A Missed Opportunity

The Way You Win Matters It was a boys high school basketball game and I was sitting next to a father, whose son was playing for one of the teams. The father, who I’ll call “Jim”, was a former basketball coach at the high school and college levels. During the first half, a player on…

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Losing to Win Dishonors Youth Sports

A Corrosive Effect on Character Two basketball teams kicked out of the high school playoffs. Two coaches suspended for all of next season, their coaching future in doubt. $1,500 fines for each school, their programs on probation. All because adult egos got in the way of competing honorably. On Saturday, a Tennessee high school girls…

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Changing the Focus in Youth Sports

It was a typical cold, winter day in the northeast. Every available gym in the area featured youth basketball games, one game after another, from early morning into night. I watched as two 5th-grade boys rec league teams, one team in blue, the other in green, took to the court. Each team had 10-players. As…

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Peyton Manning in Defeat

You find out a lot about people when they go through adversity. Here’s a look at what Peyton Manning may have learned from his dad about accountability and respect.

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More Than a Handshake

The photograph above shows players and coaches going through the customary postgame handshakes. The gesture is a simple one. Most athletes don’t put much thought into it. Their minds more likely are on the game that just ended. But, the handshake is symbolic of an important element of sports competition – respect for the game…

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Our Approach to Youth Sports

Studies show that values influence most, if not all, motivated behavior. Playing team sports gives children and young adults opportunities to develop values. It exposes them to a group dynamic in which social, emotional, and physical skills can develop. Kids learn about peer relationships, teamwork, responsibility, achievement, leadership, respect, initiative and perseverance. Many of the…

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Athletes & the Culture of Winning

There is no denying the impact and influence of sports on American culture and on education in the U.S. A July, 2013 report by Economic Modeling Specialists International stated that the sports industry as a whole brings roughly $14.3 Billion in earnings per year and contributes 456,000 jobs. The Physical Activity Council reports that 217…

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