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Do YOU Walk the Walk, and Talk the Talk?
Coaches are renowned for their organizational skills. Running a team in any sport involves a myriad of responsibilities, and coaches who are not well organized struggle. But, sometimes coaches are guilty of not modeling the kinds of behaviors they are trying to get their athletes to exhibit. And too often they behave in ways that are inappropriate for the public school setting.
For example, the son of a PELINKS4U editor recently began in a high school football program. Dates and times for spring and fall practice schedules were laid out clearly. Parents assumed they could plan accordingly.
What happened however was that on almost every day the coaches changed or ignored the schedule. Parents were left waiting, or having to show up at unexpected times to pick up kids from practices that ended early. The coaches, it seemed had forgotten that not all of their players drove cars.
The result was a bunch of disgruntled parents, already unhappy before the first game had been played. Not only was this an inconvenience, but it displayed a lack of respect for time; something that the coaches would punish if shown by players.
And speaking of punishment, when-oh-when are we going to get away from destroying any possible future love of health-promoting exercise by not using exercise as punishment. We even had coaches threaten extra exercise if players failed to raise enough money in a fund-raiser.
As parents, we talk about "logical consequences" - you know, linking the consequence of a behavior to the behavior itself. We might just as well have our athletes write sentences for punishment. That's not logical either, and would get us hated by a whole new bunch of teachers. Coaches need to be more conscious of the importance of role modeling.
PELINKS4U Staff
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Genes and Training for Athletic Performance
Will Hopkins introduces this article by noting that, "A few months ago someone on the Sportscience list initiated a discussion about the possibility that "sport performance and sport expertise is entirely the result of hours spent in focused, effortful training rather than innate, inheritable traits". Adaptation to training is so important, he pointed out, that maybe it swamps any contribution from genes.
Will takes up this discussion and concludes the following:
| • | Genes are responsible for about half the variation in physical performance between individuals in the population. |
| • | Genes also account for half the variation in the response to physical training. |
| • | Genes are probably even more important than training in explaining differences in performance between athletes. |
| • | Talent identification and selecting an appropriate partner are therefore logical approaches to creating elite athletes. |
Use the above link to access the full article, or click here (then in the section "News and Comment" on the title of this article).
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Coaching Tips
This site has general coaching tips, then specific information relating to baseball, hockey, and soccer is included.
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1 Million Youths Aged 12-17 Use Potentially Dangerous Sports Supplements and Drugs
Based on projections from a nationally representative survey released today, approximately one million young people between ages 12 to 17 have taken potentially dangerous performance-enhancing supplements and drugs, even though 96 percent of those surveyed were aware of the potential for health damage.
The survey, by the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association's (BCBSA) Healthy Competition Foundation, found that one in five American youths (ages 12-17) surveyed knows someone who takes sports supplements to enhance athletic performance or appearance.
"The survey results indicate that young people are taking sports supplements in alarming numbers, even though they are clearly aware that the supplements can be dangerous," said Allan Korn, MD, BCBSA Chief Medical Officer.
"As students go back to school and begin fall sports, the Healthy Competition Foundation calls on parents and coaches to get serious about educating children and urges the government to take swift action to limit marketing and sales to minors."
The survey surprisingly also revealed 10 to 14-year-olds are taking performance-enhancing supplements and drugs. Based on projections from the survey results, 390,000 10 to 14-year-olds (2%) have taken performance-enhancing substances.
A similar survey conducted for BCBSA in 1999 showed that not a single respondent below the age of 14 said they had taken them. Yet, of those parents who had not talked to their children about the issue, 36% said it was because they were too young. For more information click here.
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Tampax® and the Women's Sports Foundation® created the Tampax Grants for Girls Program in 1991 to help reduce the dropout rate in women's sports, which is particularly high among girls ages 9 to 18.
Funding through this program helps to create and sustain girls sports programs. Since 1991, the Tampax Grants for Girls Program has awarded $545,000 to over 800 girls sports programs nationwide.
The program provides financial support for sports and fitness programs that serve girls ages 9-18. Girls sports programs that are a part of schools, national governing bodies, youth-serving agencies and other groups such as community teams, clubs, camps, and outdoor programs that serve girls ages 9-18 are eligible to apply.
Programs can propose to use funds from this grant program for equipment, uniforms, and facility rental. Funding cannot be used for staffing, coaching or travel to competitions. Requests can be made for up to $1000 and the deadline for this grant is November 15, 2001. For more information click here.
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The Bill of Rights for Young Athletes
The Bill of Rights for Young Athletes was developed in the 1980's by Dr. Vern Seefeldt, professor emeritus at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, and Dr. Rainier Martens, in response to growing concerns regarding the abuse of young athletes.
This bill has been used by a number of national organizations as guidelines for coaches and parents.
| 1. | Right to participate in sports |
| 2. | Right to participate at a level commensurate with each child's maturity and ability. |
| 3. | Right to have qualified adult leadership.
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| 4. | Right to play as a child and not as an adult. |
| 5. | Right of children to share in the leadership and decision-making of their sport participation. |
| 6. | Right to participate in safe and healthy environments. |
| 7. | Right to proper preparation for participation in sports.
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| 8. | Right to an equal opportunity to strive for success.
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| 9. | Right to be treated with dignity. |
| 10. | Right to have fun in sports. |
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Winter Olympics Education
Were you aware that the Salt Lakes Olympics has an educational web site? You can not only find out more about the venues, sports, and participating countries, but also get curriculum ideas for integrating Olympic themes into your lessons. This site is a great resource for educational materials teachers of all subjects can use.
Salt Lake 2002
Looking for the official site of the next Winter Olympics? Here it is. Everything you need to know about the events. News is updated daily about athletes likely to appear at the Games. There's also a Kids site with a puzzle and pictures to color. You might want to bookmark this site so you can check back as the Games get closer. Opening ceremony is February 8th.
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When we are in situations where staff cannot be stretched any further; volunteers can be the missing link. Once we have determined the need for volunteers, we need to estimate the costs and benefits for/of volunteers.
Identifying the pluses and minuses will help, then attract and retain this help. Once we have done this, we are able to promote these positions accurately and establish the specific volunteer assignments. For each assignment we need to know:
| • | Who will be qualified and interested in the position? |
| • | Who will be able to meet the time requirements of the position? |
| • | Where will you find these people? |
| • | What motivates them to serve? |
| • | What is the best way to approach them? |
Max Appleby recommends that "specific messages are needed for specific audiences. There isn't one blanket recruitment message that will successfully entice all potential volunteers." If possible, "create a diverse portfolio of volunteer opportunities. Different pieces of work or types of service attract different types of people. For more information click here.
The full article is featured on the Coaching Youth Sports web site.
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If you have ideas, comments, letters to share, or questions about particular topics, please email one of the following Coaching & Sports Section Editors:
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Help to support quality physical education and health education by contributing to this site.
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