I received this email from Rett Larsen of velocity Sports Performance, who got it from Cal Dietz at the Univ. of Minnesota. Had to pas it on since its a great piece. I know Dan Bylsma, Jay's son, who is currently the Head Coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, the team that won the Stanley Cup last season. Dan had a hockey career in the NHL, and I coached him when he was with the Long Beach ice Dogs and the Los Angeles Kings. He's a great, stand-up guy. This will help you understand why.

So You're Going to Coach My Grandchild?
A message to coaches from Jay M. Bylsma:

I'm so grateful that you've volunteered to be the coach of my grandchild's ice hockey team. I'm getting a bit too old to be out on the ice with these young kids and without you volunteering, it's possible my Bryan wouldn't have an opportunity to play this wonderful game that's meant so much to his father and uncles and myself. My Bryan made it through tryouts. You might have thought that the tryouts were to see whether or not Bryan was good enough to make your team. That wasn't it at all. It was to see if you were good enough to be entrusted with my grandchild. You see, I don't really care if you know much about hockey, or whether you have a winning record. I don't know or care if you've ever coached a kid that made it in the NHL, or Division I college hockey, or even high school. But I know that every one of the kids you coach will have a life to lead after hockey. You will coach far more doctors and lawyers than professional hockey players. So I'm more interested in what kind of a role model you are and your ability to teach Bryan life lessons than whether you can teach him the left wing lock or backwards crossovers.

Let me explain why I don't care if you have a winning record. Think back over all the games you played in organized sports as a kid - any and all the sports. Can you remember any of the scores of any of those games or even if you won or lost? If you're like me you can't remember many - if even one. But I can remember every coach I ever had. Mr. Sterkenberg, Mr. Naerebout, Mr. VanderMey, and others. I can even picture them in my mind. Images of good men who taught me (whether they knew it or not) sportsmanship, integrity, to play by the rules, and to have fun. They made a lasting impression on me, just as you will have a lasting impression on my little Bryan. But apparently winning wasn't important enough for me to remember. Bryan hasn't been enrolled in the youth hockey program to win. He's been enrolled to have fun, to increase his athleticism, and to learn life lessons. What kind of a lasting impression will you have? You are his coach, a position just bit lower than the angels. He will hang on your every word. He will skate into the boards for you. He will never forget you as you've never forgotten your coaches. And he will learn from you, perhaps as much by what you do as what you say. You are the potter and Bryan is the clay.


For example, if you pick your team based on talent and ability you will show
Bryan that talent and ability are the criteria that a person needs to be
successful. If you pick your team based on the associations you have - that is,
your GM's kid gets to play, your brother-in-law's kid is on the power play -
each regardless of ability - you will show Bryan that you get ahead in life by
who you know, accomplishment and achievement don't count for as much as
connections. If you tell the kids, "Every one pays equally, everyone plays
equally" and then only some kids get on the power play and play in the third
period, you influence kids about the meaning of honesty and deception. If you
say disparaging remarks about the other team, the other coach, or the officials,
you demean the game and incidentally yourself and you teach Bryan that it's okay, perhaps even manly - to be disrespectful and pejorative. If you need to put ringers on your team to be competitive in an out-of-town tournament, you are
influencing your players about your standard of honesty and the importance of
winning at the cost of your integrity. If you say a disparaging remark about
education, you may depreciate the value of education - this in a sport where if
you aspire to play at a higher level, good grades may be as - or more important
than - your hockey skill.

Your demeanor, your language, your deportment, your values, your aspirations, your character becomes the role model. You are the potter, Bryan is the clay. You see, I don't even think this is about hockey at all. It's about teaching Bryan life lessons. It's about re-enforcing the lessons he learns at home. Hockey is just the blossom we use to attract the bees. And we attract the bees to teach them to respect the game, to respect their opponents as worthy competitors, to respect the officials and their decisions, to teach them fairness, and how to maintain self-control.

If he's a good player, I hope you won't aggrandize him or over-use him but help him be a team player. If he's a poor player, I hope you won't demean him but give him his fair share of ice time and help him become a better player. I hope you will remember he's just a child and your career as a coach isn't riding on his back. I hope you will remember that a word of encouragement after a mistake is worth more than a pile of praise after a success.

My son Dan and I started the IT PAYS initiative because for all its inherent good, changes in youth sports are very disturbing to us. There are the well publicized instances of cheating, abuse, assaults, and even murder. But these are only the tip of the iceberg. The sport is having ever increasing difficulty attracting and keeping officials because of verbal abuse and assaults by coaches and parents. Skilled players are leaving the game because of violent play by bigger less skilled players who are instructed "take them out" instead of improving their own level of play to compete successfully. A win-at-a-cost mentality demeans less skilled players who may rarely see ice time in the third periods of close games - which ironically impacts their ability to improve. Sadly, some coaches have taken the fun out of the game for the children by exerting too much pressure, being too critical, being demeaning, and being too vocal in an inappropriate way. The consequences of losing sight of the purpose of youth sports - that is as a game of childhood, a wonderful pastime - is that the life lessons that are being taught are less than wholesome and sometimes destructive. Dan and I hope that you will wholeheartedly continue to support goals of IT PAYS - for the good of this great game, for its reputation, and for the positive influence we hope you'll have on the child we entrusted to you.

If you work with young athletes, or athletes of any age for that matter, remember this.<

I'm Back

Been a busy month for us. We added another training facility to our portfolio and have been working to make the transition. Lots of other new projects as well. Will be catching up with lots to talk about over the next few weeks.

Stay Tuned!

How Hard Should Practice Be?

Watched a TED clip the other day of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He is the psychologist most know for the idea of "flow". Flow is that state athletes are always trying to strive to perform in. Where everything is easy and comes seemingly without effort.

It's a 20 minute clip and he talks about his graph somewhere around 16 minutes. I'd recommend watching it all however because it helps give context and the big picture.


Now the sport psychologist I work with (Dr. Michael Gervias) often points out that while it's great to try to reach this state, the fact is that most of the time in practice and competition you won't be in it. So instead of just chasing, learn the mental skills to perform to your best all the time.

I found the talk a good reminder though about how we coach athletes. Anyone who has coached can tell you that if you teach remedial skills to a talented athlete, they can become bored very quickly. Conversely, if you throw an extremely complex skill at someone without the abilities, they will often quit.

The key for a coach is whether you can match the level of difficulty with the level of ability for the athlete? Sounds easy, but it's not always. Especially when you are working with a group or team. You have to challenge them to get better, but how much?

Many coaches try to go for the middle of the road in terms of difficulty. That will get you the most (hopefully). However you are still making it too hard for the lowest skilled and too easy for the best. Maybe that's OK, but I am always trying to go 10 for 10.

Often coaches go to the lowest or highest level of skill. The put all the athletes through that level of drill or skill development. Either way, most of your athletes will not get what they need.

One of the keys is recognizing that the "skills" referred to on this graph could be technical skills, physical capacities, or mental and emotional capacities. In all areas you need to consider the demand versus the ability.



Once you have that perspective, now you can start to match the group. The straight forward area we often think of as coaches is the technical level. To become an effective coach, I have to learn to adjust any technical drill up and down for individuals in the group. That's pretty straight forward, but if you are doing it, you are already better than 80% of the coaches out there.

Next you have to think about how you manipulate not only the technical challenge to match capabilities, but go on to cognitive and emotional challenges. Maybe I work on the same basic technical drill with the group, but for some that may be in that control area, I take it up a notch by making them react, or put them on the spot in front of others, add a second technical element, etc... You get the idea.

It works the other way also. I can take away some anxiety by letting them go on their own pace, or set things up so the other athletes aren't focused on them when they go.

If I want each one of my athletes to get the most from a training session, I have to consider all these elements. Remember that we want to match the challenge to the skill level and there are many ways to do that.

An Uphill Battle

Seth Godin's blog provides a great perspective on marketing, customer service and business. All important things whether you are working on the pro, college or private sides of our profession.

His blog focus the other day was "Winning on the Uphills" the lessons learned when things are hard.

I think it's a great metaphor for us as well. As a Chicago Bears fan I always have to think of Walter Payton who was known for his work effort in the off-season, which included notorious hill work. You create the stimulus for growth when it's hard. Mentally, physically, emotionally. Stress is a needed stimulus.

As a coach, I have learned some of my best things when it was hard. A too small weightroom, with 60 high school football players, and just myself. You quickly learn the value of organization, focusing efforts, and the beauty of doing just a few things savagely well. I recommend it for any coach.

It's easy when you have all the right equipment, the talented athletes, a beautiful facility, and unlimited resources. It's challenges you as a coach when you don't.

In some organizations you get to really develop and show your worth when you have to convince the hessitant head coach or star athlete, and get results in the end. In the private sector you really grow when you make it through tough economic times.

When we get through the lessons of the hard times, we are ready to succeed in all the others. Embrace the hill's as a challenge!