Dean Smith’s book, “The Carolina Way” is not a typical “How to coach” book. Rather the book is divided into three parts for each topic.

1. First is Smith explaining a key concept or theme that made his team successful.
2. His former players then add their views as to why that concept or theme was so important to them as players and as people.
3. The last part of each chapter has a business guru explain how to apply that concept to the business setting.

My sense is that the last section, business, was the part that made this book so different and valuable. Many other coaching books make reference to a business setting with a few quick sentences. “The Carolina Way” focuses specific sections to concrete examples of how to apply these themes.

The setup of the book also allows for pleasant change of pacing while you read. Too many coaching books just keep coming at you and telling you more and more strategies until you get overwhelmed. Or they keep repeating the same concept and stories over and over. Smith’s book has a few pages of Smith explaining the theme, several pages of his players discussing that theme and then several pages of the business application of that theme. It’s very enjoyable.

Many of the coaches emphasis Unselfish play. That seems to be a common theme in most successful programs. Here Smith gives lots of concrete examples of how to coach an unselfish team.

A few themes jumped out at me. There’s a chapter on Routines and how routines help build team chemistry. Smith shares several examples of Carolina routines that are part of their tradition and how the players value those routines. One of them is that Carolina players always point to the passer after they score. This helps to reinforce the unselfish style of play. It’s a Carolina tradition to have all bench players stand and cheer for players coming off the court. Another routine that Carolina players had was the “Tired” signal. Coach Smith understood that playing his fast paced, (except for that Four Corners thing) high pressured defensive style of basketball was exhausting and he didn’t want tired players out there hurting his team. He devised a signal for tired players to come out and then be able to go back in when they were ready. This gave the players the right to re-enter when they were ready, rather than waiting for the coach to decide. The last area was on senior leadership. I liked that the seniors reinforced the standards of the team that Smith put into place. I did have mixed feelings about the treatment of the Freshmen which I’m sure is the case in most teams. Seems like there may have been too much senior privilege; first in line to get water, on the bus, on the plane etc. Why do teams dump everything on the freshmen, making them do all of the grunt work? It’s the senior’s team!! Take charge and set the example!

Another theme that I appreciated as a coach hearing from one of the greats is the respect Smith showed every person connected with the team. He treated starters, bench and role players and managers with the same amount of dignity and respect. Too often, coaches focus on the just the starters or the high profiled players. With Smith, that wasn’t the case.

The last them was how during the recruiting of players, Smith never promised playing time. Many other coaches would guarantee and promise the world to recruits. Smith would only promise them that they would be on the team if they worked hard and kept their grades up. My sense is that Smith truly cared about the individual rather than just the basketball player.

Dungy

I just finished reading Tony Dungy’s “Quiet Strength”. It’s a summary of his playing and coaching experience and how his spiritual side has helped guide him. I’m not one to quote scriptures nor do I read the Bible. And I don’t like having that forced down my throat either. Some may find Quiet Strength as having too much Bible connecting to coaching. I found it a pleasant change, a different perspective to coaching. Many of the scriptures and quotes were very relevant to coaching and working with others. The one that I felt was important was how Dungy was explaining to his players that it was the journey to the championship, not just about winning the championship. I believe the Bible quote was something along the lines of, “if you conquer the world, what about your soul… I’ll have to double check the exact wording.
It was a different approach to coaching. It was about here is how to run a team. Great balance between coaching and spiritual side.

For the past three months I have been a book hound for anything that deals with coaching leadership. I’ve read a ton of books written by current and former coaches on how to be a better leader. I’ve also read Dorfman’s Coaching the Mental Game which really helped to spell out the leadership qualities that we should be striving towards. However the most comprehensive and easy to understand book I’ve come across is by Jeff Janssen entitled The Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches. How do you become a coach where your players overachieve because of your leadership qualities? How can you work on and improve those qualities? Janssen answers these questions while providing lots of examples from successful coaches in college and the pros. The leadership and mental approach to sports is going to be the next big revolution in sports.

It seems that athletes are becoming more and more skilled as they are playing their sports younger and younger. They hire personal trainers to help them achieve more speed and strength. What we see today are athletes that are bigger, stronger, faster and more skilled than athletes of 5-10 years ago. My sense is that the next phase of athletic development won’t be based on what happens inside the gym or athletic field but rather on what happens inside a player’s psyche. My sense is that players who can better control their emotions and learn how to lead their teams will be the new “superstar” athletes in the next few years.

Janssen also wrote a book focused on how players can become stronger leaders. The Team Captains Leadership Manual is a must read for all high school, club and college players. Not just the captains; all players.
Kudda highly recommends these two books by Janssen.

• Girls are 8 times more likely to rupture their ACL’s than boys.
• They are more prone to concussions
• They are also more likely to suffer from “Overuse” injuries such as Shin splints, stress fractures and back pain.

Combining research w/ personal accounts of girls who have suffered serious injuries, he is able to weave together a compelling argument that this discussion needs to happen NOW. Other points of interest…

1. Physically and bio-mechanically, girls are very different than boys. Girls walk and run more upright than boys (the whole carrying a baby thing), they have a higher center of gravity which changes their running form, and they have wider hips which changes the angle to their knees. Some research also suggests that the muscles in the legs work and react differently than in boys. Even though physically they are different, all of the training, exercises and conditioning is done with a boy-centered approach.
2. More research needs to be done as to the causes of ACL injuries. Researchers know what happens in certain cases, usually a change in direction that causes the ACL to rupture but there are many other seemingly innocent moments on the athletic fields where this injury occurs. Seems that very small changes in the biomechanics of planting a foot… w/out the needed slight-angle-bend to absorb the shock…instead landing more flat footed and placing all of the force on the knee… seems to be another cause. What causes those small changes which cause the injury? More research needs to be supported.
3. There have been some very effective preventative exercise programs/initiatives started but these have been met w/ low enthusiasm. These programs involve a 30 minutes exercise/stretching/jumping sequence that teams should use prior to their practices/games. For those teams that utilize the program, the rate of ACL injuries to those girls drops substantially and pretty much disappears. This suggests that these programs work. However, coaches and even the players find it very difficult to give up the time in practice to do the program. Perhaps they would rather give up their entire season to surgery and rehab?
4. Where are the parents? In cases where girls suffered multiple ACL injuries, their parents stated that they knew it was dangerous for their daughter to return to sports so quickly but that they couldn’t do anything to stop them. Their daughters were too driven and too stubborn to stay on the sidelines. I guess that the parents found it too difficult to say, “no” to their daughters in order to protect them. Who is calling the shots at home?

Big picture is that there has been this acceptance in women’s sports that 25% of their team members will have a catastrophic ACL injury… it’s just the way it is. What Sokolove’s main point is that this is NOT the way it has to be and with discussions, further research and prevention programs, girls will be able to participate in sports w/out the fear of crippling themselves.

1) Verbal commitments mean absolutely nothing. It is routine for players to verbally commit and then jump ship several times before officially signing with a college. What bothers me is that the players have no sense of what the word, commitment, means. I suppose that verbal commitments are just an archaic tradition left over from the days when a verbal commitment meant something.

2) I have tremendous respect for the coaches and the time they invest in recruiting. Ole Miss has the reputation as the hardest working group of recruiters. They spend thousands of hours watching game and highlight tapes trying to find those players that can help their program. Their analysis of these videos is brutally candid. In one video, they will rip apart a potential recruit for not being flexible enough or quick enough and then for the next player, watch 30 seconds and offer that player a scholarship right on the spot. These coaches also spend all of their time, either coaching Ole Miss, watching recruiting tapes, watching HS football games live, or traveling to meet w/ recruits. There is no off-season or slow-season for these coaches.

3) The importance of grades and character of the player in the process. So many outstanding players can’t play in college because of grades. Now there are lots of ways coaches can try to get around bad grades. There are on-line courses that players can take from BYU which help to increase their GPA… borderline diploma mills. There are post grad/military schools that players can go to for a year until they become eligible… but not a guarantee either. The coaches are also looking at attitudes and work ethics. Many of their recruits get left out because of character issues.

4) National Signing Day is the Day of reckoning for these coaches. This is when all of their efforts get measured. Can you imagine having your emotional well-being, future, and job evaluation be determined by the decision-making-process of an 18 year old?
ESPN has now made this day into a huge event so we’re able to see the antics of these future stars. How many more times do we need to see some selfish kid put on a college hat, take it off and put 2-3 more hats on, trying to build the suspense, before committing. Better yet, why are we glorifying these players and giving them this opportunity?
Overall, good read and very enlightening.

I just finished reading Tom Farray’s Game On. Needless to say, it was an eye opener both as an educator/coach and as a parent. As I was reading I would say to myself, “Yup, that’s me”, or “I did that”.
The basic focus of the book is on our obsession w/ youth sports in the last 15 years and how this has adversely affected our children. Farray explores the rise in tournaments, national championships, and year-round commitments to sports and what effect this new obsession is having on our children. Each chapter in the book is dedicated to that corresponding age where children are pushed into sports. For example, Chapter One deals w/ the rise in parents using in vitro services that are designed to increase the chance of better athletic genes in your baby.

Several ideas/concepts were brought out:
1) Is it genetic or environment? People saw what Earl Woods did w/ Tiger and now every parent believes that with the proper push, that their child will also become the top player in their sport. Therefore, we’re seeing parents signing up their two and three year olds for the local soccer leagues. Parents are trying to prepare their kids at the earliest possible age in hopes of creating their own little Tiger. Now some sports are better the earlier you start. The main example was golf that it’s easier to start younger players w/ the proper swing than it is if you started them later…in their teens. There’s a fear that if you don’t start early, someone else surely is and your kid will be left behind.
2) Not only are parents signing kids up into these structured leagues, but there are now more games and the seasons get longer. Parents feel that it’s advantageous for their 5-6 year olds to be playing 4 games a week. They feel that if they don’t, their child won’t be good enough to be picked for the travel/elite team when their child turns 7. And if they’re not on that team when they’re 7, those kids will be left behind and never be able to play HS or college ball… at least that’s their rationale.
3) According to the research, the children who had birthdays earlier in the year were more likely to be on the Elite travel teams and that those players who had later birthdays were generally left off those teams and eventually left that sport. Our youth sports rewards the early bloomers and those that have birthdays in the first few months of the year…oldest for that age group.
4) Signing them up at an early age is not the problem… it’s the sudden obsession w/ having these 3-4 year olds playing competitive games to the screams and delights of their parents. Farray looks at what other countries are doing w/ youth sports and notes that most of these are not doing any competitive sports until 12-13 years old. Up until then, the focus is on training skill acquisition, creativity and making sure it’s fun. Compare that to the US system or regimented drills and playing competitive games when players don’t have the necessary skills and what we have is pressured situations dominated by over zealous parents.
I’m seeing this right now coaching my 12 year old in girl’s basketball. We have two games/week with no practices. It’s 5 on 5… and it’s a zoo! Are they learning anything? Probably not. What would be better is if we formed a 3v3 league and they just played w/ limited adult interruption. They would get more touches, understand spacing, cutting… all those skills that they need to have to be able to play at the next level. But, imagine the parents when I propose this idea? “Everyone else is playing 5v5, our kids will be at a disadvantage.” Our culture/environment suggests that playing more games is the key to better players whereas the rest of the world realizes that is not true.
5) Parents feel that they have to attend all of their children’s games to “support” their child. What they are really doing is evaluating their children’s performance. Kids pick up on this and realize that they will be critiqued on their performance. Parents feel that this is how to “support” their kid. This creates an environment of pressure and anxiety that takes the fun out of playing. It now becomes parent-focused rather than kid-focused.
6) Farrey also gets into the effect of budget cuts on municipal parks and recreation…usually the first item that gets chopped. As result, there are not as many places for kids to play. There are not as many leagues and options for kids to play. As a result, we see that kids are not playing sports, increasing the country’s childhood obesity rate. He applauds the efforts of Carmelo Anthony in establishing the rec center in Baltimore and suggests that the private sector might be the ones to fill the void left by bankrupt parks and recreation departments.
7) My favorite part of the book was Farrey’s look at some of the governing bodies of sports…including the NCAA, US Olympic Committee and AAU. Farrey asks what if we took away all athletic scholarships and colleges gave away $ based on need. What effect would that have on our youth-sports obsessed culture? And if you want to see an organization just get raked over the coals, read Farrey’s sections on Bobby Dodd and AAU Basketball.