Team Spirit Team Service

The University of Notre Dame is on fall break this week.  Campus is quiet, and many students have gone home for the week, missing the first snow of the season.  Most student-athletes, however, have stayed on campus as practices and games continue.  As there are no classes this week, several teams have taken some time to serve the community.

On Monday, the Notre Dame Football team had spent the evening at South Bend's Center for the Homeless. In an event that was spearheaded by tight-end Troy Niklas, the players were able to spend a few hours with the guests, having dinner and getting to know the guests at the Center.  As Niklas said at the end of the event "“I hate to say it, but we’ve almost gotten more out of this than (the guests). Sometimes you don’t know how much you have until you see someone who doesn’t have anything. Being here at Notre Dame, we’re so blessed".  Over dinner, the football players and the guests exchanged stories--and inspiration.  As part of the team's preparation for the evening, the players committed to fundraising $2000 to give to the Center, a goal which they surpassed when Niklas presented Steve Camilleri with a gift of $4700.  

Troy Niklas talks to a young guest at the Center for the Homeless

The Notre Dame Women's Soccer Team plays its final home game of the season this evening, and will be auctioning off jerseys as a fundraiser for the SEGway Project, a non-profit founded by a former Notre Dame soccer player that uses soccer to empower girls worldwide.  Proceed's from Thursday's auction will be used by the Project at the Kibera Girls Soccer Academy in Kenya. The Men's Soccer Team also took some time this week to work with local children.  On Tuesday, members of the team spent a few hours with a local youth soccer club--with coaches and players leading drills, demonstrating skills, and mentoring the young athletes.  

Play Like a Champion Today teaches that a key to character development is the transformation of the team into a moral community whose members are committed to certain values e.g. caring, fairness, and trust.  By learning the virtues of community on a team, team members are then able to become leaders in larger communities later in life.  Community service done as a team is an excellent way to build a moral community and Play Like Champions.

When Is It Okay To Boo Your Own Player?

Today's blog entry was written by Amarpreet Rai, a junior science pre-professional student at the University of Notre Dame, and a member of the Social Foundations of Coaching Class.  Amarpreet is currently conducting research on the value of sport for urban youth.

Sometimes we take sports too far. As fans, we consider ourselves fully a part of a team. We think we know just as much as the players or even the coaches. And sometimes, we take this too far. We forget what our role is.

Let me explain. Sometimes fans think it’s acceptable to call for bodily harm or the benching of athletes, in college or professional sports. Two notable recent examples come to mind. The first is the hatred that Tommy Rees, the Notre Dame quarterback, has experienced both from the student section during games and through social media after. We forget that he’s a young adult on a public stage trying to do the best that he can. And as fans, instead of supporting him and making his job easier, we increase the pressure, making it harder for him (and for our team) to be successful. The second example is the booing of Matt Schaub, the HoustonTexans quarterback. Sure, he’s a little older and making money at what he’s doing. However, is it really acceptable to cheer when he suffers a game ending injury? For some reason, we do.

          An injured Matt Schaub on the sidelines                          Tommy Rees directs the Irish before his injury against USC

Play Like a Champion Today forces us to think about how we motivate athletes. It forces us to consider why athletes play the game. Negative motivation almost never seems to work. Constantly yelling at children neither inspires them to work harder nor does it help them learn faster. By booing Rees or Schaub, all we do is undermine their confidence in themselves. It does not matter if an individual is 8 or 28. Negative reinforcement from fans, coaches, or teammates does not work. What helps is a positive environment, fostering growth at all ages. 

As fans, we never like to see our team lose. Yet, when we boo, we make winning just a little harder for ourselves. So I ask again, when is it okay to boo your own player? The short answer: Never. 

"If you're a bully, you're not on my team."

Last night, I stayed up too late watching baseball.  I'll deal with the fatigue today, because it means that my beloved Boston Red Sox are in the ALCS, still contenders for the World Series Championship. While I could go on at length about Sunday night's game (and the game-tying grand slam from Big Papi in the 8th inning), I would instead like to focus on the off-field work of Jarrod Saltalamacchia, the Red Sox catcher (whose bottom of the ninth base hit drove in the winning run.)  

October is National Bullying Prevention Awareness Month, and a few years back, Saltalamacchia, along with several athletes from Boston and across the country posted public service announcements against bullying, including Saints quarterback Drew Brees, featured above. As I watched the Red Sox pour out of the dugout at the end of the game to mob Salty as he rounded second, I thought back to the video.  Saltalamacchia is a popular figure in Boston these days, and the hope (as with all of these endorsements) is that his celebrity brings added credence to his message. The video features Salty addressing the camera stating: "If you're being a bully, you're not on my team." Boston vs. Bullies

Saltalamacchia goes on to say "Be a good teammate, help stop bullying." This message flows directly into Play Like a Champion's GROW model.  As a part of GROW, Play Like a Champion focuses on the Relationships on the team--between coaches and the student-athletes as well as between teammates.  PLC applies the  "family" model to a team, and this should apply equally to all members of the team.  Bullying either within the team or by team members should not be tolerated.                     

The Detroit Tigers, (who played very well this weekend against the Red Sox) have also been involved in the anti-bullying movement.  Detroit Tigers Strikeout Bullying included a letter from Tigers first-baseman Prince Fielder and several of his teammates talk about their own experiences being bullied, along with information on how to stop bullying. Tigers Strikeout Bullying

To learn more about what you can do to prevent bullying, or to find public service announcements from celebrities ranging from Drew Brees, President Obama, Anne Hathaway and (of course) Jarrod Saltalamacchia, these websites have more information: StompOutBullyingor Pacer's National Bullying Prevention Center

Playing Until The Whistle

Today's blog entry was written by Paul Jones. Paul is a psychology student at Purdue North Central which is a regional campus of Purdue University. Paul is interning with Play Like A Champion this fall. Paul has a passion for sports and an eagerness to learn which makes him the perfect fit for our team. Paul was a key player in our Sports Leadership conference this June and during this semester, he is assisting with Play Like A Champion’s research, helping with our social media, leading several ongoing special projects and learning our curriculum of coach education. Paul is a “champion” to our program.

As an athlete you are told to play your hardest and play until you hear the whistle.  There is a difference between playing hard and playing dirty and intentionally injuring another player.  A prime example from this weekends collegiate football games is from October 3rd, when The University of Texas took on Iowa State University in a tight game where both teams played hard until the bitter end, and where both coaches objected to the officiating.

In the third quarter, Texas scored on a run from a couple of yards out, but after the play Texas was penalized 15 yards when wide receiver Mike Davis threw a low block on ISU defensive back, Deon Broomfield.  The play called for the wide receivers to block the defensive backs.  The replays clearly show the Texas back clearly crossing the goal line as other players from Texas signal and celebrate a touchdown.  As the celebration started, Broomfield slowed down, but that did not stop Davis from diving low into the knees of Broomfield. 

After the game, the defensive back, Broomfield, took to Twitter and said, "Mike Davis really tried to take me out." Davis responded on Twitter saying, "I play to the whistle ….. Sorry I was taught that."  Yes, it can get loud in a packed stadium, but regardless of the volume of the whistle, the play had clearly stopped and there is no need to attack a player when he is so far from the action of the game.  I am all for giving your all during the game and support the players who do so, but on a play like that, there is no need.  He wasn't playing to the whistle, he was putting another athlete at risk of serious injury. It was a good call by the officials, some are even calling for a harsher penalty, but the coach of Texas, Mack Brown, stood by his player and said, "He couldn’t hear (the whistle), There’s 70,000 people screaming their guts out."  He later said that he “thought it was competing.”  This is in a time where players are being penalized and suspended for "targeting" other players and this looked like he was targeting.  The Big 12 reprimanded Davis, but did not issue a suspension. The only punishment that can follow now would come from the Texas team itself. 

Here at Play Like A Champion Today, we teach building character through sports, and we expect the coaches to model good character as well.  It would have shown strength and character for Davis to admit that he was wrong. It would have shown good character to step up and say that he is not that kind of player and would play better next time. (Instead, he stated that in a similar situation, he would do the same thing again.)  It also would have displayed better character if Coach Brown had handled Davis's actions in a different manner.  At Play Like A Champion Today we work on winning the right way. When the final whistle blew last week, Texas won the game, but they did not win the right way.

The Dallas Morning News has more information on the game and the ensuing controversy here.

Utah Coach Suspends Team as a Character Lesson

Two weeks ago, a football coach in Utah did something that is rare in this age of high pressure high school athletics.  He suspended his entire team the week before homecoming. He didn’t suspend the team for any on-field issues (although the decision was announced following a loss.)  And he didn’t suspend the team for any academic failings or team-wide disciplinary issues (although both issues contributed to the decision.) Instead, Coach Matt Labrum of Union High School in Roosevelt, Utah suspended his team of boys to “create great men.”

In the process, Coach Labrum created a media firestorm, sparked a national conversation, and hopefully taught his team and community a valuable lesson on the importance of character.  The Union High School team had reportedly been having assorted academic and disciplinary issues for much of the season, but was disbanded for cyber-bullying committed by unknown team members.  After a post-game meeting on Friday night where the coaching staff announced the decision, the team met the next morning to  learn how to regain a spot on the team.  For the next few days, the team practiced, but instead of practicing pass routes and zone defense, the team practiced character.  To be eligible to play the next week, every player had to participate in community service projects, be in good academic standing, and have a signed note from a parent attesting to good behavior at home. While several players were initially upset by the temporary loss of football, the coach had the support of parents and school officials.  He also had the support of the team, as all but 9 of the 41 players suspended were reinstated on Wednesday afternoon.     

 In explaining his decision to the media, Coach Labrum said “Hey, we need to focus on some other things that are more important than winning a football game,”  and he’s right.    At Play Like a Champion Today, we are fortunate enough to work with coaches just like Matt Labrum.  These coaches want their teams to DO WELL on the field and to DO GOOD off the field. Like Coach Labrum, Coaches for Character want their teams “to be an asset” to their schools and communities.  Like the parents at Union High, parents involved in Play Like a Champion Today want their children to be more than good football players, they want their children to “to some good in the community.” And like the students at Union High, student athletes trained by Play Like a Champion Today now see that “It’s not all about football.” 

 Practicing character should not be a national news story.  Practicing character should not be done solely to earn a spot on a team or to impress a coach.  Play Like a Champion works to promote a positive sports culture for all young people, and we applaud Coach Labrum for the work he is doing in Utah, and wish his team luck for the rest of the season, and hope that the character lessons instilled last month will endure in the team’s memory long after the season has ended.

For more on the events in Utah, the Deseret News has provided excellent coverage: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865587020/Taking-a-stand-Union-High-coach-suspends-entire-football-team-in-lesson-about-character.html?pg=all

Opponents become Friends: The Beauty of Sport Relationships

As a lacrosse player I’ve always sought to play the game with sportsmanship and integrity. As a lacrosse coach I’ve always tried to emphasize sportsmanship and fair play with my players.

 One of the more inspiring examples of sportsmanship to which I’ve been a party was actually a series of events, specifically a series of dinners that brought strangers together.

Each year during spring break my high school lacrosse team would travel out of state for a few scrimmages before our season began back in Minnesota. I traveled to both Colorado and New York on these team trips. On each trip we would set up in a certain part of the state where we had arranged to play several local teams and would play nearly every day during our week-long stay.

In addition to the hard-fought scrimmages with each team, we would have a dinner for both teams provided by the parents or school of the local team. I was both humbled by the generosity, because it is no small task to prepare and serve dinner to 50-some tired, sweaty, hungry teenage boys.

In my experience, lacrosse has always had a stronger sense of community and fraternity than the other sports I played growing up, and that was borne out in the generosity of these lacrosse communities that hosted our team. It was also evidenced in how quickly we took to talking, joking and laughing with the team we had just battled on the field.

I remember at Yorktown high school in New York how at one of the long tables our two teams were indistinguishably intermingled and engaged in animate conversation, even though half an hour earlier two players from each team had exchanged some significant body checks.

I also remember playing nearby John Jay high school in a fog so thick I had no idea what was happening anytime our offense brought the ball past midfield and then learning the ins-and-outs of NYC from our opponents after the game.

From our time in Colorado, I remember eating with the Kent Denver team  when our coach, who is originally from Colorado, learning that a friend he met on a travelling team still lived in the same house and his son attended the school.

I could go on, but suffice it to say these meals were rewarding experiences and embodied a sportsmanship that ought to be at the heart of all athletics, especially at the youth and high school levels.

By: Christian Myers

Notre Dame Club Lacrosse Secretary
Social Foundations of Coaching Student, Education Schools and Society at Notre Dame

Back to School Sports: Five “To-Dos” for Every Athletic Director

As students are heading back to school, Athletic Directors are scrambling to finalize schedules, fill coaching vacancies, and distribute uniforms and equipment.  We are living in a Post-Penn State and Rutgers environment in which all sports organizations are being called far greater moral and legal accountability than ever before. Make sure that you leave time to take these five steps to prepare for the year ahead.

• Provide a safe athletic environment for all your athletes.  Sexual, physical, and psychological abuse are real threats. Before working with student athletes, all coaches should have been finger-printed and have had a background check.  All coaches and anyone who works directly with a minor should also have had abuse awareness and reporting training.  Note that many states now consider coaches “mandatory reporters.”  Coaches also need to know how to respond to possible concussions and how to prevent over-use injuries. 
• Meet at the beginning of the year or each sports season with your coaches to explain your mission, values, and code of conduct.   Emphasize the importance of playing-time and of developing each player’s talents. 
• Schedule a parent meeting as early as possible.  Parents and guardians need to know what is expected of them and their children.  Helping parents to understand how they can support their children, especially through their sideline behavior will make a big difference throughout the sports season. 
• Provide mission-oriented coach education every year.  Coaches, like teachers, need continuing education to work effectively with children and adolescents. 
• Guarantee that each student-athlete has a quality sports experience.  At the elementary school level.

We appreciate the growing responsibilities of athletic directors, especially in a litigious society.  Today more than ever before administrators, coaches, and parents need the best possible educational programming to serve our children.  Let us know how we can help you by contacting  Play Like a Champion Today.

Where do our Priorities Lie?

Play Like a Champion Director Clark Power offers some insight on the current storm at Rutgers, and how it reflects the current state of college athletics.

Once again President Robert Barachi is on the hot seat. He chose Julie Hermann as Rutgers' new Athletic Director in a move designed to restore integrity to Rutgers' beleaguered athletic department. Hermann replaces Tim Pernetti, who resigned under pressure for not responding more decisively to a videotape showing basketball coach, Mike Rice shoving his players, throwing basketballs at their heads, and berating them with slurs. Maybe Barachi wishes he had Pernetti back. Hermann, it appears, may have been abusive herself, something that Rutgers' search committee was unaware of when they hired her. The search committee, in fact, viewed Hermann as the answer to an athletic department culture more protective of coaches than players. In a press release announcing the search committee's decision, Kate Sweeney, the co-chair, noted that the "committee was particularly impressed with Julie Hermann's student-centered approach to athletics."

Less than two weeks after Herrmann's selection, Hermann's "student-centered approach to athletics" was challenged in a New Jersey Star-Ledger story, which published a copy of 16-year-old letter written by former student athletes, who alleged that they suffered "unbearable mental cruelty" while Hermann was their volleyball coach. Players recalled reading that letter to Hermann and the women's athletic director, Joan Cronan, in an intense and uncomfortable meeting. Hermann denies knowing about that letter. She also denies the allegation in the letter that she called her players "whores, alcoholics and learning disabled." "For sure, I was an intense coach," she explained, "but there is a vast difference between high intensity and abusive behavior."

Cronan couldn't have been too bothered by the student athletes' discontent because Hermann went on to become an assistant coach for USA Volleyball before becoming an Assistant Athletic Director at the University of Louisville. Louisville Athletic Director, Tom Jurich, who hired Hermann admits knowing that "things didn't end well at Tennessee" but that "everything was clear sailing" after speaking with the AD at Tennessee and the coach of the Olympic Team under whom Hermann coached while still at Tennessee. He admitted, "She is intense" but added, "I don't know a coach who isn't."

Kim Tibbits, Hermann' assistant coach at Tennessee upholds Hermann's side of the story, "I was by Julie's side in every meeting and every practice, and she never did what they're saying. What they are saying is not true. She was the most supportive coach. She loved those kids. What I'm hearing and seeing now is just shocking." Cronan said that couldn't recall the letter itself or the high drama of the team meeting that precipitated Hermann's departure. She does remember, however, that the players were somewhat "disgruntled." But she attributed their displeasure as due to "frustration" at their team's lack of athletic success.

Those who defend Hermann, including Hermann herself, see her as the real victim in all of this. Without a videotape like the one that led to Rice's demise there is no way of verifying the players' story. All we have is the testimony of the student athletes themselves, all of whom received counseling following their unanimous expression of "irreconcilable differences with their coach." The only uncontroverted part of this unfolding story is that none of the administrators, who vetted Hermann as she rose up the administrative ladder, ever bothered to ask her players why "things didn't turn out well" at Tennessee.

If we can learn anything from this latest Rutgers controversy, it is that in a "student-centered" athletic environment, the student athletes ought to be consulted and taken seriously, particularly when allegations of abuse arise. Students may well be in the best position to help the athletic community to determine the difference between being intense and being abusive.

Learning as an Official

Today's blog comes to us from Social Foundations of Coaching student Liam Madden. Liam reflects on his experiences as a basketball official and how his decisions affect his coaching strategy. To learn about Play Like a Champion Today's Official's Workshop, check out our website.

I had the chance to officiate an extramural basketball tournament at Oakland University in Michigan and dealt with many hot-tempered coaches, whom we are trained as officials to communicate with.  However, in the men’s semifinal game of the tournament, in a close game that would crush the hopes of one college club team and advance the other to the highly-coveted championship game, I was in a bind that changed the way I view coaching from the sidelines.    

After another official on my crew called an intentional foul on a player who clearly hacked an opponent on a fast break, the fouling player’s coach began a tirade on the sideline and contested that the play was not overly violent (the coach clearly misunderstood the difference between an intentional foul and a flagrant foul).  The third official on my crew gave the coach a much-deserved technical foul and told him that he had to sit down, or else he would be kicked out of the game.

The coach proceeded to continue standing and arguing, and I went over to him and warned him that he had to sit down or I’d eject him.  At this point, his team was down 12 points with under a minute left and was clearly going to lose, yet he refused to give in to our instructions.  His team wanted to get the game over with and his team captain yelled at him to sit down because he was embarrassing the team and they wanted to finish the game.  I did not eject the coach, which the NCAA official evaluating me told me was the biggest mistake I made all game because it compromised my authority as an official.

What I learned from the whole situation is that a coach’s conduct not only influences his reputation among officials and fans but also reflects the whole team, and in youth sports coaches must be role models for their players.  After the game, the team’s captain came up to our officiating crew and apologized on behalf of his coach and said the whole team was embarrassed by his behavior.  As a coach, especially at an amateur level, one must be respectful of officials and set a good example for his or her team.  In the future when I coach youth sports, I will always remember this lesson I learned from a coach’s extremely poor sportsmanship.

As a basketball official, I have dealt with many coaches who do not hesitate to spew criticisms, even at the youth level and have learned that coaches not only must be professional in conduct and demeanor but also must set a standard for communicating with officials that their players can follow.  In pre-game captains meetings, I always make it clear that as officials we are glad to answer any questions about specific calls but will not respond to obnoxious statements about our officiating.  Coaches, as role models for their players, must demonstrate the proper way to deal with officials so their players do not feel they have the option to act disrespectfully towards referees.

Youth Sports Tragedy

On May 5, Ricardo Portilla died in a coma ten days after being punched for giving a yellow card in a recreational league soccer game.  This was not the first time that he had been attacked, and his family had had begged him to give up officiating for fear that he would sustain a serious injury.  The incident occurred not in a tournament or state championship but in a recreational league game! The league’s “no tolerance policy” for player violence didn’t deter the angry outburst.

           

The abuse of referees is rampant throughout sports at all ages and competitive levels.   It starts with the coaches and fans.  Eventually the children follow.  Insults, intimidation, and occasional threats are the rule.  We generally look the other way until the abuse becomes physical.  Six weeks earlier, CNN broke a story about soccer referees in Europe being “under siege,” (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/03/14/sport/football/referee-violence-spain-football).   That story featured an incident in the Netherlands in which a group of adolescent players beat a volunteer linesman to death.  

           

Let’s hope that the youth sports community in the United States will respond to Ricardo Portilla’s death with the moral outrage expressed throughout Europe.  The problem of referee abuse lies with an adult-constructed youth sports environment in which respect for rules, referees, and fairness seems quaint.  Getting away with as much as possible and manipulating referees is the now the norm.  Ricardo Portilla refereed recreational soccer because he loved the game and those who played it.  We owe it to him and to our children to change the toxic culture that foments violence and disrespect.