As this space goes through some changes I’m looking for a little help. If you know anyone who is coaching a team with their own kid on it please send them your affiliate link. I know I can help them better serve the kids under their leadership and I know you won’t mind the 40% commission on their membership. I’m launching this new program at the end of the month and I really appreciate all the support.

Car rides can be tense before and after competitive events. Having a HAPPY SONG that you and your kid belt out together can be a massive tool for regulation. You all know that song that no matter where or when it just takes you to a good place. I’m curious, what is yours…? High five if you know the gif reference 🏌️

Kids thrive on structure when it comes to learning environments. The field is a learning environment. If you are coaching kids and you are not following some form of routine you could be setting yourself up for failure. Learning of any kind is very uncomfortable. We need to remember this when we are coaching. Establishing a simple routine, like juggling for the first 5 minutes of every session, creates a structure that sets the tone for the remaining time and allows the kids to mentally get into the space to challenge themselves. It doesn’t end there though. If you start every practice with juggling but your commentary puts kids on the defensive you will shut down their desire to take risk and that will stunt growth. Instead, you need to make sure that you are encouraging the core athlete values you want to see in the team. In my foundations course I teach parent-coaches to give their athletes a very clear identity for being part of the team. Determination, Resilience, and Tenacity. These are taken from Angela Duckworth’s book “GRIT” and here is how you use them in a 5 minute juggling session. Encourage all kids to juggle for the first 5 minutes regardless of how good they are. Determination is not about being good, it is about continuing regardless of the current status. Shout out players who are struggling but keep going without any delay or sulking. Resilience is not about being good, it is about not allowing setbacks and failures to deter you from achieving your goal. Make grand gestures to call out any athlete who goes the extra mile to get even one more touch on the ball before it hits the ground. Tenacity is not about success, it is about the intensity with which you go after your target. If you coach juggling this way, the players will eventually get better at the skill. But…the real magic will happen when they start to believe that they are capable of doing difficult things. Let me know what you think about this approach…

I’ve been playing around with the actual math behind skill development, and it gets complicated quickly. But for parents and coaches, I think we can make it ridiculously simple: GROWTH = Quality Reps × Consistency × Time Whether you are training your own kid or your whole team, just ask yourself: How good are the reps? How often do they get them? How much time will they need to master them? We spend WAY too much time chasing novelty. New drills. New trainers. New techniques. New ideas. But growth usually isn’t that exciting. Create a structure that gives kids meaningful reps. Make those reps intentional. Then have the discipline to keep showing up and doing them long enough for adaptation to happen. There’s real math behind this if anyone wants me to nerd out on it 😂 But I’m more interested in your experience: Where have you seen consistency beat novelty in your athlete’s development?

Take a look at this character checklist from Brett Leadbetter's WHAT DRIVES WINNING program. You only get to choose one from each side and you have to live by them in everything you do. Which two do you pick and why?