What do you look for in a captain? At the school where I coach, The Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, NJ, you never have to wonder. Each season the athletic department spells it out with the “Captains Award.” It’s given out each fall, winter and spring season to “that male or female captain who has […]
Last Sunday, three teams at our school — the Montclair Kimberley Academy — won state prep championships. I asked the three coaches to name the one factor they believe was the difference. Notice that in their response, all the qualities are mental. What was important was not so much the skill but the approach to […]
Here’s a follow-up on yesterday’s post on concussions. It concerns a fatality that occurred on the Montclair High School football team in New Jersey. It serves as a sobering reminder of the need for safety in all sports programs. Another article, this one published a decade ago, details the end of a hockey career. Brett […]
How do you win a seven-game series? The obvious answer, of course, is to win four games before your opponent does. But doing that is tricky. Winning a playoff series is a psychological minefield in which each team must fight the temptation to put the math ahead of the moment. “It’s all about staying in […]
How do you win a seven-game series? The obvious answer, of course, is to win four games before your opponent does. But doing that is tricky. Winning a playoff series is a psychological minefield in which each team must fight the temptation to put the math ahead of the moment. “It’s all about staying in […]
Recently, athletic director Todd Smith of the Montclair Kimberley Academy in Montclair, N.J., addressed a group of seventh- and eighth-grade student-athletes and challenged them to be “gamers.” Coaches use this term often, but what does it mean? Coach Smith laid out a powerful definition that is a challenge to all student-athletes — and coaches (remember, […]
If you’ve been around high school or college sports for even a little while, chances are that you know one of those “sports parents.” Dr. Rob Gilbert, professor of sports psychology at Montclair State University in Montclair, N.J., offers the following list of ways to see if a parent is going too far. Is the […]