You’ve heard the story about US Airways Flight 1549 and its miraculous landing on the Hudson River. Like me, perhaps you’ve seen the movie, Sully. (Highly recommended, by the way!) Before seeing the movie, I didn’t know many details about how the situation unfolded on that fateful day in January 2009. A bird strike caused…
Team Culture – Me With You
I have been surrounded by coaches all of my life. I am the son of a college coach. For 27 years I have been a high school coach. Most of my best friends are coaches, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard coaches praise the athlete who flat out “competes.” I don’t think there…
A Surefire Way to Select Team Captains
One of the best parts of speaking at coaching conferences is meeting and learning from coaches. At Dan Tudor’s recruiting conference over the summer, I met two volleyball coaches from Gonzaga. As we chatted over dinner, they shared some valuable tips about selecting captains that they learned from Gonzaga Rowing coach, Glenn Putyrae. Deciding how…
Look at Me Leadership
Look at Me Leadership originally posted at “The Winner’s Edge“ What makes an individual great — is it their work ethic, their natural talent, or their unwillingness to relent to adversity or failure? Could be one, could be all, could be a combination. When the individual is called upon to lead, whether by hiring, vote, or…
Keeping Your Perspective as a Coach
As coaches we have a variety of responsibilities that we must be aware of, especially when it comes to the kids we coach. One element of our responsibilities is to keep things in perspective. This post discusses the idea of why it is important for coaches to keep our perspective. A short time ago when…
A.C.E. Factor
You’ve heard of the X Factor, correct? Defined as: 1. a variable in a given situation that could have the most significant impact on the outcome. 2. a noteworthy special talent or quality. Certainly a key championship ingredient, however, we (South Titan Basketball) are even bigger believers in the “ACE Factor”. This is the ability to control…
Change Your Coaching Staff Dynamic (in 20 minutes)
A team can’t develop healthy team cohesion if the leadership team (i.e. coaching staff) isn’t cohesive. [Tweet That!] Seems logical, yet somehow coaches believe they can still build a unified team despite distrust and other fractures among the staff. Won’t happen. Can’t happen. Patrick Lencioni’s The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business reviews some of…
“I Just Don’t Read”
Today’s post comes from a comment I have heard various coaches make through the years – “I just don’t read.” As an English teacher for 18 years, reading was obviously a very big part of my job. Reading was a huge part of what I was trying to get my students to do. As teachers,…
3 Easy Ways to Understand Your Athletes Better
I’ve become a raving fan of Brett Ledbetter and his book What Drives Winning. The title isn’t framed as a question, but it really is a question. What drives winning? Not to spoil it for you, but his answer is…(drumroll please): CHARACTER. If you focus on building character, the winning will take care of itself.…
The Day I Met Pat Summitt
I didn’t know Pat Summitt personally, but like thousands (if not millions) of young girls growing up when the Tennessee Lady Vols earned dynasty status, her influence touched my life. Since her passing, many players, friends and fans have written remembrances documenting how her courage and determination blazed a trail for them to experience competitive…