In this day and age of escalated salaries in professional sports, it would seem that some athletes could just be playing for the money. I seriously doubt that is the primary reason. If suddenly there were no professional sports you would find these same athletes playing a pickup game somewhere. Of course, they want to [...]
This past week’s Sports Illustrated featured tonight’s football game for the National Championship between the University of Oregon and Ohio State University. It is the culmination of the first real playoff in Division I college football. In this issue there was another article, one by Seth Davis about someone I have always loved spending time [...]
Early on in life (4-10 years old), we are shocked by something that then has us decide something about ourselves. Usually, in some way we have a way to survive. As we get older we develop a way to fix our consistent reaction to anything that doesn’t work. That becomes our strong suit, i.e. the [...]
Given I’ve been coaching for over 50 years, I am always very interested in what others coaches do. For the most part, what I don’t get to discover is who they “be” in delivering the daily practices that develop their team. Mostly I use how their teams go about their business. What kinds of winners [...]
Every year I have a conversation with my clients about the phenomenon called the “holidays.” It’s a time of celebration … a time to express what and whom we are thankful for … a joyful season. My concern is that I am not sure we are actually experiencing any joy. Are we so busy “doing” [...]
Coaches clearly know the value of practice. But, I am not as clear about their relationship to practice. They are freaked out when circumstances prevent a scheduled practice. Or, the team has a “bad” practice. Or, they worry did we have enough practice? The truth is that no one knows the perfect number of practices [...]
Coaches are revered in our society. Young athletes tend to put them on a pedestal whether it is deserved or not. Many coaches have been trained by the media, so they “say the right things”. I wonder if we “be” who we say we are. Here is a quote from a woman I know nothing [...]
For those of you who have been around for awhile I have a question—”Did this ever happen to you?" “Did what happen?" you are thinking. The answer to that question is as follows. First,a little background. As you climb the ladder in your chosen profession or career the leadership accountabilities grow. At some point you [...]
I spent this weekend in Seattle with my friends Chris and Allison Russell and their two children, Kiley and Logan. I love them so much. I think what I love the most is the way they pay attention to their most important project—being a family. I have had the honor and pleasure of having Chris [...]
The past week’s Sports Illustrated cover story was “Homeless Athletes.” I don’t know the authors’ intent for sure and I am pretty sure that they wanted to create attention around a problem to cause something good to happen. There is nothing new or exceptional about this problem. It has been that way since I began [...]