A Coach's Perspective

My thanks to MSHSAA Assistant Executive Director Kevin Garner and Southwest Missouri Coordinator of Officials and MSHSAA Observer Kelly Holt for clarifying and interpreting the new rule changes and reminders for points of emphasis for this high school basketball season. We were able to review and refresh on some of the rules of the sport.

Tonight we hosted a room full of sports contributors. The Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame Board of Directors met and then stayed for the show which was on location at Coach Terry Allen’s own Ebbett’s Field. We had several there that joined us on air to answer questions and play Head’s Up, sports style. Art Hains (who was crowned champion of the games), Corey Riggs, Don West, Tom Mast, Ray Meyer, Bill Rowe, Mark Stillwell, and Tim Blasi all braved the airways while Lynne Miller, Don Keaton, Ned Reynolds, Becky Oakes, and Ron Snodgrass cheered them on. It was a successful night and I appreciated the good sports!

Thank you to all that sent in questions for our college coaches panel. Our panel did an excellent job contributing to the questions. Missouri State Softball coach Holly Hesse, Missouri State Track and Field coach Jordan Fife, and Drury University Wrestling coach James Reynolds gave some excellent insight and advice. Listen to it under Previous Shows or on Apple iTunes Podcast.

Wow! The listeners of this show know their sports! Thank you to everyone that called in on our Halloween trivia show. Impressive listeners! Thank you to my gracious co-host, Art Hains for sticking around after his show and helping out. Also, gratitude to my generous sponsors for providing the prizes, Great Southern Bank, Hiland Dairy, and Rib Crib. Thank you, also, to Missouri State University and Drury University Athletic Departments for donating the tickets. We appreciate your contributions, we couldn’t do it without you! Also, a gigantic shout out to my wonderful and talented producer, Duane Darr. He did an amazing job multi-tasking and making this show happen. Sports trivia - gotta love it!

In this episode, we continued answering your questions to our high school coaches panel. We covered a lot. Thank you for sending them in! Bill Gunn from Kirkwood High School and Jenny Perryman from Nixa were back along with Landon Cornish from Parkview. Great insights by all!

Ever have a question for a high school coach? Curious how they select their teams, the levels, or communicate their expectations? We are answering them! First of all, THANK YOU, to all of the questions that were sent in. We did not get to all of them so we are going to have our panel back next week and continue answer your questions. If you have one, send it in to [email protected]. Our thanks to our panel: Coach Bill Gunn, Coach Jenny Perryman, and Coach John Hartley.

Olympic Champion Carmelita Jetter joined us for this episode and shared her experience as a professional Track and Field Super Star. She gave energetic and inspiring insight into her career and her transition into coaching and how she will bring her unique style to Missouri State University as their new assistant coach. She describes going from her first track practice in high tops to standing on the biggest stage in sports (the Olympic podium) to coaching and mentoring her student-athletes. Her inner courage through her sports journey is inspiring,

Thank you to attorney and Title IX Coordinator at Missouri State University, Jill Patterson, for educating us on the various laws that effect athletic programs at the high school and college level. Her insights were informative and generated some excellent conversation on what athletic programs need to be aware of and how to handle certain situations.

In this episode we chat with Lisa Tinkler and Caleb Cole about their new youth training facility in Springfield, Missouri, RedLine Athletics. Individual and team training are available and their facility has a new, fresh flavor on how to train athletes from ages 8-18. Check them out at www.redlineathletics.com

My other guest fascinates me! He has been on quite a journey this year. We welcomed back to the show, talented author Ethan Bryan. You may remember him on our Superfan show where he represented the Kansas City Royals. Baseball is a huge passion for Ethan and on New Year’s Day he decided to play catch with his daughter and that game of catch developed into playing catch with a variety of people every day for 365 days. He spoke with us about the friendships that have evolved and the travels that his endeavor has produced. What a cool ride! We appreciated his story and sharing it with us. Oh…and yes, I am now on his list! We played catch before the show and during the show! Best of luck to him as he closes the year out.

In this episode, we catch up with former NFL quarterback, Super Bowl Champion, Super Bowl MVP, and Chairman of the of his own foundation, Joe Namath. We talk about his time at Alabama winning a national championship and playing for Bear Bryant, his time as a Super Bowl Champion with the New Jets, and what he is doing now to help the youth of our society and neurological research. Former teammate Tommy Burnett joins us to introduce him and talk about what kind of leader and teammate Joe Namath was during that time.