Uganda Continued!

Over our other days in Uganda, PLC visited with faculty, administration and staff of Uganda Martyrs University, Makerere Business School and we had the pleasure of meeting Jasper Aligawesa who is the General Secretary of the Uganda National Council of Sport (pictured above with Clark and Kristin). Finally, our trip wouldn't be complete without sharing our group picture taken on the Equator.

2nd Day in Uganda

During the PLC team's second day in Uganda, we traveled with the children of the village to the hospital to receive medical treatments. We played together while waiting for treatment and we all shared lunch together. The children loved learning a new game of "Duck, Duck, Goose" but gave it an African specific name of "Cow, Cow, Goat."

PLC travels to Uganda in Partnership

The PLC team is back under the Golden Dome, but our hearts are fuller and our lives are richer due to the new friendships we have created in the beautiful country of Uganda in East Africa. We began our journey in the village of Kkindu. Attached is a video of the leader of PLC in the village, John Kakande, announcing the official partnership. The village also unveiled a PLC sign at the base of the village for all to see and believe in the philosophy. The village proudly shared their cleared field pictured above and we met the women who weave the Play Like A Champion Today(TM) mats. The whole village celebrated with a shared meal and sport competitions: a bike race, net ball game, sack races and a soccer game. The women and children of the village welcomed us with beautiful songs, drum accompaniment and dancing.
All of this in our first day in the village!

Former ND football player gives back to his community

David Burton of the Denver Broncos is spending the time off during the lockout giving back to his community. 2009 Notre Dame Graduate with a degree in Political Science and Sociology is substitute teaching at his former high school in Dayton, Ohio. To see the full story,
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/blog/shutdown_corner/post/Broncos-8217-Bruton-spending-the-lockout-as-a-?urn=nfl-wp2141

Uganda update

The PLC team is in Amsterdam on their way home from Africa. Our apologizes for only one blog while we were traveling. We had only one opportunity to get Internet access our entire trip. We will post a full report with pictures and videos in the next few days.
We are feeling grateful and blessed for our life-changing journey. PLC team

UGANDA UPDATE - Just connected to Internet!

After three flights, a 6 hour van ride (totaling 36 hours of travel), the PLC team arrived in the village of Kkindu, Masaka town, Uganda, Africa. On Sunday morning, we celebrated a beautiful mass in the village church with an accomplished choir, dancing, prayer and Eucharist. The village then unveiled a Play Like A Champion Today™ sign at the entrance to the village. John Kakande, the director of the PLC ministries in Kkindu explained to the community that all PLC activities that happen in the US will happen in the village of Kkindu. We then went to see the cleared sport fields and were greeted with more song and dancing. Then, we shared a meal together of rice, cassava, chicken, beef stew and soup. Finally, the sport competitions began: a sack race, a net ball game for the young women of the village, a 30km bike race and a soccer match for the boys. All played like champions while the entire village was entertained with sport.
The next day we traveled with 30 children to the town of Masaka to the clinic for the children to be tested for HIV and for those already diagnosed to receive ARV treatments. We then all shared a nutritious meal together before returning to the village to visit Hopeful School, where orphans and those who otherwise would not be able to attend school, are educated. The parents and students greeted us with love and thanksgiving.
On our third day, we offered a Play Like A Champion Today™ workshop to the coaches, teachers and students in the village primary school.
We have been greeted with love and open arms. We have welcomed the people of this village across the globe into the Play Like A Champion Today™ family.

Marathons: Adults Doing Athletics Right

"The music of a marathon is a powerful strain, one of those tunes of glory. It asks us to forsake pleasures, to discipline the body, to find courage, to renew faith and to become one's own person, utterly and completely."
-George Sheehan

Running was punishment. We ran several laps for being late. Having an attitude or just not getting your head in the game resulted in a few more suicides at the end of practice. Sprints and long runs were devised as torture devices by coaches, right? Well, I believed all of this to be true and thought my older brother tended towards masochism when he ran cross country and track in high school. He then challenged me to join the cross country team my junior year in high school after dropping another sport. Curious as to the appeal and unable to back down from a challenge, I began running over the summer and joined in the fall semester. Since then, I have never looked back. I fell in love with the running culture. I ran two years of cross country and completed two half marathons as well as one full marathon.

There is a culture which surrounds running and within the last few decades has spurred a surge in marathons and shorter distance runs across the United States and the world. The overwhelming majority of participants range from young adults to well beyond middle-aged. In the midst of a society in which kids travel to neighboring states to compete in athletics at an age when cooties are still a very real concern, adults are seeking out a different type of athletic challenge and having the fun. I am not asserting that kids don’t love sports, nor am I attempting to demonize competition at a young age. Instead, I am trying to call attention to the surge of people competing in marathons and emphasize how they are reaping the benefits of athletics—in terms of the physique as well as character—after everyone else has checked them out as too old to “play”. Those who obsess over youth sports could learn from the adults lacing up their shoes, donning their game faces and running 26.2 miles.

Quite a few things make marathon running unique. First of all, it requires infinitely less gear than most other athletic activities. You need a just need cleared space and running shoes. That makes it more accessible to people from all classes. Also, training can be done at one’s own pace and runs can be completed either with peers or all alone at whatever time is most convenient. People can be as fast or slow as they desire and they can still run (with the exception of races like the Boston Marathon). Running is an equal opportunity sport. It’s democratic. A large number of service organizations and charities encourage persons to run and raise money for a greater cause; thus it contributes to the larger society. The race day also has the excitement and atmosphere comparative to a street festival. Marathon races are social affairs! Asking most people who have participated in marathons about their experiences, it is likely to get responses from people raving about how competing in a marathon was a transformative experience.

I am writing this to draw attention to the phenomenon of marathon running and offer it as a sharp contrast to what people criticize about youth sports. The adults have got it right. Marathons are, if nothing else, inspiring—something the world needs. Kathrine Switzer, a women’s marathoning pioneer, said “If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon”. She’s right.


Connie Jones, ND 2011
Social Foundations of Coaching

Consequences of specialization in early ages.

Specialization in early ages is a serious and relevant problem in high school and youth sports due to several reasons. I believe that athletes in young ages should develop different physical skills by participating in various activities and different sports in order to build up the basis for future improvement. The limited range of skills performed during early sport specialization has the potential to limit overall motor skill development. This may affect long term physical activity involvement by decreasing the likelihood of participation in alternative physical activities. In addition, I believe that specialization in youth sport can cause an athlete to burn out at an early age. For example, if a runner is doing a lot of heavy weight lifting too early in his career it can negatively affect his performance on the long term. The athlete will have physical pain and injuries later on because of the excessive forms of training. Finally I believe that early specialization can cause massive drop out of sport because of lack of enjoyment and socialization. Repetitive, monotone and hard practices in early age do not attract youth athletes. Due to the above listed negative consequences of early age specialization, coaches should let young athletes participate in various sports, and focus on creating a fun environment for all kids.

Miklos Szebeny, ND 2011
Track athlete
Social Foundations of Coaching

No Prayer on the Field

I came from a very small public school in Northern California; an area that has only recently adopted a “no prayer in public schools” policy. I had no personal qualms with this subject only because I made the conscious choice to lead a secular lifestyle, but I had friends on both sides of the issue ready to claw each other to death over whether prayer should be allowed in schools or not. As so happened to be the case at my school and schools all over the country, certain high profile faculty members had a habit of reciting a prayer to Our Lady before any athletic contest. The football team in particular did not have any intention of stopping since the prayer was part of preparing them to play. It was tradition, habit, good luck, etc. But the administration soon found a way to get the coach to give up his pre-game prayer, and many team members felt it was unfair. They argued that the majority of the team was already Catholic if not Protestant, and the only non-religious athlete on the team (yours truly) did not mind praying before a game. The administration, however, did not budge on the issue, even less so when angry parents phoned in to harass them. I recall my government teacher and I talk at length over the issue of prayer in school, and we spoke of different ways to interpret the First Amendment. Personally, I hold the belief that the stance on prayer in schools should be taken so that no one denomination or faith suppresses the expression of another one. Yes, this means that the school administration and faculty should not take a vested interest in one religion over another, but this can be argued to include secularism as a basis of faith. I think that the administration should have allowed there to be prayer for the football team or any other team that followed a few simple guidelines, namely, if anyone wants to pray to a different god or deity it should be allowed, and no administration or faculty members can be a lead or be a part of the prayer. The best policy, in my opinion, is to allow students the freedom to choose their religious affiliation instead of trying to suppress it because therein lies a form of exclusionary discrimination. Religion is tied so closely together with language and culture that it seems unreasonable to deny a student the right to show his/her devotion as long as he/she isn’t disturbing anyone. And, in all honesty, praying never hurt anyone; I, an atheist, can attest to that.

Antonio Renteria
Social Foundations of Coaching

WHERE DOES DISCIPLINE FIT INTO THE GROW APPROACH FOR COACHES?

As the face of a team, school or organization one of the largest responsibilities a coach is entrusted with is the position as ethical role model. Every coach is an example for his or her team, and the team philosophy and rules that each coach establishes will inevitably be tested and challenged many times throughout their coaching career. The most difficult decisions that I believe coaches have to make is how to discipline players when they violate team or school rules. However, a coach must also be willing to adapt and change rules over time. Many coaches agree rule making is a constant on-going process that is modified and enforced differently from year to year. With all of that change being said, how do coaches keep consistent and retain their decision-making integrity? Where does discipline fit into the GROW approach?
No matter what age group you are coaching, giving Ownership to the athletes is an essential part of establishing a basis for discipline that will help a coach and teams achieve fairness as a unit. The best opportunity a coach can create for athletes is to give players Ownership by responsibility and decision-making situations to help them GROW. It is important to assign players different jobs to setting up practice, handling equipment, cleaning up practice and other tasks of that nature can give players Ownership of the team and teach them responsibility. Players must see and feel that the team is dependent on each and every one of their actions or else the group as a whole will suffer. If they fail to uphold the team rules and responsibilities under the coach’s watch, it is easier to correct and enforce discipline. The goal is that players will transcend this attitude to their off-field conduct, and realize that if they fail to uphold their responsibilities by affecting the team in a negative fashion, there will be discipline to prevent future occurrences. That is when the coach’s job becomes extremely difficult. The decision contains many elements; how light or how severe a punishment, what type of punishment etc. Every coach will handle their team differently, but I did find an article below that helped me formulate two DON’Ts for discipline that can help guide your future decision making to help keep you consistent and fair.

1.) Caution with physical forms of punishment
I tend to agree that this is a rather outdated form of discipline. With the current generation of youth, I feel like punishments such as extra sprints and other taxing forms of energy are a waste of precious practice time and further distract players. There is also a possibility that a team-wide punishment for an individual violation or shortcoming can create that individual’s teammates to develop resentment against him or her, creating a negative environment that doesn’t help anyone GROW. There are just some cases where the team has no control over their teammate’s actions (e.g. disrespecting coaches or officials) because it is just the character/nature of that particular player and would better be addressed and corrected separate from the team.

2.) Athlete’s deserve an explanation of discipline
In order to ensure that the athlete fully understands what he or she did wrong and why it will not be tolerated, it is important that the coach offers an explanation so that the player and the coach understand each other. Disciplining player’s can often cause a strain in the player-coach relationship, so I believe it is important for the coach to be the “adult” and mature person to assure that the relationship remains healthy. If the player feels the coach is impersonal and is disinterested in the player’s welfare, they will be much less likely to buy into the lessons and team goals that the coach preaches on a day-to-day basis. This player can become a vice to the team, so it is important that the player-coach relationship remains healthy through discipline to stay in accordance with the GROW approach. Consulting with parents/guardians is also an option, and all though it may not be a coach’s favorite way to handle a situation, in some cases it is necessary. Parents are often the most important influences to players. If there is a lack of communication or understanding, players may be influenced by their parents to believe that “Coach doesn’t know what he/she is talking about” or “Coach is not fair.” This doesn’t mean that the parent must agree with your plan of action for discipline, but it is important to make sure the parent feels and trusts the punishment is justifiable. Always keep the GROW approach in mind, and I believe parents would appreciate if they knew that the GROW approach is something you as a coach believed in to develop their children. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FIH/is_n9_v65/ai_n18606892/

Nick Conrad
Social Foundations of Coaching
Class of 2014