It’s hard to believe but I am really excited to announce that we will be hosting our 4th Online event this fall to follow the prior 3 where I have had the opportunity to talk with some of the world’s top experts in youth sports.

Mark your Calendars for our next event – Monday, Nov. 18th to Sunday, Nov. 24th, 2019

Although I have now coached for over 25 years, every person that I have had the opportunity to talk to has shared tons of tips and tricks to help me become better, and I am looking forward to learning from the next group of guest speakers that have accepted our invitation to share their words of wisdom.

If you have not signed up for one of our prior events I encourage you to consider doing so as the one thing that I came to realize in my coaching journey to date is there is so much more to coaching than writing up drills on a whiteboard.

Below is the blog that I wrote prior to our summer 2019 event that highlights why you should consider signing up for our fall 2019 online event.

Based on feedback we received from coaches that signed up for the summer and past events we have made the following tweaks for the upcoming event;

The video interviews that we will share when the event goes live Nov. 18, 2019 will be edited down to 15-20 minutes highlighting the deep dive portion of our conversations focusing on the guest speakers area of expertise, books they wrote, work they are doing to attract/retain and grow their memberships, creating cultures of excellence within their teams or organizations and many other tips to help you become better as a coach.

Our goal is to have 15 guest speakers (5 confirmed thus far) and like past events, we will have a replay of all the speakers from the prior event (total 30).

The best part, we will run it for FREE for the week we go live with cost-effective options for you to have on-demand access after the fact.

If you are currently coaching at the grassroots level of youth sports and just getting started or have coached for 2 decades and are at the high-performance level or anything in between I can’t say enough how much you will benefit from watching any of the interviews so you can add to your tool baskets.

For more insight on the 5 W’s + How, check out below.

Click HERE to go to our event page that we will be updating regularly with new speakers as they are added

As Online events (AKA Virtual Events, Digital Summits) are still a new platform with the evolution of the digital era and we have had people ask us questions the last two events I felt best this week to share insight in terms of the 5 W’s  + H for more insight in terms of our online event so you or your colleagues can consider signing up.

The online event consists of a series of interviews with guest speakers that are similar to podcasts, but in lieu of audio only, are recorded in both audio and video so that you can see both the host and guest speakers, majority of which will do so in their offices, homes but some in hotel rooms, on decks, at their cabins, wherever they have access to the internet.

Why do we prefer to share video and audio?

When I talked to John Kessel and Gordon Bloom, they provided me with a virtual tour of their offices by turning or walking with their laptops, both of which highlighted momentos they had from Coach John Wooden that you would not “see” on a podcast.

HOW COOL is that?

The analogy I have shared with speakers who ask for clarification is to think of it as a video podcast where 20+ speakers are released at once vs. audio-only podcasts one per week.

In the case of our online events we hosted last year, we have had various sports and free play leaders from across the globe who are asked a series of general questions then provide insight in terms of their specific work or fields of interest.

All of our mutual goals is to stop talking about the issues revolving around youth sports and focus on those that activate and provide opportunities for kids to have a quality sport experience and opportunities to PLAY For the Love of The Game.

All are asked for top book recommendations for coaches, parents as well as resources, podcasts, social media references and so forth.

The Best Part?

The week we host the online events they are FREE

This summer you will have access to 30 speakers, over 30 hours of digital content for FREE.

If you traveled to a conference where many of our guest speakers speak at, to see perhaps 3-5 keynote speakers your out of pocket expenses would be over $2000.

Even if you sign up to watch ONE speaker to gain more insight, I can tell you first hand it will be well worth it, as each one has shared nuggets that I have added to my tool basket and have now coached for over 25 years.

As coaches are in essence teachers and vice versa, the very reason why we host the online events is to provide grassroots coaches, many of which are volunteers, the simplest and most cost-effective way to add to their tool baskets as coaches.

When I have interacted with coaches across Canada, many have shared with me that they either don’t have the time or they can’t budget to attend live conferences or summits that are hosted by their national, provincial sports organizations.

Two of the largest conferences that are held in Canada hosted by Sport for Life and the Coaches Association of Canada are held in various cities across the country that not only have registration fees of several hundred dollars, but if the conference is not being hosted in your home town, airfare, hotels, meals, rental cars can lead to out of pocket expenses in excess of $2000.

I can relate all too well to how those costs can add up and be too much to bear.

The other excuse that I hear from coaches, as recently as this week when I attended the Cost of Winning screening hosted by my alma mater, UBC Kinesiology, is coaching in itself is a huge time investment to not only plan practices, coach at games but all the planning and other activities needed to be a coach.

This is where I argue all the time with that excuse, in order for you to become the best coach you can be, you have to invest in your own learning by continuing to learn.  Teachers are required to do ongoing professional development each month every year they teach and coaches should be no different, your purpose is to develop youth into adults.

How will do so to the best of your ability if you don’t continue to hone your craft as youth sports leaders?

Per the late Clare Drake, Canada’s GOAT

If you’re done learning, you’re done.

Clare was infamous for being invited to speak at numerous conferences well after he retired and after he spoke would go down in the seats with fellow coaches and start writing pages of notes.

When prompted why he did so as he was no longer coaching or teaching at the U of A

He would reply, like John Wooden who did the same, “Because I may learn something”

Per one of our upcoming Summer event contributors, John Kessel, when I asked him how coaches can shave 5 years off their learning curves, he said listen to podcasts and I was humbled when he said that ours was one that was “Rock Solid”

Online events traditionally run over the course of one week, starting with a few speakers on the first day then others are added each day thereafter and the links to access arrive in your inbox daily until the event is over.

As we now have people following us from various parts of the globe (truly humbled and appreciate you doing so), we will have the speakers go live at 12 AM PST each day so should be in your inbox when you log on in the AM so can watch at your leisure.

Our Fall 2019 Online Event will run live Monday Nov. 18th to Sunday Nov. 24th, 2019

We plan to release 3 speakers per day over the course of the week across a range of topics and then another 15 will be made available from past events over the weekend

30 Speakers – 4 Countries – 3 Continents – Multiple Topics and Sports 

This is the best part, many of the speakers that we have reached out to are highly sought after keynote speakers who have spoken at conferences and events all over the WORLD and share their insight for youth sports leaders to become the best they can be.

Speakers that have confirmed thus far for Fall 2019 Event are:

Trevor Ragen, Founder of Train Ugly

JP Nerbun, Founder of Thrive on Challenge

Guy Faulker, Producer of Running Free Documentary, UBC School of Kinesiology Professor

Many others to follow, keep checking our event page for updates

Some of the speakers from our summer 2019 event we will reshare are;

John Kessel (Director of Development for USA Volleyball)

Brian Barlow (Founder of Offside Facebook Page and StopRefAbuse.com)

Topher Scott (Founder of The Hockey Think Tank)

Dr. Peter Gray (Professor at Boston U, Ted Speaker on the decline of free play)

Dr. Mariana Brussoni (Professor at UBC, Investigator at Children’s Hospital Research Institute)

Dr. Nick Holt (Associate Dean and Professor, School of Kinesiology, University of Alberta)

John Engh – (COO & Executive Director, National Alliance for Youth Sports)

Luke Earl and fellow co-founders of Top Sports

More to follow plus bonus replays from our winter and summer 2018 events for a total of 30 guest speakers from Canada, USA, UK and Australia

Each one of our speakers shares insight to help youth sports leaders learn how to shave years off their learning curves, learn the characteristics of great coaches, what they can do so kids love the game more at the end of the season than the beginning of a season and other valuable insight.

It’s that easy.

As we get closer to the online event latter you will receive more information and on Monday July 15^th we will release a link to access 3 speakers right into your inbox, 3 more each day for the remainder of the week then 15 more speakers Saturday morning (Total 30 Speakers).

If you are a grassroots coach just getting started in the recreation stream, coaching in the competitive stream or even high-performance levels, a youth sports parent, board member, official or an athlete I can say with absolute confidence you will learn tips, tricks, and golden nuggets to add to your tool baskets so you can become the best you can be and help others do the same.

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