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POSITIVE COACHING ALLIANCE (PCA)
Click the title of each section below to watch a corresponding video or read an informative article.
Effort, Learning, and Mistakes are Okay
Athletes who only focus on the scoreboard might have a hard time staying motivated in the face of a tough opponent or when things are not going their way. That’s why Positive Coaching Alliance recommends coaching athletes to focus on a mastery approach, which leads to a task-orientation to success, helping athletes feel increments of success while developing skills for their sports and other aspects of life.
PCA's Tina Syer: Maintaining a Growth Mindset as a Parent and Coach
In this video, Positive Coaching Alliance’s Chief Impact Officer and former collegiate field hockey player, Tina Syer discusses the importance of cultivating a growth mindset in children, as espoused by Carol Dweck, the PCA National Advisory Board Member and Stanford University Professor who wrote Mindset. The way to establish and maintain the growth mindset is through reward and acknowledgement of effort, whether applied athletically or academically.
5 Tips for Removing Biases from Tryouts
In reality, tryouts aren’t perfect. Youth players might not compete to their full potential at tryouts, evaluators might not be prepared and score each player appropriately, and not all drills might go well. But one thing teams can control is how they remove biases from youth sports tryouts. These tips can help make the tryouts process fair.
PCA National Advisory Board Member Julie Foudy on Creating Team Culture
Julie Foudy describes how her U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team created a top to bottom positive team culture. Everyone from the veteran team captain to the superstar carried bags, water bottles, etc when needed. The typical “rookie duties” did not apply and allowed the new players to feel comfortable and equal on an already successful team.
NCAA's Executive Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Oliver Luck: How Coaches Can Measure their Career Success
In this video, Oliver Luck, former NFL quarterback and Positive Coaching Alliance Advisory board member, emphasizes the correlation between how youth athletes perceive their coaches and how many of those players continue in the sport for a next season. Luck, father of Indianapolis Colts quarterback, Andrew Luck, states that just like any other management position, athletes appreciate a more positive coaching approach.
PCA's Tina Syer: Supportive Parenting Without Over-Coaching
Positive Coaching Alliance’s Chief Impact Officer and former collegiate hockey player, Tina Syer, encourages parents to cheer for their kids without inadvertently coaching. It can be overwhelming for kids to hear both the coaches and parents telling them what to do simultaneously on the field, and can sometimes have a negative effect on both the game and the kids.
Janneke Schopman: Controlling Your Emotions When Dealing with Officials
In this clip, U.S. Women's National Team Head Coach Janneke Schopman discusses with Positive Coaching Alliance how her team uses mindfulness to control their emotions, particularly when dealing with officials, but also with regard to mistakes. By focusing on the here and now, and not dwelling on the past, the team is able to bounce back from mistakes and bad calls faster and operate more efficiently. She always emphasizes staying true to yourself, reflecting on how you as as an individual can impact the next play.
Craig Parnham: Constant Clarity is Key to Team Culture
Craig Parnham, USA Field Hockey's Director of Coach Education and Learning, discusses one of the largest issues he sees within organizations not having a clear understanding of the mission and vision to explain to families. He quotes Vince Lombardi, saying, "Culture is an all-time thing not just a sometimes thing," in describing his opinion on culture. He emphasizes that it takes time to build a strong culture and coaches and staff need to invest their time to truly create a culture that is desired.
Janneke Schopman: Ask The Leading Questions And Your Players Will Find The Answers
Janneke Schopman is the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team, and a two-time Olympic Medalist (2004 & 2008) with the Dutch National Team. She was previously the assistant coach for the U.S. Women's National Team from 2014-2017, until her promotion to head coach in 2017.
Schopman says the key to engaging your leaders and your athletes, in general, is by asking them questions that lead them to find the answer, rather than giving them the answer directly. According to Schopman, if you allow your athletes to discover what works best for them for a particular skill or role, it gives them confidence and a sense of ownership over their game.
Kayla Bashore: Communication Skills On and Off the Field
Kayla Bashore Smedley is a former U.S. Women's National Team member, who played for Indiana University, and competed in the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Olympic Games.
Here, Bashore Smedley shares how vital the communication skills she learned through sports were on and off the field. Communication was crucial to her field hockey team’s success and ability to work as a unit on the field. Those experience also helped shape her communication skills as a family member and friend.
Double-Goal Coach Job Description
At Positive Coaching Alliance, we believe these standards are reflected not just on the scoreboard. While winning is important, it is more important that coaches teach life lessons through sports. We consider a coach that focuses on both of these outcomes to be a Double-Goal Coach®. To learn more about these Double-Goal Coach methods, check out this job description. This tool can set new standards for your organization or team, and can help improve the experience for athletes.
Working with Assistant Coaches Effectively
Forge your assistant coaches into a cohesive leadership team, and you will accomplish much more. And you will address a huge problem with youth sports practices – too many kids standing around. Here are three ways to delegate to assistant coaches.
Coaching Your Own Child
Historically, young people have apprenticed with their parents’ business. Today, there is little opportunity for this, but coaching your own child can be a wonderful experience in working together. Many parents and children look back on their times together on a sports team as some of the best moments of their lives. Here are some tips for making that shared experience a positive one.
Making Parents An Asset By Avoiding Parent/Coach Conflict
Some coaches only want to coach kids, not deal with unruly or unreasonable parents. But kids bring parents with them. Here’s how to make parents an asset to your team by setting clear expectations and avoiding problem parents.