Issues & Advice

Swimming gave me so many of the amazing things I have today. I have been taught so many lessons that I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. In mid-November of 2017, I shared a piece about how my epilepsy diagnosis affected my swimming career. I had just suffered from my first grand mal seizure, but my doctors believed […]

Instead of waiting for the fire to be out of control, spot the trouble patches early and reach out to your coach or teachers and let them know that you need some help. With another school year here – seriously, where did this year go? – comes another bout of the juggling that happens between […]

11- and 12-year-olds “can be goofy, and they can exceed expectations. They can be outstanding, and they can be human. You keep things in perspective.” Bill Martin’s first trip to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, was by train along with his 1950 Houston Little League teammates, who returned home three games later as champions of the fourth annual […]

As a whole these are the only blitzes you need. If your players are able to master these blitzes that frees them up to work on the techniques of each position instead of going through a million different blitzes every practice. A key component of being a coordinator on either side of the ball is […]

You cannot always be on the attack in your training. An army needs time to rest, eat, let the wounds heal and take rest from the pressures of battle. If you want to become a better hockey player, it’s important to go all-out in your training. You shouldn’t be holding back when you’re in the […]

Good footwork is important to enable the boxer to defend or attack from a balanced position. When starting out, boxers will usually first be taught how to fight at a distance, also known as ‘outfighting,’ rather than getting in close where they are more likely to be hit. The skills used here include arm’s-length punches and […]

Every team my daughter has swam for made service a part of team experience. It was Kennedy who said, “To whom much is given, much is required.” Service builds character. This one is for all the amazing college swimmers headed back to the NCAA or NAIA for a new season. Some of you are starting […]

The more open you are to new information that can help you, the more likely you are to reach your goals. A few days ago my friend Tim Boivin sent me this article about NBA star (and future Hall of Famer) Tim Duncan. The article quotes an open letter from Tony Parker, who explains that the San […]

Another thing a limited playbook allows is a deeper understanding of the plays by the players. Some coaches don’t like to explain these adjustments to teams. We are the opposite. One of the easiest traps for offensive coordinators to fall into is having a bloated playbook with a vast number of plays that have no […]

The boy revealed that it was his father, Mitchell, who had passed on that love of the sport and the Giants. The kid entered the main display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, sized up the long gallery with all the busts of the sport’s legends, and started rattling off facts. Names. Teams. Stats. It didn’t matter if […]