What Makes a nightmare sports parent?

Every parent should read this article. Ive played, coached, and am a parent. Parenting is the most difficult of the three. The problem is that players have camps to attend, coaches have clinics, but there is nothing available for parents.
The following article provides some very good info on the topic.

http://www.bermudian.k12.pa.us/attachments/article/80/What%20Makes%20A%20Nightmare%20Sports%20Parent.pdf

Tommy Bowden

I had the opportunity to hear Tommy Bowden speak last night at an FCA dinner @ First Baptist Hendersonville. He said that he wanted his teams to learn five things. They were:
1. Responsibility
2. Accountibility
3. Committment
4. Discipline
5. Sacrifice

Team, Team, Team

BO ON "THE TEAM, THE TEAM, THE TEAM"
When we hammered home our famous mantra, “The team, the team, the team,” that didn’t leave a lot of room for interpretation. When I came up with that, I wasn’t trying to be clever. It means if you’re late for the team bus, I don’t care if you’re Jim Mandich, Anthony Carter and Desmond Howard rolled into one. That bus is leaving, it’s leaving on time—and it’s leaving without you!

Look, they know Bo is always sitting up at the front of the bus, and when pullout time comes, he just checks his watch and says, “Driver, it’s time to go.” We don’t have anyone checking who’s here and who isn’t. We don’t check! I never took roll. If you’re on the bus, you must be on time, and if you’re not on the bus, you must be late, and it’s your fault. Driver, it’s time to go!

We’ve had guys running up to the bus as we were pulling out—starters, even—and the guys on the bus always started yelling, “Coach! So-and so’s running up to the bus!” I didn’t care who it was. I guarantee you right now I never even turned around to look, because the answer was always the same: Driver, it’s time to go!

Everyone knew Bo’s not mad at you, he’s just leaving you. And I’ll tell you why: Because it’s just not fair to the other guys who took the trouble to get there on time. The bus waits for no man!

Driver, it’s time to go!

And as your big All-American grows smaller in the bus’s rearview mirror, he’ll have time to consider if you really meant what you said about the team, the team, the team. Leave a guy standing in the parking lot just once, and you better believe he’ll be a half-hour early next time. Once everyone knows I’m not holding the bus for anyone, trust me, they get there. They always do.

That bus symbolized the foundation of our values: simple, straightforward, no exceptions. You start cutting corners for this guy or that situation, and before you know it, you’re spending all your time playing judge and jury, deliberating over very little incident, when you should be leading your team. It’s painful sometimes, but you create a lot fewer headaches for everyone, including the players, when you simply stick to your guns.
via Bob Starkey LSU

Meddling Parents Ruin Coaching

This is an article I ran across last week and thought I'd share it. I don't share all the views that are presented in this article. As a parent, teacher, and coach, I have a unique perspective. My father was also a coach, teacher, & administrator. Ive been on about every side of the fence on this one. My dad says, "players have camps, coaches have clinics, but parents have nothing." I plan to start posting parenting articles from time to time.

Meddling_Parents_Ruin_Coaching.doc

3 Ingredients to every player's success

1. Self-Discipline
2. Competitive Fire
3. Self-Belief

Remove the clutter

From Darren Hardy of Success Magazine comes four suggestions to get in control of the information you allow into your head:


1: Cut the Cord.
Most of what passes for news is negative, sensational and appalling and has no contribution to your personal goals in life. Stop watching any broadcast TV, don't read the newspapers and don't listen to news radio.


2: Selective Listening.
Set up RSS feeds to pull information on specifically what you need/want to read about. Register for newsletters or blog updates on topics and subjects that are relevant to your objectives. Once they become unproductive then unsubscribe.

...............
3: Low-Information Diet.
If you aren't comfortable getting only the most productive and relevant information you need to be more successful, then at least put yourself on a low-information diet. Find 15 minutes a day to catch up with national and world news updates—whether through a favorite news aggregator online, newspaper or single radio program—then don't overconsume.

..................
4: Mind Your E2E Ratio.
What is the primary difference between the 5 percent who are wealthy and those who are not? The 95 percent focus their attention and extra time on entertainment while the 5 percent look to spend their extra time on education. Evaluate yourself: How much time do you spend on entertainment and how much on education? The imbalance of this equation could be the reason your life isn't where you want it to be.


Check out: www.SuccessMagazine.com
Post compliments of Bob Starkey / LSU

Attitude

ATTITUDE:
1. Only disability in life is a bad attitude.
2. You can name 5 or 6 people who walk in the door who will pick up a room.
3. Cancer starts with one bad cell.
4. You can modify behavior but you can't rehab character

4 Tips to Career Perspective

Some great stuff from Stephanie Zonars on something that is very difficult for many of us in the coaching profession -- finding balance:



Leaders are overwhelmed with many roles and responsibilities. Making life work means figuring out how to integrate the various areas of life in a way that brings satisfaction and meaning.

We’re working our way through seven key life areas that impact your life balance. So far we’ve addressed faith, family and wellness. This month we’ll look at career.

Most of my clients don’t struggle with job satisfaction, but rather with keeping their career in perspective. Perhaps you can relate. Has your pursuit of professional excellence taken over your life, prohibiting you from giving attention to other areas?

Former Ball State Associate Head Coach, Lisa McDonald, loved being a Cardinal for the last 9 seasons. Though she developed better life balance habits in recent years, life as a college coach allowed her only about 3 weeks a year with her family in Arizona. She decided it was time for a change and recently left coaching to move back to Flagstaff to work with her brother's company as a personal trainer.

For Lisa, better life balance and living a values-driven life meant changing jobs. Better life balance for you may not require a job change, but it will likely require some change. If you have trouble:



• Turning off your cell phone, or not answering work calls/emails at home or after hours
• Being “all there” mentally and emotionally when you are with family/friends
• Leaving your office at a reasonable hour
• Relaxing and turning “work” off in your mind
• Making time to exercise, recreate and eat right
• Getting through a day without caffeine
• Saying no
then it’s time to evaluate your career and make some adjustments to live a healthier life.

You want to know the truth? Are you ready? Ok, here you go— you will never get it all done! No matter how long you work, there will always be more to do. And yet, we weren’t created to work 24/7/365. Stress, burnout and health issues besiege those who try.

Your work is part of your life—and a good part. But it’s not meant to be your life. Here are a few ideas to help create more separation between your career and the rest of your life:

Take a vacation: Americans earn the least amount of vacation days in the world, and still 35% of employed US adults don’t use their vacation days. Make a commitment to take all your vacation days…every year.

Go unplugged: Decide to spend daily, uninterrupted time with your family, a friend or even by yourself and refuse to answer work calls or emails. Put it in your schedule and tell your co-workers.

Leave the office: Schedule appointments that will force you to leave the office at a reasonable time. Agree to pick up the kids three days/week or to meet someone for dinner.

Be accountable: If you know that changing a particular habit will give you better balance but you can’t seem to change it on your own, agree to pay a friend $10 for every time you don’t follow through. It’s amazing how a little cold, hard cash motivates!


Life Beyond Sport Bottom Line: you were not meant to work all the time. Losing perspective on your career and believing that you're indispensable at work leads to unhealthy habits, sending the others areas of your life into a tailspin. Get perspective on your career, set some limits around it, and become more productive and happy.


Visit Stephanie's website: http://www.lifebeyondsport.com/
Compliments of Bob Starkey / LSU Hoops

Twelve Rules for Raising Delinquent Children

I came across this last week and it really made me think. I hope it does the same for you.

The Houston, Texas police department used to distribute a little leaflet with the above title. It was a satire on parents who don’t control their children.
Let’s take a look at what the Houston Police department finds are the causes of
delinquent children. HERE THEY ARE:

1. GIVE THE CHILD EVERYTHING HE WANTS. In this way, he will
grow up to believe that the world owes him a living.
2. WHEN HE PICKS UP BAD WORDS, LAUGH AT HIM. This will make
him think he’s cute. It will also encourage him to pick up cuter phrases that will
blow off the top of your head later.
3. NEVER GIVE HIM ANY SPIRITUAL TRAINING. Let him wait until he
is 21 when he can “decide for himself.”
4. AVOID USING THE WORD “WRONG.” It may develop in him a guilt
complex. This will condition him to believe later when he is arrested for stealing
that society is against him and he is being persecuted.
5.DO EVERYTHING FOR HIM so that he will be experienced in throwing
responsibility for others.
6. LET HIM READ AND WATCH ANYTHING HE WANTS TO. Be careful
that the silverware and drinking glasses are sterilized, but let his mind feast on
garbage.
7. QUARREL FREQUENTLY IN HIS PRESENCE. In this way he will not be
too shocked when his own home is broken up later.
8. GIVE A CHILD ALL THE SPENDING MONEY HE WANTS. Never let him
earn his own. Why should he have things as tough as you had them?
9. SATISFY HIS EVERY CRAVING. Denial may lead to harmful frustration.
10. TAKE HIS PART AGAINST NEIGHBORS, TEACHERS, POLICEMEN.
They are all just prejudiced against your child.
11. WHEN HE GETS ITO REAL TROUBLE, APOLOGIZE FOR YOURSELF
by saying ,”I never could do anything with him.”
12. PREPARE FOR A LIFE OF GRIEF. You will be likely to have it.
-John Thiesen