Category: Organization Executive

The top characteristics of great coaches blog thumnail

What are the characteristics of great coaches?

Posted Glen MulcahyLeave a commentPosted in Athlete, Coach, Organization Executive, Parents, Uncategorized

In every talk I do I ask coaches the following question:

What are the top 3 qualities of the greatest coach (or teacher, manager) you ever had?

In hindsight, if I had kept track of the responses from every talk I would have had a 10 Year + Longitudinal study so this fall I started to keep track of the responses in an excel sheet. By no means is this a formal research study, and although the order may be different from 1-9, these are the top characteristics of great coaches from the next generation of coaches;

No matter what group answered this question, whether it be coaches just starting to coach 5-6 year olds in hockey or High performance coaches I have asked in conferences or everything in between the top characteristics of great coaches is they truly care about their players.

Not only do they care about helping them develop into the best athletes they can be, but the best people.

This is what John Wooden, Clare Drake, Phil Jackson in past and current coaches like Pete Carroll, Mike Kryzyzewski and other GREAT coaches, not all the wins, national titles but the legacy the left behind developing youth into adults – that’s how coaches make a difference.

Coaches that care, not only teach the skills of the game, but the skills of life.

Many misinterpret that I am not competitive because my philosophy of coaching is “FUNdamentals, not winning, at all costs”. Like all the great coaches who worked on the process of developing all players on their teams that lead to results on the scoreboard, I know how important it is for players to have fun, even on the most competitive teams. I also am totally against Participation Trophies, check out prior blog on the subject HERE.

Mike Babcock, now the highest paid NHL coach with Stanley Cup, World Championship and Olympic Gold achievements on his resume is another one of those great coaches. When he became the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he shared that his main role was to develop all the players into great young men. Prior to the 2010 Olympic Gold Medal game, when he was coaching some of the best players in the WORLD at the time, when asked by the media what he told the team before the game he said “I just told them to go out there and have fun.”

Many people think when kids they just want to have fun that it means goofing off, but kids actually don’t want their team mates to do so they want to play, the want to compete, they want play for the love of the game. That is what fun is.

When Amanda Visek did her groundbreaking study and identified the 81 characteristics of what is fun in youth sports, the number 2 reason, second only to having the opportunity to try your best was when coaches treated players with respect

Although I would NEVER consider myself to be in the same company as John Wooden, his three rules are very similar to mine and his third was “Never criticize your team mates”, mine is Respect. Respect yourself, teammates, coaches, officials, other teams, parents, class mates, parents and so on.

I believe respect is a two-way street, if coaches respect their players then they players will in turn respect their coaches and vice versa.

Sadly, although there as many great coaches in youth sports do respect their players, there are coaches that think nothing of screaming at a player, singling them out in front of the teams, criticizing their mistakes over and over again and other ways that are not only disrespectful but crossing the fine line from demanding (pushing players to be their best) to demeaning (belittling players).

PS – notice where winning was in terms of fun, bottom ½ of the list, 47 other reasons why sports were fun. Others also in the bottom 1/3, playing in tournaments, practicing with speciality trainers, earning medals/trophies and traveling to other place to play.

Why then has youth sports evolved to a $15 Billion Industry in the USA?

Because adults either have not asked the kids or think they have the best interests of the kids at heart because they are “the adults.” If you thought the great recession was bad in 2007, or the .com bust prior was bad … I can hardly wait for parents, coaches and players to realize the insanity has to end.

It is no wonder why 70% are quitting by the age of 13 of those that can afford youth sports to begin with, 33% in Canada can’t afford to play any youth sports and that number continues to rise due to “travel teams”.

In this day and age with today’s generation having an 8 second attention span, have grown up in the digital era it is refreshing to find out Generation Z prefers face to face communication over texting, so you have the players attention COMMUNICATE.

Ask them what they want – Ask them if they understand – Ask them what they learned after practice – Ask them if they had fun.

This is a skill that coaches not only need to connect with their players, but engage parents as today’s generation Z are very close to their parents.

Yes we have had to deal with helicopter/snowplow and lawnmower parents, but the best way I have found to engage parents is by communicating well and communicating often.

Don’t be the coach that a parent shared with me last year who walked into the team parent meeting at the beginning of the season and say;

I don’t deal with F**&^^T& Parents, deal with the manager if you have any issues.

PS – I can’t make this stuff up, there are coaches out there that refuse to deal with parents and think nothing of using inappropriate langue when/IF they do so

Like Caring, great coaches support their players to become the best they can be and achieve their goals. I will never forget when I got a call from a goalie who has been on many of my teams last year and he thanked me for helping him get to Junior Hockey.

I was very proud of him and many of the other players that have achieved that milestone that I had coached over the years.

Coaches can also fill the gap for kids like me who lost their father at a young age.

All of the coaches I had over the years were my second father in a sense, they took me under their wing and supported me in my goals each and every year.

Great teachers do the same, if it had not been for my Grade 12 French Teacher who took me aside one day and said “you can do better” after I acted up in class for the umpteenth time.
She was the one that motivated me to pursue post secondary education and as a result I was the first of all my cousins to graduate from University.

Passion does overlap with fun in part, so although as a % was 6th when reviewed this fall it is the second top characteristic that coaches have shared with me over the years.

Passionate coaches OOZE passion for the game, the tradition, the respect and as a result make their players love the game the same way.

Due to the current winning at all costs environment in youth sports that has evolved, I have seen passion by coaches, but moreso temper tantrums because games did not go their way.

Think back when you grew up, did you ever take a class in school and thought you would HATE it like calculus, accounting, history, literature? Then to you surprise you ending up loving the course – Why? Because your teacher was so passionate about the subject.

Same holds true for youth sports … if coaches are passionate about all aspects of the game they will instill that same passion in their players so they play For the Love of the Game.

An analogy that one my colleagues shared with me that I relay in talks is coaches must focus on P&R – that came from Terry Crisp, former NHL coach.

P = Patience
R = Repetitions

In order for players to develop, it make years for them to develop some of the core skills in the game and while doing so do numerous repetitions which requires a considerable amount of patience on the coaches part (as well as parents)

But when that light bulb goes on – Man is it worth it.

The biggest challenge that coaches face today is being patient to adhere to the LTAD/LTPD and other models and also getting parental support.

Too many parents are trying to fast track their kids development via early sport specialization and is the wrong pathway to follow “Early Sport Specialization does more harm than good”

We could have lumped this into supportive or caring, but encouragement also pertains to how coaches provide praise to their players.

Thanks to the great work by Carol Dweck and he ground breaking book “Growth Mindset”, many in the sport and even business spaces are recognizing there are two types of mindsets

The Fixed Mindset – those feel that effort is not important as their skills are part of their DNA and they are not that good

Or – they focus on proving their ability

The mistake coaches make all the time is telling kids how smart, how good they are and this becomes fixed

The Growth Mindset – those that welcome taking on tasks that become more challenging each time, belive they can continue to improve and believe the harder they work (effort) the better they will become.

Or – they focus on “im”proving their ability

Coaches that reinforce the growth mindset encourage effort and God Forbid to make mistakes, the uglier the better. Players develop confidence when doing so, more creativity and continue to improve vs. those with the fixed mindset

Other words that coaches have come up with that fall in this category – approachable, open, thinking back on all my coaches they were friendly.

They would have your back when you made a mistake vs. screaming at your for doing so.

They would welcome you into their “office” whenever you needed to speak to them

They would be your friend (or father/Mother) whenever you needed a friend.

1. Other – the list of other responses were endless but included characteristics like calm, challenging, committed, confident, consistent, disciplined, energetic, enthusiastic, fair, firm, forgiving, genuine, trustful, inspiring, integrity, invested, kind, listens, motivator, organized, personable, positive, role model, teacher and leader

I plan to revisit the results at the end of each year now that I have the template in place to share in future but in the interim

Make it Fun – Make it Safe – Teach Skills – Care Passionately

AND

Don’t Be A Kid’s Last Coach

That was then, this is now

Posted Glen MulcahyLeave a commentPosted in Athlete, Coach, Organization Executive, Parents

This has been a week full of meetings with various colleagues and associates as we all were trying to get as much done before our May long weekend.

Yesterday, however, I received a call from one of Canada’s National Magazines (once the article goes to print will share out the digital edition) to ask for my insight on the changing landscape in youth sports, in particular, the professionalization and pitfalls of early sport specialization.

I thought initially we would be scheduling the interview for a later date but when the writer asked if I could do so in 20 minutes, I said sure, why wait until tomorrow if you can do it today.

We chatted about the various issues that revolve with early specialization including burnout, overuse injuries, lack of overall fundamental movement skill development as well as the costs, both financial and time when kids start specializing at such a young age.

Last week I wrote about the reality of one of the drivers for specialization, parents aspiring for their son or daughter to receive a NCAA scholarship to setup them up to potentially be drafted to their major professional team sports.

The Reality vs. the Dream of NCAA Scholarships and going to the Show.

I subsequently shared with the writer for the magazine article that the statistics of kids who play youth sports who go on to play at NCAA is approximately 2%, of those 1% will be drafted on average to major professional sports and only 0.04% will actually reach the level of PLAYING professionally at the highest level.

We also touched on the other area that I have identified is an issue with early specialization, the research shows that the key years for motor skill acquisition is between the ages of 6-12 years old which is why nations like Norway, Sweden, Iceland who have adapted Sport for Life’s LTAD model focus on core motor skill development, fundamental movement skills across a broad range of sports and activities during that time.

They also limit or do not permit competitive games until kids are 13 years old so they can learn those skills in a safe to fail environment without the pressure cooker that kids in North America face and other nations, that has lead to the winning at all costs environment in youth sports.

“That was then” is a slide that I created for talks that shows random pictures of kids participating in free play activities, the ones that I did where I learned the fundamental movement skills vs. the precursor to youth sports, the Physical Literacy Movement so that we reinforce the importance of kids developing confidence and motivation to be active, so they are ultimately active for life. (the top right picture is a mini me version of me from the great film Sandlot)

 

In lieu, should we not just be promoting and supporting kids to just go out and PLAY like our parents did?  Sadly, thanks to THIS IS NOW, kids are not motivated as we were to play outside, they are glued to screens over 7 hours a day in lieu.

One of the biggest changes to the youth sports landscape has been the evolution of the internet, the digital era, which like everything else new, is the direct cause and effect that has drastically changed the landscape of youth sports but EVERYTHING.

Now thanks to Google or youtube ANY coach can obtain ANY drill, ANY practice plan from ANYWHERE, there are thousands available on the internet.  This means that the tactics, strategies, skills, drills of sports are readily accessible so every coach can focus on the WHAT of coaching.

Gone are the days where coaches would even have to think of “stealing” a drill when they saw another coaches practice, they are readily available on the internet.

This is why so many coaches focus on the outcomes, by focusing on the what – skills, drills, practice plans then in turn focus on wins and losses so it becomes a vicious circle

What is not readily available on line, or offered in courses, clinics, summits is HOW to coach.

 

It is the How, Not the What, that youth coaches need to focus on now more than ever if we are going to shift the needle to bring youth sports back to the kids.

  • Focusing on the process vs. the outcomes. Doing so, winning will be a byproduct in lieu of the focus.
  • Focusing on LTAD, Multi-Sport Participation vs. Early Sport Specialization
  • Focusing on zero tolerance for any form of harassment
  • Focusing on making youth sports fun again, so that 70% of kids don’t quit youth sports before they enter high school
  • Most importantly, coaches need to recognize the importance to care passionately, the #1 characteristic of great coaches is how much they care followed closely by how passionate they are about the sport. In lieu of just teaching the skills of the game (the what) focus on teaching the skills of life (the how).

It is our role as coaches to make a difference by developing youth into adults.

If we do so, we will move the needle so youth sports are just that, youth sports.

Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids … where it belongs

Don`t be a kids last coach

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Reality vs. the Dream of NCAA Scholarships and Going to the Show

Posted Glen Mulcahy21 CommentsPosted in Athlete, Coach, Organization Executive, Parents

Every day I come across another study, article, or blog post about the dangers of early sport specialization and the driver for same is parents aspiring for their son or daughter to receive a NCAA scholarship for their chosen team sport to ultimately be drafted to play professionally.

Translation – Get a full ride to get an education and save Mom and Dad over $200K USD, get drafted and then you can take care of us with your Multi-Million Dollar Salary playing professional sports (ROI = Return on investment)

As I have shared with every coach, parent over the years, if that truly is your goal for your son or daughter, start a RESP (registered education savings plan in Canada) or the whatever the equivalent is in your nation when your son or daughter are born.

By the time they are ready to apply for post-secondary education, you will have their scholarship.

IF, you roll the dice and encourage them to specialize as early as 7 years old, these are the real statistics that you need to be aware of before you do so;

  1. Specialization will lead to burnout, even though they may love the sport you encouraged them to specialize in early, the trend where 70% of kids quitting that sport and all sports in general before they enter high school still continues in many developed nations across the globe.

Translation – the 10’s of thousands of dollars, thousands of hours you and your child invested chasing the scholarship or ultimately playing professionally will be for not

  1. They will potentially suffer one or more major injuries that could end their season, worst case, career ending due to overuse

Translation – Again the 10’s of thousands of dollars, thousands of hours you and your child invested chasing the scholarship and ultimately playing professionally will be for not

  1. Full Ride scholarships also are few and far between, most are partials, approx 8.7K – 10.6K USD. Majority of those are for Div 1 schools only (the most expensive tuition and hardest to get into), some in Div II and none in Div III schools.

Translation – Even IF your child gets thru 1 and 2 and is offered a scholarship, it will only partially offset the  actual out of pocket costs.  Compound that with tuition fees alone for international students to the very same schools that offer scholarships can exceed $40K per year it will still leave the family with huge financial outlays each year.

See below for the NCAA facts from March 2018

 

FACT – Only 2% of the NCAA athletes will be drafted to their major professional team sports but there is no guarantee they will actually PLAY even one game.

The two main NCAA team sports that are driving specialization are Baseball and Men’s Ice Hockey that have much higher % of players being drafted to their major professional levels (9.1%) and (5.6%) respectively vs. other team sports.  Being drafted is one thing, but being drafted, signing a contract, playing a game or a having a long career is another thing altogether.  One of the downsides of specialization is even those that do get to play if specialized starting in high school they will have shorter playing careers than those that continued to play multiple sports until or even in college/university as we shared in our January post

Early Sport Specialization does more harm than good

In the early 90’s, the OHL did a study based on the 1975 birth year of players, approx. 30,000 registered at the time in Ontario,  when they were eligible for the NHL draft and this is what they found;

  • 262 were drafted to the OHL (0.87%)
  • 113 drafted to the NHL (0.37%)
  • 38 Signed an actual contract (0.13%)
  • 22 Played only one game (0.07%)
  • Only 11 were active at 24 years old (0.04%)

I have yet to come across a similar study for MLB players drafted vs. those that will play for the major-league clubs they signed with, but like NHL, the majority come from the first round and after that will potentially have long careers for their minor-league affiliates.

Here is the math based on current trends of kids specializing at 7 years old and entering clubs/academies for 10 years before they even reach the collegiate level.

Most Current Data Set Available from 2013 for team sport participation

21.5M kids playing youth team sports in the USA;

  • Of those 7.3M will play team sports in high school (football being number one with over 1M) = 34%

Per March 2018 NCAA Facts (of those that played team sports in high school that went on to play in the NCAA)

  • 492K went on to play at the NCAA level = Only 2.3%
  • 59% of athletes at Div I schools offer a handful of full ride scholarships, majority are partials
  • 62% of athletes at Div II schools receive some level of financial aid/smaller scholarships
  • 80% of athletes of Div III school athletes receive some form of financial aid only, no scholarships

Student-athletes in Div II and III schools aid is more in student loans than actual bursaries or scholarships, subject to being repaid back (which puts further stress on the family to do so) vs. scholarships for Div I schools do not require repayment.

  • According to Mark Emmet, President of the NCAA, when players on NCAA men’s basketball teams were surveyed, 75% of Div I, 50% of Div II and 25% of Div III athletes believed they would play professionally when just over 1% were drafted to the NBA in 2017
  • Assuming 2% of NCAA Athletes go on to major professional levels, that is 9840 of the 492K student-athletes
  • Going back to the total 21.5M that played team sports from 6-17 years of age as the feeder group to those that went on to play at the NCAA level, those that were drafted to major professional sports (9840) only equates to  0.04% 

This is the same % that I have shared from numbers shared at the Hockey World Cup Summit in Toronto in 2016;

  • Approximately 2M kids playing hockey globally, Canada and USA accounting for 1.2M, the rest for other nations in Europe and did not even include the sleeping monster China
  • 700’sh roster spots in the NHL = 0.04%
  • The number of NCAA scholarships offered to Ontario born players has dropped 63% the last 10 years. Why? Because the USA has developed their ADM (American Development Model) over the same time period and is developing their own vs. those born elsewhere

Similar Stats in terms of soccer (MLS) based on registration numbers in the US in 2014;

  • Approx 5.7% of the 414K boys played soccer in high school
  • 7% (23,602) will go on to play soccer in college
  • About ½ of those (2.8% or 11.6K) will play Div 1 level (where athletic scholarships are available)
  • Average scholarship = $8.7 – 10.6K USD (gone are the days of full rides, now the average is approx 8.7K for all sports other than football and basketball that the average is 10.6K USD falling well short of that the actual annual costs will be)
  • Only 72 of those playing in college will go on to PLAY professionally = 0.02%
  • BUT 26% of parents think their kids will play professional soccer

I suspect the same % would hold true for English Premier League (European Football), NFL or other professional sports programs where players salaries have increased to the millions of dollars (not including the lucrative endorsement deals)

TD Ameritrade did a study with their clients in 2015 as they were concerned they were not investing enough for their retirement.

  • Many of those that replied stated a large portion of their disposable* income was being spent on youth sports.

 

  • 43% of those stated that youth sports were too expensive.

 

  • 67% aspired for their child to get an NCAA scholarship (only 2% potentially will)

 

  • 47% think their kids will play professionally ( reality = less than 0.5%)

 

  • 34% think their kids will become an Olympian (reality = less than 0.1% will)

* How many of us actually have disposable income anymore, with rising costs of housing, gas alone, more and more families are living paycheque to paycheque

Two Years Later – Time Magazine shared that youth sports in the USA had evolved to a $15 Billion Industry due largely to specialization and the growth of private for-profit clubs and academies.  The industry has literally doubled in revenue in less than a decade!

 

These private programs are now costing anywhere from $15 to 50K per year (some include travel costs, some do not) so using an average of $25K per year (for travel, programs, gear, specialty trainers etc), and you signed up your “talented” child to year-round program starting at 7 will exceed $250K even before they get to college (AKA – NCAA PREP)

This does not include the opportunity loss of taking personal days, weeks off from your job to chauffeur or fly your child to all the prospect tournaments, games so a scout may “potentially” see them play (if they are good enough, they will be seen TRUST ME, you don’t need to spend all that extra money and time and if you truly aspire for that level, majority of college and professional coaches are recruiting multi-sport ATHLETES)

This is roughly the equivalent what it would work out to for a Div I school tuition for an international student which “may” only be offset by partial scholarships (literally covering meals) of 8K per year (full rides are about as rare as the Giant Panda).

This also does not include the equipment, apparel or other costs that I call “the fluff”

Drum roll …….

NET out of pocket for NCAA PREP (academies) and NCAA education WITH partial scholarship support can still cost …

ALMOST HALF A MILLION DOLLARS invested chasing the dream of playing professionally when the average is only 2% of NCAA athletes will get drafted and even if they do the majority will never play other than for their minor club affiliates and the actual number that may play in the Show works out to 0.02-0.04% in all the data referenced above).

Sadly, many parents are chasing THEIR dream, not their child’s dream, and when I have talked to parent’s almost all share they have not kept track of the math as either too scared to do so or they merely were trying to provide their child the same opportunity as others (AKA keeping up with the Jones).  Thanks to the traditional less costly community and high school sports programs competing with private clubs and academies they all get caught up in the same race only to find out at the end, the costs far outweigh the rewards.

One of the hardest things that I had to tell my son in his last year of minor hockey (when he was 17 years old) was I could not justify paying for AAA hockey thanks in part to mandatory travel tournaments that would push our out of pocket costs over $10,000 for the winter season.  This was MINOR HOCKEY, not an academy where the costs can push 20-50K.

Ironically it was the same conversation I had with my mother she shared that she could no longer support me playing hockey as my father’s life insurance ran out (well before specialization, spring, summer camps, $300 sticks, $1000 skates, Mandatory Travel tournaments)

What did I say to her?

It’s Ok Mom, I love hockey, but I would like to keep trying other sports, so I signed up for football in the fall ($125 reg fees that included all the equipment but cleats), rugby in the Spring (No reg fees, just $200 for jersey and cleats) and taught myself to play golf in the summer (junior fees were free or very low and I bought a used golf set for $100.00).  I had already won provincials (equivalent to a state title) in Hockey, and then went on to play for teams that won provincials in Football and Rugby.

What did my son say?

He understood and said he would rather play High School Volleyball ($125 athletic fees plus a pair court shoes) and Rugby  ($125 athletic fees plus a pair of cleats) and golf in the summertime so he could just go out there, work up a sweat, have fun and be with his friends.

At the end of the day, that truly is the reason why kids PLAY sports.

Sometimes we have to hear from the mouth of babes to bring us back to reality.

Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids … where it belongs

 

PS Tagline - Dont be a kids last coach

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tommy John Surgeries on the Rise While Baseball Registration Continues to Decline

Posted Glen MulcahyLeave a commentPosted in Athlete, Coach, Early Sport Specialization, Organization Executive, Parents

With all the talk about overuse injuries due to early specialization of late, my wife picked up a book at the Library that is one I am reading now called “That’s Gotta Hurt”, written by Dr. David Geier regarding the various sports injuries and their remedies that have impacted sports.

One chapter is dedicated to Tommy John Surgery and I thought would be a great to share some of the nuggets.

I believe everyone knows the reason the repair of the Ulnar Collateral Ligament (UCL) in the pitcher’s arm is called Tommy John as the first ever one done was on MLB pitcher Tommy John after he suffered the tear to his UCL pitching for the LA Dodgers against my former favorite team, the Montreal Expos (who were on track to win the World Series in the lock-out year then only to be moved to Washington a decade later but that is another story in itself).

The date of that game was July 17, 1974 and it revolutionized how the UCL tear was repaired, when Dr. Jobe conducted the first ever “Tommy John” surgery by taking a tendon from the forearm of the non-throwing side to replace the torn UCL.

It is a major reconstruction, takes over a year of rehab to get back to the mound, but the upside is statistically the % is quite high that pitchers will be able to return back to competitive level they were prior but the big unknown is for how long and if they have one as early as Roberto Osuna did @ 18 years old (pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays), if they will require a subsequent Tommy John Surgery down the road.

Thus far, the only pitcher to enter the MLB Hall of Fame ever to have had Tommy John Surgery is John Smoltz, and this was his classic “rant” when he was being inducted in the hall of fame in 2015 as the number of Tommy John Surgeries being done on teenage boys was continue to escalate when it previously was only MLB pitchers to prolong their careers in their 30’s (Tommy John was 31 when he had the surgery, John Smoltz was 32).

 

Fast forward to current times, now over 60% of the Tommy John Surgeries being done are on 15-18 year old boys.  Over 60%!!!

Compare that to the last 2 decades

In 2010 – 33%, In 2000 – 18% so the number has increased over 300% !!

Part of the reason is due to overuse, but the other reason is due to poor mechanics that should be corrected by minor baseball coaches.  As the current winning at all costs environment makes them focus more on the outcome of winning games vs. prolonging the pitching careers of their young pitchers, providing technical expertise for the correct mechanics and discouraging specialty pitches until their teen years (curve ball, sliders, knuckle ball) it is leading to the ever escalating increase of Tommy John Surgeries with no signs of it reversing any time in the immediate future.

One of the experts that contributed to the chapter,  Dr. Glenn Fleisig, research director at the American Sports Medicine Institute (ASMI) as well as others shared the insight that the UCL injury is PREVENTABLE if pitchers focused on the right mechanics as well as limited their number of pitches in youth baseball year over year.

Why then has the number of surgeries tripled on teenage boys the last 2 decades?

  1. Specialization – overuse where pitchers are throwing in Spring, summer, fall and even winter ball.

and

2. Lack of proper instruction in terms of the proper mechanics for various pitches

There was even a head coach of a team that has a very successful record who had pitchers throw over 200 in games (when the MLB pulls pitchers when they get over 100) and used the analogy that kids from the Dominican Republic do so all the time so did not think it was big deal.

The other sad statistic that has evolved is a study done by Christopher Ahmed found that …..

  • 30% of coaches
  • 37% of parents
  • 51% of high school athletes
  • 26% of college athletes

…..believed that Tommy John Surgery should be performed on players with NO INJURY to improve pitching performance.

Say again?  Performing a major reconstructive surgery on someone that is NOT INJURED?

Would be different if we used medical advances to repair serious injuries but another altogther aspiring for that robotic arm no?

Surely everyone knows that the TV series Six Million Dollar Man in the 70’s and the upcoming movie 6 Billion Dollar Man based on the same series is fictional?

Talking to some parents as I have travelled the country, they have heard that the surgery will increase their son’s pitching velocity by up to 5 MPH and with multi-million contracts for pitchers they “claim” their son is willing to undergo the surgery  to chase the dream.

Reality Check – there is no anecdotal evidence that the surgery done on an uninjured UCL will increase pitching speed, nor is there any longitudinal studies showing how long their professional careers may be if they have the surgery in their teen years as is the majority now.

When the son of a mother reached out to me regarding her sad story that her 15 year old son was quitting competitive baseball and the reasons he was doing so was so he could also play other sports (basketball) so would play (recreational baseball in Spring only).

In a subsequent follow-up email she shared with me her 15 year old son made the decision to quite due to the intense pressure playing competitively, sports evolving to year-round work, more and more kids are quitting the game than ever.

He also told his Mom “he doesn’t want to injure his arm (pitching) too young so, he can play longer etc…I think sometimes our children are OUR biggest teachers and sometimes we need to sit back and be taught!”

If a 15 year old GETS it, why don’t the adults?

The youth baseball coaches when kids start to pitch at 9 years old should have best interests of the child in mind, not the outcomes of games to ensure that they teach them the proper mechanics, avoid competitive pitches until later (breaking balls, curve balls, sliders) as John Smoltz touched on in his Hall of Fame Induction Speech.0

 

It is even more critical now as baseball is the sport that has been affected most by attrition, in Canadian study done by Statistics Canada from 1998 to 2005 baseball saw overall participation rates drop by over 50% (youth and adult).  Like many other sports baseball is in jeopardy also in terms of fans, the Toronto Blue Jays lost over 7,000 season ticket holders this year.

Many MLB stadiums are having the worst attendance they have had to start their spring seasons in decades including image below from recent Chicago White Sox game.

 

The seats are empty because less are playing to begin with or those that do, are quitting because they are burnt out or are suffering career ending injuries in their teens from overuse coaches not keeping track of pitch counts.

Simple Math – You play the game, then you watch the game because your LOVE IT.

If less play the game, less will watch the game later in life as fans.

Now, more than ever, we must work together to bring the game back to the kids … where it belongs.

PS Tagline - Dont be a kids last coach

 

 

 

 

 

The Dangers of Early Sport Specialization

Posted Glen MulcahyLeave a commentPosted in Athlete, Coach, Early Sport Specialization, Organization Executive, Parents

It has now been a few weeks since the article I contributed to was front page news regarding the downfalls of early sport specialization and the winning at all costs focus of youth sports.

Since that time, I have spoken at two different events, been interviewed on radio, TV, have had a college professor reach out to me to collaborate on a project and even one of the oldest youth sports org in the US reach out to me as well as daily reach outs via email, text and social media.

Needless to say, it has been a whirlwind few weeks, and it has made me realize more than ever how much work we have ahead of us to stop the madness to reverse the negative trends of early sport specialization.

Simply put, it is the WRONG pathway for any child that aspires to reach the highest level of their respective sport other than a few like figure skating, gymnastics, or artistic “sports” like ballet, highland dancing.

Hot off the presses is the recent NFL draft, 91% of those drafted in the first round (29/32) were multi-sport athletes.

 

 

Also to note, that players athletic index (PAI) has also increased year over year, now 3.9 (very close to being ranked outstanding 4-5.0) vs. 3.78 2014-2018 average

It is very apparent since the digital edition in the Vancouver Sun continues to go viral worldwide, the writer shared with me that it is still one of the top 3 articles in April viewed by readers.

Why?

Because even those that have been arguing against specialization have gotten caught up in the madness as we all aspire for our son or daughter to become the best THEY can be (not THE BEST.)

The sad reality is even though we believe as parents that our sons who are playing AAA hockey (like my son did), Rep Softball (like my daughter did) are amongst 100’s of thousands that do so every year.  Some may be early bloomers who are “selected or recruited” by the sports entrepreneurs (private clubs, academies) and “sell” parents that they have the potential to play collegiately, professionally as early as 7 years old.

Less than 2% of those playing youth sports will play varsity (college), less than 1% will play professionally and the % of those that go the Olympics is almost unmeasurable.

We (as in the parents) also get pressured by fellow parents of our son or daughter’s friends who are playing at their competitive level and do whatever we can to help them reach there.

We sign them up for extra development, off-season camps, even one on one sessions at a great expense to help them develop their core skills.  We do so because many organizations that “claim” they are focusing on development show their ugly face when it comes to game play and run short benches to win tournaments, games even though at the end of the day many are meaningless in the overall scheme of things.

We (as in parents and coaches) also put unrealistic pressure on the athletes who may not report they sustained injuries as they may lose their starting spot on competitive teams that lead to Rowan Stringer not sharing with her coach or parents but only texting her friend “nothing can stop me .. unless I am dead” and played in a subsequent game, that proved to be her last, less than a week later of suffering a concussion.

 

The latter was fatal and as a result, Ontario is now going thru the process of passing “Rowan’s Law” which coincidentally goes hand in hand with one of the overuse injuries that kids are suffering from early sport specialization in Hockey, Football and Rugby; Concussions.

It calls for:

  • Medical clearance of all concussed athletes before they return to play
  • Mandatory concussion education for all athletes, parents and coaches
  • The immediate removal of a young athlete from play if a concussion is suspected
  • Strict adherence to return-to-learn and return-to-play protocols for all youth athletes with concussions.

While we were going thru the new Rowan’s Law in the breakout session at the 2018 Ontario Coaches Conference, one of the coaches shared how she had a player come to the bench complaining of being woozy as they had hit their head against another player’s in a basketball game.  She then had the players Dad come to the player’s bench when she was going thru concussion protocol with the player and he insisted at the top of his lungs with language not appropriate for many that his son get back into the game.  The coach, also male, did the same, putting the female assistant coach/teacher in a very difficult situation as felt bullied by the two men.

WHAT?  REALLY?

Not only are players, official’s victims of verbal abuse, but at times, so are coaches due to the unrealistic expectations that parents have regarding their child’s potential of playing collegiately or professionally.  This should not even be an issue, parents should trust that the coaches have their children’s best interests at heart and will adhere to do not harm principle but thanks to our winning at all costs culture even those that do are being bullied.

Every time I hear one of these sad stories, just as I did when I was in the breakout session, I say to myself .. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO STOP THE MADNESS?

The behavior that we see almost daily in social and traditional media with emotional parents, coaches being verbally abusive and even threatening physical abuse towards players, officials, co-coaches or other parents MUST COME TO AN END.

I also have questioned why all the governing bodies continue to focus on new initiatives like increasing female participation and leadership, the inclusion of indigenous, LGBTQ communities as it does not appear that NO ONE is taking the firm stance to STOP THE MADNESS.

All we are doing by promoting participation for other potential user groups that have not have the same opportunities is for them to come into a broken system only to get a sour taste in their mouths as well that will lead to further attrition.

The female coach/teacher I referenced above is one who shared that she is thinking twice about being a coach next year as a result of the abuse she took from a parent and a fellow coach.  SHE is just one of the small % of female coaches we have in all sports,  approx. only 15% of coaches are female.  This is not to say I am not advocating female participation, leadership, far from it. I believe we have a long ways to go to remove the gender inequality but to have those that aspire or willing to put their hands up to coach is just going to scare more away.

We are at the crossroad where we first must FIX the problems that exist in youth sports so that it will be a positive experience for ALL.  We don’t need any more campaigns, initiatives, PDF documents to then move on to the next campaign a year later, we need to stop turning a blind eye, sweeping it under the rug and ACT NOW like the governing bodies in Ontario bringing in legislation to STOP THE MADNESS.

Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids…. Where it belongs

Don`t be a kids last coach