Is sport apolitical? Do pigs spontaneously sprout wings and fly? So, what are the implications for athletes and organizations.

Let’s try and make a difference in youth sports instead of ruining it.

Prior to his formal retirement announcement, the Colts were playing an NFL preseason game.  During the game, the word leaked that Luck was likely to announce his intention to retire. Luck, on the sidelines in street clothes at the conclusion of the game, walked off the field to boos from the woolly ruminants mouth breathing in the stands.  

My grandmother was a race car driver. Not many people can say that.

No, not in NASCAR or Formula 1, but she was a local sensation on the amateur level - dominating at Watkins Glen, Lime Rock, and tracks all over the East Coast with my grandfather.

We all want committed athletes.  Committed to improvement, committed to the team and committed to the sport.  But can an athlete be too committed? To the point where they wear blinders that causes them to limit their potential as person and as an athlete?  

First off, stop banking on your kid to go pro to put you on easy street.  Unfortunately, banking on little Johnny or Sally to become a professional athlete is a bad move.  They are more likely to get struck by lightning than to play major professional sport!

An interesting challenge in the athlete development space is dealing with organizational duality.  Simply, stated this is the difference between what organizations or athletic departments say related to how they value and understand their responsibility to the athletes under their purview, versus what they do.

When working in the field of performance psychology, the goal is always to help clients find an edge that can improve outcomes. One of the best methods to identify potential competitive edges for athletes is to closely look at what the best and most successful athletes are doing, and then try to replicate their behaviors. It is important to note that although, yes, the most successful players may owe a great deal of that success to talent, they also demonstrate strong behavioral tendencies to fully realize their talent.

Once an athlete starts to get paid, they need to change from a mindset of ‘just work hard and everything will take care of itself’, to the mindset of managing you and your ‘business’.  As a professional athlete, you now need to take control of your ‘business’.

A mixed martial arts fight is decided before the octagon door closes. The fighter whose will to win is stronger will be the victor. Having a clear and focused mind is imperative in MMA, which is why many UFC fighters prepare with meditation.

Besides being a player, I’ve been involved in athlete development probably my whole life in a variety of different ways. First, it was as a coach. I was an assistant coach for my brother's peewee hockey team.  I then by happenstance ended up creating development camps for a Tier II Jr. A hockey team (how can you ever forget the Victoria Salsa?). From there, I was given the opportunity to coach Division I hockey at Quinnipiac University, which was an awesome experience working with great people.  I even had the chance to briefly scout professionally for the Vancouver Canucks, which was a fascinating experience and provided me with a different perspective even though I was about as far from making any decisions as you could possibly be.

Over my many years of working closely with Athletes, Executives and Business Owners, I have observed that everything ‘happens through a person’.  Your network, or as we will now call it, social capital is the key to creating opportunity. Opportunity to engage in fulfilling activities and generating a sustainable income during, and well after your athletic career is over.

Over the course of my athlete transition practice, I have come across a number of athletes who are considering re-entering their sport in a coaching role. On the surface, this appears to be a great idea: to parlay a lifetime of experience and skills into a new career developing those skills in others. However, connecting those dots may not be a simple, easy, or natural as it appears. In the process of trying to develop good athletes, the development of good coaches may often get overlooked.

Stop. Look around you. How many people in your immediate vicinity are looking at some sort of screen? Most of them? All? Now think of the last time you went out to eat. When did it become normal to see people sitting on their phones at the table and not interacting with the person sitting to their side or across from them?

In April 2018, the University of Illinois-Chicago (UIC) Flames hosted the 2017-2018 men’s collegiate gymnastics championships. 16 teams were in attendance. Four months later, on August 31st, 2018, The UIC men and women's gymnastics teams were informed that due to the cost of sports “rapidly rising with no sign of slowing down” their programs are to be dropped at the conclusion of the 2018-2019 season. Garrett Klassy, the UIC Athletic Director, assured the University that “...this was a move toward progress that needed to be taken.”. This decision will affect 11 women and 25 men from the university who will still have NCAA eligibility. The effect it has on the sport of gymnastics, specifically for men, is much greater.

If you peel back the curtain on any team, school or organization you can probably find a little of all the above.  However, what is mainly reflected back to the athletes? How do they perceive their value to you and who and what they mean to the organization?

During the PAADS Athlete Development Summit in Daytona Beach last week, an open forum conversation on the topic of mental health and wellness in elite athletics provided some context for those having difficulty determining where mental wellness ends and mental health begins.

“You never get a second chance to make a great first impression”

The NBA doesn’t take this lightly. Athletes on every team have taken to making statements with their pregame attire. Arena arrivals are the perfect runway for this athletic fashion show.

Learning that there is knowledge and wisdom to be found everywhere is something that seems to come with age; a fact which can be very frustrating when working with young people who often don't want to listen - no matter how important or useful the information you're trying to convey!