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Team Moms/Coaches

Sharing and Learning: A Constant for Sports Officials

Becoming a top sports official requires hard work, dedication to skill development, and a never ending desire to improve, whether for a teen starting out, to high school officials, all the way to the pros.

What Life Lessons To Teach Is Coach's Choice

There are tens of thousands of well-meaning coaches in youth and high school athletics/activites across this nation. Being placed in a position of influence and power over young people, however, requires - to borrow from the Hippocratic oath - that coaches first do no harm, and hopefully do some good. Unfortunately, the sad fact is that many will be remembered by their players for all the wrong reasons.

Being placed in a position of influence and power over young people
requires - to borrow from the Hippocratic oath - that coaches first do
no harm, and hopefully do some good. Whether to teach positive or negative life lessons is the coach's choice.

Goal of Coaching: Develop Winners in Sports and Life

During the off season local associations are faced with assigning coaches to the teams for the up coming year. Coaching committees and ultimately youth hockey boards will approve the coaches for the coming year. In many programs getting enough qualified coaches is a problem. Some programs start fresh each year and some leave coaches in place for many years. In short there is lots of attention and even drama about who is going to coach the teams, especially A teams. What is missing is actually determining how qualified the coaches are and an on going coach development program. It seems as the season begins teams and coaches are on their own.

Coaches are the most important and powerful individuals in any youth sports
organization. Coaches determine the quality of experience that players
have and can have a significant impact on the lives of their players.

Good Communication Between Basketball Officials and Coaches Is Key

While basketball officials and coaches don't often see eye to eye, they can agree on one thing: that working together to achieve game flow is not only in  their mutual interest, but makes the game more enjoyable for everyone.

Working To Increase Number of Women Coaches: Why It Matters

Today’s generation of mothers is rich with athletic experience and talent. But all too often they are channeled away from coaching, into non-coaching support roles like “team mom.” Here's why tapping in to this growing talent pool of athletic women will benefit our communities and our kids.

How To Increase The Number of Women Coaches in Youth Sports

Persistent assumptions about men’s “natural” abilities as coaches, along with powerful informal group processes, tend to channel women — even those with interest and athletic experience—away from coaching, toward being “team moms.”  

Official to Coach Communication Lesson #2: Explain the Call, Not the Rule

Officials sometime make the mistake of explaining a rule to a coach in response to a coach's comment or question on a call. There is inherent risk in using rules interpretation as a communication tool.  Firstly, it takes the official's attention away from the players on the court. Secondly, it gives the coach too much information and opens the door for trouble. A coach friend of mine recently challenged an official asking why he did not call a lane violation on a 6'3 player who was gaining advantage by dwelling in the key. The official responded by explaining the rule at length. The problem was, the coach knew the rule better than the official. The verbose and incorrect explanation by the official hurt the crew's credibility on virtually every call in the game.

Officials sometime make the mistake of explaining a rule to a coach in response to a coach's comment or question on a call.  Officials need to respond to coaches' questions, but do so briefly. Warning to officials: Know the rules!
Warning to coaches: Officials are trained to respond to questions, not comments.

Official to Coach Communication Lesson #1: Speak to Me, I'll Speak To You

I love Frank Sinatra! His music relaxes me. I listen to him as I take my daily power walks and contemplate an upcoming game or review games from  the past.  On yesterday's walk, I was replaying in my head, a caustic exchange with a coach, when at that very moment, my iPod shuffled to " I've Got You Under My Skin". I laughed at the uncanny timing of this and also at how the song's title appropriately describes officials; feelings about some coaches, and vice versa.

This blog begins a series of lessons learned from my mistakes in dealing with coaches.  I hope that officials and coaches who read this may see some of themselves in these and take heart that we can listen to each other and learn together.

The first in a series of blog posts on the lessons learned from my mistakes in dealing with coaches.

Tryouts Enable Coaches to Assess Best Fit of Both Players and Parents

Tryouts are a time for coaches not only to assess talent but find the right fit of both players and parents to help ensure a successful season, both on and off the field.  A longtime youth baseball coach and author of the book, A Perfect Season, Dan Clemens recounts his experience at one team tryout, and some of the things he learned, not only about the process and the players, but, not surprisingly, about their parents as well.

Thank You, Coach E!

The 2011 Summer Evaluation Program will come to an end this week and I feel great about my chances for promotion. When I reflect on all that has transpired to get me to this moment, I think of Coach E, a mentor and friend who began preparing me for SEP from the time I became an official seven years ago. This week marks his birthday, and this blog is my birthday card to him.

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