Happy Father's Day!

Check out the video below I posted from You Tube, where Hubie Brown talks about his greatest inspiration...his father. In the video he talks about how his father taught him everything, most importantly to never cheat yourself, never cheat your teammates and never cheat your coaches or employer! He taught him that everything in life must be earned. Our fathers should all be our inspirations!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IIRsGIn3Ko&feature=player_embedded

I can honestly say that my father was my inspiration. He was a small man physically, very kind hearted, very calm and soft spoken. But, in so many ways he was a giant. His lessons that were taught to me were the best. He was great father who taught me so many life lessons, mostly through sports. He was a great person who valued friendship, honesty, integrity and servicing his community. He was hardworking, dedicated and commited to giving his best to what ever he was doing. He was extremely proud of his family and where he came from and was willing to do anything for his family and friends. He was proud but humbled and constantly reminded me that no matter how hard I worked or how good I thought I was, there was always somebody out there somewhere working just as hard, if not harder than me. That drove me to work harder, thinking that there could be somebody else out-working me. I didn't want that, so I kept working and working to get better. Dad, thanks for being you. Thanks for always being there, coaching, supporting and loving us no matter what we did. We love you and miss you greatly!

The Power of Purpose

When you are inspired
by some great purpose,
some extraordinary project,
all your thoughts
break their bounds:
Your mind
transcends limitations,
your consciousness
expands in every direction,
and you find yourself
in a new, great,
and wonderful world.
Dormant forces,
faculties, and talents
become alive,
and you discover yourself
to be a greater person by far
than you ever dreamed
yourself to be.

- Patanjali (Second century B.C.) philosopher

"TOTD" for May 31, 2009

I thought that I would publish this "TOTD" as a post in honor of my father on his birthday... thans Dad for helping me to fall in love with sports as a kid and teaching me the lessons in life through sports!

Somewhere behind the athlete you've become, the hours of practice, the coaches who push you, the teammates who believe in you and the fans who cheer for you, there is the little boy who fell in love with the game and never looked back...PLAY FOR HIM!

Thanks Dad for helping me to fall in love with sports as a kid and teaching me the lessons of life through sports! I love you!

Positive Coaching Aliance (PCA) - The Double Goal Coach

Double-Goal Coach™: “Coaching for Winning and Life Lessons”
https://www.positivecoach.org

The workshop begins by defining the Double-Goal Coach™ as one who strives to win and works to prepare his/her team to play at its highest level, and, at the same time, teaches life lessons (teamwork, dedication, bouncing back from mistakes, etc.) to his/her players. We explain that these are not mutually exclusive goals.Various scenarios are presented. We ask coaches to pair up to discuss how they would handle this situation. This scenario leads us into the discussion of PCA’s themes.

Principle #1 - Honoring the Game
Honoring the Game goes to the ROOTS of the matter, where we all have to RESPECT the Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates and one’s Self. Coaches receive specific tools to help them introduce the concept of ROOTS to their players and parents.

Principle #2 - Redefining "Winner"
Here we talk about how the American culture is a Win-at-all-cost culture, and we have to work to shift our focus away from the scoreboard. What’s more important is a “Mastery” definition, where we care most about our players’ giving their maximum effort, continuing to learn and improve, and dealing well with mistakes when they happen. Again, we introduce specific tools (such as "flushing" mistakes, in which a coach makes the motion of flushing the toilet after a player makes a mistake, which symbolizes that the mistake is done and everybody’s moving on). Coaches can use these tools to Redefine Winner with their teams and parents.

Principle #3 - Filling the Emotional Tank
This theme talks about how players who have FULL emotional tanks will have more fun and perform better. The thought-provoking piece of this theme is that, according to research studies, coaches should achieve a 5:1 ratio of positives to negatives with their players to keep their tanks full! We talk about how coaches can use both verbal and non-verbal cues to attain this ratio in a meaningful way. We stress that coaches are still teaching when they are giving positive feedback, and we illustrate how they can effectively correct mistakes within the context of this 5:1 ratio.

Here is an article that was in the Washington Post that talks about the PCA and the positive impact it can have on players, coaches, parents and the relationships between each of them...http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/23/AR2009052301852.html

Some key points in the article:

"Yes. It's about FUN. Right now, they're having fun. But come Saturday, we
kind of mess things up with the scoreboard, because we want our child to do
well."

"the philosophy is pretty simple: Children flourish with positive encouragement. Mistakes are okay. Doing one's best is more important than winning or losing."

"Most athletes perform better when they focus on their effort, when their coaches and parents praise them and when they all stop looking at the scoreboard."

"Kids' anxiety goes up when they focus on things they can't control, and self-confidence goes down," he said. "Focus on what you can improve. Ignore what you can't. You can't control calls. You can't control the scoreboard. But you can control effort."

"It's also a great way to learn, giving players an opportunity to experiment without fear of failure"

Here are a few ideas you can start implementing the "Double Goal" concept:

• "winner's circle"- following each game or practice, the coach leads an effort to promote positive reinforcement by each team member towards another team member by reflecting on something good that player did.
• "hard hat" award - given out by the coach to a team member at the end of each week/ game or practice to those who have demonstrated good effort, hard work and enthusiasm...
• "positive charting" - As coaches we tend to think that we add value by finding things that are done incorrectly and improving them. But it is equally important to find things that are being done correctly and to reinforce them. Positive Charting is a method for increasing the number of "right things" that your players do. It also creates a wonderful positive atmosphere in which players are more receptive to being corrected because they feel appreciated. Effective Positive Charting helps you reach the Magic 5:1 ratio, which best keeps players' Emotional Tanks full.

A few thoughts...

Rule #1: Think and act like a Champion in everything you do, on the court, off the court in the classroom and in the community.

Rule #2: Don't let your teammates or coaches down

Rule #3: Everybody cannot do everything, but everybody can do something. Find something that you are good at and do it to the best of your ability...everyday!

We cannot control a lot of things, including wins and losses. But, we can control our effort, out enthusiasm and our execution. When we focus on doing things the right way and striving for excellence in all that we do, the wins will fall in place.