The Sports Doc Chalk Talk

I believe the time is now that we make concerted efforts to better educate and prepare families for their child’s eventual sport retirement.  With sports being as big as they are in this country, its a shame that so many athletes are still left to themselves to figure out who they are, what their talents are beyond sports, and what future paths exist for them when in the midst of the sport retirement transition.  Fortunately, most athletes do not fall into the worst-case scenarios of suicide (as with the recent passing of Junior Seau), but literally millions of athletes from various sports, backgrounds, and types, experience great distress during sport retirement – often resulting in depression, anxiety, role confusion, and poor future planning.  In order to cope with this distress, many athletes turn to drug and alcohol abuse, aggression, and reckless behaviors (like gambling).

The message I am sending today is designed to promote more action in the ways of better educating sports families about the athletic identity, and how kids often develop an exclusive athletic identity that hinders them when they end their careers in sports.  With so many kids now specializing in one sport and playing it nearly year-round, it becomes easy to see how athletes develop their self-worth around “athlete.”  Their social identities (or how others view them), are also constructed around the athletic identity, too (like when we immediately ask about the game before anything else).  None of this is “bad” necessarily, but it all leads to the fact that most kids never play beyond high school (only about 5% do), making the sport retirement transition usually an abrupt and unplanned one. Without better educational efforts, families will continue to struggle when their kids (who are often just teenagers without great coping skills due to their youth) experience distress during this period — making it that much more important that we make things better.

Help is Here!

One approach that we have developed is Sport Success 360, a licensed educational system designed to help schools and youth sport leagues by providing key psychosocial information, tips, and strategies designed to help kids have a safe, fun, and meaningful athletic experience.  I encourage you to learn more about Sport Success 360 by watching this introductory video — Sport Success 360 includes a broad range of topics (including sport retirement), complimentary videos, and free downloads of Sport Success 360 and Sport Success 360 PLUS audio program.

If you are reading this blog, then it can be assumed you have an interest in youth and interscholastic sports (probably as either a parent, athlete, or coach).  While you may not be a decision-maker in your school or youth league, you can help raise awareness by mentioning Sport Success 360, or other great sport education programs out there that can help kids not only better prepare for sport retirement, but also learn about key psychosocial issues like the dangers of performance enhancing supplements, youth sport burnout, hazing, and many more issues.  In all likelihood you have also experienced more traditional issues, like playing time, cuts, sportsmanship, tough coaches (or parents), and travel leagues – Sport Success 360 covers those topics, too.

Education Helps On and Off the Field

Mental toughness is needed on the field, but it’s not limited to just wins and losses — we need to help families learn the culture of sports today, and successful strategies to help kids cope with the pressures they commonly experience in sports.  Just as important as the X’s and O’s are, we need to help kids with performance anxiety, as well as the resiliency needed to bounce back from adversity.  Ironically, these are really life skills and not limited to sports, making these kinds of sport education efforts that much more vital.

Better and more prevalent education does not imply that sports are bad, or that all kids who play sports have terrible experiences — far from it.  Instead, we need to realize that the days of a handful of casual summer games played on the local sandlot are long gone — replaced by high-level, intense, pressure-filled travel league sports schedules for kids who sometimes struggle to keep up.  Of course, these are not bad kids, either – they are just that, kids, vulnerable to kid mistakes when trying to deal with pressure.

Helping Kids – Even the Ones that Don’t Speak Up

Kids don’t always speak up when they feel pressure – be it from their parents or team expectations.  In some cases kids have a talent for a specific sport, but don’t love playing the sport — yet still refrain from speaking out because the see the time, money, and energy being invested in their athletic career.  Some kids have a lot of trouble multi-tasking other activities – like school and social activities — while others have difficulty dealing with resiliency that sometimes manifests into unsportsmanlike behavior and/or uncontrolled aggression.

When we view youth sports through the lens of it being an often intense, complex, and radically different experience than generations of the past, it helps us better frame the educational approach to youth sports as being one of “keeping up with the times” than one that needs to be done because of “problems.”  Introducing new and more advanced ways of delivering contemporary sport education is not an admission that an athletic department or youth league has gone out of control, but instead an example of sports leaders making important budgetary decisions that go beyond the traditional basics.  Of course, finding new revenue streams is never easy, but when issues become important enough people become resourceful – this is often referred to as a “tipping point.”  Are we there yet?  I think so, and from my experiences with many sports people, it sounds like there is increasingly more support to improve future efforts.  I personally believe this will happen, and I hope you do, too.

www.drstankovich.com

Sport Success 360 is the premier sport education system, designed to improve the culture of your youth or interscholastic team/league!

In today’s youth and interscholastic sports world, the sport specialist (an athlete who plays a single sport rather than sampling different sports throughout the year) has become an increasingly more common sighting (AHPS).  In some cases the child makes this decision, while other times parents, coaches, and other influential people encourage the student athlete to specialize rather than sample different sports.  The main reason for sport specialization, according to most sport psychologists and physicians, is to devote more time and energy toward a specific sport with the idea that more training = better athletic skill acquisition for that specific sport.

While it is likely true that most kids who specialize in a sport will get better at that sport (and at a faster rate), it’s also true that the chances for youth sport burnout increase dramatically as well.  In addition to sports burnout, kids who specialize (and train year-round) might also be running a significantly higher risk for physical injury as a recent Yahoo story revealed:

Repetitive stress injuries are also on the rise. The days of lettering in several different varsity sports are gone; instead, students are encouraged to focus on a single sport starting at a very young age — as early as kindergarten, in some places — and stick with it throughout high school and college. Sometimes, they’re urged to do so by coaches hoping to hone a particular skill. Other times, they’re pushed by parents or driven to land a rare college scholarship. But the intense training in one sport over a long period of time can take a toll, even on young and fit bodies.

“Probably the thing that we’re seeing the most right now is any type of overuse injury, from stress fractures to low-level muscle injuries,” Charlie Thompson, chair of the NATA College/University Athletic Trainers’ Committee and the head athletic trainer at Princeton University, told Yahoo! Shine. “Off-season programs start too soon after the end of a long season, and we’re not allowing recovery to happen.”

So what does this all mean for the typical American sports parent?  The short answer may be that “more doesn’t always = better,” especially if ongoing injuries prevent a young athlete from actually benefiting from specializing in one sport.  It appears as though more sports medicine physicians, trainers, and other helping professionals are becoming aware of the health concerns surrounding sport specialization, and if you are a sports parent today, maybe you should pay attention to this news, too.  As with any important decision, pros and cons should be examined within your family before deciding whether to specialize or sample youth sports.

www.drstankovich.com

Sport Success 360 is designed to help you with the contemporary issues in youth and interscholastic sports – like sport specialization — check it out today!

Sport Success 360 is the premier sport education system on the market today, designed to provide coaches, parents, and student athletes with key information pertaining to today’s commonly experienced problems, issues, and trends in youth and interscholastic sports.  Whether its youth sport burnout, dealing with irate parents, playing time, travel leagues, or the decision around sport specialization vs. sampling, Sport Success 360 delivers professional advice designed to help kids use sports as a vehicle for life success.  Improve the sports safety at your league or school by delivering easy-to-understand tips and advice specific to coaches, student athletes, and parents – providing the “360″ advantage!

Benefits of Sport Success 360

• A 24/7 resource for coaches, student athletes, and parents
• Immediate and practical advice, as well as short videos to help with even deeper insights around today’s psychosocial issues in sports
• A built-in coach exam to test for proficiency
• FREE Sport Success 360 book and audio file downloads
• Finally, a product designed to help with the overall culture of your athletic department or youth sport organization!

Visit Sport Success 360 today and watch the short demo to learn more about individual purchases as well as school/league licensing.  Do your part to help the kids in your league or sport organization have a safe, fun, and meaningful athletic experience – check out Sport Success 360 today!

www.drstankovich.com

Millions of kids each year compete in youth and interscholastic sports, and there are many different reasons why they elect to devote their time and energy to playing on a sports team (Sport Success 360).  For some, they play sports to be with their friends, while others enjoy the identity that comes with wearing a sports uniform and being part of a team.  The main reason kids play sports, however, is actually a pretty simple one – to have FUN!

Every research study I have ever read has clearly shown that the number one reason kids play sports is to have fun, and, as you might have guessed, the number one reason why kids voluntarily quit playing sports is when they no longer have fun.  Interestingly, while many adults might guess that “winning” is a big reason why kids play sports, in most cases it doesn’t even make the top ten lists of the polls surveyed.

As adults, we sometimes forget this most basic lesson about why kids play sports, and the result of our oversight can lead to a less-than-exciting experience for kids.  When adults make youth sports a very serious experience and at the cost of having fun, kids often lose their motivation for playing – and usually quit a lot sooner as a result.  Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to think about the many ways in which you as a parent or coach can make youth sports a fun (and meaningful) experience for kids:

• Bring your “A-Game” when it comes to attitude and emotion!  When you get excited about sports, kids will, too.
• Make sure to keep sports interesting and find ways to offer your positive reinforcement and hearty praise whenever possible — even if it’s just for effort.
• Balance instruction with fun, especially with the younger kids you coach.
• Laugh and have a sense of humor.
• Ask the team what things you can do that would make the sport experience exciting for them – you may not be able to do everything they suggest, but if there’s an idea or two you can make it happen it can really make a difference!
• Do fun team bonding things outside of sports if you can – like taking the team to a college or professional sports game, or establishing team dinners.
• Create a team identity the kids can be proud of, maybe a team nickname or a slogan that matches your team’s character.

Obviously there are many different things that you can do to make sports a fun experience for kids, so be sure and do your part and capitalize on the number one reason they play – TO HAVE FUN!!

The Parents Playbook is a great resource for helping kids maximize the sport experience – pick up your copy today!

www.drstankovich.com

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.

www.drstankovich.com

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.

www.drstankovich.com

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

Staying in the Game: Combating Athlete Burnout – pick up your copy at Championship Productions today!

No child should ever have to endure through the emotional pain that the sexual victims of Jerry Sandusky or Bernie Fine went through, yet the reality is that thousands of kids in the United States each year are put into compromising sexual positions by coaches and other adults involved in youth and interscholastic sports.  I know, as I have personally worked with countless families, school districts, and youth leagues that have had to respond to such allegations.  I also know that we have lagged terribly behind when it comes to providing appropriate training and oversight for coaches so that we can better protect children who sign up to play sports, not be forced to guard molesters from stealing their innocence.

To see how safe your child is and to quickly gauge how well your child’s youth sport league or school team is doing to protect kids from pedophiles, please take a moment to answer the following questions:

1.) Does your child’s youth league or school require a criminal background check for every coach that is hired?  While it is true that more leagues and schools are doing this today, please note one very important related detail pertaining to background checks: If the perpetrator has never been caught before, he or she will easily make it past this threshold. What this means is that background checks are certainly important, but if you are relying on them to effectively weed out pedophiles you may have an over-inflated sense of their worth.  Case in point – both Jerry Sandusky from PSU and Bernie Fine from Syracuse abused boys for over 20 years each, yet only in the last few months were they arrested.

If your child’s youth sports league or school does NOT have a mandatory criminal background check add 1 point to your score.

2.) Does your child’s Athletic Director or League Operator require ongoing professional training and development that includes training in psychosocial issues (i.e. appropriate boundaries, burnout, performance supplement abuse, etc.)?  Most schools and leagues only require a minimal level of first aid training, unfortunately, leaving countless coaches nationwide with zero training in the interpersonal aspects of coaching kids.  If your school or league is not teaching coaches about interpersonal issues, like hazing, it’s much more likely your child will eventually experience a problem that likely could have been prevented with just a minimal amount of psychosocial training.

If your child’s youth sports league or school does NOT have a mandatory professional training and development that includes training in psychosocial issues, add 1 point to your score.

3.) School Sports ONLY – Does your child’s school coaching staff comprise of at least 50% teacher-coaches? Most parents are surprised to learn that in most schools across America today over 70% of the coaches in the school are non-teacher coaches. What this means is that unlike the coach prototype found in schools just a generation ago, most coaches in schools today come from the community at-large, and while they might know the X’s and O’s of the sport they coach, it’s very likely that they have never had any formal training to work closely with kids.  Teacher-coaches, on the other hand, have earned a college degree, been trained to work with kids, and are required to keep up with professional development to maintain their teaching license.   Of course, this does not mean teacher-coaches are better, nor does it mean that they never cross the line with kids — but it does illustrate how important it is to know who is coaching your child and what training he or she has attained.

If your child’s school does NOT have at least 50% of it’s coaching staff also employed as teachers, add 1 point to your score.

4.) Has your youth sports league or school athletic department had previous issues in the last 10 years with pedophiles, sexual predators, or sexual molesters? In today’s technology-driven world, it’s not uncommon for pedophiles to share information in chat rooms and other private forums online, and leagues and schools that are easier to prey upon will often see a greater number of these folks look into trying to coach in the school or league. 

If your child’s youth sports league or school has had at least one sexual molestation charge in the last ten years, add 1 point to your score.

5.) Is your youth sports league or school athletic department currently using Sport Success 360? Unlike other coach training courses, Sport Success 360 is the only training course in the world that includes dedicated training devoted to helping coaches create safe and healthy boundaries between them and the kids that they coach. Sport Success 360 includes many additional psychosocial training components and is designed to help train coaches to in turn help kids have the best, safest, and most enriching sport experience they can possibly have!

Subtract your points if your child is benefiting from Sport Success 360 in his youth league or school.

What your score means:

0 points: Your child’s sports league or school is doing an outstanding job of preparing its coaches to safely and effectively mentor kids.  While it is still true that problems can occur, the odds are reduced dramatically by the measures your league or school has put in place.

1-2 points: Your child’s sports league or school is in great need of delivering timely, appropriate, professional training to its coaches, especially as it pertains to appropriate boundaries between coaches and kids.

3-4 points: Your child is participating in a very high-risk youth sports league or school athletic department.  Check with your league operator or athletic director immediately about future plans for contemporary psychosocial training.

Sport Success 360 is the premier training course when it comes to helping coaches with the many unique issues they face in youth sports today, including developing successful, safe, and meaningful relationships with kids.  Talk to your league operator, school athletic director (or other school administrators) about how you can implement Sport Success 360 today!
www.drstankovich.com

Being a youth or interscholastic coach can be an awesome experience filled with countless exciting life experiences, including building healthy relationship with kids, pursuing team championships, and coming together as a team when faced with stress, adversity, and dealing with losses (Sport Success 360).  Unfortunately, for some coaches, the experience quickly becomes overwhelming as they become an unfortunate victim to things like their own perfectionism and control, inability to work with kids, and unwillingness to build relationships with parents.

Coaching, like most things in life, is really what you make of it. Successful coaches have realistic personal expectations and team goals, and make sure to prioritize their own health and family before their role as a coach. Of course, there’s more to it than just those simple reminders, including a few more ideas to consider below:

• Make downtime a priority. Today, even youth and interscholastic coaches are at-risk for burnout as it is becoming commonplace to see these coaches put in unbelievable amounts of time into their coaching.  Similar to college and pro coaches, amateur coaches sometimes go too hard for too long, resulting in a host of physical, emotional, and social problems.  Consequently, it is vitally important to keep a schedule that allows you to take breaks and get away when needed.  Sure, this may not be easy to do, but if you don’t do it not only will coaching soon become a lot less fun, but your team will also likely suffer as a result.
• Keep up with training. There are so many changes in youth sports today and many leading sport psychologists, sport educators, and sports medicine personnel have developed important educational training to help meet these needs.  While some leagues and states require specific training, it is important to consider going above the minimum in order to stay abreast of emerging trends – like sports burnout.  Unfortunately, some coaches only do the minimum when it comes to training, and view anything above that as “punitive” rather than educational.
• Teach kids about athletic transferable skills. I talk about these skills a lot, and that’s because they are the essence of the youth sport experience!  Be sure the kids you coach do not minimize the value of the skills they learn in sports, nor falsely assume that all kids have learned the same skills.  Be sure to talk regularly about how things like mental toughness, confidence, discipline, and resiliency are not only skills for sport success, but also life success.
• Involve parents. Quite often the #1 complaint I hear from coaches is “parents.”  The main reason coaches feel this way has to do with how parents feel their child should be used compared to how the coach is actually using the child.  The disconnect seems to exist on every youth and interscholastic sports team to some extent, making it an issue coaches need to be proactive with when deciding upon their personal philosophy.  Successful coaches often have pre-season meetings to kick off the start of the season, and talk about their coaching philosophy and how parents can be a positive and active part of the team.  Some coaches even set up ways for parents to ask constructive questions about their child and how he/she can improve, and possibly even earn more playing time in the future.  Regardless of how you develop your philosophy, one thing is certain — when parents feel disconnected and under-appreciated, they often let their feelings be known, which can in turn make for a very long season.
• Emphasize the positives!!!! High fives, emphatic praise, and a general positive attitude can go a long, long way when it comes to sports.  Choose your daily attitude and be sure to “catch” kids doing things right, especially when they give great effort (even if the results aren’t always great).

For more information about youth and interscholastic coaching success, check out Sport Success 360 or visit Advanced Human Performance Systems today!

www.drstankovich.com

I have very exciting news to report – now, for the first time, Sport Success 360 is available to individual users including parents, coaches, and student athletes!  Previously only available to sports leagues, Sport Success 360 is now offered to anyone involved in youth sports wishing to learn more about how to make sports a fun, safe, and meaningful experience.

Benefits of Sport Success 360

• The most comprehensive sport education on the market today, offering professional tips and advice for parents, coaches, and student athletes
• A state-of-the-art interface that allows you to quickly learn about specific topics that are most important to you
• Unique learning system that provides perspectives to issues from multiple views, including coach, athlete, and parent angles (providing the 360 degree learning system)
• Videos to compliment each learning module
• Bonus Sport Success 360 pdf and Sport Success 360 audio program offered FREE with the program (a $25 value!)
• Built-in assessment that certifies users after they complete the Sport Success 360 quiz (great for getting everyone uniformly certified)
• The easiest way to quickly learn everything you need to know about youth sports, including sports burnout, communicating effectively with coaches, quitting, performance supplements, the mental aspects of injuries, hazing, travel leagues, sport specialization, plus much more!

Never be left out of the loop again when it comes to successfully handling the many challenges commonly seen in youth sports today.  Sport Success 360 is designed to help you navigate the sports landscape and prevent problems from occurring, while at the same time equip you with the knowledge needed for kids to maximize their athletic experience.

Easy, convenient, and affordable – that’s Sport Success 360!

while leagues and schools slowly implemnt training, you can stay ahead of the curve