Archive for the ‘coaching’ Category

June 28th 2011 by admin

New Summer Backyard Game for Everyone

The 4th of July is here with a bunch of upcoming summer weekends at home, the beach house, on vacation, or visiting friends & family. This is the best time to enjoy yourself outside playing games while drinking your favorite beverage, barbecuing, or just hanging out. It could be horseshoes, volleyball, frisbee, wiffle ball, or playing catch. Now there’s a new game that will not only pit you against your buddies, but actually improves your golf game. It’s called PGA Trick It Out Golf, and an integral part of the new PGA Sports Academy.

Trick It Out Sports is a company I created 3 years ago, that makes learning the fundamental skills of sports more engaging and fun by breaking them into measurable tricks. Most recently we partnered with the PGA of America and designed our first golf product.

PGA Trick It Out Golf is a backyard skills game for any level of play. Based on mini-skill competitions that are called “tricks”, and a virtual web based scoring system, you can conduct on-going competitions throughout the summer, wherever you are.

This unique and innovative PGA game breaks down all the fundamentals of golf into a series of fun tricks, in combination with a virtual web tool that measures each golfers improvement, while providing everyone the opportunity to compete and rank each of their trick performances among other golfers around the world. In your own backyard!

All tricks are introduced and available on a member’s personal PGA Trick It Out Golf web page, via trick videos, and an illustrated pocket guidebook, that provides step by step instructions on how to set-up, execute, and score each trick. After a golfer executes a trick they download their best score onto a virtual scoreboard that automatically shows where that performance ranks.

For this upcoming holiday weekend you can try it out and let PGA Trick It Out Golf know what you think. All you need is 10 yards of open space, a pitching or sand wedge, 5 short flight golf balls (wiffle, foam, etc), 7 small disc cones (you can substitute with two jump ropes, rope, string, etc), 6 empty shoe boxes or pairs of different size buckets that form 3 different size obstacles approximately 6, 12, & 18 inches in height, an extra club or stick to lay on top of the shoe boxes or buckets.

How to Set-up:
Set-up a 6 foot diameter circle of cones or use jump ropes, 10 yards from a tee area. Start by placing a 6 inch obstacle three feet directly in front of the tee-box. Follow that by placing a 12 inch & 18 inch obstacle three feet directly in front of tee-box.

How to Play
Take 5 consecutive shots with short flight golf balls (using a pitching or sand wedge) over the three different sized obstacles for a total of 15 consecutive shots. Each ball that stays within the 6 foot diameter circle 10 yards from the tee-box is awarded 5 points. Total your points after 15 consecutive shots from the three different heights for your final score. Keep trying to improve your score.

Then go to PGA Trick It Out Golf on Facebook and let them know what you think. If you’re pleased, and want to try more, log onto HYPERLINK “http://www.pgatrickitoutgolf.com” www.pgatrickitoutgolf.com and register for a one year membership.

Anyone can sign-up & join. You can sign-up your kids by age category, as well as register yourself to the open adult division.

A one year individual membership includes:
Access to 10 introductory tricks on video, with more tricks added throughout the year, including indoor tricks for the winter.
A virtual realtime scoreboard that ranks your trick performances among others nation & worldwide.
Tips from the pros.
Download video of your swing, or tricks performed, and link them to a certified PGA Teaching Professional for analysis (your local pro can sign-up and link to you anytime)
A calendar of upcoming PGA Trick It Out Events throughout the country.
All for just $9.95 per year

June 8th 2011 by admin

What Athletes Are More Creative?

Athletic Creativity – DO ORGANIZED SPORTS LIMIT YOUR CHILD’S DEVELOPMENT?

What’s lost in youth sports is the true enjoyment of participating. Yes, it sounds cliche, but it very much holds true in this case. Sports should be played to enjoy oneself, to socialize, to learn how your body moves, and progress that learning in order to increase & improve an individual’s athletic skills.

Action sport athletes have a culture that focuses on the pure enjoyment of participating, they play & live in the moment. Sports such skate & snowboarding appreciate and celebrate the small individual elements & achievements of what it takes to participate. The very fact that their sports are based on performing tricks provides them an element of freedom that many team sports don’t ever achieve.

Sports such as surfing, skate & snowboarding are essentially not based on winning & losing a game or individual contest. Participation in these sports are purely focused on practice and the joy and reward received through self-improvement. Athletes in these sports are naturally creative due to the fact that there’s no set way any one trick must be performed. Everyone is different, everyone moves differently, our movement skills are our identity, another set of fingerprints that distinguishes us from others.

Action sport athletes are not forced to conform to any particular structure of coaching and competitions. This freestyle nature of participation truly allows a young athlete the opportunity to own and mold their experience.

Sports, through athletic movement & skill development should be thought of as an art form. Through sports, the ability to self-discover how your body and mind work both separately and together provides all of us an incredible educational experience that never ends. Unfortunately, a majority of team sports rarely provide this experience, therefore our kids never truly enjoy or reap the educational benefits of self-discovery and an appreciation of the creative process of athletic development, in comparison to action sport athletes.

Are young action sport athletes better athletes than traditional youth team sport athletes?

Physically in most cases, I can argue that participants in action sports are athletically more multidimensional and creative. For the most part they develop better core strength and balance, and they better understand and are aware of how their entire body needs to work together.

Creatively there is no question that a young action sport athlete has a tremendous advantage over a young team sport athlete. Unfortunately, unlike action sports, team sports don’t emphasize improvisation, where freestyle execution of skills are frowned upon and often not allowed by coaches. Action sport athletes have the freedom to learn and develop on their own, through their own style and creativity. Team sport athletes are robotic, waiting to be told what to do, stymied through a right and wrong way to execute skills.

Does organized youth sports have benefits for kids? Absolutely, it keeps them somewhat active, but it mostly serves to identify who is more talented much too soon in their developmental process, through often untrained amateur methods, organizations, and overzealous adults.

We as adults do more to limit creative development in our young athletes. Action sports have limited adult involvement, and those athletes have flourishing creative experiences and development. Over 40 million kids play organized sports in this country, while millions of adults coach &/or administer youth sports. Hmm… do you see the problem!!??

This is part one of an ongoing series of blogs where I’ll be exploring, “Creativity in Sports”, the importance it plays in your child’s overall development, how to incorporate it into the organized sports experience, and what you can do at home to supplement the process.

Let me know your thoughts

April 28th 2010 by admin

Building a House on Sand – Don’t Ignore Athletic Preparation

After working in football for over 14 years at the NFL and as a consultant to the Arena Football League I’ve seen many seasons go by in youth football where conditioning is misinterpreted as a stamina and strength test.  Laps around a field, wind sprints, push-ups, sit-ups, and leg raises make up the majority of what most consider a good session of conditioning. What most fail to realize is stamina and/or strength workouts for kids, that don’t apply to the execution of fundamental skills, is counter productive and simply a waste of time.

What I’ve witness with a majority of kids that play football is that most cannot get in or come out of a stance properly, don’t move their feet with the agility necessary to be effective blockers or tacklers, not to mention how to avoid being blocked or tackled. Youth basketball players struggle to get into a basic athletic position to effectively play defense, missing the skills necessary to move laterally, backpedal, and change direction. Are those athletic elements not the foundation of most sports? But a majority of all youth sport programs either spend very little time training kids to become somewhat proficient in these basic areas of athletic movement or they ignore it all together.  As a result the development of athletes, quality of play, and safety have declined significantly.

Millions of parents place their kids into Leagues, to play organized games every season of the year.  They spend millions of dollars on registration fees, equipment, uniforms, travel, etc. yet they spend little or no time invested in preparing their kids.  It’s similar to buying a Baby Grand Piano then immediately signing up your child to play a recital, without ever taking a lesson.  Yes they may be able to play “chopsticks” – but chopsticks version of sport won’t translate or work on a field of real athletic competition.

Last football season I was highly criticized by parents when I incorporated agility, balance & coordination training into a pre-season of football practices for 9 year olds.  The problem was that they were uncomfortable that were not conducting in their minds “traditional practices”, after witnessing other teams do  sit-ups, push-ups, laps around a field, and wind sprints.  I don’t ever recall a football player having to conduct those  on game day.  As a matter of fact, you rarely witness a football player running in a straight line unless it’s to get off the field.

You cannot build a house on sand without some type of foundation that supports the future structure.  The following drills are simple yet vital movement skills that directly relate to basketball. The drill involve cones, an agility ladder (substitute with chalk) hurdles (substitute with shoe boxes),  and basketballs.

The movement skills executed throughout this obstacle course involve agility (fast feet) keeping the body square, coordination of the lower body over hurdles, hand/eye coordination in conjunction with footwork, lateral movement, & lateral movement in conjunction with lower & upper body combined coordination.  Notice that the correct movement throughout the course is a smooth lifting of the knees with quick feet.  The incorrect movement is hopping or jumping over the hurdles.

The movement skills executed throughout this obstacle course involve agility (fast feet) keeping the body square, coordination of the lower body over hurdles, hand/eye coordination in conjunction with footwork, lateral movement, & lateral movement in conjunction with lower & upper body combined coordination.  Notice that the correct movement throughout the course is a smooth lifting of the knees with quick feet.  The incorrect movement is hopping or jumping over the hurdles.

October 16th 2009 by admin

Skill Drills & Competitions for your Big Players

Bill Walsh

Bill Walsh

I distinctly remember Bill Walsh and I discussing his concern about the underdevelopment of young lineman several years ago during a car ride from the NFL offices out to the NY Jets Training Facility in Long Island (at the time). The visit was arranged to videotape Bill’s coaching tips for our Junior Player Development video. He was very happy with the JPD approach but raised the subject that not enough was done for training lineman.

Bill expressed concern that lineman were getting too big and lacked an effective training regiment that reinforced technique, improved movement skills, and overall fitness at the youth through the high school level. I was recently reminded of that conversation, after reading several books on and by Bill Walsh (“The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football” & “The Score Takes Care of Itself”) and during the launch of Trick It Out Football. Unfortunately skill competitions have typically been designed for skill position players. Often overlooked are larger players or lineman. Sadly I never had the opportunity to accomplish such a request, until now.

Over the course of the next several blogs I’ll present a series of workouts and skill competitions that are designed to enhance a lineman’s technique and fitness for coaches to apply to their practices.

Staying Low and Exploding Out of a Stance:

Let’s face it when it comes to all levels of football one of the largest technique issues that arise constantly are offensive lineman standing up at the snap of the ball. There are specific pieces of equipment, such as chutes, that help emphasize staying low out of a stance but may be hard to come by at the youth level. And then there is the issue of knowing how to best use this piece of equipment if you’re lucky enough to have access. Let’s first look at how you can replicate this piece of equipment with a little creativity and at a fraction of the cost. I use a set of large 2-foot high cones with holes placed on the top and sides. Each set comes with a set of three 4 – 6 foot poles that fit straight up and into the top of each cone along with plastic snap-on holders that connect and hold a third pole across the top.

Sets can also serve as hurdles to run and jump over.  Perform Better the sports/fitness catalogue company carry this product here:

Set-up two sets of cones with poles approximately 5 feet apart at a height of about 3 feet and about 6 feet in distance apart. Ask each player to set-up in a stance in front of the first set of cones & poles, on a signal from the coach, the player power steps under the two sets of poles – stepping first with the left foot for a right shoulder block (replacing the heel to toe as a description of the length of each step) – head up skying their eyes, keeping the body square. When staying low young players have a tendency to not keep their upper torso square causing them to miss blocks. Check that every player is bending their knees & ankles while placing their chest to thigh. Continue to have each player march under the poles.

Progression 1: Objective is to replicate the movement while moving low and adding another game- like physical challenge we repeat the above drill with a slight adjustment. Place two half-foam rolls or two by four pieces of lumber under the poles that each player must power step on under your homemade chute. This drill challenges a player’s balance while keeping them in a low athletic position ready to block. This benefits the athlete’s ability to maintain balance while continuing to develop muscle memory of the basic technique of blocking, a skill invaluable to any athlete at all levels.

Progression 2: Objective is to continue to develop the movement and muscle memory of staying low along with the combination of thrusting into the block with power. In order to accomplish this replication we set-up the original placement of cones/poles and add a 4 pound medicine ball (remember I’m designing this for 9 & 10 year olds, some athletes may be able to handle a heavier weight, but I would avoid it due to the unfamiliar movement technique they are learning). Players are asked to begin in a stance as low as a 3 point stance but with arms up holding the medicine ball under their chin just above their chest. Once again they march/power step through the chute and explode upward after passing under the second set of cones and thrust the medicine ball up and out as far as they can. This forces the athlete to stay low, power step to get momentum, dip the hips and thrust upward (as though they are initiating a block with force).

Skill Competitions: “Tight Rope Drive” Take progression one and time how fast they get through the chute using proper form and not falling off the half foam rolls or 2×4 pieces of lumber. Each player must make a shoulder block into a blocking shield or blocking dummy. Clock stops when they make contact with shield or dummy. Allow each player to conduct the race six times recording the time of each one and then dividing by 6 for a score. The lower the score the better. If a player falls off the half foam roll or 2×4 or knocks down the poles the times still counts but they lose that run as one that is divided into their total score (in other words they might make it through successfully 5 times out of 6 without losing balance, then you would take the total accumulated time for all 6 runs and divide by 5 not 6). “Power Drive” Take progression two and time player through chute and measure the distance the 4lb ball is thrown. Combine the total distance of the throw and subtract the total time it takes the ball to leave the players hand for a score. If ball is not thrown within a six- foot area parallel down field from the chute an additional second is reduced from the total score. An accurate throw indicates that the athlete has executed correctly by squaring up their body.

October 2nd 2009 by admin

Video Games @ Practice: The Ultimate Coaching Tool

If you’re a parent with kids involved in organized sports you have most likely experienced them complain about going to practice and even threatening to quit.  You’re not alone, over 75% of all kids under the age of 12 quit organized sports.  We have every right to be concerned that many youth sports leagues and organizations are doing nothing to improve the overall experience for kids.  A recent study showed that over 90% of all youth coaches have no type coaches training, yet they instruct close to 25 million kids each year.  The results are obvious; a majority of kids don’t like the experience they’re receiving when they play organized sports.

My mission through Trick It Out Sports and my radio show “The ABC’s of Sports” on Sirius Satellite Radio Channel 122 & XM 143 is to improve youth coaching and the overall experience for kids.  Through these two vehicles and this web site I provide content, coaching tools, and advice that are easy to use and will help overcome the lack of training most volunteer coaches never receive.

Youth sports skills have been taught primarily the same way for the past half-century.  However the way kids receive information and learn has changed drastically. In a rapid pace era where information and technology are cornerstones to a kid’s lifestyle, youth sports instruction is outdated and no longer contemporary.

Kids are visual learners when it comes to physical activity.  If the information and skills being introduced and taught to a child does not engage them, there is limited chance they will comprehend and retain it for any extended period of time.  Information and skills must be presented to kids in a visual fashion that appeals and captures their attention.  The other disadvantage most youth coaches have is their inability to adequately demonstrate skills and techniques. Video sports games can accomplish this while making a youth coaches job much easier and effective.

We strongly suggest using a handheld video gaming device such as the new Sony PSP GO or a Nintendo DSi and/or mobile/smart phone such as an Iphone or Blackberry to your next practice.  Each hand held device can play different team sport video games with realistic graphics. The Nintendo DSi does not sport such picture perfect graphics as compared to the other available mobile phone technology.  Though both feature replicas of professional athletes performing skills, the mobile/smart phones come as close to reality as you can imagine.  However both do a great job visually replicating fundamental athletic moves, similar to that of an actual video recording.  Web site access on a practice field can provide great instructional benefits as well. A new customized game and training tool I designed and just introduced is specifically designed for this purpose and can be found at www.trickitoutsports.com.  The site highlights plays as tricks through video and virtual cards that visually explain the trick and how best to execute. Whether it’s watching the execution of turning a double play or the technique of foot and ball work on the soccer field, a video game image or web site is worth much more than a verbal or less than accurate demonstration by coaches.

If you think this is type of training is unrealistic, think again.  Teams in the NFL have converted their entire playbooks over to video games in order to better engage their players into learning all the plays while better understanding the tendencies of their opponents. NASCAR drivers often will race their cars on the video game tracks in order to better learn the entire course they are about to race for real.

Unlike video recordings, hand held video game units allow the user to manipulate the athlete on the screen, allowing the operator (coach) to control all movements. Another teaching technique is to allow the athletes to manipulate the movement of the video game action, therefore further engaging them in the visual interactive learning process.

As an example, if you’re coaching a youth soccer practice and kids are becoming bored working on ball skill techniques, bring the handheld video game device and show FIFA Soccer 10.  Have the athletes focus on the footwork of a particular ball-handling trick followed by challenging them to replicate the move on the field.  This type of experiential learning that is both contemporary and so closely interactive will not only enhance your practices but will also develop much more engaged athletes in the learning process of the fundamentals.

By bringing the handheld video sports game or Iphone/Blackberry to practice you are also directly and subconsciously training each kid to focus on technique execution the next time they play the video game at home.

There are additional applications for sports video games as they apply to your child’s future sports experience.  Over the course of the next several weeks I’ll introduce those concepts as well as other portable technology tools that can be effectively used at practice.

Remember today’s kids are growing up in a fast paced environment where they need to be both entertained and engaged at all times.  Using video game training at practice will not only improve the attention of each athlete and improve practice; it will also increase your legitimacy as a coach that understands their world.


July 15th 2009 by admin

Stretching the Truth

Football and soccer seasons are rapidly approaching and soon we’ll be coaching, assisting or watching our sons and daughters take to the football and soccer fields.

As we find ourselves in the middle of summer I often find it’s a great time to revisit, address, and provide some advice for some of the mistakes I’ve witness on youth fields during the past season.  More times than not these mistakes are simply due to being unaware of the many updated and innovative methods that are now available to coaches at all levels.  Unfortunately many of the methods that we grew up with and experienced are outdated and are often not appropriate for today’s athletes.

One element of practices and pre-game warm-ups that I often observe is the static stretching routines many novice (and sometimes experienced) coaches require their players to execute.  Static stretching at the beginning of any activity can actually lead to more injuries than preventing them, and does nothing to warm the body up.  It is much more appropriate to conduct an active warm-up that gets the blood flowing to all the large muscle groups and joints (shoulders, arms, upper back, mid section, hip flexors, thighs, calves, ankles, etc.). This prepares these vital body parts to be able to fire when called upon during the course of practice or competition.

Static stretching is only appropriate at the end or during an activity after the body has had a chance to actually warm-up by moving and allowing the blood to circulate.  At this point the muscles, ligaments and joints are prepared to be stretched out, assisting in recovery rather than starting up.

HOW TO MOST EFFECTIVELY CONDUCT WARM-UPS

In order to begin a practice or prepare for a game, warming up is important.  At the same time you don’t want to start with a low key, low energy activity that does nothing to motivate and get your team fired up and prepared.  Typically warm-ups are presented in a low-key almost nonchalant fashion due to static stretching and a lack of importance placed on this portion of practice.  When in fact, this may be the most important part of practice or preparation for a game.

I like to get the group moving immediately with high-energy activities that motivate the team while warming up the entire body.  Preparing, choreographing, and setting up this station prior to the team’s arrival will help accomplish this goal.  The following provides a sample warm-up segment for a team practice for just about any sport.

Active Warm-up – 10 Minutes Mark – off an area with cones (10yard x 10 yards)

Keys to segment: keep every athlete moving (jogging) the entire 10 minutes while incorporating free range of motion (shoulders/back/hips/thighs/ham strings)

Equipment: Tennis ball for each athlete, cones to outline 10 x 10 yard area

Elements of Warm-up:

  • Jog counter clock wise around area for one lap (maintaining a good distance between each athlete)
  • Ask athletes to toss tennis balls with right hand in the air above their head while keeping right arm fully extended for one full lap – then repeat for one lap with left hand – followed by tossing the ball from hand to hand with both arms fully extended above head.
  • Ask athletes to backpedal while repeating above sequence of ball tosses for each lap of three total.
  • Have athletes jog clockwise while rotating ball around waist for two laps, followed by rotating ball through legs in a figure 8 rotation (should keep moving without stopping) for one full lap. Repeat backpedaling with same sequence of ball rotations around back and figure 8’s through legs
  • Ask athletes to roll ball with left hand about 3 feet in front of them & pick up immediately with right hand followed by picking up with left – rotating rolls and hands for one lap

6.Close the gap between athletes and ask the front jogger to roll the ball to his/her right followed by the last athlete in line retrieving the ball before it stops and running to the front of the line, repeat till everyone has retrieved a ball three times on both sides.

Follow this portion of the warm-up with small-sided (3 on 3) ultimate Frisbee games on multiple 20 x 15 yard areas, for a total of 5 minutes.

Equipment: One Football &/or Frisbee, four cones to mark off field – four additional cones to mark off

end zones

Execution: The objective is to score by catching a Football/Frisbee in a designated end zone, there are no designated positions. The Football/Frisbee can move in any direction around the field, and play is continuous. Change of possession occurs when the Football/Frisbee is thrown out of bounds, is dropped by the offense, is deflected by a defender to the ground, or after a score. When a change of possession occurs, the defense immediately goes on offense and begins play at the spot where the Football/Frisbee was dropped, thrown out of bounds, or scored in the end zone. Players may take two steps after receiving the Football/Frisbee and can transfer it only by throwing it to a teammate. The objective is to keep everyone moving, so divide your group into an even amount of teams and allow them all to play at the same time on different playing areas.

What have you accomplished?

  • Every athlete is fully engaged all major muscle groups (preparing their mental as well as physical skills), and broken a sweat.
  • Every athlete feels energized and excited to continue on with practice.
  • A complete team activity that promotes working and preparing together is a great way to start any practice or competition.