Smartercoachingllc Podcast

USA Hockey (USAH) is being very progressive in its approach to how it educates and develops its coaches. The leaders at USA Hockey (Ken Martel, Mark Tabor, et al.) have been through the US Center for Coaching Excellence (USCCE) Coach Developer Academy and now they are taking those concepts to its coach developers in the field so that more USA Hockey coaches are getting this sort of training.Previously on the podcast Kristen Wright and I talked about our experience going through the USCCE Coach Developer Academy. The USAH and USCCE have teamed up to start to teach the coach developers in the field how to implement a new way to facilitate coaching clinics. Bill went through the training recently and joins me to discuss his experience.We discuss:His sport and coaching background. He swam collegiately and has been through coaching education courses with US Lacrosse and USA Track and Field along with being a Level 5 USA Hockey coach (its highest level).His role in USA Hockey as a coach developer for Indiana, Ohio, western PA.What he tookaway from the training and even how he has used it during his day job! One of the things he has noticed in the clinics is a lot more engagement with the coaches.If you want to learn more about USA Hockey, visit its website.For information on the USCCE Coach Developer Academy, visit its website. Please note that the dates for the Academies have passed, but the information on the workshops is still valid.

We spend some time reminiscing about our own childhoods and how we played. We discuss how we can create this sort of environment for our kids.Mike’s book is Playborhood.Mike’s website.Mike Lanza on Twitter, @PlayborhoodDescribe your play as a child.Give a little bit of your background moving from PA to the Bay Area.When you were about to become a dad, you began to search for a way to let your kid (and now kids) have a similar experience. Describe that search. What were you looking for and what did you find?In your book, Playborhood, you mention that our culture is antagonistic toward play and how tv differs now from how play is portrayed.What do you see as the benefits of kids “running wild”? (Not literally, but more “free range”).What are the features you look (or looked) for in a neighborhood?How did you get other kids to venture out?

What keeps people from making change?Do extrinsic rewards work for making change?The transtheoretical model of changeWhat is the origin?Does it hold up well as a model? What are its pros and cons?The stages are as follows; let’s talk about the description of each stage and how you can determine where you are or where a client is. Also strategies to move from one stage to the nextPre-contemplationContemplationPreparationActionMaintenanceTermination (not always included)Types of reinforcement when it comes to working with athletes or clients. Pros and cons of each; challenges with each.I mention Dan Arielly, a behavioral economist. Here is a link to his TED talks. Sorry I could not find the exact one I referenced in the podcast.Here is the clip from “Big Bang Theory” showing how Sheldon used operant conditioning to shape Penny.

As folks may remember from the earlier podcast (episode 013) for the US Center for Coaching Excellence, you were a multi-sport kid through high school and went on to be a punter for Purdue and in the NFL. I also know that you have completed several triathlonsOk, let’s delve into the survey. I think many of us know that survey results can be misinterpreted or misunderstood. Let’s get into the methods. While methods are boring to a lot of folks, I think they are kind of important in providing context to the survey and understanding its limitations. For instance, who was surveyed? How were they found? How representative of the population are they?The big message is that the average kid who is involved in sports stops playing at age 11. Project Play has created a campaign around #Dontretirekid.How do the results of this survey compare to previous surveys? (I had seen previous ages of kids quitting to be 13).Another number from the survey was that the average spending per year was just under $700 per child PER Sport with a HUGE range ($0-35,000). The question I have there is was the median around $700? Also, when I first saw this reported I saw it as $700 per child per year and I thought “well that seems really reasonable” but if that is per sport then a multi-sport kid means $2100 on average.Do we have average spending from previous years? If so, where does this fall when adjusted for inflation ( if it is older info)?Any data or anecdotal evidence on what is causing the early dropout? If not, any thoughts based on the survey data?https://www.aspenprojectplay.org/national-youth-sport-survey-1 (Link to Project Play tables)Utah State University Families in Sport LabTo find Travis on Twitter, @BigSkyBoiler

Ron Quinn is an associate professor in at Xavier University in Cincinnati, OH. Ron is the director of the masters in coaching education and athlete development at Xavier University. The following is an outline of our discussion.Ron’s background as a coachWhat led to your become involved in coach education?What got your interest in youth sports coaching?What is the state of training for youth sports coaches? For the sake of this discussion let’s define youth as under 14.I love your comment about what happens to kids at 3 o’clock. Please elaborate.If you were designing an ideal youth sports coaching curriculum what would it look like? We can break this down U6, U8, U10, U12, U14. What would be the things you would be teaching coaches who are going to be coaching those ages?How do we instill fun and play into practice? How do drills kill fun?We had a discussion on a phone call about tee ball. You do not seem to be a fan of tee ball. What is your objection to tee ball?Describe the Game in the Child concept