The Winning Youth Coaching Podcast: Youth Sports | Coaching | Parenting | Family Resources

Ian Goldberg is the Founder and CEO of iSport360, Inc. a SportsTech venture that helps youth sport coaches and parents share objective player feedback. As a sport parent and coach, Ian has witnessed the chaos on the sidelines and in the bleachers when coaches’ and parents’ expectations are not aligned….and the kids suffer.  His company has developed a solution to the pain in the form of an app and an informative (and frequently humorous) newsletter “The Chaotic World of Youth Sports”.

Website: isport360.com

Facebook: /isport360/

Twitter: @isport360

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The feedback loop

Ongoing feedback is way more effective than end-of-the-year feedback

Regular feedback is important, but can be time-consuming. Ideally coaches should be able to spend a few minutes and quickly evaluate and provide feedback to all players

Objective goals

It's easy to just look at how many points/goals players score, but most coaches are trying to evaluate many things beyond just scoring. The key is to define measurable objectives of what you are trying to improve in players.

Empowering kids

Ideally kids should be able to:

Talk to the coaches themselves

Set their own goals

What happens in a parents' brain when watching their kids play sports

Fight or flight mode - Parents' stress levels and cortisol levels are skyrocketing when being on the sideline watching their kids

Parents are either part of your process or part of your problem

Involve them - they want to know what's going on, regardless of age

A good way to base how much parents are involved - how much money they are spending. So for cheap low-level rec sports, not as much. For high-level travel teams costing thousands of dollars - the parents should be communicated with more.

iSport360 - The feedback loop

Mobile app - Coaches can work with players to set goals at beginning of season and allows the coach to provide feedback

Parents can also send other players on the team positive emojis

Weekly newsletter with funny stories

Best Stolen Idea

Barbara Corcoran from the Shark Tank: 'To be successful, you have to have a certain level of stupidity, so that when you keep getting knocked down, you continuously get back up, expecting better results.'

Parting Advice

Don't let sports take over your life. Enjoy it and keep it in perspective.

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Coach Kav owns a sports performance facility called The Sport and Speed Institute. On top of that he runs NFL Combine Programs and All-American Football Camps every year, and just published a #1 bestselling book on Amazon.

Website: coachkav.com

Facebook: /justin.kavanaugh.75

Twitter: @CoachKavanaugh

Instagram: @CoachKav

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How kids learn

Remember what you want them to work on is what they are most insecure about, so be strategic about how you approach it

Trust

The key is building trust, the kids will know when you don't truly have their best interest in mind

Practice design

Teach and deconstruct a skill

Compete. There needs to be a winner and a loser. Positive conditioning- the winners get to do additional workouts. But at the youth level, this takes the right situation

Make sure you're not just teaching a skill and doing a drill for 10 minutes - you have to keep reinforcing what you teach continuously throughout that practice and throughout the season

Try not to use the term 'suicides' for running. Powerful word that should not be used in this context.

Auditory reactionary drill

Two lines in a relay race - have multiple cones - you stand behind them and call which cone they have to go around (#1,2,or 3). This also helps you balance the teams so you don't have to worry about evening up the teams.

Also can reward the team that has better team spirit

Good practice games

Tic tac toe - 2 teams - throw cones/pinnies in a square

Tag - great competition/conditioning game with lots of cutting. You can add a cognitive element - give everyone a number - then use math to call out the numbers of who is 'it'

4 things every parent can do with their kid to prepare them for life:

Read

Learn a 2nd language

Play an instrument

Play a team sport

Favorite books/quotes

Quote: 'Character strong as steel won't develop with skin smooth as silk'

Book: How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Book: Mastery by Robert Green

Book: Inside out Coaching by Joe Erhmann

Man up - The book

The 5 areas of focus to guarantee your athletic success

BALLS - Balance, Accountability, Lust (your drive), Sacrifice

Link: Man up

Parting Advice

Remember all kids you coach are telling others about you - so treat them all with respect

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John Moyer is a current teacher at Stow-Munroe Falls High School, where he has taught since 1990.  John is certified coach in Resilient Leadership, based in the Washington DC area.  John currently is employed by the Stow City School District as their District Leadership Coach, where he helps teachers, coaches and administrators become more effective leaders.

Podcast: iTunes link

Facebook: /theofpodcast/

Youtube: youtube link

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Every system(or team) desires 5 things: SCARF

Status

Certainty - This takes time for a newer coach.

Autonomy

Relatedness

Fairness

Good places to start

Read books

Attend conferences, talk to other coaches

Critical thinking in the stress of a game

If you have established your guiding principles, it greatly increases your ability to calmly think through and stay focused on what's important

Overfunctioning=Underfunctioning

When one overfunctions, there is a reciprocal reaction of underfunctioning

The best balance for a coach is to be there to be a calm presence in a storm, but not overreact to negative situations that will occur in every game

A child-focused society

If a parent over-focuses on their children, the child is worse off

As a coach- do your coaching well, but think less about it.

Game theory - There is a fear our kid/team will get behind if someone else practices more or plays on more travel teams.

A 2 person relationship is inherently unstable. For parents - it is far easier for them to talk about their kids than it it is to talk about their own relationship.

Connecting with and impacting kids

John works with kids to help them start establishing who they are and identifying their self

The One that Got Away

In John's senior year, he played against a tackle that went on to be an all-pro center. John got worked over pretty bad by this guy, but he learned resilience and knew to focus on process over outcome.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

Relentlessly eradicate hurry from your life

Favorite books/quotes

Book: A Failure of Nerve by Rabbi Ed Friedman

Book: Resilient Leadership by Bob Duggan and Jim Moyer

Parting Advice

Smile a lot.

Be organized.

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Jack Perconte has dedicated his post-major league baseball career to helping youth and their parents through the complicated world of youth sports. Combining his playing, coaching and parenting experiences he continues to help create better sporting experiences for both athletes and their parents. He has authored multiple books, including his most recent, Creating a Season to Remember.

Website/Book: baseballcoaching.tips

Facebook: /BaseballCoachingTips

Twitter: @Jackperconte

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Cringe Moments

Early on Jack was bothered by the 'know-it-all' kids, but over the years he has learned to stick with them and they can become some of your best supporters

Teaching skills

Start with talking with the kids about their individual strengths and weaknesses

Set up short-term and long-term plans with them

Utilize multiple stations with small groups to keep everyone

Achieving peak performance mentally

Confidence comes and goes, it's the coaches job to keep stay optimistic. Good things happen in the players' heads when you have confidence in them and let them know you believe in them.

Confidence comes from perfecting the fundamentals

Attitude

When Jack was playing in the Dodgers organization, the Dodgers came down to watch a couple players  in the minor leagues. One player was on fire, and the other was struggling. A few weeks later they called up the player who was struggling. They said it was because they were so impressed with the attitude of the player while he was struggling.

Parents

It's critical to have a meeting with the parents before the season and explain your philosophies on playing time, strategies, etc.

Continue that communication with updates to the parents throughout the season

Coaching your own kids

Each kid is different. Some embrace learning from their parent, some resist it.

The One that Got Away

Jack made the last out of the season in a one game playoff when with the Dodgers

Failure is a great motivator to work harder

Favorite books/quotes

All books by John Wooden

Baseball coaching 

Website/Book: baseballcoaching.tips

Creating a Season to Remember - A great A to Z resource for coaching a team

Podcast: Something Worth Catching

Parting Advice

Stay ahead of the curve. There are so many resources, keep learning.

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Lynden Gwartney is the founder of Mind Of A Champion Sports, and trains athletes and coaches in the principles of winning in sports. He is the author of How to Win at Sports, where through examples from Marine Corps history and analysis of the world's top athletes and coaches - as well as thirty years of exprience as an athlete and coach - Lynden reveals the concepts that all champions use to gain an advantage over their opponents.

Website/Book: sportstrainingsecrets.com

Facebook/podcast: /scienceofwinningpodcast

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Coaching 6 year olds

Break every motion into 3 simple steps. Step bend pass, step bend pass.

Maximize touches!

Winning - The big 3

Find your opponents weakness and attack it

Stick with what's working

Find your opponents strength and neutralize it

Find your opponents weakness and attack it

Physical

Mental

What are their tendencies

Stick with what's working

This changes game to game. What's working TODAY.

You have to use statistics to make these decisions. Don't just go on 'feel.'

Find your opponents strength and neutralize it

The Science of Winning Podcast & How to Win at Sports book

Facebook/podcast: /scienceofwinningpodcast

Website/Book: sportstrainingsecrets.com

Parting Advice

Focus on the big 3.

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Dr. Clayton Kuklick is a University of Denver Clinical Assistant Professor of Master of Arts in Sports Coaching and a PhD in Athletic Coaching Education. Clayton played college and pro baseball and has coached at all levels from youth through college.

Twitter: @DrKuk14; @DU_sport_coach

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Coaching your own kids

Make sure to communicate the different roles you will be having with your child - coach vs. parent

Cringe moments

Initially Clayton was very structured and controlling. He learned to incorporate different ways to facilitate and teach vs. structure and commands.

Teaching Skills 

The difference between learning and performance - Create variation in activities vs. blocked practice design.

Dynamic systems theory - Provide a few guidelines, then allow athletes to try different strategies and learn. Small-sided tactical games are a great way to do this.

Mental toughness

Routines can reduce stress - Having a pre-bat routine in baseball reduces stress. Practice it. In practices, before they perform a task, have them: Take a deep breath, one positive thought, then we go. A positive thought is best when process related: fast and loose vs. get a hit.

Culture

It starts with core values. Keep it tight - have only a couple core values. Then you have to define what behaviors demonstrate those core values.

Great analogies to reward behviors -

The Sugar Shaker - who made practice sweeter today?

The Live Sponge - who learned and applied something new today?

Connecting with and impacting kids

Clayton coached a kid who was struggling in school, he had a big presentation coming up - so they used some of the same mental skill approaches they use in athletics to apply to his presentation

The one that got away

Clayton played on a team in college that went to the playoffs, and they got pampered and ate a bunch of unhealthy food. They had not educated their players throughout the season about the importance of their diet.

Best borrowed/stolen idea

Clayton played with Justin Gordon - and Justin did a great job using analogies

Favorite Quote/Book

Book: The Mental Game of Baseball by H.A. Dorfman and Karl Kuehl

Book: The Fifth Discipline by Peter M. Senge

Book: The Double Goal Coach by Jim Thompson

Book: Mindset by Carol Dweck

Book: True Competition by David Light Shields and Brenda Light Bredemeier

Book: Understanding Sports Coaching by Tania G. Cassidy and Robyn L. Jones

Parting Advice

Challenge: How can you embed life skills into your practice drills? Decision making, resiliency, social skills.

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Anthony Stone is a Physical Education teacher at Gregory Elementary School and Quarterbacks Coach at Boylan High School in Rockford, Ill. He is also the Defensive Coordinator and Assistant Head Coach for the 2017 Women’s Australian National Outback Team & writes blogs for “Hudl” & “Firstdown Playbook.”

In July 2016, he was named to the Hudl 100 list. He has presented at IAPHERD, the top physical education convention in Illinois, on how to get students moving with his Games Galore presentations. He has also presented at the Chicago Glazier Clinics on quarterbacks & special teams. He was the Defensive Coordinator for the 2010 U.S. Women’s National Tackle Football Team, winners of the IFAF Women’s World Championship in which Team USA did not allow a point in three games with an overall score of 201-0.

The rest of his coaching experience involves coaching in the CIFL and the IWFL Leagues as well as Beloit College (Linebackers/Special Teams Coordinator) and Rockford University (Quarterbacks/Wide Receivers).  As well as coaching football at the youth, middle school and high school level.

He will be putting on fundamental youth football camps around the world in 2017, with his “Back to the Basics Football Camp” coming to a city near you.

Website/books: coachstonefootball.com

Twitter: @coach_stone_mt

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Quote

'If you're still teaching your quarterback the day before the game, you're in trouble'

Coaching your own kids

Why not? You can learn what you don't know, go do it if it interests you

Cringe moments

'I was a yeller'. Anthony has learned the value in being positive

Teaching Skills - Great games

100 acre words & Cone Island

Free games: coachstonefootball.com/enasco-physical-education-free-activities-lesson-plans/

One good strategy is to come up with games where kids don't get 'out'- have a danger zone and a safety zone - if they get tagged, they have to leave the danger zone and go to the safety zone and do some exercise before they return

Practice Planning 

Use notecards/notebook - keep it with you in practices and games and note things you need to work on

When teaching skills - visual analogies comparing the motions to real-world activities work great.

Mental toughness

Practice reading situations - so your players know what to look for and don't panic when they see something new

'If you're still teaching your quarterback the day before the game, you're in trouble'

Mondays through Wednesdays are work/teaching days

Monday - introduction

Tuesday/Wednesday - work day

Thursday - the players should be teaching it back to the coach

Friday (gameday)- just be there to chit-chat with the players, not teach them anything new. Ask them if they have any questions - if they do, have them try to answer their own question.

Coaching up the parents

Moms of football - go from a fan, to a team mom, to a coach on the field

Have a teaching day - start with your coaching philosophy. Then make a one-page cheat sheet that explains the basic rules. Then take them on the field and have them try it out a bit.

US Lacrosse soft stick program

Free sticks/balls for P.E. programs - uslacrosse.

Dave Holt is a high school administrator/ teacher, operates a private baseball teaching school, helps with an American Legion baseball team and constantly is researching, writing articles and guidebooks, and adding to his coach and play baseball website.

Website/books: coachandplaybaseball.com

Facebook: /Holtbaseball

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Quote

'A good coach can give correction without causing resentment' - John Wooden

Coaching your own kids

Dave's dad did a great job of just going out and playing with and throwing with his boys, and not instructing them. Just let them learn to enjoy the sport and don't antagonize them by nitpicking their mechanics.

Cringe moments

Dave wishes he had spent more time on the one-on-one relationship side of coaching

Teaching Skills

Maximize # of touches!

Get lots of touches in some type of competition

Fast catch - Line up with a partner and when you've caught 10 in a row, take a knee (competition)

Mental toughness

You want kids to be ultra-aggressive and play without fear

Be thinking long-term development, not short term wins.

Don't focus on winning. Focus on playing well.

Travel sports options

Travel sports lite - you can do travel teams and compete within your own area, not all over the country

Culture - Rewarding success

Dirtiest uniform, biggest sweat ring on their hat, best encouraging teammate

Connecting with and impacting kids

Dave coached a kid who was going to quit, Dave got together with the principal and they encouraged him not to quit. He stuck with it and went on to start on the baseball team his senior year.

The one that got away

Dave had a player who was the best player on the team and skipped a team event. Dave played him instead of disciplining him, and regrets that decision.

Best Stolen Idea

3-team it: Break the team into 3 teams and rotate them together. Great way to practice with lots of touches and you can scrimmage with these 3 teams.

Favorite Quote/Book

Book: The Matheny Manifesto by Mike Matheny

Book: Inside-out Coaching by Joe Ehrmann

Book: Go for the Magic by Pat Williams

Book: Why Johnny hates sports by Fred Engh

Quote: 'A good coach can give correction without causing resentment' - John Wooden

Coach and play baseball resources

Books, dvd's, articles, and many more resources

Website/books: coachandplaybaseball.com

Parting Advice

Baseball has a very high level of failure. Embrace and expect mistakes. Help kids manage the failures.

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Chris Buck, President of Get It Done Consulting (www.getitdoneconsulting.net), has his Masters in Exercise and Sport Psychology and is a Certified Consultant and member of the Association for Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). He has consulted with professional and amateur athletes alike, implementing mental conditioning programs in a wide variety of sports, including lacrosse, golf, tennis, soccer, basketball, track/field, crew, fencing, hockey, and baseball.

Coach Buck works with multiple NCAA lacrosse programs as a Sport Psychology Consultant to the team as well as a Goalie Psychology Specialist. He is also the Goalie Psychology Specialist for G3 Lacrosse.

Chris is the author of "Thinking Inside the Crease," a book describing how to become a mentally tough dominant goalie. He also wrote the Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 goalie coaching certification materials for US Lacrosse.

Chris grew up and played lacrosse in Wilton, CT, winning two state championships during his time there and finished his four-year high school career with a 46-1 record as the starting goalie. After high school, he played lacrosse at Ithaca College.

Website/book: thinkinginsidethecrease.com

Professional Website: getitdoneconsulting.net

Twitter: @GetItDoneCT

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Quote

'What you believe is more important that what is objectively the case' - Albert Bendora

Cringe moment

Chris coached a girls team, and didn't know the difference in the rules between boys and girls rules, so he was telling the girls the wrong things

A-ha moments

Grades are just as important as on-the-field skills to earn a scholarship!

Remove self-limitations, believe you can accomplish huge things. 'What you believe is more important that what is objectively the case' - Albert Bendora

Mental toughness

The physiological affects of fear cause you get into Fight or Flight mode. Chris teaches his goalies to develop a fight mode, 'bring it!' "Let's see how many bruises you can get"

Focus on doing your job, not on impressing others or getting the win

Don't provide physical solutions to mental problems

When making goalie changes - communicate! Even if you are just wanting to get someone else some playing time, they may view a switch as them getting benched. Talk to them about exactly what is going on. Something as simple as 'Wasn't your best game, but you're still my guy.'

Practicing in a game-like environment

Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent

Ask who wants to take a pressure shot in practice - good way to see who might be clutch player at the end of a game

Flushing routines

Take your hat off, brush some water in your hair, when you put your hat back on you are starting anew

Release, replan, refocus - Turn your back to the field of play, replan, then when you turn back around you are refocused

Serena Williams - has notecards at her bench with 2 or 3 points of emphasis, she looks at them every time she changes sides

Evaluative environment vs Expressive environment: Players don't perform well when they feel they are being evaluated every single play, they perform much better in a expressive environment

Dump card - write down everything that is stressing you out - then leave it in their locke...

Chris Trieste has over 20 years experience in K-12 education as a teacher, school administrator, athletic director, and coordinator of physical education.  For more than 10 years he has coached numerous youth sports, primarily baseball and basketball, from the elementary through high school grade levels.

He has extensive experience in tennis, serving as the head men’s tennis coach at Mount Saint Mary College where he was twice named Coach of the Year and playing for four years at Marist College where he was a team captain.

Chris also recently authored 14 Great Coaches. Based on a study of the best practices of 14 of the most respected and successful coaches in the history of sports, and combined with the author’s experiences and observations as a coach and instructional leader, this book provides a road map for all coaches who want to have an enduring positive influence and provide a transformative experience for their athletes.

Book: /book link

Twitter: @CTrieste2

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Coaching your own kid

Coaching should end on the field. The ride home should be you as their parent, not their coach.

Cringe moment

Chris had some coaches he coached with that humiliated some of the kids, he quickly disassociated from those coaches

Teaching Skills

Teach in a games approach: Deliver some instruction - then create some type of game setting (competitive) activity to start the learning.

Innovative scoring - Reward activities that you are trying to encourage. If playing tennis and trying to get players to the net - if you win a point at the net you get double points.

Mental toughness

Encourage athletes to picture times they have been successful - Play a movie in their head

Other athletes don't want to think about much - encourage them to think of something simple like 'just see it and hit it'

Culture

Coaching staff should answer the question - in twenty years how do you want your players to remember their experience

Have kids help own the experience by incorporating them in the standards you set for your team

Captains - one good method might be to have rotating gameday captains based on merit (demonstrating leadership skills)

14 Great Coaches - the book

60 timeless concepts that coaches

Vince Lombardi - Had zero tolerance for any type of racial discrimination. Also believed in simplicity over complexity.

Nick Bolleteri - You don't have to be a great player to be a great coach.

Pat Summit - Her players changed a play she called. She self-reflected - and realized she had not analyzed who the best player for that moment was.

Tom Couglin - Tom changed his coaching style - he went from trying to force his compliance to a new style of trying to listen and incorporate their feedback. He established a player council who met regularly and communicated with Tom.

Joe Torre - Had a great skill for working with huge egos, and making sure they all felt their role was important no matter what it was on the team

Book: /book link

Parting Advice

Enjoy the experience. Don't take wins/losses too seriously.

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