Filing Cabinet

Posted with permission from PGCBasketball

Do Coaches Play Favorites?

Have you ever thought your coach or your child’s coach was playing favorites? In the coaching profession you often hear many complaints. In basketball, one complaint that particularly sticks out is playing favorites. Do coaches play favorites? Yes they do.

Coaches do play favorites. I play my favorite players and am not ashamed to admit it. You might be surprised to hear that, but I hope you understand after reading. As coaches, we play the players who possess the best (and often our favorite) traits. Here are 10 traits that make a player a coach’s favorite.

Be a hard worker.

Coaches love players who show up for everything. We love the players who are the first ones in the gym and the last ones to leave. A hard-working player gives their best effort every time they take the court, whether it’s a practice or a game.

Be a leader.

Coaches love players who lead in action and through words. Leaders inspire their teammates to reach another level. They inspire their teammates to give it their all through their example. Leaders are an extension of the coach on the floor. They buy into the program’s philosophy and get their teammates to as well.

Be a great teammate.

Coaches love players who support their fellow teammates. Great teammates are accepting of all team members and help others to get better. Coaches love it when an upperclassman goes out of their way to help the underclassmen learn. A great teammate embraces their role no matter what it is and does it to the best of their ability. Great teammates are all about “we” and whatever is best for the team.

Be a competitor.

Coaches love players who do the little things it takes to win. We love players who treat practice like it’s a game. Great competitors never go through the motions. They want to win every drill, game, and contest. Through their desire to win, and more importantly their preparation to win; great competitors inspire their teammates to give more.

Be a good citizen.

Coaches love players who represent the program well on and off the court. We love players who give back to the game and their community. Being a good citizen means doing the right thing even when it’s the most difficult thing to do. Good citizens behave in school, get good grades, and support the entire school community.

Be a playmaker.

Coaches love players who not only know what to do but can do it. Playmakers step up and make the big plays when the team needs it most. They are always making plays. Coaches love players who ask questions that will make them better. Playmakers know “why” because it gives them the confidence to go out and perform.

Be coachable.

Coaches love players who can take constructive criticism. We want players who want to be coached and who want to be told what they need to do to get better. Coachable players never roll their eyes at the coach. They make eye contact with their coaches, and aren’t afraid to ask questions. Coachable athletes listen to their coach and not the stands.

Have pride

Coaches love players who consistently wear and represent the program’s gear. We want players that help promote our programs. Players who exemplify pride express it through their words and actions. They act like being a part of the program is a big deal and means something. Coaches love players who take pride in the little things and doing them well.

Be dependable.

Coaches love players who are always on time. Don’t be late. Don’t miss practices, events, or games. We love players who offer no excuses and no explanations. Coaches want players they can depend on both on and off the court to make the right decisions. Being dependable also means you’re always there for a teammate in need.

Have heart.

Coaches love players who play with enthusiasm, courage, and spirit. Having heart means having and playing for a purpose beyond the scoreboard. When the score’s out of reach, players with heart continue to play hard to honor the game. They play for purpose that means something to them. We love players who never give up or give in. Having heart means getting back up and going again, even when it seems the most difficult.

If a player has these traits, they will quickly become a coach’s favorite and earn more playing time. It’s not always about talent. It’s about what you do with that talent. It doesn’t take the most athletically gifted person to have any of these traits. It doesn’t require skill. However, it’s not easy. It requires a lot of mental and physical fortitude and it’s not for everyone. That’s why the few who are able to do it become Coach’s favorite.

Written by: Lead ‘Em Up (@Lead_Em_Up) – Kyle Elmendorf  (@K_elmendorf)

GREAT PLAYERS DON’T MAKE GREAT PLAYS

—Excerpted from the book, “Stuff Good Players Should Know” by Dick DeVenzio

Posted with permission from PGCBasketball

Beware of great plays.

Common sense might seem to tell you that great plays are what make the difference between a good player and a mediocre player. But most coaches would disagree. More often, they would say, great plays—or the attempts to make great plays—are what make good players mediocre. Since this seems to defy common sense, a few definitions might be useful.

WHAT IS IT THAT SEPARATES A MEDIOCRE PLAYER FROM A GOOD PLAYER?

Both are in many ways the same. Both could have about the same speed and quickness, the same strength, the same height and weight, about the same shooting and dribbling ability. Often, the only difference comes with regard to great plays.

Many players are mediocre because they try to make great plays. They want to score a fancy layup, and they miss it. Or they try to throw a lightning-quick pass to a cutter six inches ahead of his man, and it goes out of bounds. They try to hit a fade-away jumper, and it goes off the rim. Or they go for the game-winning steal, but they miss it and the other team puts the game out of reach.

Mediocre is sometimes just another name for at erratic or inconsistent or “always striving to make great plays.”

It may surprise you to learn that good players don’t strive for great plays. Great plays come to them occasionally, but only when they are in the process of concentrating on their job, trying to do all the little things right.

Take Michael Jordan for example. He made a lot of great plays, but his value, even more important to his team than all those spectacular dunks, was that he didn’t miss many dunks. He was consistent. On the plays where a spectacular dunk had a good chance of missing, Jordan “happened” not to try it at all. “Ah,” said the fans, “he should’ve dunked that one.” But he didn’t dunk every chance he got. He dunked the ones he could dunk, and he didn’t attempt the ones he could not. If it was 50-50, he didn’t try it.

READ MORE: ARE YOU NEGLECTING TO PRACTICE THIS ESSENTIAL SKILL?

Good players don’t like those odds. Good players are not gamblers— they are performers. That is why great plays are not what make an outstanding player. It is knowing limitations.

A good player knows that he doesn’t need a slam dunk in the final seconds to be credited with winning the big game. If he can stop his man from scoring and go down to the other end and get a good shot, he can win the game just as well. And more often. He isn’t running around searching for a way to look spectacular; he is out there trying to get a job done, doing “whatever it takes.”

If somewhere along the line he gets a chance to do something spectacular, fine, that’s icing on the cake, a bonus. But he doesn’t seek it out. His concentration is on the little things, playing the game right, getting good defensive position, being there for rebounds and always taking high-percentage opportunities, whether shooting, passing, stealing or penetrating.

A lot of players are potentially good. They try hard to show everyone how good they are, how many great plays they can make. Along the way they make some great plays, but they also make a lot of mistakes.

They go quickly from good to mediocre, and many of them spend their entire basketball careers hearing coaches say, “You could be good.” But they aren’t.

Good players get the job done. They do the little things and are always looking to do just a little…
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Good players are those guys who get the job done, who do the little things and who are always looking to do just a little more. They have the habit of usually making things appear quite easy. Often, they can be pretty boring since their pride is in playing intelligently. They don’t like looking stupid or missing dunks that should have been easy layups. They would rather have fans go away disappointed that they didn’t do anything spectacular than to hear someone saying their stupid play lost the game.

Good players have a pride about things like that. It’s not just that they don’t want to be labeled “erratic.” They really don’t want to make any mistakes at all.

It’s Not What You Do, But How You Do It

The following video is with Dena Evans, Owner and Director of PGC Basketball

To learn more about PGC Basketball, including additional training tips and videos, you can visit their YouTube Channel

This article was written and contributed by Scott Rosberg

At Wal-Marts, Targets, JC Penneys, and just about every other department store out there, the signs are plastered all over the place – BACK TO SCHOOL! While those three words conjure up all kinds of feelings for just about everybody who reads them, one thing they always indicate is that summer is coming to an end. The hope and promise of summer that we all had as Memorial Day hit (which seems like about three weeks ago!) faded quickly, as within no time we were watching the parades and fireworks on the 4th of July. And now the “Back to School” signs are telling us that it’s over. The never-ending sunshine, warm days, barbecuing, sleeping in (for students and many of you), the feeling that nothing is as urgent as it is during the school year, and overall feeling of freedom and laziness are about to be gone for another 9 months.

Don’t Wait For the Future – Create It

And yet, along with those signs are some other signs – signs of anxiousness, excitement, possibility, and hope. While the end of summer is just that – an end – it is also a beginning, the start of something new. Many people wonder, “What will this school year bring?” Well, here’s a thought for you – don’t focus on what the year might bring to you.

Go get whatever you want from the school year.

The concept that something or someone is going to bring me something is very passive. It means that I am waiting for whatever is going to happen to happen. While there is nothing wrong with hoping for certain things to come our way, it is much better to go after the things that we seek in life. This is an active mentality, a mentality that says, “I am going to create my future, not wait for my future to come to me.”

For coaches & advisors (as well as your athletes, and activities participants), it is imperative that you work to create your future. If you sit around and wait and see what happens, the success you seek will never come. In fact, many of you don’t take the summer off the way that others do. The best coaches, advisors, teachers, athletes, musicians, actors, etc. put in a lot of time and effort throughout the summer to work on their crafts. Many worked on their skills, read books, watched videos, strengthened their bodies, went to camps, and played in tournaments trying to improve themselves. They understood that the off-season is a great chance to impact their future by doing something in the present.

To those of you that put in the time to your professional development and your team’s skill development, strength training, and team-building, “Thank you.” You have demonstrated a commitment that is necessary for any team to develop to its potential. The more of you and your team members who did so, the better the chances are that your teams will have the kind of success you are all seeking.

Commit to Be Your Best to Help Your Kids Be Their Best

For those of you who weren’t able to work as much as you would have liked to on your or your team’s development, now is the time to rev it up and kick things into high gear. While you can’t go back into the past and re-do your summer, you can do all that you are capable of now. It’s not too late to get “caught up” on your own professional development, so that you are ready to move your teams forward in the direction you want to go, and to develop yourself and your teams to your potential.

The start of school is a great time to commit to your & your team’s future. Don’t wait for your future to come to you. Decide what you want your future to be and go get it. Determine what culture you want to create for and with your teams, and then do all you can to develop that culture. Attack this new school year with a sense of purpose, desire, and focus, and don’t let anyone or anything knock you off track. Create great habits that will help you focus and allow you to reap the benefits of your efforts and help you overcome the inevitable dips in motivation and excitement that will hit after the first few weeks back. Anything is possible this year if you focus your effort and attention, and you then act on that focus.

Before you know it, we will be in full swing with our fall sports and activities practices and competitions, and school will be back in session. Enjoy the last bit of summer that you have left, but make sure that while you are doing that, you are also preparing yourself for your seasons by taking care of last-minute duties and responsibilities. That way when it all starts up for you, you will be ready to go full-speed ahead. Have a great end of your summer and a fantastic start to your new school year!

For those of you who receive my AD Newsletter and Coaches’ Newsletter to send to your coaches and parents, you saw this post a couple weeks ago in your Coaches’ Newsletter. For those of you athletic directors out there who would like to receive those two newsletters to send out to your people, email me at [email protected] and let me know you are interested in those. Around the 15th of each month, I will email you the following month’s newsletters, so you can tweak them for your specific audiences and send them out with your school’s newsletter at the beginning of the month.

About the Author of this Article

Scott Rosberg has been a coach (basketball, soccer, & football) at the high school level for 30 years, an English teacher for 18 years, and an athletic director for 12 years. He has published seven booklets on coaching and youth/school athletics, two books of inspirational messages and quotes for graduates, and a newsletter for athletic directors and coaches. He also speaks to schools, teams, and businesses on a variety of team-building, leadership, and coaching topics. Scott has a blog and a variety of other materials about coaching and athletic topics on his website – www.coachwithcharacter.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

Scott is also a member of the Proactive Coaching speaking team. Proactive Coaching is dedicated to helping organizations create character and education-based team cultures, while providing a blueprint for team leadership. They help develop confident, tough-minded, fearless competitors and train coaches and leaders for excellence and significance. Proactive Coaching can be found on the web at www.proactivecoaching.info. Also, you can join the 200,000+ people who have “Liked” Proactive Coaching’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/proactivecoach. Scott can also be reached through Proactive Coaching at [email protected]

This post was written for PGC Basketball by Sam Allen.  Sam is the Director of the Essentials courses on the PGC summer tour, Coordinator for PGC/Glazier Coaches Clinics, and runs Blue Collar Basketball, focusing on team and individual training and basketball strength and conditioning.

Whether you are a high school or a college coach, perhaps your players could benefit hearing this message from another voice.

I have seen it all when it comes to recruiting. I coached college basketball for almost a decade and then ran a NCAA certified recruiting service that had college coaching subscribers from all levels so, to this day, I often get asked by athletes, parents and high school coaches about college recruiting. The recruiting process can be daunting and confusing, at times. However that process could be over before it begins if you allow these 5 habits to be a part of who you are.

While collecting my thoughts to write this article, I reached out to 15 male and female college coaches, from across the country. At every level, from Division 1 to Junior College, here is what they had to say.

POOR BODY LANGUAGE

The inability to show good body language on the court when things are not going well is a sure-fire way to catch the eye of a college coach – for the WRONG reasons. One PAC-12 assistant said he doesn’t want “front runners” or players that are only good when things are going their way.  Another college coach, whose teams have been in 4 of the last 6 NCAA tournaments, said “Non verbal language speaks about character.”Poor body language is a red flag.

Watch More: How to Communicate with Teammates

DISRESPECTFUL ATTITUDES

Disrespect can show up in a few ways.

• “Players that never say thank you”
• “Players that are never happy for their teammates’ individual successes.” 
• “Players who are not respectful to parents”

A Division 1 Ace Recruiter said these, as well as many more, are troubling signs to college coaches. An associate head coach at the mid-major Division I level said “how they talk to their parents matters. We have eliminated a kid because he didn’t respect authority.”

POOR BEHAVIOR ON SOCIAL MEDIA:

Social media has really changed the landscape in college recruiting, especially in the last five years. An athlete’s ability to make the right decisions on their different social platforms is key if their desire is to play at the next level. One college coach said they communicate to their kids how important their social media feeds are by saying, “Don’t put anything on social media that you would not put on a live interview on ESPN.” This has really helped filter out high character players and helped coaches learn where a player’s priorities lie. Excessive retweets and posts all about themselves are a turn off to most coaches.

INABILITY TO PLAY PITCH AND CATCH

Coaches want to be able to hold a conversation both via text and over the phone. Unresponsive texts and phone calls leaves a college coach concerned and left to wonder. One-word answers leave an impression that you do not care or may struggle to effectively communicate to future teammates and coaches.

THE ME GUYS

Players that put themselves over the team. One Southern Conference coach said he receives texts that say, “My team lost but I had 21 points.” This simple and harmless looking text will not give a good impression to a potential college coach. Basketball is a team sport and it takes everyone being bought into the system. Being disengaged on the bench, inattentive in huddles or comments after a game that put blame on others are signs the player does not truly care for the team. College coaches desire players that can get along with others and make the most of the situation.

Read More: It’s Not What You Do. It’s How You Do It

How do you not fall victim to these habits?

Get feedback from your current High School coach. Ask he or she what they would tell a college coach about you. You may be on par with that. If you disagree, remember there is a hint of truth in every criticism. There is still time to change your habits.

Next, focus on becoming the best teammate possible. Be “others-focused” rather than “me-focused.” Really good college coaches will demand that you be a phenomenal teammate.

Now, drop the old habits. Build new habits that allow you to stand out in a good way to your teammates, coaches and college recruiters.

To learn more about PGC Basketball, including additional training tips and videos, you can visit their YouTube Channel

This article was written by Mason Waters and posted on The Coaching Toolbox with his permission

It first appeared on Medium.com

Players, coaches want you to be successful.

As a coach, I know I can say that honestly. I want my players to be successful. I really do. And I could care less about the ‘glory’ of it, if anyone knows I helped along the way. The game’s about the players, not me. There’s ten thousand coaches around the globe who share that same heartbeat of coaching. At the end of the day, a player’s success is a two way street. So, great players have to have the humility and the hunger to receive coaching.

Players, your job is to make your job, and your coaches job easier by being coachable. Here’s a few ways to make your coaches job easier, more enjoyable, more rewarding, and more successful. If you can make these points habit, you’ll also improve quicker and more efficiently. And your relationship with your coach will be amazing, which is a magnificent thing!

6 Amazing Ways You Can Contribute to Your Team

1. Just say “Yes Coach” – One of the most frustrating things as a coach is correcting a player or teaching them a point and them say “Well coach, John was in my way…” or a very rapid “I know” before I can even finish my sentence that I intend to help the player. Along similar lines, Players, just say yes sir or yes ma’am when a coach corrects you, thank them, and implement what they’re saying.

Be confident, not insecure when a coach (or team leader) corrects you. Confident players receive correction and think, “My teammate or coach is revealing a weakness in my game that needs to improve. I’m thankful they want to see me improve.” Confident players want as many good basketball eyes on their game so they can have a better understanding of what they need to work on.

Insecure players reject the truth that their game has deficiencies and thinks, “I don’t have that weakness in my game.” “I don’t need a coach.” Insecure players receive correction as an insult, and think they can be great alone.

2. Make and Keep eye contact  –  Eye contact is respectful. It shows you care. You’ll listen better and learn more. Your play will improve. Coaches and players need to consistently work on this and remember, how does it feel to talk to someone who’s eyes are on the clouds passing overhead?

3. Ask “What’s Next?”  – Either to yourself or your coach, be asking this question. In practice, prepare yourself for the next drill or station, and be ready to direct your teammates to transition into the next drill fast. Successful practices really only need one player to be vocal and fully aware of what’s going on.

4. Invite coaching  – Here’s the attitude to have and phenomenal things to say to your coach:

“Coach, I don’t want to be mediocre. I want to achieve my best. If I’m ever out of line of that, please correct me.” Or, “Coach, I want to be the most coachable guy on the team. If I’m ever not being coachable, please correct me and I’ll adjust.” What kind of athlete do you want to be? Better yet, what kind of person do you want to be? Let your coaches and teammates you trust know and invite them into your development because to be our best, we’d be wise to let those around us know the type of person we want to become.

5. Stay out of trouble  –  I could list a thousand reasons why, but I’m sure you already know 999 of them.

6. Eliminate ABC  –  Arguing. Blaming. Complaining. Honestly, I love it when people embody these three words with their actions. Everything is better. When someone argues, blames, or complains, I become full of inspiration and motivation to fulfill my dreams. Please tell me you hear the sarcasm in that.

For a second here, forget others and consider just how this ABC impacts you! It takes your focus off your mission. Those who argue, blame, and complain focus on all that’s wrong and all the reasons something can’t get done as opposed to finding and creating reasons for things to get done, like winning a game.

Replace this ABC with LOP (Listening, Own it, and Positivity)

• When you want to argue, take a step back and listen. Arguing is a waste. You and your team will benefit from that.
• When you make a mistake, own it. Say “That was my fault. I’m gonna win the next play though.”
• When you or a teammate complain, do something positive. Give a high five, dance, clap, or tell a teammate, “Dang, that was an awesome play!”

It flows over …

The beauty of sports is that the lessons learned in the locker room or at practice are typically lessons that last a lifetime and flows over into every aspect of life. If WE ALL (coaches and players) make these points habits, we’ll surely benefit on the court, and even more importantly in our relationships with everyone else.

I’m cheering for you,

Mason Waters

About the Author of this Article

Mason Waters is in his fourth season with Collegiate Prep Basketball Academy in Atlanta, Georgia.

This article was written and contributed by Scott Rosberg

My most recent post in my series on the “Coach as Teacher” was titled “There is Power in Your Words.” While today’s post is not in the realm of “Coach as Teacher,” it does fit into the concept of the Power of our Words, so it is fitting to have it be the post following the one with that title. It is a little bit of a rant about something I have been concerned with for some time, and I only see getting worse. It was written a month ago when two things happening simultaneously held our country’s collective interest – our presidential primary elections and the end of basketball seasons around the country. You might be asking, “What could the presidential primaries and the end of basketball seasons have in common?” Glad you asked. Let me explain.

Now, please understand – this is not going to be a political post. While I have my opinions on the candidates, I am not going to go into those here. What I am going to talk about, though, is the climate, the atmosphere, and the discourse that we have coming from the primaries. And I think you will see a correlation between them and fan behavior at games.

I never imagined that I would see people running for the office of President of the United States of America resort to the kind of name-calling and bullying that we have seen them sink to in this race. I have seen and heard supposedly adult men attack one another by picking on the other man’s height, the size of fingers (as well as the subsequent allusion that led to another part of the male anatomy), poor spelling, and getting thirsty while giving a speech. I have heard men tell each other to “Shut up!” I have heard, “Get him the hell outta’ here!” and “If you need to rough him up a bit, I’ll pay the bills.” Seriously? This is how our supposed leaders speak in public to other people?!

We have watched the climate at some of the rallies devolve into supporters/fans of opposing sides yelling at one another, pushing, shoving, and punching each other. We have seen candidates and supporters alike pointing fingers of blame all around them, but nobody seems to want to point the finger in the mirror and say to himself or herself, “You’re better than that. You need to own it and fix it right now.” There is no accountability for this abhorrent behavior – only finger-pointing and name-calling. It is a scary political climate that we have crossed into.

We have also crossed into a similar climate with the fans at basketball games. Of course, this could go for all sports, but the basketball seasons are coming to or have already come to a close, so it is most prevalent right now. Over the final few weekends of the high school basketball season here in Montana, I watched a few games at a Divisional Tournament and a State Tournament. I also watched a lot of college conference tournaments on TV, and the “Big Dance” of March Madness. Madness is a perfect term for what has been created in all of these venues.

Listen to the student sections at these games. High school kids take their cues from college kids. That is nothing new, and it is not exclusive to sports fans. However, sports fans are the focus here. While I love the “Cameron Crazies” of Duke University, they are 18-22 year-old college students cheering for and against other 18-22 year-old college students. While that in and of itself doesn’t make it okay for them to cross the line and yell some of the things they do, at least the people they are yelling at are adults (for the most part). Also, they do have some very creative, non-threatening chants that are clever and funny.

Hearing “Airball” and “You got swatted” and “You can’t do that” are not the worst things that those players are going to have to deal with during the course of their involvement in competitive athletics. Of course, those also aren’t the worst things that get yelled at them. Far worse chants directed at specific players about their families, GPA’s, and questionable things they have done occur all too often. Also, it is the tone and tenor of the variety of chants that is problematic. It is all about demeaning, belittling, embarrassing, and hurting the “other guy.” In the athletic world, we have worked really hard over the last 10-20 years to get coaches to stop treating their players in demeaning, embarrassing ways. We need to be doing the same with our fans.

However, the bigger problem is that high school student sections quite often take their cues from the college student sections. So we start to hear the same kinds of chants with the same kind of tone and tenor being directed out at the players. Only in this venue, they are yelling out at 14-18 year-olds. These are children that they are yelling at.

I know that 17-18 year-olds are looked at as young adults. But they are still in a much more fragile and tenuous time of their lives than the college kids, and many of the high school players aren’t even 17 yet. Most high school kids don’t have a strong sense of self-confidence. They struggle with their self-image and sense of worth. They critique every aspect of their being. Being yelled at the way they are yelled at by fans can be extremely unnerving.

There are also other extremely impressionable young people at these games. Consider how many middle school and elementary school kids are sitting there listening to what is being yelled from student sections. Just like those kids watch the players and take their cues from them to figure out what it means to be a high school athlete, they are also doing the same thing watching the fans. They are learning that the kind of behavior and chants being yelled at the players is appropriate, and they begin to join in and do the same.

Now consider those same kids watching snippets of the debates and rallies of the presidential candidates. Are they really seeing anything that is all that different from what they are seeing in the basketball stands? Aren’t the way our presidential candidates – people who want to LEAD our country – and our student sections at our games doing pretty much the same thing? Aren’t they yelling inappropriate comments and bullying people on “the other team” to try to put them down and beat them? Where has this come from? How has this become acceptable? Most importantly, isn’t it time we do something about it?

It is time for us to take back our bleachers. It is time to hold our fans accountable for their actions and let them know they are going too far. As a former athletic director, I know it’s not fun to confront an entire student section. However, confront them we must when they cross the line. But we have to establish what the line is first. Then we have to tell them what that line is. We have to give them the expectation of what it means to be a fan.

I know that some state athletic associations have come under fire and taken some heat for wanting to legislate fan behavior too much. People cried “Foul” when some states wanted to outlaw the “Airball” chant and others like them. The problem with so many of the chants, though, is that they are directed at someone on the opposing side as opposed to for someone on our side. This starts with one student section yelling at one team. Then the other student section yells back at the other team. As is often the case, though, (especially with kids) they have to take it up a notch. “Airball” becomes “You got swatted” or “You can’t do that.” That receives a return chant we might hear when a team is shooting a free throw, “Bounce, Bounce, Bounce, You Suck!” They have now leaped over a line of appropriateness.

Consider this scenario that played out in one of the final weeks of the season in Massachusetts. Catholic Memorial HS outside of Boston banned its students from attending the state tournament semi-final game after their student section chanted “You killed Jesus!” in the previous game against Newton North HS, a predominantly Jewish school. Their chant was in response to Newton North’s chant of “Where are your girls?” and “Sausagefest” towards Catholic Memorial, an all-boys’ school.

This problem is happening everywhere. An administrator at a school here in Montana had to send out an email to the entire school district’s parents after the Divisional Championship game warning everyone that they would forfeit their state tournament games if they had any type of behavior from the fans (and players) similar to what had happened during their Divisional Championship game. I’m sure everyone who reads this post could talk about some situation that they heard about or witnessed that would fall into the same category as these.

So when state associations say they want to limit what gets yelled and how it gets yelled, it is not in the spirit of not wanting kids and fans to have fun, be spirited, and enjoy the game experience. It is because all too often, the fun and spirit and experience devolves into something ugly, divisive, and sometimes violent. Just like our presidential primaries have devolved.

So how do we fix it? That is not an easy answer. But one answer is that since these things seem to trickle down, let’s start at the top. How about demanding that our leaders (presidential candidates, for instance), coaches, teachers, administrators, and parents model proper behavior? We ask teachers, coaches, and administrators to do this all the time. We need to hold them accountable when they don’t. When these people handle themselves the right way, then it is easier for them to demand the same from others.

As I said earlier, we also need to establish expectations. No, we don’t have to completely curtail all of the chants that happen at games. But we need to give students (and adults) guidelines on what is and is not acceptable to yell. We must say, “Here is the line that you cannot cross.” Then when someone crosses it, we must have the strength to confront the behavior and say, “That is unacceptable. No more of that or you will be removed.” Again, I know that is not always easy, but it must be done.

Administrators can work with student councils, captains’ councils, leadership classes, and teams to enlist them to help police their own student sections. When fellow students turn to others and say, “Hey, we don’t say that here. We’re better than that,” it goes a lot further than when administrators reprimand and punish kids. As with so many things, education is the key.

We must all work together to fix this problem NOW! It isn’t going to get better on its own. It is going to take a concerted effort on the part of a lot of different people in a lot of different circles in a lot of different communities to fix this. But fix it we must, or else consider where we will be in another 5-10 years. Is anyone looking forward to the presidential primaries for 2020?!

** I had intended to talk about both student-fan behavior and adult-fan behavior in this post, as well as treatment of officials. However, this is by far the longest post (1900+ words) I have written in the eight months that I have been writing these posts. So stay tuned – I will be addressing adult fan behavior & treatment of officials in the future.

About the Author of this Article

Scott Rosberg has been a coach (basketball, soccer, & football) at the high school level for 30 years, an English teacher for 18 years, and an athletic director for 12 years. He has published seven booklets on coaching and youth/school athletics, two books of inspirational messages and quotes for graduates, and a newsletter for athletic directors and coaches. He also speaks to schools, teams, and businesses on a variety of team-building, leadership, and coaching topics. Scott has a blog and a variety of other materials about coaching and athletic topics on his website – www.coachwithcharacter.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

Scott is also a member of the Proactive Coaching speaking team. Proactive Coaching is dedicated to helping organizations create character and education-based team cultures, while providing a blueprint for team leadership. They help develop confident, tough-minded, fearless competitors and train coaches and leaders for excellence and significance. Proactive Coaching can be found on the web at www.proactivecoaching.info. Also, you can join the 200,000+ people who have “Liked” Proactive Coaching’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/proactivecoach. Scott can also be reached through Proactive Coaching at [email protected].