Completing the Total Athlete

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.

One of the worst experiences as a sports parent was the year my son, Kyle, wrestled when he was in the 1st grade. We’d go to these all day tourneys. Get there at 6:30 am for weighins… first match starts at 8:45. Over 15 seconds later as Kyle gets pinned by a kid 7 years older but who weighs the same as a 1st grader. Next match is at 11:00. That too, is over 30 seconds later as Kyle gets pinned again. Next match 2:30. This time Kyle pins his guy in 20 seconds. Last match starts at 5:30 and once again Kyle gets pinned in under 15 seconds.
Hours spent at a wrestling match…12.
Total time watching your son wrestle… 90 seconds.
Watching him get turned into a pretzel… priceless.
Well not quite a Mastercard moment.

Of all of the sports to watch your kid play, wrestling was the most difficult to watch. There is this incredible anxiety of who is he going to wrestle? “Oh please let it be a girly boy!” Please let him wrestle the kid who flops on the ground and giggles every time someone touches him. (That was me during my brief but notable wrestling career) Unfortunately most times it was the tall lanky farmboy w/ the crew cut who proceeds to
introduce Kyle’s right ear to the back of his left ankle. It took every ounce of restraint for me to stop from running onto the mat and smacking that kid around. As I’m watching this I’m thinking to myself, ”What if he is in the army and has to be able to do hand-to-hand combat, he’s going to die!” Needless to say that wrestling was a one year experiment in humility.

My hats off to all of you wrestling parents out there. Not only are you dedicated and willing to spend entire weekends at meets, but you control the anxiety that you must fell before every match. That’s a lot of control!!!

If you go to any bookstore’s Sports section, chances are that you will see a disproportionate number of coaching books written by basketball coaches. Seriously, check it out next time you’re in Barnes and Noble. So that got me thinking, “Why is that?” Do basketball coaches have a secret formula on great coaching? What is it about basketball coaches that make them so good at teaching other coaches how to coach?

Several factors make coaching basketball the “Latin” of coaching, My sense is that if you can coach basketball, you should be able to easily pick up and coach other team sports even if you have never played that sport. Why?

The classroom setting: The basketball court is a fairly enclosed space that is relatively small. One coach can easily be heard within those confines. Resembles a classroom. You’re not spread out on a football field. There is 1-2 coaches per 12 players allowing for maximum communication.

The fundamentals of basketball transfer over to other field sports where the goal is to score points/goals. Fundamentals such as the athletic position are common in many sports. The concepts of cutting, screening and switching/reversing the attack are also common. Looking for the 3v2 and 2v1’s are similar. The fundamentals of playing man to man defense, seeing man and ball, and shading towards ball side are all common with lacrosse and soccer.

All of the players need to learn the same basic concepts, cutting, screening, shooting, and defense. Compare this to football where you have the linemen, running backs, QB’s…all learning and focusing on different fundamentals. Baseketball is pretty much the same. Of course the post players may practice their post moves while the guards practice their dribbling. However, many coaches are not labeling players as guards and forwards. There are many offenses and defenses where the players are interchangeable.

So for all of you basketball coaches out there just starting your season, realize what your teaching these players will carry over to other sports. How you teach them will help you coach those other sports as well.

Maybe you have noticed that the video quality of Kudda has improved. Starting with the videos from 2 months ago, Kudda has invested in upgrading the quality of all of the new videos. When Kudda first launched 3 years ago, we were concerned about the file size and streaming costs. Understand that this was right at the beginning of the video revolution on the web. Most conventional video players were smaller as we took our lead from Youtube.
What has happened since then is the abundance of band width and the decrease of streaming costs. More and more sites have larger video players, higher quality and clearer videos. We went with a larger video player last September but our videos started to look a bit grainy in this larger player.
Kudda spent a great deal of time and resources trying to increase our video quality without increasing the file size. Our first batch of these new videos was Dan Kallaugher on Faceoffs in boys’ lacrosse. We have since added a huge addition to our wrestling section and lots of new videos for girls’ lacrosse.
The video quality was just aesthetic improvement as we have always felt that the quality of our coaches is the best on the web!
We hope that our viewers appreciate the improved quality of the videos.

Calling all coaches… is it me or are the players today lacking a lot of the fundamentals? Watching kids catch and throw the wrong way is becoming the norm. I remember my oldest daughter’s lacrosse team being very smooth, catching and throwing at ease when they were at the Midget level. Now my youngest is in this age and her teammates really struggle w/ the basics. They can’t catch. They don’t practice a lot on their own. Yet…they seem to play a lot of games, at least according to their parents. Maybe too many games and not enough practice?
Coaches all understand the balance between practice, where we build the fundamentals, and playing games, where parents get to see their children showcased.
It appears that the balance point between practice and games has shifted way over to playing games rather than practicing. Who has time to practice with so many opportunities to play in elite leagues and tournaments? There must be a reason why 10 year olds need to play 30 games a year? We’re too busy playing games to be able to practice.
As a result, our kids are lacking in the proper fundamentals.
Please note that Tiger Woods spent most of his youth practicing on the range than actually playing rounds of golf. It wasn’t until he acquired a certain mastery of a shot that he would even try to play it during a round. And where did he learn that mastery? Practicing… not playing. Perhaps the Tiger-esq training would better serve our players.

My coaching resources are drying up. I’ve been fortunate that over 40 coaches have contributed their content. Many of these were coaches I had worked with or friends of friends who believed in the idea of a free resource for coaches. I do have 3-4 coaches ready to go…just a matter of actually doing the videotaping. However, reaching out to new coaches… total strangers and convincing them that contributing their time and content to the site will help coaches all over…tough to do. Main question is “Will I get paid?”
It takes about 2 hours of their time to do the actual video work. It may take them a few hours before gathering their ideas, arranging for players and fields… but after the video session, I do everything else. The coach is pretty much finished except dealing w/ the paparazzi with their new found fame as being a Kudda-coach.
So I’m hoping that there are a lot of other coaches who would love to contribute and help grow their sport. I’m very interested in getting coaches from Field Hockey, and Ice Hockey to contribute. I’m just not connected with those coaches and those communities to be able to even start.
If you’re interested or know of a great teacher or coach, please contact me at joe@kudda.com
Thanks

For all of these, please check the dates

Rutgers MVP- June 13-15th… Run by Rutgers University is a team camp. Players stay at one of the many campuses at Rutgers in AC dorms. Teams check in on Friday w/ their first game that night. They have 3 more games on Saturday w/ one last game Sunday before playoffs begin. They have 10 fields and lots of teams in attendance. At each of the fields they had 4-5 college coaches w/ more watching the better teams. I would recommend skipping staying in the dorm and just staying in a hotel in your parents. Parents are already paying for a hotel to stay… save some bucks and stay w/ parents. Try to get other parents to do the same. Plenty of hotels around the area. Pretty isolated campus as far as finding a close place to eat. Actually have to go downtown as there is nothing convenient.

Top 205, June 21-24? is run by Tony Seaman, Tierney and Cottle. Hosted at Towson University. Players stay overnight in the dorms which have AC.
In order to get into this camp, HS players need to be recommended by their HS coach. I’m not sure if there is a limit of how many recommendations each coach can submit, I’m thinking eight for some reason. Players arrive on a Saturday and there is a tryout/evaluation that night w/ team selections taking place. Sunday morning is a team practice followed by 2 games later in the day. There are 3 games Monday w/ a final game on Tuesday morning. The teams are coached by college coaches from different levels. There are 4 fields that have games but most of the coaches stayed on the 2 adjacent fields so they could watch a half of one game and then turn their chairs around to watch the other game. There seemed to be 75-100 coaches watching those games. If you’re not scheduled to play on that field…chances are slim that college coaches will see you play.
There is an All-Star game scheduled, although it was canceled last year due to the New York players having to leave early to take their exams.

Ultimate Performance Lacrosse- June 27 & 28
Run by John Tillman and Charlie Toomey. They have 2 sessions. From a parent’s point of view, this is the best camp/tourney. Teams have 4 games during the day with an hour off in between. Simply a round robin format with no playoffs… just play. Make sure to bring extra middies as it is hot and they play a lot of lax in a short amount of time. Lots of college coaches are there with the majority of them hanging out at the stadium field. If you’re out of town, Annapolis is a short drive and I would recommend staying near there. Especially if you’re playing on both days. They also have another tourney in the Fall with the same format and exposure. The Fall tourney is key for those juniors trying to get seen one more time.

Gait Cup- July 2-5. Run by Gettysburg College. Players stay in the dorms…some have AC while others do not. Club teams sign up and are guaranteed 7 games. The first 5 are round-robin and then teams are seeded for a tournament.
Teams arrive on Wednesday afternoon with the first games played Wednesday night. They have 3 more Thursday and 1 more Friday morning before playoffs. Depending on the field location, you could have 8-10 college coaches watching or on some fields…none. Seems that some teams didn’t get to play on the high-visibility fields while others were always there. I didn’t see as many college coaches as I have seen at other tourneys.
There is also an All Star game Friday night which is well attended by college coaches, as well as all of teams. Very supportive crowds!!!
Unfortunately, the scheduling of this camp coincided w/ July 4th weekend as well as the Anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg. Getting around Gettysburg and trying to find a hotel room was very difficult.

Shootout- July 20-23. This is also a team camp…more so HS teams instead of Club teams. Run by Don Zimmerman at UMBC and Dave Ulrich from Georgetown. Teams play 1 game Sunday w/ 3 each on Monday and Tuesday. There is one more on Wed as well as a playoff game or two. They have 4 games going on at a time and there are 15-20 college coaches at each of the games. Very easy to get in and out of. Very easy to watch other teams play before or after team plays. Plenty of hotels in area.

Like a lot of you, I’m in that one week of the year where I’m in between seasons. Just finished coaching the U-13 girls basketball and am getting ready for U-13 girls lax which starts next week. As I’m getting fired up for the lax season, I find myself going through some advice that the Kudda coaches have given in regards to the start of the season. Fun and Fundamentals!!! Coaches have got to stress the fundamentals while keeping it fun. Still need to do the shuttle lines and passing drills but also need to make sure we have time in practices to scrimmage and just play. I had the pleasure of working with Brian Duncan, head coach at Essex Junior College, last week and he offers more advice about early season practices. Scroll down the clinics list to Brian Duncan.

You can also check out the a previous post for Youth Practice Plan below.
Here is a recommended time for each of the areas w/in a 2 hour practice.
Warmup 10 min
Stickwork 15 min
Ground Balls 10 min
Transition 15 min
Position 10 min
Settled ½ field 15 min
Full field 20 min
Special..EMO, Shooting 15 min

Yet, another eye-opener of a book is Michael Sokolove’s Warrior Girls. Sokolove looks into the alarmingly high rate of injuries in girls participating in sports and investigates why this is happening. With the advent of Title IX which opened the door for women to reap the benefits of playing sports in college, the discovery and subsequent discussion of the high rate of injuries to girls has been met w/ mixed feelings. For those proponents of Title IX, there is a fear that any discussion that suggests that girls are not capable of playing sports will damage all of the gains made in the last 30 years. So even top officials w/in women sports are reluctant to admit that this is an issue. However, one can’t argue the facts that Warrior Girls brings out
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.

I also just finished reading Meat Market by ESPN reporter Bruce Feldman. Feldman spent a year embedded with the University of Mississippi’s football coaches as they went through the process of recruiting their players. Although there were far too many names of both coaches and players and it was hard to keep everyone straight, the book did a great job of exposing all of the ins and outs of the recruiting process. Now granted, recruiting in the SEC might be a little bit more competitive than other conferences, but it was interesting to see this process from both the players’ and the coaches’ perspectives.
Some highlights of the book…
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.