Bridging Impact is an interview-style podcast hosted by Justin Furtado (Coach Furtado), Youth/HS Basketball Coach & Trainer | Coach Development Professional | Heart-Led Leader.

Clay Henricksen is Social Studies & Instructional Teacher and Assistant Varsity Basketball Coach at Huntley High School in Illinois.

In our conversation today, we talk about helping our players make better decisions. We talk about empowering our athletes and also the importance of connections with our players, but also with other coaches.

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I worked at a Shooting Clinic for PGC Basketball a few weekends ago.

The clinic director asked all of us, "what percentage of being a great basketball is mental?" A majority of us raised our hands for AT LEAST 50%.

If that's the case, we have to ask ourselves; do we really spend 50% of our time training the mental side of our game? As coaches, do we dedicate 50% of our practice time to developing our team's mindset?

For most of us, it's an overwhelming no; we do not.

Three Ways to Begin to Win the Mental Game

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Bridging Impact is an interview-style podcast hosted by Justin Furtado (Coach Furtado), Youth/HS Basketball Coach & Trainer | Coach Development Professional | Heart-Led Leader.

Tami Matheny became a Mental Game Coach in 2008 and started Refuse2LoseCoaching, LLC.  In 2018, she became an author as well. Recently she became a part of the Jon Gordon Team and is certified to present workshops on “The Power of Positive Leadership” and “The Power of Positive Teams”

Tami knows the role the intangibles play in career success and longevity and has had experience with working on the mental skills at the collegiate level with tennis, basketball, softball, baseball, volleyball, golf, field hockey, cross country and soccer student-athletes.  In addition, she has worked with recreational athletes, post collegiate athletes and junior high/high school athletes in golf, soccer, volleyball, tennis, basketball, running, and weight lifting.  She has a passion for sports and how the mental game affects performance.

Tami believes that while it’s important to work on the physical and technical aspects of sport, the mental side is just as important; mental skills are often the differentiating factor for the most successful athletes. Tami understands that talent cannot always overcome a lack of confidence or mental toughness, but a high level of confidence and mental toughness can often overcome a lack of talent. She enjoys interacting and working hands on with coaches, athletes, and teams to make a difference.

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We all have heard the saying, "trust the process."

But, there is a difference between knowing we need to trust the process and genuinely believing in the process.

Many young athletes struggle with the process even more than us.

Again, I come back to social media because of the instant information we all now have access to.

Young athletes constantly look at professional players' highlights and want to jump straight to the pros.

I'll admit, that is totally me as well. I want to jump to 1,000 podcast listeners and 1,000 Youtube subscribers, & turn Bridging Impact Basketball into my full-time income.

All of those goals of mine will come true, but not today.

So, what is one of the best ways to learn something?

Teach it.

Five Ways to Teach the Process:

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Bridging Impact is an interview-style podcast hosted by Justin Furtado (Coach Furtado), Youth/HS Basketball Coach & Trainer | Coach Development Professional | Heart-Led Leader.

In today’s episode, I'm excited to be joined by Nathan a managing editor at Simply Faster. He's a coach for Flex soccer in Delmore County in San Diego, and he also is the manager of High Tide softball.

So in our conversation today, we discuss the nuances of how to meet our athletes, where they're at, the why behind coaching athletes, and how to design programs that work for all different levels of athletes.

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It's the responsibility of a coach to build a sustainable model to teach and implement character development for our athletes.   

The Four Step Process  1. Model 2. Test 3. Teach 4. Reward  

Connect with me on social media to talk more about character development  IG & Twitter: @coachfurtadoo Tik Tok: @coachfurtado

Bridging Impact is an interview-style podcast hosted by Justin Furtado (Coach Furtado), Youth/HS Basketball Coach & Trainer | Coach Development Professional | Heart-Led Leader.

In today’s episode, I'm excited to be joined by Stephen Mackey, better known to tens of thousands of students and educators as Coach Mackey, is a player development coach based in Texas.

In January 2017, Mackey asked the question: “What would it take to help one million athletes and coaches connect the dots between sports and life?” The answer to that question became 2Words Character Development. Built on the Six Pillars—Tough people win, integrity over everything, growth follows belief, excellence everywhere, relentless effort, and service before self— 2Words has become one of the top leadership and character curriculums in the country; and in 2021, became the official character development curriculum of the Teas High School Coaches Association.

In our conversation today, we discuss his character curriculum and his six pillars. We also discuss ways that coaches can reward the behaviors that they wanna see. And finally, we talk about the number one issue athletes face in the country and much more.

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"Don't be talking about your three home run games. They don't care about that. It just makes them feel inadequate. Tell 'em about how you went 0 for 5 w/ 5 strikeouts, show your humanness."  -Dave Turgeon.  

Three Ways We Can Be More Vulnerable  

ASK! - Ask the silly get-to-know-you questions. Favorite food? Place to vacation? Then continually ask the deeper ones, "what are your strengths? Weaknesses? How can I improve?  

Share - Sharing your story is so powerful in connecting with kids. I always share the story of getting cut from varsity in my junior year because that's relatable for kids. They don't want to hear how good you were; they also want to hear the challenges they are going through right now.  

Make Mistakes - Be willing to own your mistakes and ask for feedback. If you want your athletes to grow constantly, you must role model what it looks like first!  

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Bridging Impact is an interview-style podcast hosted by Justin Furtado (Coach Furtado), Youth/HS Basketball Coach & Trainer | Coach Development Professional | Heart-Led Leader.

In today’s episode, I'm excited to be joined by Coach Dave Turgeon. Coach Turgeon is the National Team Head Baseball Coach at IMG Academy in Bradenton, FL.

Coach Turgeon played in the New York Yankees farm system from 1987-1990 under Stump Merrill and Buck Showalter after being drafted out of Davidson College and spent the next decade playing professionally.

From 2000-2002 Turgeon began managing in the Cleveland Indians organization before entering the college ranks where he coached with Boston College, the University of Connecticut, Duke University, and Virginia Tech.

He spent the next 11 years managing and being the Coordinator of Instruction for the Pittsburgh Pirates Organization.

Coach Turgeon is passionate about impacting the person first and then the player.

We dive into talking about connectivity and how we can build more connections with our teams, how we can help our players develop more awareness and how as us coaches can transform them into leaders.

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How often do we find ourselves scrolling through social media and comparing ourselves to others' accomplishments?

We hit a goal we set, like making ten 3's in a row, but then we see our teammate we used to play with made 15 in a row.

We adults do this, but the comparison trap is even worse for young athletes now.

How We Can Flip the Script:   Ask, Articulate, Encourage

Connect With Justin IG & Twitter: @coachfurtadoo Tik Tok: @coachfurtado