How the Green Bay Packers Use PCA Principles...and a Unique Offer From Packers President Mark Murphy
Mark Murphy, PCA National Advisory Board Member and President and CEO of the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers, leads an operation that relies heavily on PCA principles.
Click the video screen above to learn why Mark supports PCA so strongly that he has contributed a Lambeau Field Pilgrimage to PCA's 10th Annual National Youth Sports Awards Dinner and Auction Sponsored by Deloitte.
Whether or not you attend our April 7 event, you may contact PCA's Valerie McCarthy to bid on any of our auction items, including the Lambeau Field Pilgrimage, which offers four game tickets, pre-game field passes and a private stadium tour (including the fabled "frozen tundra") with Mark.
Click here for more information about all our auction items.
Click here to buy tickets to the dinner.
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Ask PCA: Honoring the Game When the Opponent Does Not
You sent great, specific answers to our most recent "Ask PCA" question about the right amount of sideline instruction during game action. To review that question and PCA's answer, you can continue scrolling through this item, but for now, consider this week's question:
How Can We Honor the Game When the Opponent Does Not?
"In our indoor soccer league (multi-town - so no guarantee of program consistency), we played an opponent that wasn't honoring the game. One of their players frequently fouled our players, trying to elicit a response and 'trash talking.' One of our team parents asked, 'How can we respect an opponent that doesn't respect us, the rules, or the officials?' I was hard pressed to answer. Any advice on how to handle?"
-- Name Withheld By Request
Following is the previous "Ask PCA" question and PCA response:
"Coaching U-8 soccer, we direct players a lot on the field (tell them where to go, praise them, provide feedback, etc.). Should we be that verbal during the game, or just talk with players on the sideline and at the half? I want to encourage, but not distract them, and I want them to have fun."
PCA Response by Molly Hellerman, PCA Trainer, San Francisco
 Coaching the younger age groups can be challenging, but by working to create a positive experience for your team, you can have a tremendous impact on their future sport trajectory! You hit the nail on the head by suggesting that your number-one goal was to make sure that they are having fun.
Any player will tell you that constant chatter from a coach is never fun (regardless of the age). But positive, encouraging effort-based instructive comments definitely increase the enjoyment of the game. So, while the frequency and timing of your comments during the game ultimately depend on your coaching style, I would encourage your coaching from the sidelines to focus on truthful and specific comments.
In particular, try to tie the comments to effort-based skills you worked on during practice. ("Juan, way to stay wide! Just like we've been working on!)
These types of comments help fill your players' Emotional Tanks and give them a sense of control in the game. When players' tanks are full, they can take in more information, and when they feel as though they are in control, they work harder and stick with it longer...because they are having fun!
(PCA Trainer Molly Hellerman played collegiate soccer and then went on to play in the W-League (US) and in the Premier League (UK). Over the last 15+ years she has coached the full spectrum of players ranging from first time youth soccer developmental programs through D1 collegiate teams.)
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Responsible Sports Parenting Tip: Relax!
Overly excitable parents -- especially those reacting to officials' calls -- can mar the youth sports experience. More importantly, they fail to grasp the teachable moment that would help them show and tell their children how to handle adversity.
Click the video screen above for more on the topic from USA Wrestling Freestyle National Coach Steve Fraser as part of the Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports Program Powered by Positive Coaching Alliance.
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My Youth Sports Story: Play for the Love of It by Gloria Averbuch
What's more satisfying, and more beautiful, than watching our children "get it?" The 'it' is the deep and lasting understanding of why they play sports and what those sports can ultimately give them.
I got to experience that when my daughter Yael -- now 24 years old and playing for the U.S. National Women's Soccer Team and the Western NY Flash of Women's Professional Soccer -- gave a speech to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. Yael's speech has made the rounds on the Internet (and, I am proud to report, has just been requested to be reprinted in an educational college textbook). Here is a paragraph from that speech:
As I learned the night of the 2008 national championship, if everything that you do, day in and day out, is solely building for a single moment -- what becomes of it all when that moment has passed? It is this perspective that I have gained during the past year, and which I hope to carry with me throughout my life: Ideally, what we do in each moment should have value in and of itself. We should train just for the sake of training, play just for the sake of playing, and live just for the sake of living.*
Yael's message underlies everything positive that parents and coaches hope to give their athletes:
- An appreciation of what Yael calls in her speech "the process," so that they can apply love of process beyond sports to the even-more-important endeavors in their future lives.
- The value of playing, just for playing--whether or not you make a team, win the game, or hoist a trophy. All of that is fleeting, as Yael has come to understand.
- Knowledge that success is temporal. There is always another competition to win, or lose; always another team to which to aspire. And there are no guarantees. Ever. But what is permanent, and what is guaranteed, is the experience of playing, and all that it entails.
How we communicate this to our children can be as simple as our own understanding and consciousness of it. I recall a day many years ago, with my daughters, both elite soccer players and best friends on and off the field to this day. I was watching them during a casual "kick around" with each other at the local school field. Suddenly, I recalled all the hours at the neighborhood playground with my dad and my brother, enjoying myself while honing my athletic skills.
As the sun was setting, and my girls and I walked toward the car, I found myself telling them, "Don't ever forget there was a moment like this, when the grass was so amazingly green, and the sun was bright, and your mom was 'shagging balls' for you."
I hope that one day, they will remember the moment as fondly as I did, and understand it as a gift, as well as an enduring lesson of why we play.
(Gloria Averbuch is the Editor-in-Chief of Points Sports Health website. To read Yael's complete speech, visit the Women's Professional Soccer League website.)
For more "My Youth Sports Story" articles, click here.
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