A few days ago I gave you my three rules to live by. Rule number one is to have fun. I was in a coaches webinar with the lead him up Community a few nights ago. One of the tips that Adam Bradley gave us, was to lean into the fun. We've all been there in serious moments with our team, and without warning, something funny happens. Maybe somebody's voice cracks, or two kids have been staring at each other and they just can't hold in their giggles anymore. And there's laughter. And the kids are nerv...
Sep 20, 2022•4 min
A good friend of mine unfortunately is suffering from long Covid. Given that the virus has only existed for just over two years, we don't know whole lot about it. She wanted to know if there was any exercises she should be doing to help facilitate her recovery. This was back in maybe May. So because I wanted to help her, I went down a rabbit hole for several hours a day for about a week, subscribing to physical therapy journals, asking people on social media who I respect , And who are experts i...
Sep 19, 2022•5 min
Tonight my nephew reminded us to listen to the crickets. It’s a good reminder to me to stop at halftime and look at each of my kids. To stop and appreciate loading up the bus, or stretching after practice. I challenge for you is for you to ask yourself what are your crickets? And are you listening to them?
Sep 18, 2022•2 min
There are some philosophies that I’ve adopted over my years that kind of shape my identity and guide my decision-making. They are my ‘north stars’ that I use to answer questions when I’m facing a decision. Some of them are do all the good you can with all the time you have ‘beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself’ be bold It’s a game, they are kids. What goes around comes around I sometimes have a hard time taking time for myself, and especially during soccer, my priorities shift ...
Sep 17, 2022•5 min
I like to end practice with celebrations, that's a tradition that I took from PGC, and my own experiences playing for my former coach. A few weeks ago one of our seniors celebrated a freshman who is continuously dripping sweat, asking for feedback, and clearly wanting to get better. The senior celebrated her for being an example. After we were done clapping, I threw that back on that senior, and said to her, I think that freshman does that because she sees you doing that. You set the tone, and s...
Sep 16, 2022•3 min
Have fun We’ll both work hard to get us better No horsing around/falling If we’re not having fun, what are we doing here? They don’t want to come, I don’t want to see them, and our progress is limited because there’s unnecessary tension . We’ll both work hard to get you better. If you give me 100%, I’ll give you 200%. You gotta be all in. Let’s be safe. We can have fun, we have to be safe.
Sep 15, 2022•3 min
You learn more about a person in an hour of play than you do in a lifetime of conversation. Yesterday we lost 3 to 2 in an overtime, golden goal game against a good opponent. It was a physical game, and fair. The two referees we had, we're older gentleman, each with 20+ years of officiating soccer at the college level. These guys knew what they were doing, and they were courteous Before during and after the game. We happen to have three penalties inside the 18 box during the game. Two are fouls,...
Sep 14, 2022•5 min
What was the last thing you googled? What was the last thing you googled ‘how to do’?. I bet you learned something. Maybe you were sitting on your couch on you phone. Maybe you were putting up a fixture in your house. Maybe you were putting gas in the lawn mower or changing the ink in in your printer. Whatever it was, I BET YOU LEARNED SOMETHING by doing it. What’d you learn in 10th grade algebra ? Maybe formula for the slope of a line? Maybe the quadratic formula? MAYBE they taught you somethin...
Sep 13, 2022•4 min
All the villagers decided to pray for rain together one morning. On the day of prayer, everyone showed up , but only one little boy brought an umbrella. That is faith. Last year in basketball, we were positioned so that by our last game, if we lost it , we’d tie for 1st place, and if we won it, we’d win the conference. It was a game we should win, so my dad and I got t shirts made up designed that said conference champs and the year, and had the box sitting at the end of the bench during the gam...
Sep 12, 2022•3 min
It's really easy to get frustrated when a player shows up late, especially when they haven't given you a heads up that they're gonna be late. The same can be said for kids showing up to class late. I've been guilty of showing up to church late. And I think this is where I heard this phrase. Rather than getting annoyed, or judging that person, or scolding them in front of the group for being late. You simply say, “ I'm so glad you're here is everything OK?” Yeah Coach everything is fine I just ha...
Sep 11, 2022•3 min
I have lost count of the number of emails and conversations that start with ‘i dont want to be that guy/girl/parent/ref/coach/patient/doctor)..and then the proceed to go be that thing. If you really didn’t want to be that guy…YOU WOULDN’T DO IT. I think a much better way to have that kind of conversation is, ‘It makes me uncomfortable to have this conversation with you because I don’t do it a lot. This is important to me so I want to talk about it with you.’ The MOMENT you do the thing you said ...
Sep 09, 2022•3 min
I signed our team up for lead em up this year, that’s a program run by Adam Bradley designed to help build great followership and leadership in an athletic program. The program starts by defining what ‘green’ is. Green is the money team. Green is good, relaxed, flowing. Ultimately , we want to be green, build green. The first thing we do is sit down as a group and define what our green standards are and will be. We talk about what green looks and sounds like. Then when we decide, i send those in...
Sep 08, 2022•5 min
This is a love languages episode. Every year I ask our players how they feel most appreciated. I want them to know that I want to try and make them feel like I appreciate them. People feel loved and appreciated in different ways though. Some love a high five. Some love public praises. Some love a little note that no one else knows about. Some want their picture on the team instagram. Some want their name in the paper and others are mortified if i put them on the instagram or in the newspaper. Th...
Sep 07, 2022•3 min
Yesterday we talked about dedicated, protected time. Along that line, we seem to never have enough time. But what if instead of saying ‘we don’t have time for that’, we rephrased it as ‘that’s not a priority right now’. That simple phrasing will help you and your staff and your team understand where your priorities are at. Think about the last thing you said you didn’t have time for (in the context of your team) For me it was “we don’t have time to interview every candidate for captainship”. If ...
Sep 06, 2022•4 min
One of my business coaches challenged me that in order to grow my clinic, i need to have dedicated, protected time in my schedule every week that i take away from treating patients, and focus solely on my strategy to improve my business and grow it. That phrase, dedicated, protected time she used 3-4x in our conversation. She did that deliberately, because we all know how it goes (i’ve done it so many times i’ve lost track), where we put that 2 hour block in on a Thursday , early afternoon…and t...
Sep 05, 2022•3 min
This is a story that popped up on my facebook feed a few days ago. My daughter starts middle school tomorrow. We've decorated her locker, bought new uniforms, even surprised her with a new backpack. But tonight just before bed, we did another pre-middle school task that is far more important than the others. I gave her a tube of toothpaste and asked her to squirt it out onto a plate. When she finished, I calmly asked her to put all the toothpaste back in the tube. She began exclaiming things lik...
Sep 04, 2022•4 min
“Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ― Howard Thurman I am in the start of soccer season, and although coaching throws my schedule and life into some chaos, man, does it make me come alive. I get excited, and frustrated, and enthusiastic, and driven to be my best when I coach. I think that’s the best example I can set for our kids. What makes you come alive? Are you doing it daily? Are you setti...
Sep 01, 2022•2 min
"To laugh often and much; win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To find the best in others; To leave the world a bit better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch, or a redeemed social condition; To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived; This is to have succeeded". -Emerson “To know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived, this is to ha...
Aug 31, 2022•3 min
Why not make this universe the one where you’re the best version of you? Last week we were driving back from the beach, and we listened to a podcast featuring the physicist Michio Kaku. Stay with me on this because it gets kind of deep and trippy. The idea of a multi-verse is that there are infinite universes, with infinite versions of infinite possibilities. At least that's my understanding of it. As MISSIO was explaining this, I had a thought and said to my husband, if there are infinite unive...
Aug 30, 2022•4 min
In 2016 my new year’s resolution was to make 50 three pointers a week. At that point I was studying for my board exams to become a physical therapist, working full-time as an intern. And knowing that my health and mental health were important, but not necessarily taking the time to take care of those things. I love basketball, and a New Year's resolution forced me to do something that I loved, that was physical activity. It was the best New Year's resolution I've ever had, and the longest one I'...
Aug 29, 2022•5 min
I was just in the grocery store, and I needed to find toll house cookie dough. I searched for a few minutes, and the moment I asked for help, it came in the form of an employee who didn’t know exactly where they were, but pointed me in the right direction. I just find it funny that as soon as I asked for help, what I needed made it self available. That’s the way the world works. When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
Aug 27, 2022•2 min
250 - speak it into existence Have you ever noticed that you text someone, and they say ‘hey i was just talking about you’. That literally just happened to me. I texted a patient last night to check in, and she wrote me back this morning about how she was telling a coworker about me. And then proceeded to offer me some speaking gigs and training for some younger coaches in town , and remembered that she wants to come back in for more PT. I often encourage my kids to manifest their futures. If we...
Aug 27, 2022•3 min
https://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2010/12/07/3085614.htm "The oft-quoted frog-in-boiling-water myth. It claims that frogs cannot sense a slow change in the temperature of the water around them. If you plunge them into boiling water they'll immediately jump out. But if you place them into room temperature water and slowly heat it to boiling, the frog won't notice and will slowly cook to death. So claims the myth. Corporate consultants cite the frog fable as proof that companies change so sl...
Aug 26, 2022•5 min
That’s not exactly right. I did a little research because I’d heard this somewhere and wanted to do an episode on it. It turns out, 90% of a rocket’s weight is it’s fuel. ( https://howthingsfly.si.edu/ask-an-explainer/how-much-fuel-would-it-take-shoot-rocket-out-atmosphere ) Now, i found an answer that said that the most fuel is used to lift the rocket the first few feet. Doesn’t tha sound familiar? The beginning of the season is the toughest. Making teams, getting the right people in the right ...
Aug 25, 2022•3 min
Desiderata Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself...
Aug 24, 2022•6 min
Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy you...
Aug 23, 2022•5 min
Here is a poem by William Martin, called, 'Do not ask your children to strive' Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people die. Show them the infinite pleasure in the touch of a hand. And make the ordinary come alive for them. The extraordinary...
Aug 22, 2022•3 min
I saw a clip where a mother of a 11 or 12 year old girl asked Gary Vanyerchuck about her daughter’s self confidence. He told the mom that if he could advise her daughter, it would be to build her self esteem. Now , if you google Gary V self esteem, you’ll get a slew of videos and posts from years ago. His point is that self esteem needs to be the most protected entity for our young people (especially girls). How they view themselves is absolutely EVERYTHING. We as coaches are in powerful positio...
Aug 21, 2022•6 min
“We rise by lifting each other. “ TJ at the 30:00 mark , episode 376 of the hardwood hustle.My first year as a head coach, I had a junior and 2 sophomores who didn’t play much in games. In practice, they were the players who forced our starters to get better. They raised the energy level of every drill. They brought our team together by giving 100% in every chance they had. They were celebrated by every one of their teammates. I called the 3 of them the rising tide. Because a rising tide lifts a...
Aug 20, 2022•3 min
We went to see Zac Brown Band last night, and as he performed he told the story of how every member joined the band. When they were all introduced he said something that stuck with me. He said I encourage anyone who is trying to build something great to find people who are better than you. You should be the worst one in the group
Aug 19, 2022•2 min
