A Coach's Perspective

To shot clock or not to shot clock? It has been a debate for years. Does the high school basketball game need a shot clock? We debated and reviewed the pros and cons with a veteran coaches panel. Thank you to Nixa boy’s coach, Jay Osbourne, Parkview girl’s coach, Keri Nichols, and longtime high school and college coach, Kent Thomas. Excellent points on both sides were presented, only time will tell if it ever actually happens.

We continued our series on the weirdest mascots in America – Ryan Schaffitzel was in studio and brought some very interesting minor league baseball mascots (Trash Pandas, really?!) and some college summer baseball mascots. We also continued to explore a few more of the mascots across the country (Ducks, Shockers, Mountaineers, War Eagles, Dirtbags, etc).

Don’t miss this one!

Next week, we wrap up weirdest mascots in America, and host real mascots!

Episode 234 -

We kicked off a two-part series on the weirdest mascots in America – Kelli Cheek and Jill Widel joined us, along with our producer this week, Logan Weber. Buckaroos, Zizzers, Goblins, Razorbacks, Sand Lizards, Cotton Blossoms, and Kewpies were just a few of the mascots we covered in this episode! Have one for our next episode in the series? Email them to [email protected].

Holiday tournaments are in full swing, and we updated the brackets and then caught up with Springfield Public School Director of Athletics Josh Scott. He has been involved at the national level of athletic directing and we talk about that along with running premier tournaments.

We then had the pleasure of being educated! Nebraska State Champion and top 1% ranked eSports player Allie Burnett joined us as we explored why eSports is the fastest growing sport in the country and world. She educated us on the attraction and addiction of eSports and why viewers cannot get enough! My thanks to Logan Weber, our producer for the night, as he chimed in on the power of gaming and its therapeutic abilities. Allie’s specialty is Overwatch and she is the only female on her team and captain as a sophomore! She is a shot-caller, again, she educated us! You don’t want to miss this! She paralleled the fundamentals and strategies of gaming to other sports and sold us on eSports and the benefits of gaming.

Christmas, New Year’s, Greenwood Blue & Gold, Pink and White Lady Classic – it is that time of year! We dove into the most popular high school holiday tournaments in the Midwest! Greenwood’s Blue & Gold will kick off their 76th annual tournament and the Greenwood/Springfield Public Schools partnership will have their Pink and White Lady Classic. Missouri State University will host the Blue & Gold this year at JQH Arena and Hammons Student Center, while Drury University will host the Pink and White Lady Classic again at O’Reilly Family Event Center and Weiser Gymnasium. Joining us with all of the need to know information - Greenwood’s Blue and Gold Superfan Don Louzader, Greenwood/SPS’s Pink and White Lady Classic Tournament Coordinators Mike Percival and Jason Michel.

Next week - Catching up with Coaches. In January, we kick off a two-part series on the weirdest mascots in America.

Tonight, we welcome two of the owners of the Tri-Lakes Shootouts, Coach Todd Mercer, and Coach Kent Thomas. We covered their upcoming shootout at Nixa High School and then we also continued our series on Ethics in Sports. During this series we have welcomed panels and given them ethical scenarios to see how they would handle moral dilemmas. My guests did an excellent job with each scenario and exhibited why they are successful veteran coaches.

Episode 230 -

We continued our series on Ethics in Sports. We are welcoming panels and giving them ethical scenarios to see how they would handle situational moral dilemmas. We have had panels with coaches and athletic directors and tonight we welcomed officials. Joining us were two experienced and knowledgeable referees in Emry Dilday and Mike Denbow. They did a phenomenal job analyzing situations that officials have to face and how they would handle these moral circumstances. Listen at acoachsperspective.com – thank you, refs!

Episode 229 -

This week we continued our series on Ethics in Sports. We are welcoming panels and giving them ethical scenarios to see how they would handle situational moral dilemmas. On this episode, we welcomed two knowledgeable and experienced athletic directors and explored some ethical situations that pertain to their specific role in sports. Mark Fisher and Brandon Clark did an excellent job dissecting and analyzing the presented circumstances and handling them well. My guests showed how valuable athletic directors are as mentors, supporters and educators.

Join us next week as we will continue our series: Ethics in Sports.

Episode 228 -

This week continued our series on Ethics in Sports. We are welcoming coaching panels and giving them ethical scenarios to see how they would handle situational moral dilemmas. Tonight, we hosted two talented and knowledgeable coaches who have demonstrated success on and off the court, Coach Landon Cornish, Springfield (MO) Parkview Boys Basketball and Coach Caitlin Lamberth, Springfield (MO) Central Girls Basketball. They did a fantastic job answering the dilemmas, their perspective was no surprise, they are both a class act!

The next two weeks we are pre-empted due to Missouri State University and Drury University Basketball, we will be back on December 1st and we will continue our series: Ethics in Sports.

Episode 227 -

This week we kicked off a new series on Ethics in Sports. We are welcoming coaching panels and giving them ethical scenarios to see how they would handle situational moral dilemmas. Our first panel this week included veteran volleyball player, coach and radio host Kelly Richardson and veteran boys’ basketball coach at Logan-Rogersville, John Schaefer. These coaches did a tremendous job analyzing and dissecting our scenarios. I would want my kids to play for either one of them!

Next week we continue our series: Ethics in Sports.