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Herm Edwards Tip on Team Culture
PCA defines team or league "culture" as "the way we do things here." And PCA National Advisory Board Member Herm Edwards explains in equally simple terms the tenets of the culture he established as an NFL coach in this excerpt from his video shoot for PCA's online courses. Click the screen image above to watch and learn. |
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Ask PCA: Interviewing Coaching Candidates
We received a tremendous response to a hot-button topic in our most recent "Ask PCA" question about coaches text-messaging players. To review that question and PCA's answer, you can continue scrolling through this item, but for now, consider this week's question:
What Should I Look For in a Youth Coach?
"I am on a panel to interview candidates to coach my daughter's U-16 team. Can you provide me some guidelines on what to look for in a coach and what questions I should ask?"
-- Name Withheld
Comment on this topic on the "Ask PCA" blog.
Following is the previous "Ask PCA" question and PCA's response:
My 14-year-old son's travel hockey coach asked all the parents for the kids' cell phone numbers and said he will communicate directly with the kids via text message about newly scheduled practices and games. I was the only holdout, asking the coach to continue e-mailing me and telling him he is not to have direct contact with my son outside of practices and games. The coach has refused to comply, and now my son is missing the coaches' notices. What can we do?
PCA Response by Jim Thompson, PCA Founder and Executive Director
As Michael Gallamore noted in his Ask PCA blog comment, a coach puts himself in jeopardy by texting to players without letting parents know about it. At some level it is similar to a coach being alone with a player which many youth sports organizations have banned. It is usually innocent, but sometimes it isn't, so why would a coach want to put himself in this precarious situation?
I like the idea of a 14-year-old being responsible for changes in his schedule. However, the reality is that there are predators involved with youth sports and it seems entirely reasonable for you to want to be copied on messages from your son's coach to him.
If this means you need to learn to text, then so be it. You might even find it valuable as a way to keep in touch with your son and other family members.
I encourage you to suggest this to the coach. If he isn't willing to copy you, then you take the next step. If there is a chain of command within this organization above the coach, pursue the matter with higher-ups. If there isn't, or if they are not cooperative, I suggest you help your son find another coach and team.
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Earn a $2,500 Responsible Sports Community Grant
One of the best parts of the Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports Program Powered by Positive Coaching Alliance is the Community Grants component. The 14 youth sports organizations that put the most people through the online Responsible Coach Guide and Responsible Sports Parent Guide earn $2,500 each. Also, six school athletic departments will earn $5,000 through the same process.
That's money well spent on anything from field maintenance to officials to end-of-season awards...even your organization's PCA partnership! Because the Responsible Coach Guide and Responsible Sports Parent Guide are based on PCA principles, coaches and parents who use the guides get a great refresher in Honoring the Game that will benefit them, their players and your organization as a whole.
Plus, with the new Community Grants Leaderboard, you can see exactly how many coaches and players you'll need to put through the guides in order to stay in the running for a grant.
Click the video screen above for more information on Responsible Sports Community Grants or to register your organization, click here.
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Giants Win A Victory for Youth Sports Coaches
The San Francisco Giants' World Series win under Manager Bruce Bochy is a victory for youth sports coaches, who can use the occasion to learn and teach many lessons on the meaning of team. All 25 Giants players, as well as management, pulled together in the same direction.
There were no superstars, with the possible exception of Tim Lincecum. Instead, the Giants needed, and got, contributions from every player, no matter how unsung. That should prove something to youth sports coaches who would try to stack their teams with talent, and more importantly, the coaches left with un-stacked teams. Chemistry between players and a team culture set from the top down that values each individual -- so that all players are engaged and ready to give their best and bring out the best in others -- trumps any amount of talent.
Between injuries (Edgar Renteria), inexperience (Buster Posey, Madison Bumgarner), unusual physiques (Lincecum, Pablo Sandoval), aging (Renteria again), and dismissal by other teams (Aubrey Huff, Pat Burrell and Cody Ross), none of all the Giants' heroes fit the normal mold. The Giants' genius is in seeing the beauty of each player, anyway, and finding the time and place for that beauty to shine. "They call us misfits," Lincecum said in one of his postgame interviews. "But we fit well together."
If youth sports coaches can model their teams after the Giants, valuing even the least-talented team members so that they will give their most, millions of youth players can know and feel their true worth as athletes.
-- David Jacobson
As a coach or parent, what lessons will you learn and teach from the Giants' World Series win?
Let us know at PCA's Youth Sports Spotlight blog.
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Nominate Coaches for PCA's Double-Goal Coach Award Presented by Liberty Mutual Insurance
 Do you know a Double-Goal Coach, whose first goal is winning, and whose second, more-important goal is teaching life lessons through sports? If so, nominate that coach for PCA's Double-Goal Coach Award Presented by Liberty Mutual Insurance. Winners of this prestigious national award receive a $250 cash award, a plaque, and recognition in PCA's publications, website and media campaigns as well as on ResponsibleSports.com.
The nomination deadline is December 31, 2010!
Criteria of a Double-Goal Coach
- Redefines "Winner" through a focus on mastery, rather than a scoreboard orientation, teaching players that a "winner" makes maximum effort, continues to learn and improve, and is not stopped by mistakes or fear of mistakes.
- Fills Players' Emotional Tanks, refusing to motivate through fear, intimidation, or shame. Recognizing that a player's "Emotional Tank," like the gas tank of a car, must be full in order to go anywhere, the Double-Goal Coach provides a fuel mixed of five specific, truthful praises for every specific, constructive correction.
- Honors the Game by respecting ROOTS (Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates, Self).
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Support PCA's Annual Fund Now and Have Twice the Impact
A group of PCA supporters including Lakers Head Coach Phil Jackson will match every dollar given to PCA's Annual Fund before Dec 31st up to a total of $80,000.
Support PCA and help us reach our goal of impacting 1.4 million youth in 2011 alone. Donate now and have twice the impact. Click here to support PCA's Annual Fund now. Your participation enables PCA to continue developing winners on and off the field, leading to major league people.
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