In my role here at Cedarville University, one of my responsibilities is growing our booster club. Co-workers and I were discussing our basketball hospitality suite and strategies we could adopt to make it a more attractive benefit for boosters. As we created a list of ideas, one of them reminded us that we could implement…
How to Have a Happier Team Culture
You may not be able to acquire and consume and exercise your way to happiness, but you can serve and volunteer your way there. —Andy Stanley In a recent message, Andy Stanley referred to a study in the UK that looked at 40 different studies that spanned over 20 years to determine if there was a…
A Culture of Accountability and Grace
Many of you probably remember when Ohio State quarterback JT Barrett was arrested for DUI. Thankfully that wasn’t the end of his story. The same is true for your players. At some point this season, one or more of your players will mess up. Even the “good kids” will probably make a poor decision at…
A No-Brainer Strategy to Build Team Culture
A college coach and I were chatting recently about team culture. She’s been a coach for a number of years, mainly in an assistant role with a variety of head coaches. During our discussion, she compared/contrasted two coaches for whom she worked. She enjoyed both, but the experiences felt different. One example she cited was team…
Captain Sully on Leadership & Teamwork
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…
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 a few years ago 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…
Change Your Coaching Staff Dynamic (in 20 minutes)
A team can’t develop healthy team cohesion if its leadership 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 the key points of…
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.…
How to Help Athletes Retain More Information
Technology has had a radical impact on the learning process. Educators use access to the internet, video and other media daily to drive their lessons home. For coaches, tech advances make life easier—from accessing and editing game film, to communicating with your whole team in an instant. Technology has also changed the way many students…
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…