The Sports Doc Chalk Talk

Human fear can be a really tough thing to deal with, and this is especially true in sports.  In fact, sport psychology studies regularly show that when athletes become fearful they often change their entire outlook and paradigm with respect to mental toughness - quickly going from “playing to win” to “playing to avoid losing.”  If you are an athlete, then you already know that when confidence decreases and anxiety increases, the chances for success become greatly reduced.

Acknowledging that fear impacts sports performance is probably not much of a surprise to anyone, but did you know that fear can be broken down into two types — real fear and irrational fear.  In both cases otherwise talented athletes can be reduced to average (or even below average) if they are unable to adequately respond to the fear they experience.

The first type of fear, real fear, is the type of fear that is you might think of when you are legitimately in harms way.  For example, in contact sports there are certainly things an athlete might fear, including the pain associated with a crushing tackle or block.  Interestingly though, this is not the type of fear most athletes struggle with in my experience.

The second type of fear, irrational fear, is when an athlete allows non-threatening factors to impact his or her thinking.  Examples of irrational fear — or threats to one’s ego, not necessarily physical well being — include worrying about the other team, the athlete’s coach, or even the fans in the crowd.  As you can see, in each of these examples there is no physical threat, yet many athletes still experience fear nonetheless.

Fear > Anxiety

What is truly amazing is that regardless of the type of fear an athlete experiences, the body will respond in the same exact way with physiological anxiety. Think about that for a moment – your body will react with the same increased heart rate, shallow breathing, butterflies in the stomach, and tense muscles whether you are running to safety or simply nervous about what the coach might do if you mess up a play!  In other words, anxiety has no preference when it comes to whether human beings are experiencing real or irrational fear.

Irrational Fear in Real-Life

Have you ever been nervous about going on a date?  Or how about a job interview?  What about going to watch a scary movie?  In each of these examples there is obviously little “real” fear we should experience, as none of these examples should put us in harms way.  Still, we often become very nervous in these situations, even though when we think rationally we really shouldn’t be worried at all.

Goals for Athletes

Since we know irrational fear can be a major hindrance to athletes and their athletic success, it is imperative that dedicated efforts be made to prepare for and respond to the times when irrational fear rears it’s ugly head.  “Forewarned is Forearmed” is one way to approach the situation — in other words, if you know that you will likely feel nervous playing in front of big crowds, then it makes sense to develop skills to help for when those situations occur (relaxation skills work very well).  Athletes who do nothing to prepare for this type of stress usually experience it time and time again (as you might expect).  This is sad as often it is the anxiety, and not the athlete’s true talents, that play the biggest role in whether the athlete succeeds.

Think about the impact that fear has on athletic success — and especially how irrational fear prompts the same type of response as real fear does.  If you want to take your game to the next level, it is imperative that you work to minimize irrational fear, and as a result confidence will increase (which is a variable closely associated with athletic success!).

Check out Mind of Steel for help with relaxation strategies and techniques, as well as many more sport science training skills!

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In all my years of being around sports, I cannot ever recall witnessing what happened in Columbus (OH) over the weekend.  As a Columbus resident, it has been no secret that our local NHL team (Blue Jackets) have struggled terribly since entering the league over a decade ago.  Since the franchise first entered the league they have only made it to the playoffs once (losing the to Red Wings 4-0), and have been one of the worst teams in the league annually in the years before and after that sole playoff appearance.  Apparently, some fans have had enough, as evidenced by a recent protest designed to prompt ownership to oust the guys working in the front office argued to be responsible for the ongoing losing culture.  Talk about one hot mess.

The Columbus Blue Jackets (CBJ as they are known to local folk) have been one of the worst franchises in sports history when you compare their futility against other traditionally bad NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL teams.  The CBJ have made coaching and front office changes, as well as player personnel changes, yet still finish each regular season as one of the worst teams in the league. Some fans have clearly had enough.

The CBJ are certainly not the only losing franchise in pro sports, and there have been many other teams from the big four (MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL) who have had longer losing stretches.  The Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox, New York Rangers, Cleveland Browns, and LA Clippers are teams that immediately come to mind when thinking about long droughts of sport futility (although some of these teams have since won championships).  Still, I cannot ever remember fans assembling outside an arena to try and bring a front office down in this manner.  This move, of course, prompts many questions around professional sport franchises and their cultural and potential fiduciary responsibilities (if tax payers are involved in financing the team and/or venue).

In the case of the CBJ, do fans have the right to protest?  And is the current streak of futility entirely the responsibility of the current management team?  And perhaps most importantly – should ownership tune in and listen to what some of the fan base is up in arms about?

In defense of the fans who protested this weekend, it’s easy to see why they assembled – over a decade later and the CBJ have  consistently been one of the worst teams in professional sports.  On the other hand, sports owners know that making quick GM, coach, and player changes isn’t always the answer, either.  Of course, one thing cures all of this – winning.

In these tough financial times the CBJ have witnessed a declining fan base who attend games, and the “branding” of the team around town is almost invisible.  There certainly isn’t a “hockey feel” around central Ohio, which may be the cause of some of the team’s problems — or maybe it is a result of their losing ways.

The fans have spoken, and now it’s time to see what, if anything, ownership will do to appease the growing number of people who are fed up with the CBJ and their losing ways.  Will the team stick with their current team and management, or blow everything up and start from scratch (again)?  Interestingly, there’s an even bigger concern to think about that may play into all of this — that is, does the team even need to win in order to be successful? As hard as it might be to believe, some professional sports franchises have done quite well over the years even though they rarely win (the Chicago Cubs are a perfect example).  Granted, losing teams who maintain a strong fan base are the exception and not the rule, but it will be interesting to watch the coming months to see if the CBJ are serious about winning, or instead content to remain a professional team with a “punchers chance” of making the playoffs every couple of years.

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Terrell Owens recently claimed in an GQ interview that he is “friendless, broke, and living in hell.”  Assuming Owens is being truthful (and it’s understandable if you don’t believe him after witnessing all the drama around Owens throughout his football career), he appears to be in big trouble as he retires from professional sports.  Sadly, this type of sport retirement reaction is not uncommon for athletes, although you typically only hear of it when it happens to famous athletes (like Owens).

Some fans might think this is fitting for Owens, as he was easily one of the most obnoxious and narcissistic athletes to ever play professional sports.  It was also reported that Owens has been behind on his child support payments for his kids, even though he made tens of millions of dollars while playing — yet another reason to not have much sympathy for Owens.  Still, even many of TO’s harshest critics, including ESPN personality Skip Bayless, are showing sincere concern about Terrell Owens mental health.

These Troubles are not Unique to Owens

It is very common for athletes to experience confusion about their personal identity at the ends of their careers, and re-adjusting to their new identity in society can be quite challenging.  After retiring from sports the big paydays go away, as do most of the fans and social support system.  In Owens case, transitioning from “TO” the football icon to Terrell Owens, public citizen, appears to be destroying his post-sports life.

T.O. is on the brink of self-destruction, and he desperately needs immediate professional attention.  The sport retirement transition can be lonely and isolating, and without a support network of caring people around to help, it can be a life-threatening transition. Many athletes struggle coping and turn to drinking, drugs, risky behaviors – and even suicide.  Owens fits the prototype of an at-risk athlete, and his latest confessions provide even more evidence of just how confused he is today.

Unfortunately, stories like T.O.’s are not unique to just “big-ego” athletes, or even professional athletes — there are tens of thousands of college and high school athletes each year who experience the same loss of identity, role confusion, and depression commonly associated with the end of a sports career.  It’s easy to see why when you think about it – young athletes these days often specialize in one sport early in life, and sometimes play that sport year-round with few breaks.  As a result, they essentially become an athlete by developing an exclusive self athletic identity, as well an exclusive athletic social identity (how others view them).  When this identity ends (sport retirement), it is often an abrupt change that was not welcomed or prepared for by the athlete.

Why Sport Retirement can be so Difficult

One of the best ways for athletes to cope with sport retirement is to use their support system, but in most cases their support system quickly disappears.  Since the athlete is no longer part of the team, hanging out with players becomes difficult (if not impossible), and fans lose their interest with the athlete’s fleeting fame.  Some athletes prepare ahead of time for their inevitable sport retirement, while others only begin to deal with transition when it eventually happens.

Examining Owens, the hope is that he seeks professional sport psychology assistance and commits to working hard on his post-athletic career.  If he does this, he will likely find happiness and success after the NFL.  I say this as he appears to be a bright guy, has an unbelievable work ethic, and his worldwide visibility will always command attention (and opportunities) in the future.

If you know an athlete facing sport retirement, check out Positive Transitions for Student Athletes!

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Over the weekend an interesting article ran in the New York Times (How Big Time Sports Ate College Life), highlighting the growing concerns that college sports, especially football and to a lesser degree basketball, are quickly becoming the focal point of many of America’s finest institutions.  The article asserts that increasingly more students are choosing their college primarily based on the success of the football program, often overlooking the supposed real attraction of why people should go to college in the first place – for the the academics. The colleges, on the other hand, seem happy to acquiesce by spending millions of dollars on athletics, as well as building bigger and fancier sport venues.   The question, however, is the same one that seems to come up time and time again — that is, what are American colleges these days, institutions of higher learning or sports entertainment (with some academics on the side)?  Sport and society within the realm of college in America has never been so interesting to dissect.

Reasons to Continue Spending Big $$$ on College Sports

The biggest arguments for the rapid and continued growth of college sports include:

A) they generate excitement, and therefore attract more students, and

B) they generate revenue.

There is no disputing that college athletics can do both of these things, but these arguments become more interesting the deeper you delve into them…

With respect to generating excitement, it seems as though college sports have always done this, even before all the big money. In fact, at Duke, the Cameron Indoor Stadium holds less than 10,000 fans, yet is still one of the most exciting places in America to catch a game.  Interestingly, Duke has decided to not expand their venue over the years and instead keep it small by today’s standards, essentially losing millions of dollars each year as a result.  This is very different than most colleges today who routinely add as many seats as possible in order to generate every last potential dollar.

The truth is that even when college sports were not so glitzy and glamorous, students still went nuts and supported their respective teams fiercely — and students in the past still wanted to go to big-name universities even before they dumped tens of millions more dollars into their programs.

The Costs of “Selling Out”

When it comes to generating more revenue by bulking up an athletic department, it’s hard to argue that bigger college sport investments usually equal bigger college sport revenues.  The problem, however, are the costs associated with what some would call “selling out” in order to make every last buck.  What are the consequences with students, professors, and alumni who feel the academic pursuit and standards have been terribly compromised just in order to have a better football team?  And how must professors feel when college presidents justify huge coaching salaries by gushing over the money their football coaches bring in, when in fact professors (who make pennies on the dollar in salary compared to coaches) often bring in big bucks of their own to the university through research grants?

Why Not Gambling Casinos, too?

Continuing on with the argument about the good in endlessly dumping money into college athletics is the question of the ‘ole “slippery slope.”  As it becomes more and more clear that colleges seem to be willing to do almost anything to have a good football team, what’s next?  Would placing gambling casinos next to the football stadium be such a bad idea?  Wouldn’t they guarantee revenue if a college decided to put a few around campus?  Gambling is legal in most states today, it generates excitement, and offers odds that only the house can win!

Will We Ever Go Back?

It will be interesting to see if any college presidents in the future decide to put a halt on the growth of college athletics while re-emphasizing that colleges are about academics first and foremost.  Critics have argued that it will be impossible to “put the genie back in the bottle,” and they may be right.  Still, many people would like to see college priorities go back toward emphasizing and supporting academic pursuits before athletic endeavors, even if the odds of this happening appear bleak.

My guess is that the current model of prioritizing athletics before academics in terms of spending will not change until it absolutely has to, and it’s hard to say when that will happen.  In all likelihood, something will eventually happen — some watershed moment where reasonable minds will prevail and begin to discuss going back to a pecking order that more reflects what the word “university” was meant to be.  I say this as I suspect there will eventually be a backlash by university professors, administrators, and students at some point, perhaps through social media efforts to unite or some other concerted way to illustrate their unhappiness with their perceived devaluing of academics.  Will the money in athletics become the primary focus of universities in the future, or will see a shift back to prioritizing academics first?

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Apparently the NCAA is going to finally come around to paying “amateur” athletes in the future, though the initial proposal of providing an additional $2000 a year was shot down by NCAA Board of Directors on Saturday.  There no longer appears to be much dispute about student athletes earning some extra money for their efforts, but it appears as though there are many details that still need to be worked out before gaining the needed consensus of the board to approve the change.

Amateur Athletes?

It’s 2012, and at this point it would be hard to find many fans out there today who would call today’s college football and basketball student athletes “amateur.”  While the debate about paying student athletes still exists, it’s not nearly what it once was as the tens of millions of dollars pours in to schools annually as a result of their revenue-generating sports.  I know in my travels I haven’t met too many people who don’t believe these student athletes deserve something beyond their education as a return for their efforts.

The money in college football, as an example, has skyrocketed in recent years as witnessed by recent unprecedented bowl payouts.  Accordingly, the model of amateur sports we once previously knew has long become antiquated, as evidenced by the huge money big colleges today commonly pour into their athletic facilities and coaching staffs. The student athletes are, ironically, the reason why colleges are making these big dollars (in other words they are the product), yet as of today are still left with the short end of the stick.  Their coaches are multi-millionaires based on student athlete efforts, yet in return the student athletes are awarded the ability to take classes toward a college degree (important, yes, but hardly anywhere close to a fair trade, or what business folks call “market value”).

The NCAA has watched all this unfold, and obviously feels somewhat uncomfortable about how disproportionate this model has become (heavily in favor of the colleges).  While the colleges continue to earn money at astronomical rates, the student athletes on the front line actually earning the money for the colleges continue to receive a reduced (or free) course load of classes as trade.  Evidently, even the NCAA can no longer hide behind this thin veil of what has become, well, almost comical when you think about it.

The New Proposal

In response to this glaring problem, the NCAA put forth its first proposal of paying student athletes an additional $2000 a year.  At first glance, some would say this is a responsible move by the NCAA (even though it was initially rejected), but in this crazy college sports world where head coaches routinely make many times the amount of salaries as their bosses (college presidents) this proposal seems to fall terribly short upon closer inspection.

A growing number of NCAA football and basketball coaches are now earning millions (plural) of dollars per season — and in some cases even assistant coaches are making hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.  Still, even if the $2000 stipend would have been approved, it would have resulted in the student athletes making a mere additional $5.47 a day. Apparently, the scholarship the student athlete receives is supposed to make up the difference.

I am a huge proponent of education and do acknowledge that receiving a full scholarship for playing sports certainly has great potential value.  Still, it just doesn’t feel right when I see what’s really going on — the reality is many student athletes either take the minimum classes to stay eligible, pursue easy majors that may not have much applicable future career worth, or leave school early for the draft and well before ever completing their free college education.  These young men are not “bad” or “irresponsible” for doing any of these things, but instead simply doing what they think is in their best interest to one day make a big payout by becoming a professional athlete.  Unfortunately, this only happens for a select few.

So while a head coach might earn $4 million dollars a year (roughly $11,000 a day!), the guys pulling the sled might make $5.47 a day?  Once you get past the “amateur athlete” argument (that even the strongest proponents of this view have a hard time holding a straight face saying), there is still an incredibly unequal divide, and a bizarre one at that.  Factoring in that roughly only 1.5% of these athletes will ever go on to play professional sports, it really makes you wonder even more about how unbalanced this model has become. The answer, according to the NCAA, is to give the student athletes a few extra dollars a day.

The Real Problem

No matter what the NCAA finally approves for student athletes (they have already conceded they will do something), it seems as though it will be impossible to remedy a problem that really doesn’t have an answer so long as we continue to call college sports “amateur.”  Amateur sports, in reality, are the games you watch at your local high school or youth league sandlot, not what you see being played in front of 100,000 fans each Saturday.  Calling college football “amateur” is about as watered down as saying Einstein was a descent math student, or Steve Jobs an OK businessman.

College sports, primarily football and basketball, are professional in every sense of the word. The unique wrinkle, however, is the idea that a college education is a great deal for the students whose efforts are directly tied to helping their coaches and administrators make substantially more money in salary each year.  Can you imagine what would happen if college football players ever went on strike??  The “amateur” model that is really pro sports would fall like a house of cards.

In theory, the college degree a student athlete can earn certainly would have value, but the question remains about how many of them — especially elite-level athletes — are truly concerned with selecting a good major, taking school seriously, and finishing the degree?  While we would like to think nearly all college football players do this, the reality is most are hoping for the big professional sport payday of one day making it, and as a result devalue their education-in-trade.  Sadly, most never get drafted, and only then come to realize how important their classes truly were.

The Only Answer

The only fair answer, albeit a controversial one, is to finally allow college sports to have free reign and pay student athletes as though they are employees of the university – exactly like how it’s done with professional sports.  Rather than dangle the college degree with varying levels of value (depending on the student athlete’s level of interest), offer them a financial contract, and even throw in some hefty college discounts as good measure.  This way, the student athletes can earn an equitable wage (more in line with how much money everyone else in the deal is getting) and can decide on whether they want to invest in their education or spend the money any other way they like.

I wonder how college coaches would respond if colleges offered them essentially what is being proposed for student athletes?  For example, rather than paying a head coach 3 or 4 million dollars a year, how about offer him a modest salary (say $75,000) and the ability to take college classes at a deep discount (or give them to a family member)?  How do you think that deal would be received?  You already know the answer to that.

Why is it Taking So Long?

We are looking at an inevitable colossal paradigm shift once college athletes finally get paid, which is what is holding up all this fair progress.  In other words, because its “always been done this way” the NCAA has been able to sit on the sidelines and watch everyone get rich — except, of course, the guys doing the work to earn everyone else the millions of dollars.  This will change, as the $2000 stipend has already been loosely accepted (only the small details remain).  But will this be enough?  At what point will student athletes unite and realize that without their services this entire cash cow collapses? Coaches and administrators are making massive salaries based entirely  on the quality of product on the field (the student athletes) — yet it’s this “product” that continues to earn the smallest piece of the pie.

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Athletes and injuries are nothing new, but did you know that the ways in which athletes recover from injuries today — and the potential problems that often follow after being prescribed pain pills — is very new, and quite alarming.  With sports being physical (and athletes becoming bigger, stronger, and faster), it’s not uncommon for an athlete to deal with an injury at some point in his or her career.  The problem, however, is usually not the injury itself (most heal successfully over time), but instead the injury recovery aftercare process that often includes prescription pain killer medication (i.e. oxycodone, vicodin, and other opiates).  Ironically, as the injury begins to get better, the pain pill addiction often becomes worse, all leading to very serious problems for athletes caught in this predicament (AHPS).

Athletes At-Risk

Delving deeper, it may not even be the pain pills that are the real problem these days, as pain pills have been prescribed by doctors to athletes for many years.  The real problem, it seems, is that increasingly more athletes are being left on pain pill prescriptions far beyond what is needed, creating a very strong physical addiction to the medication. It’s at this precise point where the real problems develop — where the athlete has become addicted to the opiate high, but his or her script has been terminated and the cravings still persist.  Sadly, more and more athletes are turning to hard-core street drugs like heroin (a relatively cheap opiate) to continue and satisfy their cravings.

For most people, the thought of a heroin-addicted person is very different than the thought of a current or former athlete in fantastic physical condition and widely popular with his or her peers.  Instead, most people think of a heroin addict as a strung-out junkie, dirty and homeless, hanging around on a street corner soliciting for a few cents.  In 2012 those folks still exist, but so, too, do a new breed of addicted heroin addicts that used to be amazingly skilled athletes.

When athletes become addicted to pain pills and their prescription runs out, their cravings do not end.  It is at this point where they have the following three choices:

a) Try to ween themselves off their addiction

b) Purchase pain pills off the street (they have become widely available, though not cheap)

c) Move onto to a more readily available, and cheaper, street drug (usually heroin)

Unfortunately, when athletes don’t stop using yet no longer have a prescription to fill, they often turn to buying pain pills and/or heroin to prevent them from getting sick from not having the drug.  In other words, they need the drug just to stay well. In these examples, athletes will sometimes sell things or even steal just so they can stay high and not experience the terrible withdrawal effects of “coming down.”  This is why we sometimes see previously upstanding people do things we could never imagine them doing (i.e. stealing, holding up banks, and even prostituting for money) just so they can feed their addiction.  And with heroin becoming so widely available, and relatively cheap, it’s easy to see where this story is headed.

Tips to Help

If you are a parent, coach, or an athlete who has a direct experience with pain pill (or heroin) usage/addiction, please consider the following tips and insights to help:

• First, if you are an athlete dealing with an injury talk to your doctor directly and explicitly about what alternatives there are (beyond opiates) to help manage and control your pain.  Pain pills are extremely addictive, so please consider them only as a last-resort option.
• If pain pills are prescribed, work with your doctor to explore the differences amongst the available medications, as well as pill strength (milligrams).  It goes without saying that you should always choose the lowest amount of pill strength to manage your pain, if possible
• If you are feeling better yet still have refills available, talk to your doctor about destroying the prescription so that the temptation to refill the script will no longer exist.
• If you are feeling addicted to pain pills (or heroin), STOP AND GET HELP.  Every medical expert agrees that these are drugs that are incredibly difficult to stop using on your own, and it is likely that you will need professional assistance to help with both the physiological and psychological symptoms and side effects.

Final Thoughts

As a clinician who regularly assists athletes, I have personally seen a spike in the number of athletes caught up in pain pills (and a few that moved onto heroin as a cheap alternative).  It’s astonishing how quickly this type of addiction occurs, and once it does it seems as though it is almost impossible to beat.  Unlike other non-opiate drugs, athletes who are innocently prescribed opiate pain pills to help manage an athletic injury are unknowingly rolling the dice with what could be a precursor to bigger future addiction problems.  It is for this reason that the entire athletic community – including athletes, coaches, parents, administrators, and sports medicine physicians – all need to tune in and take seriously the tragic potential consequences of pain pills and injured athletes.

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Parents always want the best for their kids involved in sports, especially when it comes to playing time and the ways their child is used within the team structure.  So it goes without saying that there will always be some degree of dispute between what parents think the coach should do, and what the coach decides to do based on his or her coaching evaluations.  In most cases, upset parents keep their opinions to themselves – but sadly, this is not always the case, as evidenced by a breaking story about a high school basketball team in Michigan.

Regarding this latest story where head coach Wayne Gigante stepped down from his high school coaching position, it’s impossible for us to know all the reasons that led to his decision.  Maybe the parents were out of line, maybe his coaching style had inherent problems, or maybe it was simply a bad combination of both.  Regardless, there has been a disturbing trend in American youth sports for many years now, one that illustrates the powerful influence some angry parents can have on a team — even to the extent of pushing coaches out.

Assuming Gigante didn’t do anything out of line and was simply trying to use his coaching judgements to get the most out of his players, it’s sad to see him leave because of parental interference.  Gigante seemingly reached his “tipping point,” where the enjoyment he got out of coaching kids eventually became outweighed by some parents who lost sight of the effort, dedication, and complexities involved in being a coach.  As we all know, it’s a lot easier to “coach from the sidelines” than it is to actually be the one on the front line having to make the tough decisions.

Each year we see fewer adults want to go into coaching, as evidenced by the rapidly shrinking number of teachers who want to coach.  In just the last 20 years alone, we have seen a dramatic spike in the number of non-teacher coaches (over 70% of high school coaches today), prompted by the fact that schools in America simply cannot find teachers in the building who find the job of coaching worthwhile when considering all that comes with it.  Sadly, if more stories like the Michigan basketball story emerge in the future, there may be even fewer people (teacher-coaches and non-teacher coaches alike) interested in coaching.  This is a terrible concern for Athletic Directors nationwide, trust me.  With fewer adults interested in coaching, more schools will be forced to consider the unthinkable – the possibility of cutting the athletic team altogether.

Unfortunately, too many parents today are unaware of this changing landscape and the reasons why fewer adults are going into coaching.  Instead, there seems to be a modern-day template for some parents that presumes some kind of “ownership” over the team and the decisions that the coach makes.  The pressure from parents can be overt in nature (i.e. yelling obscenities from the stands), or covert (i.e. creating some behind-the-scenes backlash against the coach).  In either case, it creates a toxic coaching environment.

It’s unfortunate when good coaches are pushed out because of uninformed and/or irresponsible parents, but it’s also becoming more of the norm.  Interscholastic coaches don’t make much money coaching — they go into coaching for the love of the job.  Sadly, when the “fun” element gets removed (like in Michigan high school story), many good people decide to walk away as a result.  Why would a coach making very little money and devoting enormous amounts of time and energy into coaching continue to stay around when the parents involved are doing everything to make his life miserable? Perhaps it’s for this reason that we all need to take a step back and appreciate all that goes into coaching, rather than try and run coaches out of town who don’t coach the way we would like them to with our kid.

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The New York Jets are a mess these days, as a number of players have spoken out about quarterback Mark Sanchez, openly questioning whether he has the abilities to lead the team to the Super Bowl.  Of course, it doesn’t help matters that Peyton Manning may be available through trade as the Colts have the first pick in the draft and are expected to select Heisman runner-up Andrew Luck.  What will happen next remains to be seen, but much of what has already happened to date is a direct reflection of Head Coach Rex Ryan and his leadership abilities.

While I don’t have any interest in “piling on” Rex Ryan, the current Jets situation does serve as an excellent example to learn from for coaches at all levels – including youth and interscholastic – about the impact of coach leadership skills. As every football fan knows, Ryan is a very outspoken and brash coach, which has seemingly created a culture within the Jets locker room that not only allows for but may even encourage players to openly call out teammates in public.  This may be a perfect case of “live by the sword, die by the sword,” as Ryan’s tough exterior may help his team in some ways, but seems to have also created an environment where players also feel very comfortable airing their dirty laundry for the world to see.

What we are seeing in New York has nothing to do with Ryan’s play calling or knowledge of the game of football.  Instead, his style may be directly influencing, permitting, and enabling players to say what they want, when they want, and to whomever they want.  Herein is where the team culture problems have developed, leading them to what we are seeing today — their star quarterback (Sanchez) getting publicly ripped by numerous anonymous Jet players.  Coaches at all levels know this is not good.

Of course, there’s probably a lot more to the problems with the Jets than we know, but fellow coaches should pay close attention as these examples of broken player relationships and toxic dynamics can occur on any team.  Team culture is a very important part of any organization’s success, yet it is a very misunderstood and often devalued construct.  Some coaches don’t think much about their team culture, while others believe it simply “comes together” from playing together.  Others, however, place great emphasis on “the way we do things” and model themselves for the rest of the team to follow suit.

There are a lot of entertaining things about Rex Ryan, and I suppose most people would say he is very good for the NFL.  He is direct, candid, and funny.  He is also harsh, critical, and outspoken.  Unfortunately, you cannot simply “pick” the parts of him you like — instead, you get the whole thing.

Every coach has his or her own style and way of doing things, and this is part of why we enjoy sports so much.  The head coach, however, is the biggest influence on the team and because of this should think about the following things:

• Overall demeanor and ways in which he/she treats others, including players, the media, parents, and others involved with the program.  Players — especially at the youth/interscholastic level — will often model their coach, for better or for worse.
• How he/she handles team issues and crises – does the coach play favorites and/or use other players as punching bags for what not to do?
• How does he/she respond to player problems — does the coach step up and defend the player, or instead stay out of the mess?
• What tone does the coach set for the team?  This includes how the team dresses, presents themselves, and speaks to the public.
• When it comes to doling out punishment to players who break team rules, is the coach fair in the process?  In other words, does he/she penalize the star player in the same way any other player would be punished?

There is a lot that goes into positive team culture, and it usually doesn’t just “happen.”  Coaches who are respectful to the process and keep their egos in check usually get it, while others who minimize the importance of team culture often end up in situations like we are seeing in New York.  While there is no “cookbook” way to develop a positive team culture, coaches who care, are specific with team goals and rules, and apply consistent consequences to players who break team rules usually develop a very psoitive and healthy team climate and culture.

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Athletic high-performance products, including downloads, videos, and apps – all available at Advanced Human Performance Systems!

The inevitable retirement transition from sports that all athletes eventually experience has always fascinated me, mostly because it usually happens relatively early in life, and rarely is it noticed or cared about by society.  Thousands of elite-level athletes retire from sports annually, and hundreds of thousands more will end their careers by the time they are teenagers.  For some athletes the transition is a welcomed one, while others seem relatively indifferent.  Still, there are many athletes who experience tremendous stress, frustration, anger, depression, and anxiety while facing the end of their sports careers (AHPS).

In the mid-1990′s, a colleague of mine (Ohio State athletic counselor Darin Meeker) and I created the nation’s first sport transition course at Ohio State, Positive Transitions for Student Athletes. In fact, I studied the efficacy of this course for my doctoral dissertation, finding mountains of empirical evidence that suggested many athletes do indeed experience an unplanned and life-changing event when they are faced with the sport retirement transition.  Most athletes we studied experienced issues with their post-athlete identity, role confusion, poor future planning, poor career development, and in some cases mood disorders.

Today it’s 2012, and if anything we have learned that we were really just scratching the surface looking back to our work in the 1990′s.  With the internet and social media, it seems commonplace these days to hear stories about athletes experiencing difficulty at the ends of their careers — stories that include financial hardships, depression, drug and alcohol abuse, and even suicide.  Of course, it would be crazy to think that all of these stories could be averted, but sadly, many of them could have turned out a lot better had more aggressive advances by high schools, colleges, and professional teams taken place since our early work.

Instead of seeing a surge in the number of courses and programs designed to help athlete at the ends of their careers, there’s been a flat line.  Sadly, when an athlete plays his or her final game, there is usually a harsh reality the individual faces: Few people seem to truly care. Rather than help the exiting athlete, schools and professional teams usually abandon them, turning their attention to the “next” great athlete coming to the team.

Sport psychologists and college athletic counselors help athletes when they can, but there are still only a select number of schools employing these types of professionals designated to help athletes transition out of sport.  Instead, it’s the “elephant in the room” — the schools/teams know that retirement looms, and that the athletes will likely be unprepared, yet usually don’t acknowledge it and instead casually look the other way.  This is not due to spite, or even negligence, but instead more likely due to the fact that the sportsworld lives by a “what have you done for me lately” philosophy – and retiring athletes are not of much worth.

It’s both fascinating to me that sport retirement is still as important to learn about today as it was 15-20 years ago, but frustrating that we really haven’t seen much academic or professional growth during this time.  In fact, our book, Positive Transitions for Student Athletes, is still just as relevant today (if not more) than it was in 1999.

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Winning the Mental Moments is an instructional video produced by Championship Productions designed to help athletes of all ages and skill levels improve their mental toughness.  Dr. Stankovich discusses a number of sport psychology training skills, including ways to increase self-confidence, improve resiliency, and set specific goals for the future.   Pick up your copy today and learn how to take your game to the next level!

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