Introduction:

A USADA study of the general U.S. population found that coaches are the leading positive influencers on today’s youth. According to the study, “[Coaches] are closest to youth sport participants (both proximally and emotionally) and are generally perceived as having a positive influence on young people.”

Was it the number of wins or championships that made coaches so influential? More likely, it was relationships with athletes that drove the study’s findings. It may have been a coach’s ability to teach, motivate or instill values that helped their athletes down the road—both in and out of competition—that made the greatest impact.

At the heart of each of these experiences is engaging an athlete. A coach’s ability to engage his or her athletes is what makes them influential, positive, or “good”. A better program and more success often just happen to follow.

So, how do you engage your athletes even better? Coachestoolbox set out to find the best of the best tools available today.

A Multi-Solution Engagement App

One particular coaches’ tool that rose to the top in our testing was Programax. Programax is a web-based app that offers robust features and a wide range of functions designed to help coaches to engage, motivate, track and plan across their entire program.

To help shed a little light on why we found Programax to be so effective for coaches, we’ll highlight just a few of its many features and benefits here.

Skill and Strength Workouts

A key component of engagement is motivating athletes and driving performance improvement within your program. For many coaches, getting athletes to make the most of their time in the off-season is a significant challenge.

With this in mind, we love the way Programax harnesses technology to drive performance improvement. The app makes it simple for coaches to create their own custom video library of the skill drills and strength-building exercises they want athletes to execute. These activities can be combined into tailor-made workouts that provide a long-term plan for improving athlete performance.

The athletes are engaged when they access the activities through their own Programax accounts via their smartphones or any web-enabled device. There they view and execute the activities as instructed, and record their performance. Results are posted in real time on program-wide leaderboards, permitting coaches and other athletes to see the “personal bests” of the athlete’s workout in a live environment. The accountability and competition driven by the leaderboards is just one of many benefits that make this one of the best training apps out there.

Click the play arrow below for a video on the Activities Feature

For more information on Programax activities or to sign up for a demo, visit www.Programax.org/performance

Messaging

Want to engage your athletes? It begins and ends with communication. We love that Programax makes it easy for coaches to connect with coaches, athletes and even parents in seconds via text or email. The contact information for all of your program’s participants is stored within the app and is at your fingertips whenever you need it.

Staying in touch with your program’s stakeholders is made even easier by Programax’s “Groups” functionality. Create custom groups containing those you message most—maybe assistant coaches, captains or individual classes—and save yourself even more time as you distribute important information.

Click the play arrow below for more about the Messaging Feature

See it in action and sign up for a demo www.Programax.org/communication

 

Calendar & Scheduling

The Calendar functionality in the Programax app is nothing flashy—just the same type of intuitive scheduling system you might find on your mobile phone. But does it help coaches with athlete engagement? Absolutely!

What we really liked about the Programax Calendar is how it allows coaches to create distinct, color-coded schedules for all of the different types of events or groups within their programs. These schedules only appear on the calendars of those they impact (as set by the coach or administrator), and can be synched to personal calendars on mobile phones, or within Outlook or Gmail. In the end, Programax provides a simple yet thoughtful approach to this important feature.

Click the play arrow below for a Calendar Feature Overview:

For more information on Programax sign up for a live demo, visit www.Programax.org/scheduling

 

Camp Sign-Ups

Camps and events can be a great opportunity for coaches to engage athletes. They can also be a lot of work. The Programax Event Management feature allows coaches to spend less time on sign-ups and admin, and to focus more on the camp curriculum and the athletes themselves.

Coaches can create an event, market the camp through the app and collect registration fees all within the app. The tool’s real time roster of sign-ups and key information on those individuals is a huge timesaver for coaches as well.

Click the play arrow below for a short video on Programax Events Feature:

Learn more about even signups wit Programax at www.Programax.org/scheduling

Coaching Your Coaches

Within many programs, head coaches aren’t the only ones engaging athletes. Assistant and lower level coaches can also be instrumental in leading players and building a better program. Programax provides a unique solution called “Coaches Corner” that helps build consistency across programs.

The app allows you to share materials amongst your staff, including upload video, PDF or image files, which they can view or download directly from their personal Programax accounts. In essence, it allows you to “coach your coaches” on precisely how you want them to lead. In the opinion of Coachestoolbox, Coaches Corner is a thoughtful addition to an already useful app.

For more information on this and other Programax features, visit www.Programax.org/coaches-corner

In Conclusion

Athlete engagement is a key component of building a successful program. In our opinion, Programax is a tremendous tool for helping coaches “do” engagement better.

Each of the app’s many features prove to be robust and powerful in their own right; from powerful messaging and scheduling tools to an advanced training platform that stands up to the best training apps out there. Just one of these could make a coaches’ life easier. When you consider that all of these and more are included in one intuitive app, that’s a potential game-changer. For these reasons, we recommend you check out Programax for your own program.

To see Programax in action or learn how you can use it in your own program, visit www.programax.org.

This list is adapted from legendary Coach Pat Summitt.

TO STAY HERE:

1. BE COMMITTED TO YOUR ACADEMICS – Know your catalog … make a plan … get a degree. Go to class every day. Be on time. Sit up front. Take good notes. Do all extra work possible. Plan ahead and talk to professor when we travel or you are having a problem. Get tutors when you need them.
2. BE COMMITTED TO HAVING CLASS – Treat teachers, trainers, support staff, chapel workers, Marriott workers, and all you meet with respect. Treat other people the way you want to be treated. Moody people are rude. Remember to smile, to say please, thank you, yes sir, and yes ma’am, and give people the benefit of the doubt.
3. BE COMMITTED TO DOING THE RIGHT THING – We have plenty of school rules … know them. Realize if you just try to do the right thing you will be OK. Try to do the next right thing right and you are as close to perfect as any person can be.
4. BE COMMITTED TO THE PROGRAM – We realize that our players are in a fish bowl at lipscomb. Every word and action will be watched. Our program’s reputation provides many opportunities yet brings many responsibilities. We must be committed to build on to the tradition of our program and respect those that have gone before us and paid the, price to build the program.

TO PLAY HERE:

1. BE COMMITTED TO HARD WORK – Our program is built on the concept that hard work pays off. We believe that we work harder than anyone else … and because of that we always deserve to win. There is a reason we are the best … we work at it.
2. BE COMMITTED TO BECOMING A SMART PLAYER – Our players must be ready to learn. We believe we work smarter than anyone else … We must develop players who understand the game. Our players must be good listeners andlearn by watching. We must make good decisions, we must play with poise. We prepare mentally for practice and games.
3. BE COMMITTED TO OUR TEAM ATTITUDE CONCEPT – We must have players who believe in our team concept. Our program is built on the concept that the team/program is bigger than anyone player … We need unselfish players.
4. COMMIT YOURSELF TO A WINNING ATTITUDE – Our players must be-committed to winning but understand we don’t measure our success by winning alone. Each time we play we evaluate ourselves on reaching our potential. The test for our team is to play against the game not just our opponent. We never quit. We always are looking for a way to win.

TO WIN HERE:

1. BELIEVE IN OUR SYSTEM – commit yourself to our philosophy, to our system of play. Be a sponge and soak up the con cepts of how we play. learn your role … then accept your role and do it the best you can.
2. BELIEVE IN YOURSELF – Play with confidence … think positive … realize you are a great player in a great program. Don’t get down when you play poorly … you were chosen to be here … be a leader. lead by example.
3. BELIEVE IN YOUR TEAMMATES – Communicate with each other … help each other. Remember the strength of the pack is the wolf and the strength of the wolf is the pack. Encourage each other and support each other. Don’t ever forget the importance of the shell around the team. Be a friend. We understand that we are all different – be tolerant of team mates and others.
4. BELIEVE IN YOUR COACHES – Understand that your coaches are trying to help make you better people and players. Ask questions … don’t whine and complain. learn to take tough coaching.You must believe that the coaches are doing what they think is right for the team and you.

I hope these thoughts Pat Summitt quotes will be a useful resource for the team building and leadership aspects of coaching basketball.

There is no such thing as self respect without respect for others.

Individual success is a myth. No one succeeds all by herself.

People who do not respect those around them will not make good team members and probably lack self esteem themselves.

Being responsible sometimes means making tough, unpopular decisions.

Admit to and make yourself accountable for mistakes. How can you improve if you’re never wrong?

Loyalty is not unilateral. You have to give it to receive it.

Surround yourself with people who are better than you are. Seek out quality people, acknowledge their talents, and let them do their jobs. You win with people.

Value those colleagues who tell you the truth, not just what you want to hear.

Communication eliminates mistakes.

We communicate all the time, even when we don’t realize it. Be aware of body language.

To make sure that they are getting her message, Coach Summitt has asked her players to respond to a correction in practice by saying “rebound,” and to being praised by saying “Two points.”

Make good eye contact.

Silence is a form of communication, too. Sometimes less is more.

Discipline yourself, so no one else has to.

Self discipline helps you believe in yourself.

Group discipline produces a unified effort toward a common goal.

Discipline helps you finish a job, and finishing is what separates excellent work from average work.

Do the things that aren’t fun first, and do them well.

See yourself as self employed.

Put the Team Before Yourself.

When you understand yourself and those around you, you are better able to minimize weaknesses and maximize strengths. Personality profiles help.

Success is about having the right person, in the right place, at the right time.

Know your strengths, weaknesses, and needs.

Be flexible.

Teamwork doesn’t come naturally. It must be taught.

Teamwork allows common people to obtain uncommon results.

Not everyone is born to lead. Role players are critical to group success.

In group success there is individual success.

Make Winning an Attitude.

Combine practice with belief.

Attitude is a choice. Maintain a positive outlook.

No one ever got anywhere by being negative.

Confidence is what happens when you’ve done the hard work that entitles you to succeed.

Competition isn’t social. It separates achievers from the average.

You can’t always be the most talented person in the room. But you can be the most competitive.
There is nothing wrong with having competitive instincts. They are survival instincts.

It’s what you learn after you know it all that counts the most.

Change equals self improvement. Push yourself to places you haven’t been before.

Handle Success Like You Handle Failure. You can’t always control what happens, but you can control how you handle it.

Sometimes you learn more from losing than winning. Losing forces you to reexamine.

It’s harder to stay on top than it is to make the climb, Continue to seek new goals.

By clicking on this link, or the image at the cover, you can read some excerpts from her book.
Reach for the Summit

These notes came from the archives of the Xavier Coaching newsletter. They Came from Pete Carroll’s book “Win Forever.”

Below are notes from Pete Carroll’s “Win Forever”. This book was one of six selected for our staff fall reading project. We cannot stress enough how amazing of a book this is from a coaching point of view.

This book will provide some amazing ideas for every area of your program.

The following notes come from the “Coach Your Coaches” section.

• “All the principles we use with players apply to our coaches and other staff members as well.

• “Our success depends on ensuring that everyone is completely engaged, committed, and in a relentless pursuit of a competitive edge. A big part of my job is creating an environment where this will happen.”

• “If I want (assistants) to coach to their full potential. I have to not only allow them to be authentically themselves, but insist upon it.”

• It hurts the whole organization when assistants are: “Coaching outside their personalities. It will weaken them in the long run.”

• Coaches need to: “Teach from inside themselves, because that was what would make them the most authentic and effective coach possible.

• Assistants need to: “Develop their own personal coaching style.”

• “A diversity of styles and approaches makes the whole team stronger.”

• When making a hire: “The first thing I look at is a person’s competitiveness and work ethic.”

• “Hire young and promote from within

• Look for someone that is: “Open-minded and full of competitive fire, even if it comes at the expense of a certain amount of experience.”

• “The most powerful weapon in the Win Forever philosophy is the drive to constantly be looking for ways to improve.’

• “When everyone gets to contribute his maximum effort it is transformative for the whole organization.”

• “You want to compete with people you can trust to lead.”

• “Our efforts to win are based on our ability to control every aspect of our team’s environment, from energy to focus to camaraderie. When the team’s natural chemistry takes the form we want, that’s an added advantage we’re happy to have, but we cannot afford to hang our success on the hope that this will happen.”

• “A player, however talented, may have a bad day. Leadership the team can depend on must be constant and stable to be most effective. The only leadership I can rely on is that which comes from my coaching staff. I have chosen to rely on my staff first and foremost.”

• “We’re only going to Win Forever if we can build a staff of people who are constantly competing to reach their full potential.”

• “A Win Forever organization is a very tight community.”

NO WHINING, NO COMPLAINING, NO EXCUSES

• This rule surrounds team language, or as Carroll calls it, ‘self talk”.

• A negative mentality creates negative thoughts.

• A positive approach creates the power of possibilities.

• “If a player had a direct problem with me or how I was coaching, I not only wanted to hear about it, I felt I needed to.”

• if a player had a problem with playing time, I wanted him to talk to his coaches before he complained to his teammates.”

• By encouraging our players to communicate in such ways, we developed a positive mentality for the entire team.”

If you are interested in reading some samples from inside the book or purchasing the book on Amazon, you can either click the link below or click the image of the book cover at the left.

Win Forever: Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion

These two articles were writtin by Frank Lenti, Mt. Carmel High School.

I found these articles on Steve Smiley’s website: SNSBasketball.com

Article 1 Motivating Young Athletes

One of the hardest parts of coaching is motivating young athletes to practice. To do this effectively, the coach has to foster an understanding of the relationship between training, practice and peak performance.

He (or she) must encourage the athletes, provide structured training, and help them gain the self-discipline necessary for success and excellence on the field.

BUILDING THE COACH-ATHLETE RELATIONSHIPS

Effective motivation flows from the partnership between coaches and athletes. As coaches, we must understand our athletes as individuals and as a team ­ gain their trust and respect.

We must remember that we’re coaching people, not machines. We must teach youngsters the mechanics of a sport, but we must also assist in building their character. Showing support and interest in all facets of their lives helps build an effective coach-athlete relationship.

A good way to demonstrate such personal interest is by working out with the athletes. It will show them that you’ve been where they are, that you know it’s hard work, and that you’re willing to sweat, too.

DEVELOPING A WINNING ATTITUDE: SETTING GOALS

At Mount Carmel High School, we think in terms of attitude, motivation, performance, and success. Success is a journey, not a destination. Success is realized the moment an athlete gains a winning attitude, is motivated to set a worthwhile goal, and begins to move toward that goal.

A winning attitude is the best motivator. If athletes believe they can achieve their goals, they’ll try harder and increase their likelihood of success.

A positive coach-athlete relationship lays the groundwork for this attitude, and the setting of clear-cut goals helps establish it. Coaches should help the athletes set long-term goals and encourage them to achieve these goals through a series of short-term goals.

The incremental goals will keep motivation high, while giving the athletes an ongoing sense of achievement. Once the athlete begins developing a sense of accomplishment, he will be motivated to try even harder.

At Mount Carmel, we have our athletes write down a goal and the obstacles they anticipate in reaching it. We then identify the steps to take and the short-term achievements leading to the goal.

For example, if a football player wants to play wide receiver but isn’t fast enough, we set short-term goals to increase his speed. Each tenth of a second improvement in speed will motivate him to try even harder. If he increases his speed enough, we will give him a chance at wide receiver. If he doesn’t, we will examine why and set up a new workout schedule.

INCENTIVES AS MOTIVATORS

Incentives (material rewards for good performance) are commonly used for motivation, but may only be effective on a short-term basis. Athletes may become satisfied once they achieve rewards, such as helmet stickers or plaques, and the rewards will lose their power to motivate. We often have to increase the value or quantity of incentives to motivate players on an ongoing basis.

FEAR MOTIVATION

We do not believe that fear motivates. Fear motivation, or punishing players to “motivate” them, is only a temporary expedient. After repeated exposure to fear tactics, athletes become immune to threats, and continued punishment may destroy their desire to participate. It’s difficult to justify using fear to motivate young players.

T-E-A-M

It’s important to remember that athletes can motivate one another. We usually split the players into drill groups and score them as a team rather than as individuals. These training sessions help build team morale and make the players feel they have invested in one another. Each player has a responsibility to the team. We share the short-term goals of improving attitudes and basic skills with the long-term benefit of overall improved performance.

SUMMARY

Motivation is simply a means to an end. If we provide exposure to positive ideas over a long period of time, we will produce a successfully motivated athlete.

To summarize, this is our Mount Carmel Credo: Attitude controls motivation; motivation controls performance; performance controls success. And there’s no I in T-E-A-M.

Article 2–Building Teamwork

John Wooden, the legendary UCLA basketball coach, often said that “there are three things vital to success in athletics: conditioning, fundamentals, and working together as a team.” Of these three elements, “working together as a team” often proves to be the most elusive goal.

Teamwork is essentially an interaction of five key elements, as follows:

EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

Clear, positive communications from coach to coach, coach to athlete and athlete to athlete are essential in establishing the concept of “teamwork” and in fostering all the other basic elements of teamwork. Effective communication enables all the team members and the staff to clearly understand the team goals and work toward the achievement of the stated objectives.

As a coaching staff, we focus on two communication principles: 1) clearly and repeatedly communicating both our expectations of players as individual athletes, students, and team members, and the reasons for our expectations, and 2) remembering that effective communications is a two-way street: that is, the coaching staff must listen to the athletes, too.

WINNING ATTITUDES

All coaches know that the players with good attitudes are usually the ones who will contribute the most to the team. However, it’s not enough to inspire good attitudes in individual players: a “team attitude” is necessary in building the kind of teamwork upon which winning is predicated.

At Mount Carmel, we define a good team attitude by how well the athletes accept their roles and their responsibilities to the team. The star role is relatively easy to accept, but it is equally important for the team specialists and back-ups to understand and accept their roles and responsibilities.

Coaches should encourage this kind of attitude by setting an example: accepting all the responsibilities of their coaching position, not just the ones that they like.

TEAM EGO

Once players understand and accept their roles on the team, it is possible to take the concept of “team attitude” one step farther to “team ego.” This simply means that players must overcome their own egos for the good of the entire team.

MOTIVATION

The subordination of individual attitudes and egos cannot happen in a vacuum. The players must be given a reason to be motivated to achieve a favorable outcome for the team.

Coaches can set up a continuing system of motivation by setting long-term goals and by encouraging players to achieve them by meeting a series of short-term goals. At Mount Carmel, we also include personal and academic goals. By measuring progress in small steps, we can give each athlete an ongoing sense of achievement and keep his or her motivation high.

Athletes can also motivate one another. We usually split players into drill groups and score them as a team rather than as individuals, making the players feel they have a vested interest in each other.

DISCIPLINE

The establishment and maintenance of positive communications, team attitudes and egos, and motivation depends heavily on the final element of teamwork ­ discipline. Discipline is the glue that holds everything else together. Coaches should remember that discipline, if used fairly and consistently, is a positive force in building teamwork.

Rules are a part of discipline, although we have found that too many rules have a negative impact on teamwork. It is also important to make sure that the rules you do have are consistent with team goals, are realistic and are enforceable.

A key focus in our discipline program at Mount Carmel is developing self-discipline, which we define as “what one does when no one is watching.” We help athletes develop self-discipline through: 1) setting goals as described above, 2) clearly communicating the coach’s expectations for the players and maintaining those standards, and 3) demanding the best effort from each athlete, whether in practice, in the classroom, or in a game.

Here are some of my coaching takeaways for building a program from Bill Parcells’ book “Finding a Way to Win.”

• When an organization stays the course and holds fast to their philosophy, through good times and bad, they work from a firm foundation. They gain an identity. They stand for something.
• Every organization, whether it’s floundering or ruling the roost, needs a calm, clear vision. Only people inside the group can chart its course; outside voices must be kept in their place.
• Division from within is the most dangerous factor that can ruin any organization.
• When selfishness is tolerated, the entire organization is in jeopardy.
• The chances my team takes are calculated – only fools gamble at random. But you can’t play safe and pursue your vision: you can’t shrink from risk and expect others to follow you.

 

• Explain what you’re trying to accomplish…when people understand the point of the risk, they’re more likely to give their all, in the effort, and less likely to second-guess afterward.
• It’s one thing to hate failure; it’s another to fear it.
• When you fail to give your staff meaningful tasks and input, you wind up with robots and yes-men. You stop getting quality advice and innovative ideas.
• Every way isn’t my way. The challenge is to find the best way, and then collectively commit to it.
• Confidence is only born of demonstrated ability.

 

• You can’t build an accountable organization without leaders who take full responsibility.
• Coaches should be judged on three things:
  Do players have a design that allows them to function on game day?
  Are the players prepared to deal with contingencies that may confront them?
  Do the players behave the way the coach wants them to?
• A competent coach should be able to field a team that is strategically sound, that plays with discipline, that doesn’t beat itself.
• Leadership is the most visible thing there is – because if it’s not visible, there is no leadership.

 

• No Excuses – excuses and alibis are the main enemies of accountability. On my team we simply don’t accept excuses for failure.
• Nobody cares what you’re up against. The sooner you put those issues out of your mind, the sooner you can direct your focus toward the real issue: pushing your team toward victory.
• Establish clear expectations – people can’t become accountable unless they understand exactly what you want.
• Never blame a game on a player.
• Be Hard on Yourself–Confident leaders freely admit their own mistakes. And by doing it publicly, they set an example for others to take responsibility.

 

• Without new ideas, your organization will stagnate.
• Coaching is an act of communication – of explaining what you want of people in a way that allows them to do it.
• I consider preparation the most enjoyable part of my work, and the most challenging. To the extent my teams have succeeded, I’d say that solid preparation – not talent or strategy – was the primary factor.
• The more you prepare beforehand, the more relaxed and creative and effective you’ll be when it counts.\
• We don’t want our players to think during a game we want them to react – thinking takes too long. Have the correct moves ingrained in practice so instinct guides them to the right place at the right time.

 

• A team’s practices will predict its performance just about every time.
• Whenever I send my team into a game with some new wrinkle or adjustment they aren’t fully prepared for, it blows up in my face more often than not.
• Well-prepared leaders plan ahead for all contingencies, including the ones they consider unlikely or distasteful.
• Good Preparation begins with Organization:Before my staff meets with our players, we have to budget our time for the week, set our priorities. We decide which points we’ll emphasize in depth, what we’ll go through quickly, and what we’ll skip altogether.
• People perform most reliably when they’re sure they can handle the task at hand-and that sureness comes only with specific preparation.

 

• When leading a group toward important achievement, don’t compromise your standards based on people’s complaints or conventional workloads.
• You’re constantly balancing mental preparation against physical wear and tear. As the old saying goes, you want to work smarter, but not always harder.
• I emphasize the obvious all the time, especially with a younger team, because it’s the obvious things that beat you if they’re not taken care of.
• The road to execution is paved by repetition.

 

• Be a Teacher, Not a Drill Sergeant
• To teach you have to listen as well as talk. When we experiment with something new in practice, our players’ feedback is invaluable.
• Trial and error is part of the process; it’s rarely fatal to try something and fail. The greater danger lies in hiding behind tradition while the world keeps turning. Resourceful managers tinker and adapt until they find the winning formula.
• There are always problems on a football team, as in any other business. And there are coaches, and managers, who can sit around indefinitely expounding upon those problems. Those people will not help you find a way to win.
• Resourcefulness is simply resilience – a refusal to quit or give in, even when all seems bleak.

 

• You’re not truly successful until you’re challenged at the top level of your ability – and you consistently marshal your best effort.
• The main threats, the ones that tear you down, are all internal: complacency, distraction, all the petty jealousies that come with the distribution of credit.
• In a competitive environment, to remain the same is to regress.
• Measure Excellence by Performance, not Reputation.

 

• I wouldn’t ask a player to do something I wouldn’t do with my own kids. I don’t want them to think that I would ever compromise them.
• The team that makes fewer mistakes will generally get the opportunity to win, even when the opposition has more talent.
• The disciplined team has to get beat by somebody; it refuses to beat itself.
• There is always a way to compete, even against superior forces, but it requires strict adherence to a calculated plan.
• Mental errors reflect poor concentration or inadequate preparation.

 

• A Physical error can also result from poor concentration, but physical errors are typically caused by an athletic mismatch, where you’re up against someone whose ability is greater than yours.
• What sets disciplined people apart?
  The capacity to get past distractions
  Focus on the task at hand.
  The willingness to condition mind and body for the task at hand
  An ill-disciplined body makes for a weak mind.
  The ability to keep your poise when those around you are losing theirs.
• Organizations can’t improve without setting the highest standards. But they also need to measure achievement against their real potential at a given time.

 

• What the quick-fix guys miss is that there’s a process at work here – there are steps you need to take to build a successful organization, and if you try to skip one you’ll trip.
• The disciplined course isn’t always the daring course or the exciting course. It’s the course that gives your organization the best chance to prevail.

If you are interested in reading some samples from inside the book or purchasing the book on Amazon, you can either click the link below or click the image of the book cover at the left.

Finding A Way to Win