“Wrap him up!” the coach yelled. A phrase I would expect to hear at a youth football game, but on this day I was watching an 8U basketball game. Admittedly I do not have an abundance of basketball knowledge but I know that in basketball you cannot wrap your arms around the player you are guarding. I’ve seen our coaches instruct our players to keep their arms extended…
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After suffering a hard-fought, last-second loss in a game which the Detroit Lions played really well, rookie Head Coach Rob Marinelli had the following to say in his first post game press conference. “It’s not good enough… I’m not interested in playing hard and well; I’m interested in winning. There’s no option, there’s no solution other than winning. That’s it; I wont accept anything less….I’m not…
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The summer of 1987, the summer before my third grade year, we moved into a new house on the south side of Fort Worth. The house was on the corner of Felix and 6th Avenue directly across the street from Hubbard Height Elementary School. It didn’t take me long to realize that if I wanted to fit in with the kids in that neighborhood I…
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Is it better to be a big fish in a little pond or a little fish in a big pond? Said differently, is it better for your son to be the star of a “AA” team or a sub on a Majors team? I’ve heard parents say they would rather their kid be the bat boy on the elite team than the starting shortstop on an average team. I…
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In my previous post, Oh No! It’s That Time of the Year, I discussed the dilemma a youth sports parent faces when trying to decide where their young athlete will play in the upcoming season. As if finding the right level of competition and a healthy environment is not difficult enough you must also consider the opportunity cost. What do I mean by opportunity cost? Ask…
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This time of the year is especially difficult. Difficult because this is the time of the year when we are faced with the question of where our kids will play in the upcoming season. Ultimately we must do what we think is best for our kids. That seems simple enough right? I wish it were simple but there’s plenty to consider when deciding where you athlete will should play. In…
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Noah (far right with braces) was asked to fill in with the 8U Black Cats this weekend. I received a Facebook message Tuesday asking if he could play and he jumped at the chance to play with a couple old teammates. The boys played well, had a ton of fun, and in the end got eliminated by the eventual champions in the semi-final. So what’s…
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When I was new to the plumbing industry and working on the sales counter in a supply house I wasn’t particularly good at my job. Half the time I didn’t know what the plumber was asking for and the other half the time I couldn’t figure out how to pull it up in the system to put it on the sales order. This was quite…
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After our recent battle and loss to the Texans I made a comment during the post-game talk that some may have thought was odd. I mentioned to Cole that I was glad he got to experience being the last out of a tournament. I told him Noah has been that guy twice this season and I’m glad he got to be that guy as well….
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Last fall I took John O’Sullivan’s Coaching Mastery course. I loved all the great content, expert interviews, and the community interaction. Going into a big tournament this weekend this equation from the first module comes to mind: “Performance = Potential – Interference” The most common forms of interference on game day are the stress and pressure of winning, the stress and pressure of the big…
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