Tragedy in Boston, Triumph in Sport

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The bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday tragically killed 3 people and injured hundreds. Play Like a Champion Today Associate Director, Damian Kearney ran the race. He offers his insight on the day's events.

I ran the Boston Marathon on Monday. I ran through some of the most beautiful towns in America, I reunited with old friends I haven’t seen in years, and I got to participate in the premiere event for the sport that I love. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I emerged from the finishers areas half an hour later to meet my family, and went to the Prudential Center for some much deserved pizza.

After enjoying some slices, we heard a big boom. A few people went outside. Then another boom, this time about 200 yards from where I was eating. Then panic. People in the food court were turning over tables, screaming, running outside. It was the first “mob scene” I had ever witnessed first-hand.

Then confusion. A quarter million people having no idea what to do, where to go, or what to expect, wandering around in search of answers. What happened? Where do I go? Where’s my stuff? Are we safe?

Trained staff and onlookers chipped in to help victims injured in the now infamous explosions. Completed marathoners gave blood to assist the traumatized (because they’re the last people that need fresh oxygen flowing, right?!). People opened their doors to strangers in need of a warm building. Concerned citizens gave unfinished runners food, phones, and blankets as they tried to piece together the events that had just transpired (take it from me that the last quarter mile of a marathon is already pretty hazy).

Amidst an act of terror, thousands of acts of kindness emerged.

These acts of kindness will not bring back any of the lives that were taken, or replace any of the limbs that were lost, but they are an example of sport at its best. Sport at its best, is unitive, heroic, and uplifting. A team getting pulling together in a comeback; a bench-player defying the scouting report; “winning one for the Gipper.” On Monday, I saw best of sport. For 4 hours and 50 minutes, millions of people had fun, supported each other, and strode to fundraise for noble causes. For the rest of the day, the best of sport continued in the streets of Boston, Massachusetts.

People could have taken advantage of others’ weakness on Monday, but people chose to do good rather than ill. I do not believe that it was just sport that brought people together on Monday. I think we are all naturally empathetic and come together in times of trouble. But I do believe that sport is ultimately a reflection of the society we live in.

People, just like sports, have the potential to do great things, or do terrible things. We saw both on Monday. Thirteen seconds of violence were surrounded by minutes, hours, even months of passion and compassion. This is at the core of why sport is noble. In sport, just like life, we are provided with a forum to do good or evil. What I saw on Monday was that our natural inclination is to do good, despite one person’s choice to do the opposite.

As we coach, play, and watch sports, let’s remember what we saw on Monday. In the face of darkness, we chose light.

Integrity and Honesty In Sport

In most sports, athletes let the officials take responsibility for upholding the rules. In fact in most sports, athletes and coaches “play the refs” and try to get away with as much as they can. Not so in golf. Golf is one of the few sports to have developed a culture that demands that athletes take responsibility for upholding the rules and for reporting even their inadvertent violations of the letter of the law. Golf demonstrates that the honor code really works, even when the stakes are high and no one is looking. In the playoff for the Horizon Heritage Tournament title with over $400,000 on the line, Brian Davis of England called a two-stroke penalty on himself for accidentally nicking a reed on the backswing of his recovery shot from a hazard to the left of the 18th green. Only Davis was aware that he had barely touched the overhang, yet he did not hesitate to make his infraction known to an official. The reaction of the golf community was not surprise but affirmation. “What Davis did was what probably 90 percent of the players on the tour would have done” wrote Larry Dorman (2010). Dorman went on to recount golf’s proud history of self-reporting going back to the legendary Bobby Jones, who in 1925 after calling the same penalty on himself said, “You may as well praise a man for not robbing a bank.” Few would fault Tiger Woods for doing what athletes in all other sports do – let the rules committee take responsibility for deciding whether to give him a two stroke penalty or disqualify him. But this is not all other sports; this is golf. Tiger missed an opportunity to do something far more significant and memorable than winning another major.

Bye Bye Big East

The Notre Dame Basketball programs played their last games as members of the Big East conference last week. Social Foundations of Coaching student Tom VanSlochem comments.

On Friday night, the Fighting Irish fell to the Louisville Cardinals in the Big East Championship Semifinals. After the loss Mike Brey told the media, “I’m thrilled that we played in the semis in such a magical night here. It’s a little bit of unfinished business, but we’ll get over it quickly and get ready for next week.” Notre Dame started off the tournament with a great win over Rutgers and an upset of No. 12 Marquette in the quarterfinals. However, the Irish couldn’t get into a rhythm against Louisville – committing 16 turnovers and shooting 36.5 percent overall. While this was the third straight year Notre Dame has lost to Louisville in the Big East semifinals, it was their fourth straight semifinal appearance. The loss was also Notre Dame’s final game as a member of the Big East, with the team moving to the Atlantic Coast Conference next season.

"I can't say enough about the Big East. I don't think it's really hit me yet," Mike Brey said, following the game. "The Big East has kind of made me. I've always said I've been as proud of being a Big East guy as I am a Notre Dame guy. We'll miss that." Brey was not the only head coach who said a few words about the demise of the Big East. Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), Rick Pitino (Louisville), and John Thompson III (Georgetown) also shared the sentiment that the end of the Big East was bittersweet. “It’s sad for me because I was there at the start [1979] when they put the league together,” said Boeheim. Thompson, longtime friend and rival of Boeheim, said, “Change is here. But the Big East is something that I know, that we know, and it’s going to be missed.”

The 2013 Big East Championship Tournament marks the end of the Big East as we know it. Next season, Notre Dame, Pittsburgh, and Syracuse will join the ACC and the Catholic Seven – Georgetown, DePaul, Marquette, Villanova, Seton Hall, Providence, and St. John’s – will form a new conference under the Big East name. The remaining members of the current Big East are still trying to work out the details for the 2013-2014 season. Nevertheless, Irish fans should look forward to the upcoming season in the ACC with its high level of competition and exciting matchups.

Getting to Know Muffet

Social Foundations of Coaching student Jeremy Riche provides insight of one of college basketball's greatest motivators. 

Being a practice player for the women’s basketball team here at Notre Dame, I am able to see firsthand the effective coaching style of one of the best women’s college basketball coaches of all time. National Champions in 2001, National Runner-Ups in 2011 and 2012, 100% graduation rate since 2007, and induction into the Hall of Fame in 2011 are just some of the many achievements that Coach McGraw has been able to accomplish in her twenty-six years at this university. As seen by the 100% graduation rate, she holds her players to high standards off the court just as much as she does on the court. Effective coaching is more about the X’s and O’s, it is about developing your players into well-rounded individuals who, as it says on a statue fixed between the football stadium and the JACC, "leave the field a better player and leave Notre Dame a better person."

Basketball is always a team game and never has that fact been so clear than when during their practice. Leadership starts at the top with the head coach, then flows through the assistant coaches, then through the upperclassmen, and finally through the underclassmen—even the youngest or least experienced person has a leadership role in some form on the team. One of the interesting things that I have noticed during practice occasionally is the opportunity Coach McGraw gives the players to coach each other. For example, when a player is asking her what should the play look like or what type of movement should there be on the weak side of the defense, Coach McGraw will coach that player but allow her, in turn, to explain it to her teammates. She empowers her players with leadership and responsibility, which helps with the feeling of team ownership for each player.

A challenging, yet exciting aspect of college coaching as opposed to professional coaching is the fact that each year schools graduate to their veterans, their leaders. So, the process of developing relationships and maximizing each players talent is a continuing process that Coach McGraw has mastered, as evident by the continual success of her teams on and off the court. With each new basketball season comes a new team, but for the past twenty-six years here at Notre Dame, each of those new teams has had the privilege of being coached by one of the most effective and successful coaches in all of women’s college basketball—Coach McGraw.  

Should I put my kid in just one sport?

Today's Blog comes to us from Social Foundations of Coaching student, Kathryn Lux. Kathryn is senior Softball player for Notre Dame.

As times are changing and sports are becoming more and more competitive, there has been a big push for children to start specializing in one sport. Many feel that this is a good idea because if a child spends all of their time focusing on one sport, then it would only make sense that they have a better chance at earning a college scholarship, right? Well not necessarily. Take myself for example, I received a scholarship to play softball at the University of Notre Dame, and I played three sports until I came to college. I found that because I was a multi-sport athlete, I got better grades and was one of the most active and productive athletes in school.  Also, I would argue that those who are active in more than one sport are better all-around athletes. By participating in multiple sports, athletes gain the opportunity to learn transferable athletic skills, such as the football player who learns balance and agility from wrestling. This is important because even though a child is not active in the same sport year round, they are still improving their game. Lastly, I would say that a child benefits from playing more than one sport because they are members of multiple teams that give them exposure to different coaches with different philosophies, different teammates and personalities, which can provide important benefits for the development of a well-rounded person.

Parents tend to like specialization because it can make life easier for them, and some can live vicariously through their child. The pressure that parents put on their children to specialize can cause the athlete to settle for a sport that might not be their favorite, or might not be where their natural talent lies. Thus, leading to kids becoming burned out because they play the same sport all year round, and ultimately wanting to quit. Sports are about fun, and I would strongly encourage people to allow their children to play multiple sports because it plays such an integral part in their development as human beings, as well as aiding in their chance to earn a college scholarship. 

The Importance of Intramurals

Today's Blog comes to us from Social Foundations of Coaching Student Alex Green.

Growing up, I played sports year-round.  Ever since 2^nd grade, it was one sports season after the other, most of the time with two overlapping each other.  Soccer, basketball, baseball, football, repeat, all through grade school and high school as well.  So when college comes around and those kids that have played sports their entire lives are no longer a part of an athletic team, they don’t know what to do.  Now I do realize that this isn’t the case for everyone, but I do know it is for a lot of students here at Notre Dame, myself included.  This is why I think Notre Dame’s intramural programs can be of the utmost importance for kids like myself and others, whether we realize it or not.

Speaking from personal experience, because I grew up playing sports nearly year round for so many years, I learned to manage my time in a very efficient manner, simply because I had to in order to get everything done in a given day.  My parents were the type that if my grades weren’t up to their standards, then I would have to put the sports I loved to play on hold until my grades improved (and trust me, those were some high standards, seeing as I was admitted to this great university).  Being a young kid loving every minute of whatever sport I was currently involved in, I never wanted to miss a practice, a game, or a weekend tournament out of town somewhere.  Because of this, I made sure I structured my day so that I would always have my work done and in manageable segments.  In grade school, this wasn’t much of a problem, but high school forced me to refine those time management skills even further due to the increased workload as well as time spent on athletic activities.  Throughout high school, my best semesters, academically, were those in which I was heavily involved in a sport, simply because I forced myself to be that much more focused and efficient in my coursework during that time. 

Going into college, all of that just kind of vanished.  I found myself with so much free time that I didn’t know what to do with it.  All of the sudden I didn’t have to be anywhere at a certain time every day for 3-4 hours, I had more time.  Consequently, I got lax in my studies; I became complacent with my academic performance, all because I had so much more time than I was used to so when I was presented with work, I would put it off and instead surf the internet, watch TV, or play video games with my friends.  By the time I eventually got around to do the work, I would have a ton of other work as well, as it just seemed to pile up on me.  Therefore, I would often scramble to get it all done as quickly as possible because I wanted to go to bed or watch more TV or something, and the quality of the work would suffer.  Once sophomore year rolled around, I was disappointed in my academic performance and thus turned to the only thing I knew to be of any help, sports.  I got involved in all the intramurals I could get my hands on, trying to emulate what I had grown accustomed to for so many years before: football, flag football, basketball, softball, even racquetball (which I’d never played before).  In this way, I added a sort of structure to my life, something that I knew I had to do every day/week that I had to plan around.  My grades improved, I got back in a little bit better shape, I made some new friends, but most of all, I was able to have fun playing the sports I love. 

Was it the same athletic level of intensity or commitment of high school?  Absolutely not.  But what it did function as was a friendly reminder of the way I used to do things, more efficiently and with greater success. I needed that.  I’ve come to terms with the fact that I won’t have sports to rely on my entire life, much less next year.  Because of that, I have learned to fill my days with other, meaningful activities, such as part time jobs, special projects and clubs.  Without that gentle reminder of my work ethic from the past that intramurals provided me, I’m not sure I would be as successful as I have been these past 4 years here.  And for that, I will be forever grateful.  

It's only a game...

If you weren’t watching the Notre Dame vs. Louisville Men’s Basketball game on Saturday, you missed a doozy.  Down seven points with under a minute to go, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish stormed back to score 12 points in just over 30 seconds to send the game to overtime. Irish Junior Jerian Grant scored three monster 3-pointers, and successfully converted a three-point play to lead the comeback. The game then continued for another 5 overtime periods, full of drama, eventually ending in an Irish victory, in the longest game in school history.

It is on nights like Saturday that we are reminded exactly why we play, why we watch, and why sports are so awesome. As athletes, players get to experience the thrill of defying the odds. As fans, we get to experience the truly mystifying exhilaration of a closely fought battle. The whole experience showcases young people giving it there all in an environment that lets them exhibit what they do best.

Tired minds conquer fatigue. Balls and bodies defy the laws of physics. And ordinary evenings turning into legendary nights.

And as epic as the night may have seemed…it was only a game.

And that’s why we watch…it’s a game!

And that’s why the Irish won.

Anyone watching the Irish bench could see that the longtime skipper of Notre Dame’s team, Mike Brey,  knew exactly why we play the game: to play. Irish coaches and players were having fun: laughing, smiling, and having a “ball.” Brey’s positive style of coaching kept the young team poised, loose, and confident in the heat of the game.  The Irish, often overwhelmed by factors of the game that they could not control (foul trouble, intense defensive pressure), never allowed what could not be controlled get in the way of what could be controlled: their joy and their performance.

And this positive style of Coach Brey has led Brey to over a decade of success at Notre Dame. Coach Brey realizes that the essence of sport is play, and play is supposed to be fun. You can see it on his face that he is having fun, and when players see that, they have fun, and when players have fun, they play well. Sure, Notre Dame hasn’t won every game under Mike Brey, but that’s the reality of sports: some games are won, and others lost.

The beauty of sport that I think Coach Brey really embraces is that something as inconsequential as a game has a transformative power. Something as trivial as basket dropping through a net can galvanize fans, inspire youth, and transform athletes. And Brey gets that. He coaches to pursue excellence in a craft, but realizes that without joy in a passion, there can be no real success. And with joy, we get nights like Saturday. 

National Signing Day: My Least Favorite Holiday

Google Kevin Hart. You'll be glad you did.

I love college football. The pageantry, the talent, the tradition, the passion: I love it all.

I hate National Signing Day. The build-up, the coverage, the attention, the “drama.” For what?

If you want to point to any day on the calendar that contributes to the growing distaste that many fans have toward the once pure sport, look no further than the first Wednesday in February.

On National Signing Day, highly talented 17-year-old boys get their first taste of stardom, holding press conferences to let the world know where they will be attending college. Without fail, every year has its share of drama, featuring some boys “defecting” from a choice they had made months before. ESPN has every angle covered. “Live look-ins” take viewers from conference rooms full of happy coaches landing the latest blue-chip recruit to high school auditoriums where the starlets are making their commitment (often with their parents signature, because they are too young to legally sign a binding contract!).

And then we wonder, 5 years later, why some of these same boys turn into egocentric self-serving jocks. Why do you think someone like Terrelle Pryor, a former Ohio State recruit who ended up being suspended from college football for selling his autographed paraphernalia, thought he could get away with anything? Why do schools have entire offices dedicated to NCAA compliance, ensuring that athletes don’t break the rules?

We made them this way!!

Our demand for round-the-clock, daily updates about a sport that takes place only 12 Saturdays a year, has turned young athletes into celebrities. And then they behave like celebrities. And just like celebrities, many of these young men handle the spotlight with grace and integrity. They work hard, they get a good education, and they perform on the gridiron.  Others…not so much.

And keep in mind, all this hype is before a boy arrives on campus! He hasn’t even played one down of college football, and speculation already buzzes around who is the next Heisman Trophy winner! It’s no wonder that players are clamoring to get paid. We treat them like superstars, with all the implicit scrutiny, and so only thing missing now is a paycheck. When we give in to the hype of college recruiting, we don’t think for a moment that we are contributing to a complex which robs these children of their youth, slinging them from small town talent to national superstar. We don’t think for a moment that putting these kids on a pedestal will actually make them less likely to continue to pursue excellence.  But we do. These kids are just along for the ride. They love the attention, and I don’t blame them. So if you’re someone who longs for the bygone days of college sports in which recruiting was not something anyone knew about, than one piece of advice: turn off your TV.

Huge Announcement in Sports from Department of Education

In a historic decision, the US department of education has declared that all public schools provide equal access for students of all abilities to participate in sports.

This is a huge victory for advocates who believe everything that the Play Like a Champion Today® philosophy espouses. Sports are meant to be fun experiences that build life lessons of physical fitness, character, psychological development, social interaction and fun. While sports may double as a means for rising to elite professional levels for some, this ordinance affirms that sports can build character and goodness in all young people.

Those of us who are committed to uphold the right of all children to play sports in school welcome this directive with enthusiasm.  Secretary of Education, Arnie Duncan rightly points out that sports can help to build virtue and teach life lessons. 

Implementation of this directive will lead to accommodations not only in facilities and equipment but also in the way in which coaches approach athletes with special needs.  Implementation, we hope, will lead to expanded opportunity for all students, regardless of ability or disability, to experience the physical and psychological benefits of sports participation.

Perhaps the most significant implication of this ordinance is what it says about the state of our culture. Amidst the scandals, tragedies, and shortcomings of sports that we hear bout in the media, there are still voices speaking for voiceless. There are still people pursuing social justice for the marginalized. There is still hope for a better future for our children.

Leave the speculation at the door

The news out of South Bend yesterday was troubling. As a fan of sports, Notre Dame, and the human race as a whole, I won’t even bother with the details. ESPN, Dead Spin, Facebook, and Google would do you far more good if you want to know the latest scoop on the Manti Te’o hoax.

Rather than contribute to the circus of rampant speculation surrounding this bizarre affair, I think it is appropriate to simply just take a deep breath and look at the way we look at sports in our culture.

As a fan of sports, it is no longer simply acceptable to have a deep passion for your team, and root for them when you go to a game. Now, to be considered a knowledgeable fan, you have to know everything from which high school sophomore is making a verbal commitment to your alma mater to what the captain of your team tweeted about his breakfast sandwich this morning. The “best” fans are really just the best informed fans. And with this mass demand by legions of fans for more information, it’s no surprise that things like this happen. Players’ privacies become commodities that can be bought and sold. An athlete’s net worth is dependent not only on his or her athletic abilities, but on the ability to generate consumable information for the masses.

It is important to understand that the main player in this whole media mess is a 22-year-old man. Do you remember when you were 22 years old? I was delivering pizza and answering phones for a living, eking out a young life that enjoyed the comforts of good friends, a simple apartment, good health, and relative obscurity. Contrast that to a young man who has millions of fans that have never even spoken to him, career prospects that include millions of dollars in yearly earnings, and a personal life that is anything but personal. So before we speculate about who is in the wrong, or who is behind this hoax, let’s just keep this in perspective. Not only is Manti Te’o young, but he is under an extraordinary amount of pressure. If we care about him, or even the sport as a whole, just grant him some privacy. Stop going to different websites to get the latest update. Turn off your TV. Watch something else. Let trained professionals get to the bottom of this, and make your informed opinions then.

One of the great things about sport is the humanity revealed in all of it. You see people’s highest highs and lowest lows out on the field of play. In televised sports we see people who are the best at their craft do what they love. Their talent makes them seem super-human, but they most certainly are human. And as humans we (and athletes!) make mistakes. We hurt and we get hurt. We lie and are lied to. But some of the most distinguishing human characteristics are our best traits. We forgive. We understand. We show compassion. So, however the dust settles in this whole affair, let’s let our best selves show through.