THE GOOD, BAD AND UGLY OF COACHING YOUTH SPORTS

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Coaching my son's team is a great bonding experience
Coaching my son’s team is a great bonding experience

As a father, one of the best bonding times I’ve ever had with my sons has been coaching their sports teams. Unfortunately, it also has been one of the most trying times and has tested my resolve and patience more than once. On top of all that, you have the dreaded “parents” to deal with which can really make or break your love of coaching pretty quickly. (I know, I’ve been a  dreaded parent myself before as well). I’ve been coaching my boys football and baseball teams going on 10 years now and I’ve had my share of ups and downs so I’ve put together a few do’s and don’t below that will hopefully help you along your journey or get you started on this rewarding role.

The Good 

The good is the reason you coach, it’s what makes all the other stuff tolerable and if you get enough of it you may even continue coaching. 

coaching football, coaching polo
Donning my custom coaching polo as we get game ready on Saturdays.
  • First and foremost, the ability to positively influence a group of athletes I’m coaching is #1 on my list.  Win or lose, if I can get a bunch of kids together and see weekly progress in the team and in the athlete personally and see visible improvements by season’s end, I will walk away feeling like I’ve done a great job and believe it’s by far the most rewarding aspect of coaching. 
  • The Development of Character is a very close second because sports teaches life skills like nothing else in the world can. Being a team player, helping others, lifting your teammate up when they are down, getting up time and time again after falling and how to handle both victory and defeat like a champion. Character is what makes a boy a man or a girl a woman and I get to be a part of that maturation. 
  • The Memories.  For the rest of their lives, they will look back and remember their teammates as well as their coaches taking the time out to mentor them, push them and get the best out of them when they were young and long after you’re gone, these precious memories will live on. How’s that for a legacy!

The Bad

Unfortunately not all of your interactions with your players will be great.  I’ve been blessed enough to have coached some amazing kids in my time but I have ended up at times doing more damage than good. Major Payne is a funny movie but nobody wants a real life Major Payne coaching their kids.  In order to avoid this costly mistake you need to focus on a few things

  • Never make the game more important than the kid’s. “IT’S JUST A GAME”.  If you find yourself wanting to strangle a kid you are probably taking the game too seriously.
  • Encourage your kids constantly- point out the bad but when they fix it make sure to encourage them for it repeatedly.  If you want a behavior to continue, encouragement is your best weapon.  Most athletes do not respond well to criticism unless it’s limited and immediately followed up by encouragement when they do it right. 
  • Be prepared- It’s easy to say it’s just a game and not come in ready each game but that’s an attitude you need to drop if you’re going to coach.  You need to be understanding and encouraging to your players but as the coach you need to make sure you are always ready and prepared.  Believe me, the kids and parents all know when they have a dud coach and you don’t want to be that guy. 

The Ugly

The parents, some can really be that bad. To be fair, you get a lot of great and supportive parents, but there is rarely a time that I’ve coached where I didn’t get at least one or two critical and divisive parents.

The worst ones are the parents that scream and put their kids down during the games. If you want your kid to hate you when they grow up, congrats you are well on your way when you do that. There’s also the average athlete parents that think their child is the team MVP.  I can see them after every game creeping around the group with a frown on their face before hearing those dreaded words “coach can we talk for a minute?” 

The last thing you want after coaching for two hours and pouring your heart out is Karen’s lecture on how you clearly don’t see that their kid is the best kid on your team and you need to be playing them more than your “favorites”.  My favorites according to Karen are always the best 2 or 3 players on the team and the only reason I’m playing them according to Karen is because I like them and not because they are any good. 

I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that every season I’ve coached I’ve thought about being done with it for good because of the parents which is why you really need to make the good count. Times like this, I have to put myself in Karen’s shoes and appreciate that they are being their kids number one fan, which is something to be admired. I also look to my assistant coach/coaches for input so we can address the parents concerns and do our best for the kid. Sometimes, no matter what I do, it will not be good enough for Karen. 

The kids look good in their league provided football jerseys. For your own  custom football jerseys, check out Allen Sportswear’s custom football uniforms. Disclaimer: Allen Sportswear did not provide the league’s NFL stock jerseys.

Block out all the noise and focus on the kids, get your encouragement from seeing them flourish and don’t worry about Karen watching your every move. If you do this you can have an amazing and rewarding coaching career whether it’s for little leagues or something bigger like high school or college.  You have a chance to change a child’s life and there aren’t many things in this life of ours we can do that will that kind of impact.

Written by: Todd Marinshaw (President/CEO Allen Sportswear, Dad/Football Coach)

Why Uniforms Matter

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When it comes to sports teams nearly every league or coach is faced with the dilemma of looking great or sticking to a set budget. Sometimes you can do both but usually one or the other has to give a little (or a lot) depending on budget. Usually the person in charge will choose to skimp out on uniforms because as long as everyone looks the same what’s the difference anyway right? Wrong.

Multiple studies have shown that what uniform you wear and how you look impacts your mental state and can even impact the game.  Here are a few examples of why

 

Your Uniforms Impact The Other Team – When a team shows up looking good it has a psychological impact on the team they are playing. The other team assumes you must be good based off of your looks and will come out playing less confident. On the other hand, when your opponent sees you wearing something that looks like it was bought at Walmart and screen printed they automatically assume your team is a bunch of scrubs and they come out swinging, fully expecting to win and that gives them the psychological edge.why-uniforms-matter-2

 

Your Uniforms Impact Your Own Players – Research has shown that when a player is dressed in what they feel is a superior uniform they not only have more confidence but actually believe they can lift more and run faster. How does this translate to wins?  Belief is a power tool for a coach and will give the players the confidence they need to pull off close games in the end. The players are more likely to be aggressive and less likely to get down if you start losing. All these variables factor into more wins by your confident players.

 

Your Uniforms Impact Future Teams – Getting the best players each year is a challenge for any coach. Not only do your uniforms impact your recruiting but it also impacts your retention rate. Players look around and see what everyone else is wearing, if they are always on the team that looks like garbage they will soon find a team that doesn’t. Unfortunately for that team, the player will usually find their new team by playing against them and taking a mental note of how great and confident that teams looks on the field. So you will end up losing your best player to a rival which really sucks.

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Uniforms are only one factor in a successful team but they are a much bigger factor than most people believe. “Dress like it, play like it” is more than a tagline, it’s a way of life and a key to your future success.




 

 

 

By: Todd Marinshaw. Todd owns and operates a sportswear business based in Orlando, FL and recently founded iPrevail, a non-profit organization focused on relief and rehabilitation for victims of disasters such as Typhoon Haiyan

An Athletes’ New Years Resolution

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Every year we promise ourselves next year will be a better year, but at the end of the year we look back and ask ourselves, did we really change everything we said we would or achieve anything we said we want to do? I think sometimes we think it was a better year, when it really wasn’t, and other times we think it wasn’t when in reality a lot of good things may have happened that we did not even realize. That’s why it is so important to write about what you want to accomplish at the beginning of the year and review it at the end. Here are some keys to making sure this is your most successful year yet.

1. Pick Achievable Goals
If you are a coach and your team only won 1 game this past year,  it is probably not too realistic to be dreaming of  winning a Championship this year. Instead set a goal of getting to .500 or if you are feeling really optimistic, make a goal of having a winning season. If you’re a player and you sat the bench next year, than saying your goal to be a starter is great but don’t stop there, go one further and add the kind of statistics you realistically want to achieve in the upcoming season. Of course it should be everyone’s goal to look better than they ever did on the court and to have the best uniforms but that goes without saying…

2. Define your Goals
Just saying you want to have a winning season does not mean anything. You need to set up how you’re going to have a winning season by developing a step by step plan to make it happen. If you are a player and you want to get better at a certain aspect of your game, then come up with drills and a schedule that will improve the parts of your game that need it the most. When I was playing football in high school I needed to work on my explosiveness, so I set a time 3 days a week to run bleachers in the off season and the next season I went from platoon player to full time starter. It wouldn’t have happened though if I didn’t define how I was going to be a starter the next year and follow through with the plan.

3. Set a Schedule
Your goal will only be attainable when you make the small changes needed to reach that goal. you need to set a realistic schedule for yourself each week or you will be setting yourself up to fail. The schedule should be written down, just like your goal and the steps you will take to reach each goal. When I played basketball I would go out each day and shoot for 2 hours from different spots on the floor so that when game time came I would get to those spots and it would be automatic. My confidence went up and FG% skyrocketed. If you are a point guard than you should schedule a few hours a day out for just dribbling and making passes. If you are a Center than you should be under a basket going over the same post up moves repeatedly so your mind doesn’t have to think when game time comes. For Coaches, maybe a different off season program will be what your players need to get motivated and develop the skill to win more games or even a championship.

4. Don’t Be Upset by Setbacks
Two steps forward and one step back is usually how it goes. When things go wrong or if you are not improving as fast as you think you should that’s when you need to toughen your resolve and keep going; if changing for the better was easy everyone would do it. If you are determined this year to hit the curve ball but it’s just not happening you may want to take a deep breath, talk to another baseball player or coach and start again. You will get there eventually if you don’t lose hope! Just think, when other people are quitting because of their setback and you push through yours then you will be that much better than your competition next year.

5. Get Additional Help or Support
No man or woman can do it alone; Tiger woods has a hitting instructor, Peyton Manning has a QB coach and Bill Belichick has mentors that he talks to. If you want to be great at whatever you are doing you need help from other people and you need to continue to educate yourself by reading books. Even though my competitive playing days are over I still enjoy playing softball and I still need to get help when things go wrong, but as long as I stay humble I will continue to grow and get better at whatever I do.

Happy new year and may this year be your best year!

By: Todd Marinshaw

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New Year Calender