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Connector -- February 10, 2009
In This Issue:
 
Ask PCA: How Can I Help My Son Motivate His Teammates?
 
Win a Free PCA Online Partnership for Your Organization
 
Excerpt from Jim Thompson's Positive Sports Parenting: It's All About Effort
 
Soccer Hall of Fame Taps National Advisory Board Member Joy Fawcett
 
Survey on Ethics and Values in Sports
 
Ask PCA: How Can I Help My Son Motivate His Teammates?
Thanks to all of you who replied to our first "Ask PCA" question. Here is the next question in our series:
 
My 7th-grade son has played very competitive soccer and basketball for years, always supporting his teammates. Recently, his coaches in both sports challenged all the players to improve on specific skills, but some players are not trying very hard. As a parent, how can I help my son demand vocally (even angrily, if necessary) that his teammates strive for their potential and do so without alienating himself?
-- Phil Carragher, Glencoe, IL

Click here to answer Phil's question on the Youth Sports Nation blog.
 
 

If you want to "Ask PCA" a question, e-mail [email protected].

 
 
Win a Free PCA Online Partnership for Your Organization

 

To introduce PCA's Online Partnership -- a new partnership format for smaller schools and youth sports organizations -- PCA is conducting a raffle, and you can win one of ten FREE PCA Online Partnerships.
 
Just send an e-mail before February 28, 2009 to [email protected], including your: Name; Organization; Board Position; Phone Number; E-mail Address; City/State.
 
PCA's Online Partnership includes:
  • 25 seats to PCA's Double-Goal Coach Online Course, which earned this praise from Central Texas Youth Football League's Charles Bergh: "Our coaches liked the training modules and the ease of use. We've done live PCA workshops in the past, but our coaches all have different schedules, and this allowed them to get certified on their own schedules."

  • Access to PCA's Monthly Leadership Webinar and "Leadership Roundtable" conference calls, providing your board members with tools and resources to create a positive sports culture

  • From the Ground Up: A Guide for Leaders of Youth Sports Organizations

  • Year-round account management support

  • Monthly e-mail delivery of "2 minute drill" tips to share with coaches, parents and athletes

  • Authorized use of PCA logo

  • Exclusive access to PCA Partner website, filled with tools, resources and best practices.

    Deadline for entry is February 28, 2009.
 
 
Excerpt from Jim Thompson's Positive Sports Parenting: It's All About Effort
PSP_CoverFollowing is an excerpt from Jim Thompson's Positive Sports Parenting: How "Second-Goal" Parents Raise Winners in Life Through Sports. The term "mindset" alludes to a book of that title by Stanford University Psychology Professor and PCA National Advisory Board Member Carol Dweck.

It's All About Effort
Whenever you can, stress to your child how important effort is in helping people improve and learn. Avoid attributing any success your child has to his talent (or intelligence, for that matter) to avoid the talent trap.
 
You can use "You're-the-Kind-of-Person-Who" statements to reinforce the growth mindset in times of failure and success:

  • Failure: "I know you must be disappointed (that you missed a key shot, or that you didn't get selected for the lead role in the play), but one of the things I admire about you is that you're the kind of person who bounces back and keeps trying until you succeed.

  • Success: "I was excited to see your improved play. I think you're getting better because you're the kind of person who works at something until you improve.

Attributing Your Success
Similarly, you can reinforce a growth mindset with your child when you talk about your own work and accomplishments. I remember times when I solved some problem that had long been vexing me or came up with some idea that I thought was especially clever. I sometimes would say to myself, often in front of my son Gabriel, "I am so smart!"
 
Now Gabriel is grown and a successful writer with a robust growth mindset, but I realize I would have done better by him if I had said in those times of triumph, "I worked so hard and it paid off in this good idea!"

 
 
Soccer Hall of Fame Taps National Advisory Board Member Joy Fawcett
Joy_FawcettCongratulations to PCA National Advisory Board Member Joy Fawcett for her recent election to the National Soccer Hall of Fame, where she will be inducted on August 2.

Fawcett, widely regarded as the best defender in women's soccer history, won two FIFA Women's World Cups (1991 and 1999) and two Olympic Gold Medals (Atlanta 1996 and Athens 2004). She played every minute of the World Cup matches in 1991, 1995, and 1999.
 
Her quiet consistency and knack for Honoring the Game (earning just two yellow cards and no red cards in her career) made her an outstanding representative of the Positive Coaching Alliance Movement.
 
That has continued since her retirement from the U.S. National Team, as Fawcett and her husband, Walt, run Mission Viejo, Calif.'s Saddleback United Soccer Club, which has earned PCA's Seal of Commitment for pledging that all the organization's coaches are trained as Double-Goal Coaches.

 
Survey on Ethics and Values in Sports
Our friends at the Josephson Institute of Ethics are conducting a major survey on ethics in sports. The 10-minute online survey asks a number of thought-provoking questions.
 
We hope you enjoy filling out the survey and keep some of your best thoughts in mind when you return to the field, court, gym or pool.
 
For the coaches and parents survey, click here.


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