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National Recreation and Park Association Joins PCA Movement
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Positive Coaching Alliance and the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) have established a national partnership that provides educational webinars and resources for park and recreation leaders nationwide.
"Positive Coaching Alliance is thrilled to partner with NRPA," said PCA Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson. "This is a great opportunity to deliver a positive, character-building youth sports experience to the millions of youth served by NRPA-member park and recreation organizations. This partnership is a significant expansion of our movement to transform youth sports."
"The National Recreation and Park Association strives to provide the best resources to our park and recreation agencies," said Krista Barnes, Chief of Marketing and Member Services. "Our partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance is another step in that direction. We look forward to introducing PCA to our members throughout the U.S. and seeing the partnership have a positive impact on the local community."
Specific provisions of the PCA and National Recreation and Park Association partnership include:
- PCA will host two free webinars to educate local park and recreation supervisors, athletic coordinators and coaches. You can register here for the webinar for recreation and park leaders, scheduled for April 13.
- Inclusion of PCA articles and youth sports coaching and parenting tips in the NRPA e-newsletter and website.
- Co-promotion of PCA's online Double-Goal Coach� course to NRPA constituents.
We urge you to urge your local recreation and park leaders to establish local PCA partnerships that will benefit the families they serve and their whole communities through Double-Goal Coaching, Second-Goal ParentingTM and the development of Triple-Impact CompetitorsTM.
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Phil Jackson on The Power of Double-Goal Coaching
An excerpt from the Forward to Jim Thompson's The Power of Double-Goal Coaching
By Phil Jackson
The Power of Double-Goal Coaching, Jim Thompson's latest book, is a terrific, concise summary of the impact a character-focused coach can have -- for a season or a lifetime.
It is a practical book coaches can use to get better results from players while providing an ethically superior approach to competitive sports. When coaches regularly use these positive forms of motivation, they find they have willing, eager athletes on their teams.
I agreed to be the National Spokesperson for PCA when Jim Thompson asked me because I believe so strongly in the kind of sports culture that PCA is fighting for. I am proud of the 10 NBA championship rings that I have earned as a coach, but I also want the success of PCA to be part of my legacy.
As a leader, coach, parent, or athlete, I hope you will make it part of
your legacy also. Together let's transform youth sports to be all it should
be in the lives of our nation's youth.
-- Phil Jackson, PCA National Spokesperson, Head Coach, Los Angeles Lakers
For a sample of the simple, easy-to-use type of advice in The Power of Double-Goal Coaching, continue reading the next item about Positive Charting.
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Coaching Tip: Use Positive Charting to Catch Players Doing Things Right
As a coach, have you found yourself in the trap of thinking "coaching equals correcting"? Too often, we feel we add value primarily by seeing players doing things incorrectly and then working to correct them. But it is of great value to "catch players doing things right" and then reinforce them. Positive Charting helps you do so.
It also creates a wonderful positive atmosphere in which players are more receptive to being corrected because they already feel appreciated. Effective Positive Charting helps you reach the Magic 5:1 ratio, which best keeps players' Emotional Tanks full. Effective Positive Charting helps you reach the Magic 5:1 ratio, which best keeps players' Emotional Tanks full.
Following are instructions for Positive Charting, and you can click on the video screen below to watch PCA Trainer Steve Henderson using Positive Charting with his high school football team, courtesy of the Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports Program powered by Positive Coaching Alliance.
Here's how Positive Charting works:
- Download PCA's Positive Charting Form or make your own form, write the name of each player, and in the space marked "Look-For" write the action you desire from each player (i.e., hustling on defense, boosting teammates spirits, making the extra pass, etc.).
- Whenever you see the desired action note it in enough detail to help you give each player specific, truthful praise. You can also have assistant coaches and injured players help with Positive Charting.
- Strive to find an equal number of positives for each player. You will have to look harder for some players than for others, and you may need to limit the number of comments for the advanced players.
- Be honest. Fight the temptation to make something up or write something that isn't true about any player.
- Review your positive charting with your team and enjoy the positive energy of your players during practice.
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Ask PCA: Addressing Players Who Resent a Highly Praised Teammate
We had amazing responses to last week's "Ask PCA" question about why some PCA-trained coaches still behave badly. Some answers shared deep insight into human nature, and others took a penetrating view into organizational culture.
You can scroll down to read the response by PCA Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson, but, for now, consider this week's question:
My Son and His Teammates Resent the Coach's Favorite Player
"I am a newbie assistant coach of my son's 5th- and 6th-grade lacrosse team, working with a very experienced head coach. He frequently singles out for praise one player, who performs very well and deserves much praise, but seems to get an inordinate amount. My son and some of his teammates are starting to express resentment of the player getting all this praise, including some barbs at that player's expense. As a coach and parent, how can I handle this with my son, all his teammates and the head coach?"
-- In a Pickle
Click here to comment on this topic on the "Ask PCA" blog.
Following is the previous "Ask PCA" question and PCA's response:
"At lunch recently with some sports parents, I mentioned that I was a supporter of PCA. A couple of them were skeptical. They told me their kids had played on teams led by PCA-trained coaches, and they had never seen such badly behaved coaches, abusive to players and parents. Why does that happen and what can be done to improve the situation?"
PCA Response by Jim Thompson, PCA Executive Director
From the beginning, PCA has been about "unfreezing" coaches and refreezing them in new, better coaching behaviors. We discovered that training coaches wasn't enough. We quickly moved to a "systems approach" to work with leaders, coaches, parents and athletes so that the entire system reinforces the behaviors we'd like to see.
Let's consider four kinds of youth coaches.
1) Members of this group embrace PCA methods and tools and quickly integrate them into the way they coach because Double-Goal Coaching is already part of their identity even if they didn't have the specific vocabulary down.
2) The majority of coaches are well-meaning people who haven't developed a robust coaching philosophy and thus are susceptible to the pressures of a win-at-all-cost culture. They are inconsistent in their coaching and sometimes step over a line that they later regret (even if they publicly justify it when criticized).
The good news about this group is that they are also susceptible to a positive coaching culture in the organizations in which they coach. And because PCA tools are research-based and reflect best practices of great coaches, when coaches use them, they work. And they then tend to use them even more, which creates a virtuous circle.
3) Some individuals initially resist change. Because all coaches depend on having an organization in which to coach, many of these resisters will come around if the signals from their organization are consistent. Many famous successful coaches started out as screamers but learned a better way and transformed themselves.
4) People in this category shouldn't be allowed to coach kids. The best training in the world won't change them and the harsh truth is that these folks need to be removed from coaching kids.
Whether the abusive coaches described above fall into category 3 or 4 needs to be determined. While an organization must remove any Category 4 coaches, a Category 3 coach may be improved through the tenets of Social Learning Theory.
Social Learning Theory says that people learn how to behave in groups by watching what others do and seeing what happens. So standing quietly by as a coach abuses or bullies players is not going to get us to the youth sports culture we all want.
I caution anyone reading this that I do NOT recommend taking action that might escalate into a conflict. Here are some things observers of abusive coaching can do:
1) Register your discomfort with the coach's behavior. This is best done in private. You can simply say as calmly as you can something like, "That is not the kind of coaching that is going to get the best from your players." Or you can politely ask the coach how his behavior aligns with PCA tenets. "Is yelling at your players consistent with being a Double-Goal Coach?" How and whether you have this kind of conversation with a coach depends on many things, including whether you know the person personally. And I emphasize that you should not do this if it runs the risk of escalating the situation.
2) If talking to the coach does not help, let him or her know you plan to take this up one level and talk to his or her supervisor. When you talk to the coach's supervisor, whether that is the school athletic director or principal or chairman of the YSO board, say what you saw and ask if that is the kind of coaching behavior the school or organization desires. I have found from past experience that often the supervisor is not aware of the bad behavior. In other cases, the supervisor would prefer to ignore it and hope it doesn't cause a problem. You raising the issue makes it harder to ignore. Even if it doesn't result in immediate action, over time it may lead to change, especially if the supervisor hears from others similarly concerned.
3) Ask the organization to implement a feedback process to give players and parents a chance to comment on coaches' behavior. PCA has collaborated with Liberty Mutual on the Responsible Sports Season Evaluation tool that makes it easy for any school or YSO to implement an evaluation process.
We have recently begun to use the phrase "Live it. Teach it." It is not enough for a coach, parent or athlete to just live out PCA ideals. If we are to change the culture of youth sports, each of us who believes in the power of sports to create Major League People needs to let others know about our commitment to PCA principles and hold each other accountable. So, live it, yes! And teach it.
Read all the Ask PCA blog comments on this question.
Ask PCA your youth sports coaching and sports parenting questions, at AskPCA@positivecoach.org.
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Support PCA
PCA is a non-profit committed to transforming youth sports so that all athletes through high school age can benefit from the life lessons that are uniquely available through sports.
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