A coach's mission to build, not break
One of my favorite throw back movies is “Death Becomes Her.” With Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep and Bruce Willis. In the movie, Meryl Streep is trying to recapture her youth and she takes a potion that makes her immortal and restores her body to it’s youthful state. After paying a handsome sum for the… Continue reading and NOW a Warning…
For every athlete who's ever thought about quitting. I've been there. It is possible to love the game once more, but only after you're done blaming everything around you. One of the harder life lessons, but also the simplest. It is within us that we find our joy. It cannot be given, it cannot be… Continue reading Where is My Joy?
Recently a coach asked me, “What’s the one thing I can do right now to make my team better, even if we don’t have the best talent, enough field time, a big budget, big name coaches? What is something I can do that gives us an edge that is within my control.” I thought about… Continue reading No Fear
They were starting to line up at the locker room door, but my left cleat didn’t feel right. I kept fiddling with the shoelace trying to get it tight. It didn’t matter, it was time to walk down the sidewalk, down the hill that overlooks the turf. Bright lights overhead as the sky was just… Continue reading It’s in the little things
A coach should strive to see the light come on inside their athletes, and fear the day they might make it go out. Have you seen it? That moment that your athlete’s posture changes, the smile breaks out on their face, the confidence shift? I live for that moment, it’s what keeps me in the… Continue reading Building Motivation: turn on the lights
Coaching is hard, there's no doubt there. Coaching females who often have low self-esteem, struggle with confidence, and often feel pressured to hold back instead of stepping forward is even harder. As our young girls grow into strong women, we hope to have coaches there who will be committed to helping them find their… Continue reading Review: Janine Tucker’s Player Journal
When I realized my team culture was failing, I knew I had to do something fast. It wasn't just a matter of players being unhappy or some drama here and there, our game performance was suffering and it had nothing to do with IQ, conditioning, or knowledge. It was a lack of effort, heart, and… Continue reading If only I had known this one thing…
Little c. I'm a coach. I'm a coach. I played this sport growing up, I think I was pretty good at it. I know how to win, even without the best players by planning out great plays. I have a team. I bring drills, teach plays, teach them how to score and how to shut… Continue reading BIG C vs little c
We talk about wanting team unity, but often as leaders we end up in a Me vs You battle when it’s time to correct behaviors. When effort levels, focus, distractions, or priorities become an issue, the old school form of leadership is still quite popular. That’s the one where we immediately take that authoritarian stance… Continue reading Change leadership from Me vs You, to WE
I can set the tone of something. I can create atmosphere ahead of an event or meeting. I can structure guidelines, expectations, and procedures. I can design the colors, the logo, principles, the outward branding. But even after all of that, I haven’t built culture. That’s the disconnect. That’s where we miss the mark as… Continue reading You can’t build it in your preseason meeting. #culture