Coaching

It seems that every time I have a conversation with a coach who complains that some of his players have bad attitudes, I quickly start getting a sense that the coach not only isn't doing anything to make things better, but may be contributing to the problem in the first place.  It is often easy for an outsider to spot the bad body language that infects so many player/coach relationships, but goes unchallenged and unaddressed because of the power that a coach has over playing time. If this doesn't make sense to you, start watching the coaches at games, and pay close attention to their body language and interaction with their players. See which team ends up winning. The coach who interacted with their athletes least, and displayed the better body language, probably came out on top.

Everybody uses the word loyalty and some seem to embrace the phrase as if it had some parallel to ethics and I believe the word should be given some reconsideration by all. After being involved with many different youth athletic programs for the past several years, I have had the opportunity to observe youth leagues that are on opposite poles of the economic and social spectrum. I have coached in the wealthiest of suburban youth leagues and I've coached in inner city leagues that were in the most plighted areas where driving to and from practices made me very nervous.