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PCA Connector
 
July  7, 2011
 
David Jacobson, Editor

In This Issue:
External Evaluation Reports Change In Behavior of PCA-Trained Coaches
Register for "Elevating Your Game" Webinar
Responsible Coaching Tip: Effort-Based Statistics
Ask PCA: Parents Discussing Game Performance With Their Children

External Evaluation Reports Change In Behavior of PCA-Trained Coaches

 

CHAMPSMore proof of the power of PCA training comes from an external survey of coaches trained in PCA Double-Goal Coachlive group workshops through The Boston Foundation's CHAMPS Boston program: 95 percent of the coaches would recommend PCA training, and 83 percent reported that PCA training impacted them "significantly." 

 

Commented Allison Bauer, Senior Program Officer for The Boston Foundation: "We have coaches who have been coaching a long time, and some of them thought they had nothing more to learn. They thought they would be talked at, and they didn't want to be there, and yet they were the ones saying, 'This was one of the best trainings I've ever attended,' and 'I wouldn't want to miss the next part of the training.'

 

"I attended the workshops and saw people go from sitting there with their arms crossed to being fully engaged. Eric Eisendrath (the PCA Lead Trainer who conducted the workshops) is fantastic. He brings tremendous experience to the training. We want Boston to be a mecca for youth sports, and we really want the culture we are establishing to be a Double-Goal Culture."

 

Other findings in the report by the evaluation firm of Mendelsohn, Gittleman & Associates, LLC showed that a vast majority of the coaches surveyed (83 percent) reported using the coaching tools presented at  the workshops. The key shifts in behavior were coaches reporting an increase in their "providing encouragement and positive reinforcement to players" and in "asking players for their input and suggestions."

 

The biggest shifts in coaching behavior showed coaches talking much more frequently with their players about:

 

  • "giving their best effort"
     
  • "respecting opponents"
     
  • "respecting teammates"
     
  • "having fun"
     
  • "respecting the rules of the game."

Qualitative feedback from the surveyed coaches included:

 

"What surprised me was how deep this program is. When I was asked to attend, I said to myself, 'I know how to coach and I know how to treat the kids.  Why do I have to go have someone tell me what I am supposed to do?'  But after the first 30 minutes, I was very into it."

 

"What I found helpful was when people gave their ideas on how to deal with real life situations. I think it is great hearing different ways to go about doing certain things, and I think you learn more that way."

 

PCA Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson summarized his view of the findings: "We have years of anecdotal evidence and feedback from individuals who say our workshops are transformative. It is gratifying to see overwhelmingly positive numbers in an external quantitative survey, and I loved the positive comments from the coaches involved."

 

Click here to read the full report.

 


  

EYG CoverIf you have ever read a great book and wanted the author to elaborate, you are going to love PCA's first-ever Elevating Your Game webinar, open to the general public, in which PCA Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson discusses his most recent book, Elevating Your Game: Becoming a Triple-Impact Competitor.

 

There is no charge for this one-hour webinar scheduled for Tuesday, July 12 at 3pm Eastern Time (2pm Central, 1pm Mountain and noon Pacific).

 

Jim will discuss key points of the philosophy and practices that help teen athletes impact sports on three levels by working to improve themselves, teammates and the game as a whole. Coaches, parents and athletes participating in the webinar will learn how to:

  • Improve performance by focusing on effort and learning rather than results
     
  • Become the kind of leader who makes those around you better
     
  • Summon moral courage to elevate the game when it matters most.

Click here to register!

 

Click here to purchase Elevating Your Game.

 

 

Responsible Coaching Tip: Effort-Based Statistics

Effort_Stats_Screen 

 

As a coach, you want maximum effort from your players, especially those proverbial plays "that don't show up in the box-score." One way to generate such hustle: make sure those plays do show up in your box-score!

 

Click the screen above for pointers on tracking and rewarding effort-based statistics from Ken Martel, Director of the American Development Model for USA Hockey, as part of the Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports Program Powered by Positive Coaching Alliance.

 

Ask PCA: Parents Discussing Game Performance With Their Children

Thanks for your answers to our most recent "Ask PCA" question about motivating nine-and-10-year-olds. To review that question and PCA's answer, you can continue scrolling through this item, but for now, consider this week's question:

 

When Should Parents Discuss Game Performance With Their Children?

"As a parent, when is it best to discuss game performance with our high schooler? This is a debate between myself (a former coach) and my wife, who has a great understanding of the game. She wants to discuss our son's performance with him right after the game, but I think it should wait until later -- not during the walk from the field to the car, especially after a tough outing."
-- No Name Please

 

Comment on this topic on the "Ask PCA" blog.


 

Following is the previous "Ask PCA" question and PCA response:  

 

Struggling to Motivate Nine-and-10-Year-Olds

"On the 9-and-10-year-old baseball team I coach, two players seem like they don't even want to be there. I encourage them a lot, spend additional time with them, try to motivate them, and have talked with their parents about the issue, but nothing seems to work. I am tired of repeating myself and am tempted to just teach them how to draw a walk, crowd the plate and bunt. I'd rather teach them the full spectrum of the game, but I don't want the team to continue to suffer. How can I approach this problem and best finish out the season with these two players?"

 

PCA Response by Mike Farley, PCA Trainer, Milwaukee

 

Mike FarleyUnmotivated play is tough to tackle. You might start by making sure that these two do not feed off of each other by putting them in positions separate from each other (even in the batting order).

 

At 9-10, mom and dad may have placed them in baseball for you to babysit. That's not fair, but it does happen. Your frustration is because their (parents and children) expectations are not your expectations.

 

Still, your job is to coach... and to teach. That doesn't necessarily mean these two little guys will learn how to hit-and-run or turn a double play. It simply means that you need to find a way to help them master what they can master. At PCA, focusing on mastery is crucial in helping all athletes become winners. Inactivity and inattentiveness is not "winning" behavior. So how can you teach a life lesson about participation?

 

You may need to get back to the most basic of basics... that baseball is fun.  Inject more fun into practices, for example, by turning drills into mini-competitions. Teaching these players how to draw a walk, crowd the plate and bunt may be as far as you can move them toward their potential, and if it keeps the game fun and interesting and helps them feel a success that keeps them coming back for more baseball, so be it.

 

You might also use the "buddy system," pairing players to cheer each other during practices and games and "catch each other" doing things right, so that emotional tanks are fuller and even the two players in question stay more attuned and engaged.

  

Whatever you do, don't give up on these players out of frustration. Regardless of the players you have, your job is to continue to coach and teach through the final at-bat of the season. Making a breakthrough, even a small one, with these players in the time left will provide you and them with great life lessons.

 

(PCA Trainer Mike Farley is a former pro football player and longtime youth sports coach.)

 

Read all the Ask PCA blog comments on this question.  

 

Ask PCA your youth sports coaching and sports parenting questions, at [email protected].  

 

Support PCA and Have Your Donations Matched
 

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.

 

If you value the ideas, tips, and insights we share in this PCA Connector e-newsletter, kindly consider donating to PCA.

 

Thanks to several generous PCA supporters, donations made before August 31 will be matched 1:1 up to $25,000.  Give now and have twice the impact.

 

 

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