It’s all about respect and character in my book and I’m glad my sons have learned the importance of these qualities in athletics, and in life. There’s no question that being a good athlete requires talent and natural-born ability, but I believe it takes more than that to be first-class complete athlete. Regardless of talent […]

Many gymnasts find it helpful to try a back tuck off of a mat to give them extra height to complete the flip A backflip is considered a basic skill in gymnastics because it is a building block to many other skills. It’s not a simple move to learn, but once you get it, you’ve achieved one […]

The lifts themselves require a great amount of technical work. This is good and bad when it comes to baseball athletes. One of the most popular questions I get is about using the Olympic lifts with baseball athletes. First off, I came up through my athletic career as well as my early coaching career with the […]

All athletes have different imbalances, limiting factors, overall attitudes etc. Because of that, it would be hard to put together a generic plan and expect a high-level result. We recently had the pleasure of interviewing a sports scientist, Ian Mack, who works with many NHL players and was recently featured on ESPN for his work […]

Catchers will come up out of their crouches, take a step forward with their right foot, then take a step forward with their left foot, then throw. When I work with catchers, I often tell them two of the most important things they will be judged on by coaches is their ability to block pitches […]

The nice thing about this tryout is that if he isn’t selected, he still gets to play on his current team without any fallout. If he is invited, then he’ll have a decision to make. In many youth sport leagues, there are no true tryouts. Sure, preseason “tryouts” evaluate every child, but each player makes […]

Instead, the best hockey players harness the power of self-talk, whether consciously or unconsciously the quality of their mindset always determines the quality of their behavior. The body always follows the mind, it doesn’t work the other way around.  We see this so often in those who seem like such prospects at a young age, […]

“Nothing beats failure but to try. If you keep on trying, you keep on preparing, eventually you’re going to crack that ceiling. It’s going to happen for you.” The Northern Illinois Spartans youth football program is set to debut in the fall. To help with the costs to fund the program, the team raised money […]

“That to me is the most important aspect of this; just making sure everyone feels welcome in the sport,” To Renee Hess, the next step for the Black Girl Hockey Club was a natural one. The associate director of service-learning for community engagement at La Sierra University in Riverside, California, Hess founded the club at […]

Be slow to speak; quick to listen. When you listen to your kid, and really listen, you have a better chance of understanding them. If you are a sports parent, you will lose your patience. It can’t be helped. In your opinion, kids don’t try hard enough sometimes and may not seem to care about […]