If you compete, at the end of the day you will have one of two things: results or reasons. You will either have produced something, or you will have an excuse as to why not. Furthermore, at the end of the day you will be known by one of those two things: results or reasons. […]
When you’re holding a new book in your hand, how do you decide whether to read it? Do you look at the back cover? The inside flaps? Do you open it at random? I use a simple test — just read the first sentence of Chapter One. That sentence says a lot about the writer’s […]
If you’re a boss or a coach, you want a great team. You want to build a champion! Here are some tips from Rajat Taneja of Electronic Arts. I’m struck in particular by No. 3, “Hire for uncommon strengths.” Too many people hire with the idea of avoiding weaknesses. Championship team-building involves hiring with strengths […]
Pursuing goals can be overrated. Sometime they’re the wrong goals. And other times the way in which they’re being pursued is the wrong way. In the case of Prince Fielder and the Detroit Tigers, the second case could be true. Fielder and the Tigers just agreed on a nine-year, $214 million deal, because team owner […]
Now Tim Thomas can tell the truth. Now that’s he has led the Boston Bruins to the Stanley Cup, and now that he won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the playoff MVP, he can admit it: he was petrified. But he never let it show. He used a technique that everyone can use. He Acted […]
Once again the New Jersey Devils have climbed to the top of their conference in the National Hockey League. This should surprise no one who follows the sport or the team; the Devils always put a superior team on on the ice. They don’t always win. But they usually contend. It is part of team […]
How exactly did the Pittsburgh Penguins win the Stanley Cup? What elements went into their championship season?
Lots of them, of course. Good players. Good coaching. But there was at least one other factor, and an article by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette laid it out way back in September. The Pens spent part of their pre-season in Stockholm, Sweden, where, among other things, they participated in a city-wide scavenger hunt as a team-building exercise.
“If at first the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it.” ~ Albert Einstein
This is Day Two of the Gold Medal Squared coaching clinic in Catonsville, Md.
Though the sport is volleyball, the principles and ideas apply to coaching any sport. Two such ideas came across powerfully yesterday.
“Forget perfect on the first try. In the face of frustration, your best tool is a few deep breaths, and remembering that you can do anything once you’ve practiced two hundred times. Seriously.” — Andrea Buchanan, author, the Daring Book for Girls Do you have to lose in order to learn how to win? That’s […]
“Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.” ~ George Washington Carver With the NHL and NBA teams battling it out in their respective playoffs, a great postseason story comes to mind: Colorado’s run to the 2001 Stanley Cup. Winning any title is hard enough, but the Avalanche […]