Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports™ Blog

Composure and Perceived Strength

10/5/2009

I’m still processing the taunt-and-punch from the Oregon-Boise State game and Serena Williams and Roger Federer going negative while losing tennis matches recently. The Duck and Bronco players were unknown to me, but I have admired Williams and Federer for a long time as individuals who typically Honor the Game.

My overwhelming reaction is that each of these actions demonstrates weakness on the part of the individual. Although responding violently or nastily when things go wrong may seem like toughness, it really is a loss of composure, which is a sign of weakness.

Because most people want to appear strong and in control, it would be wonderful if the public saw loss of composure for what it is: a weakness. Then perhaps athletes (and other public figures) would work harder to retain their poise, knowing that a loss of composure would cry out “Weakling!” to the general public.

Want to learn even more? Jim Thompson, Founder and Executive Director of the PCA, has written several books on the topic:

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Positive Coaching Workshops

Bring Positive Coaching to your school or youth sports organization through a partnership with Positive Coaching Alliance centered on live group workshops for your organization's leaders, coaches, parents and athletes. Since PCA's founding at Stanford University in 1998, more than 1,100 schools and youth sports organizations throughout the country have used our research-based techniques to:

Prepare youth athletes from pre-school through high school for success in life on and off the playing fields
Emphasize character-education and life lessons through sports
Become outstanding educational-athletic programs, using our Roadmap to Excellence to create a shared vision among organizational leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.

Visit our Workshop page to register and learn more!

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The mission of the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) is to transform youth sports so sports can transform youth. Through partnerships with more than 1,100 youth sports organizations, leagues, schools and cities nationwide, PCA has conducted 5,000-plus workshops for youth sports coaches, parents, organizational leaders and athletes. Since Executive Director Jim Thompson founded PCA as a non-profit within the Stanford University Athletic Department in 1998, PCA has helped create a positive, character-building youth sports environment for more than 3 million youth athletes.

Things Don’t Look Pretty

8/31/2009

I’m a long-time fan of Giants pitcher Barry Zito who stifled Colorado in a crucial wild-card contest on Saturday.

I especially like the way he won the game. A principle of Responsible Sports is a focus on mastery rather than the scoreboard. Zito personified this against the Rockies, concentrating on putting pressure on hitters rather than worrying about results.

“I’m just going out there and not being concerned with results…That’s the toughest thing to do in life. You have a whole stadium full of people who want results, but when you go for results, things don’t look pretty…”

Sports psychology research validates Zito’s approach. If you focus on what we call the ELM Tree of Mastery (E for Effort, L for Learning, M for bouncing back from Mistakes), you actually win more on the scoreboard.

To paraphrase Barry Zito, “When you focus on mastery, things tend to look pretty!”

Want to learn even more? Jim Thompson, Founder and Executive Director of the PCA, has written several books on the topic:

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Positive Coaching Workshops

Prepare youth athletes from pre-school through high school for success in life on and off the playing fields
Emphasize character-education and life lessons through sports
Become outstanding educational-athletic programs, using our Roadmap to Excellence to create a shared vision among organizational leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.

Visit our Workshop page to register and learn more!

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Horses, Wilderness and the Arena Football League

8/10/2009

A wise Wyoming rancher named Jim Mines once told me he was saddened by rules banning horses from wilderness areas, which meant that as his ability to hike diminished, Jim would not be able to travel to places he had loved. He said, “Even though I may never go again, the idea that I could saddle up and do so makes me happy.”

While not many football players made the jump from the Arena Football League to the NFL, Kurt Warner did, going from the Iowa Barnstormers to Super Bowl MVP. And that gave hope to others that they too might hit the big time.

I suspect that, like Jim Mines, the idea that they might be able to emulate Kurt Warner, made AFL players happy, even though the odds were astronomically against them.

That’s why I’m sad that the Arena Football League went out of business last week.

Want to learn even more? Jim Thompson, Founder and Executive Director of the PCA, has written several books on the topic:

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Positive Coaching Workshops

Prepare youth athletes from pre-school through high school for success in life on and off the playing fields
Emphasize character-education and life lessons through sports
Become outstanding educational-athletic programs, using our Roadmap to Excellence to create a shared vision among organizational leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.

Visit our Workshop page to register and learn more!

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What the Titles Did

7/31/2009

In one of my favorite John Wooden stories a UCLA alum asks him how the upcoming season’s team was going to do. Wooden, winner of 10 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championships in 12 years, as UCLA Basketball Coach from 1948 - 1975, said, “I’ll let you know in 20 years.”

Wooden embodied the idea of a Responsible Coach with the twin goals of winning and teaching life lessons before there was a name for it. Here he meant to convey that he was concerned with the men his players became as much as their win-loss record. You couldn’t judge them solely based on the scoreboard that season.

Wooden was recently voted the greatest coach of all-time by Sporting News Daily. Andy Hill who played for Wooden from 1969-1972 said, “…the titles didn’t make him great. What the titles did was get all of you to notice how great he was.”

Want to learn even more? Jim Thompson, Founder and Executive Director of the PCA, has written several books on the topic:

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Positive Coaching Workshops

Prepare youth athletes from pre-school through high school for success in life on and off the playing fields
Emphasize character-education and life lessons through sports
Become outstanding educational-athletic programs, using our Roadmap to Excellence to create a shared vision among organizational leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.

Visit our Workshop page to register and learn more!

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Developing MLPs

7/2/2009

Recently Positive Coaching Alliance hosted a youth sports forum in Los Angeles featuring a star-studded panel. I’ll write about other panelists in the future. Today I want to focus on Darrell Miller, Director of the Urban Youth Academy in Compton, California.

Major League Baseball sponsors the Urban Youth Academy, but Miller, a former major leaguer with the Angels, was clear about the Academy’s goal.

“If someone makes it to the big leagues, that’s great, but we want to produce Major League People.”

I often say PCA’s mission is to use sports to develop successful, fulfilled, contributing members of society. But in just three words, Darrell got it exactly right with a much stickier message.

Few youth coaches will have the chance to coach a future major leaguer.

But we all have the chance to encourage every kid we coach to become Major League People! So here’s to coaches developing MLPs!

Want to learn even more? Jim Thompson, Founder and Executive Director of the PCA, has written several books on the topic:

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Positive Coaching Workshops

Prepare youth athletes from pre-school through high school for success in life on and off the playing fields
Emphasize character-education and life lessons through sports
Become outstanding educational-athletic programs, using our Roadmap to Excellence to create a shared vision among organizational leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.

Visit our Workshop page to register and learn more!

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Phil Jackson: Role Model Coach

6/15/2009

Watching the Lakers defeat Orlando last night, I thought about two crucial reasons why Phil Jackson has won more NBA titles (10) than any other coach.

He fosters self-confidence. Trevor Ariza, who came up big in the playoffs, said he knew he wasn’t going to get pulled from the game if he missed a shot. Jackson’s players don’t tighten up in the clutch, worried about what will happen if they miss. They play to win, not to avoid looking bad. Players worried about their coach giving up on them don’t do that.

He also develops players as leaders. Michael Jordan never won a title until Phil showed him how to make his teammates better. Now even Kobe Bryant detractors should see how Bryant has grown under Phil into a leader who makes his teammates better.

Phil Jackson, PCA’s National Spokesperson, is a wonderful role model for youth coaches.

Want to learn even more? Jim Thompson, Founder and Executive Director of the PCA, has written several books on the topic:

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Positive Coaching Workshops

Prepare youth athletes from pre-school through high school for success in life on and off the playing fields
Emphasize character-education and life lessons through sports
Become outstanding educational-athletic programs, using our Roadmap to Excellence to create a shared vision among organizational leaders, coaches, parents and athletes.

Visit our Workshop page to register and learn more!

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