Coach Education

I interview Dan Coyle about his recent book The Culture Code. During this discussion we talk about how he came up with the idea and some of the things that he learned about culture that changed how he thought about culture.

We discuss the Navy SEALS, San Antonio Spurs and the US Air Force Missileers.

Dan shares that building good culture requires intent and patience.

TJ Buchanan the Senior Manager for ADM-Technical Director discusses the history of lacrosse (it is THE original American sport), American Development Model (ADM) and some of the programs US Lacrosse is pursuing with athletes, coaches and parents.

TJ also summarizes a meeting of representatives from several NGBs (and one sports parent representative) to discuss how to engage parents. A key point here is that we are (pretty much) all dealing with parents of youth athletes so let's have a common message. Also a goal is to get as many kids as possible in sports for as long as possible and to have the best possible experience.

At the Winter Olympic Games in South Korea in 2018, Norway earned 39 total medals setting a record for the Winter Games. Many stories were written in the US press about how Norway became so successful.

In this podcast I discuss Norwegian sports culture with Stephen Seiler, PhD. Stephen is an American sport scientist who has lived in Norway for over 20 years. He offers his perspective on how Norway goes about developing athletes, the truth about keeping score in youth sports, funding and team culture. Since Stephen is very knowledgeable about sports in the US and Norway, he can offer a great perspective on the differences.

You can follow Dr. Seiler on Twitter: @stephenseiler

John Kessel is the Director of Sport Development for USA Volleyball. He also consults with many sports around the world including Major League Baseball teams.

John is knowledgeable in motor learning and the neuroscience of learning. In this episode he will challenge your views on how to run a practice. He says to minimize drills (if not completely do away with them) and to keep people active, no more lining up people to wait their turn. He talks about how to make learning more efficient.

Some notes:

How we learn faster: it is not about being the right way or wrong way, but about being more efficient.

Say what you mean, mean what you say, but do not be mean in saying it.

Principles first, methods second

Train game-like

Eliminate the words "try", "don't" and "but".

Put the player's name last when giving feedback

Below are some links mentioned in the talk.

John Kessel's Growing the Game blog

Gabriele Wulf OPTIMAL Learning work (full download available as of May 3, 2018)

Atul Gawande is a physician who has written several books and been on the Freakonomics podcast several times.

Train Ugly website

Backwards Bicycle TED Talk

In this episode Cathy discusses some of the challenges and rewards in coaching a parasport athlete. She goes over the stages of growth of a coach, gives some history of the Paralympics, how to adapt to coaching an Paralympian, etc.

Ryan Graff is the Vice President for Program Development for First Tee. First Tee's mission (from its site): "... is to impact the lives of young people by providing educational programs that build character, instill life-enhancing values and promote healthy choices through the game of golf".

 Ryan explains a little of the history of the First Tee program and how it integrates building character into its curriculum while also teaches kids about golf in a fun and accessible manner.

Wayne Goldsmith is an Australian who has been involved in high performance sport for many years across several sports. 

In this podcast, Wayne gives his unfettered take on how many NGBs approach coaching education all wrong.

Be prepared to be challenged.

Wayne can be reached through his website.

In this podcast Jean discusses his findings on being a transformational coach. A transformational coach is one who goes beyond the "transactional" actions of coaching that are limited to the technical and tactical aspects of the sport. Jean will share his 4 Cs of being a transformational coach.

Kevin McLaughlin, the Senior Director for Hockey Development discusses the challenges to implementing the ADM. USA Hockey knew it had to change how it developed players; Kevin discusses how USA Hockey overcame much of the resistance to the ADM implementation.

Dr. Dieffenbach is the executive director of the US Center for Coaching Excellence (USCCE). The USCCE is a new organization that seeks to improve coaching education and development in the United States. 

In this episode Kristen tells a little about how the USCCE came to be from it being part of other organizations into its own stand alone entity.