game. But it’s not okay to say things to the media that put the blame for a loss on the athletes instead of yourself as coach.

The following suggestions should help you to avoid miscues when dealing with the media.

1. Take five minutes to compose yourself after a game. You may be frustrated and angry, or just exhausted. Be aware that these emotions may exist and resist the impulse to vent to the media. As the spokesperson for not only the team, but also the athletic department and school, you need to measure your post-game comments.

2. Never degrade or say anything negative about your opponent. Even if your team made mistakes that contributed to the loss, always give credit for the win to the other team. You can be a little more direct and dissect the team’s performance during the next practice session, but not in the media where everyone can see or hear it.

3. Complaining about or blaming officials is never acceptable. No missed or poor call, even late in a game, ever causes a team to win or lose. Any negative statements concerning the referees will always come across as sour grapes and demonstrate a lack of class.

4. Think about how your remarks will be viewed. Most individuals react better to positive comments as opposed to criticism. Being critical and throwing your players under the bus is not a good method for motivating your team.

5. Remember that negative and controversial comments sell. Don’t fall prey to questions from reporters that could inflame an issue or create a problem. You can always refuse comment on any subject. One last hint is to refrain from referring to your group of athletes as “my” team. A team is a collection of many individuals. Therefore, it should always be “our” team. In education-based athletics, the focus has to be on the growth and development of young people. Therefore, the proper designation of “our” team and serving as a positive spokesperson for the team, department, and school is important.

David Hoch retired in 2010 after a 41-year career as a high school athletic director and coach. In 2009, Dr. Hoch was honored as the Eastern District Athletic Director of the Year by the Nastional Association for Sport and Physical Education. He was also presented with the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Distinguished Service Award, and in 2000 he was named the Maryland State Athletic Director Association’s Athletic Director of the Year. Dr. Hoch has authored over 460 professional articles and made more than 70 presentations around the country.

This article provided by Coaches Network

By Wayne Goldsmith, also known as the “Sports Coaching Brain,” has 25 years of experience coaching and providing advice to others. With a nod toward Stephen Covey, he offers “The Ten Habits of Highly Effective Coaches.”

Train beyond the target: Goldsmith urges coaches to train athletes for challenges greater than the competition they face. Strengths and weaknesses need be assessed, and the next step is to raise the bar “physically, mentally, technically and emotionally” so players enter competition with an invaluable edge over opponents.

Evolve faster than your players: Age may rob an older coach of a few steps on the field, but experience (coupled with resources on the Internet), give him savvy and wisdom. Life-long learning is a good idea for anyone. For coaches it is vital. In addition, Goldsmith advises coaches to be rigorously honest about their abilities and if necessary request professional evaluation of their own skills from a trusted adviser.

Know your opponents better than they know you: Coaches who can get inside the heads of an opponent’s leader have a distinct advantage come game time. Here again, the Internet can be a coach’s best friend.

Get out of your sport and think creatively: Great coaches understand that they can only know so much and do so much in their programs before stagnation and copycatting threaten. Creative thinking is the ability to approach any situation from a number of angles. The off-season should be a time to boost creative thinking capacity. Some coaches enroll in classes that have little to do with sport but everything to do with thinking outside their field, such as music or art or philosophy. Great coaches are innovators and you can’t innovate without thinking creatively.

Coach the individual: “There are no true team sports left,” writes Goldsmith. The science of performance analysis offers highly detailed information on every athlete’s strengths and weaknesses. No matter the sport, all competition comes down to a series of one-on-one moments. Every player on a team needs direct engagement to inspire them to excel beyond any pregame analysis of their limits.

Make every individual workout a rehearsal for game day: Winning coaches create an environment where a culture of excellence underpins everything and everybody,” writes Goldsmith. It’s not just brains and muscle–it’s heart and soul. A great coach trains the one to teach the others and in doing so catalyzes a group of individuals into a cohesive unit that is both mentally tough and flexible. Add hardcore training to that mix and the whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

No two training sessions should be exactly the same: “Adapt your training plans to optimize their impact on each individual athlete at every training session,” Goldsmith writes. The best laid plans of the smartest coaches can go astray at the training level. Each training session must be about preparing an individual athlete for every performance possibility at the moment of contact with the opponent.

It’s not practice that makes perfect–its performance practice that does so: Goldsmith puts a new twist on the old adage of “practice makes perfect.” He says the great coaches take it further. Skills can be mastered by practice. “(But) to master a skill so that it can be executed the right way at the right time in competition? … Follow the performance practice philosophy.”

Follow an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to developing talent and performance enhancement: Most athletes at the high school level will spend about one or two hours a day at their athletic tasks; that number moves up in college. So most of their time is not spent training. Great coaches encourage their players to use some of that “free time” to concentrate on the performance ahead.

Great coaches are great leaders. “They dare to be different; they do things others are not ready for; they (are) drivers of change,” writes Goldsmith. They are risk-takers within reason and thrive in conflict without losing their heads. They are not shy about pushing for the win; nor do they complain when they lose. Accepting responsibility is part of their credo.