Li Na, the 2011 French Open champion, has hired Justin Henins former coach. (Thomas Coex/AFP/Getty Images)

MASON, Ohio Li Na, Sloane Stephens and Laura Robson all have new coaches. Heres the latest from the WTA coaching carousel

Li has hired Carlos Rodriguez on a trial basis. The 2011 French Open has been coached by her husband, Jiang Shan, since parting ways with Michael Mortensen last September.

Rodriguez served as Justine Henins coach for about 15 years, helping her win seven Grand Slam titles and spend 117 weeks at No. 1. He arrived here on Wednesday night and will join with Li for the first time for her third-round match against Johanna Larsson at the Western & Southern Open on Thursday night.

Thats good, because heres the thing: Theyve actually never met.

After Wimbledon, I texted my agent and said I need a new coach, Li said. Two weeks later, my agent said, Oh we have one coach. I said, Perfect, I need him.

Of course I know him. I was so surprised he also wanted to help me.

Rodriguez, who runs a tennis academy in Beijing, is fairly well-known in the Chinese coaching community, and Li reached out to other coaches to get their thoughts. She liked what she heard.

I asked many coaches and they said, Oh, hes a very positive person. He has good communication with the players. I need this right now, Li said.

While her season could be seen as a disappointment so far, especially in light of her breakthrough run last year at Roland Garros, Li has had solid results working with her husband. Other than a subpar patch from the French Open to the Olympics, the 30-year-old has consistently made it deep in tournaments and is not taking bad losses. She has reached three Premier finals (Sydney, Rome and Montreal), the Round of 16 at the Australian Open and the quarterfinals or better at seven of 12 tournaments.

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Li Na leads list of coaching changes

Bobbie Goulding is hoping that life really does begin at 40! After six long months on the sidelines, the former Great Britain scrum-half is desperate for a return to rugby leagues professional ranks.

Bobbie feels he has been the outsider looking in for far too long. He is hungry to resume a career in coaching and seeks an opening.

He has already thrown his hat into the ring for jobs at Oldham, Dewsbury and London.

Goulding feels he is now at an age where he can put something back into the game he loves and made his mark at the very top.

All I need is a chance, says Goulding. In my view, there are far too many overseas coaches in our game and thats not right.

I have confidence in my own ability. I know I can put a club on track and soon send them in the right direction. I certainly have the experience.

I feel we have far too many schoolteachers and men from similar professions now holding down key coaching jobs and thats also wrong.

To win at this game you dont need an expert knowledge of physics or mathematics you need to have been at the coal face and done it.

I have and I have a team in place who are ready to go alongside me.

Maybe it is more than coincidence to see Featherstone, Halifax and Sheffield going so well right now in the Championship with three former GB players in charge.

Continued here:
Just give me a shot: Bobbie Goulding eyes coaching role

By Peter Ryan 7:00 PM Wed 15 Aug, 2012

Comments from former Geelong head coach Mark Thompson prompted research into burnout in the area

The AFL Coaching Lifestyle: Improving life satisfaction, health and wellbeing report, released on Wednesday, was commissioned amid fears that the risk of coach burnout was high.

Eighty-five per cent of assistant coaches responded to a survey and 17 assistant coaches (representing the 17 clubs at the time of data collection) were interviewed for the research.

One coach commented: "I think there are legitimate concerns for coaches, and their lifestyles, and maybe you have just got to accept that as part of the job. That might be it, but if there is some way that we can make sure that were not killing them, then thats a good thing too."

While assistant coaches remain motivated by a love of the game and the prospect of developing young players, the AFL Coaches Association has recognised the need to put initiatives in place to ensure the role remains a sustainable career option for the country's best coaching talent.

The AFL Coaches Association has appointed a career and professional development manager Michael Poulton (former coaching manager at Athletics Australia) to assist assistant coaches to build a skill set that is transferable beyond the AFL.

The report also recommended a need for more psychological support to be available for assistant coaches to improve their general health and enable them to cope better with the demands of working in a competitive sporting environment.

The research conducted last year was prompted by talk of burnout amid the sudden departure from senior coaching at the end of 2010 by former Cats coach Mark Thompson, and a need to better understand the roles and expectations clubs place on assistant coaches.

Dr Mandy Ruddock-Hudson, from La Trobe University's School of Public Health, conducted the research with her research team, funded by the AFL research board and supported by the AFL Coaches Association.

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High distress common: report

Coaches in the Positive Coaching Alliance have two important goals. First, they teach players how to win in soccer. Second, and equally important, coaches teach life lessons. One tool for teaching these life lessons is the ELM Tree of Mastery. ELM stands for effort, learning and mistakes. Players who focus on climbing the ELM Tree improve their game faster and prepare themselves for life.

Effort

It is important to teach players to give their best effort every time they take the field. This gives them the best chance to win. It also accelerates improvement. Once players learn how effort helps them on the field, they will apply it to life. For example, giving your best effort in school will result in better grades. Working hard at a job will lead to career advancement. I once heard a player say, "Why should I try? It's just a scrimmage." That lack of effort wasted an opportunity to improve. And that is the wrong attitude to have in life.

Learning

Learning is an important aspect of youth soccer. Soccer is a game of extensive skills and techniques. Players need to maximize their learning in every game and practice. Learning leads to improvement. Life, like soccer, presents endless opportunities for learning. School is an obvious example. But a player can also learn a new hobby, how to make friends or how to drive a car.

Mistakes

How players respond to mistakes is an important aspect of improvement. Mistakes are really the best teaching opportunities. When players see how a bad trap leads to loss of possession, they will see a need to improve their first touch. This is much more effective than simply telling a player to trap the ball better. Experience is the best teacher. This is why I encourage players to come out of their comfort zones and try new skills in games. I tell them that mistakes are fine because that is the path to learning. Mistakes in life are similar. Everyone makes mistakes. It's how we respond to those mistakes that define us.

The ELM Tree is a tool for improvement in soccer. Positive soccer coaches teach players to give their best effort, learn as much as possible and respond to mistakes. And as you can see, this applies to life as well.

More from this contributor:

Positive Soccer Coaching: Enjoy the Game First

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Positive Soccer Coaching: Teaching Life Lessons with the ELM Tree

Yohance Salimu, an All-City defensive lineman at Crenshaw High, had run out of options.

His family had lost its apartment and was living at a homeless shelter far from school. He was taking trains and buses and staying with friends. There was no place to put his clothes, so they were starting to smell.

Crenshaw football Coach Robert Garrett decided it was time to intervene. He offered Salimu six lockers at school.

The catch: Salimu had to memorize six locker combinations. "I'm really good with numbers," he said.

Salimu stored his dirty clothes in two of the lockers. Four others contained his clean clothes. And despite all his other duties involving coaching and teaching, Garrett would take home a bag full of Salimu's dirty clothes and do the player's laundry.

When graduation day came in June 2011, Salimu had a 3.8 grade-point average and was accepted to the Air Force Academy.

"I'm thankful for my teachers pushing me above and beyond, and one of them was Coach Garrett," he said.

At a time of budget cuts, furlough days, student defections to private schools and growing unease about what the future might bring, there are coaches in the sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District such as Garrett who refuse to be deterred.

"You never know who you're getting through to," said another of them, Dorsey football Coach Paul Knox. "You never know who you're going to touch."

Garrett, Knox and Mike Walsh of San Pedro have spent 22 years or longer teaching and coaching football at the same school, making them the longest-tenured football coaches in LAUSD.

Read more here:
City Section football coaches are in this for life

CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) -- Amy Deem's Olympic responsibilities are now complete, so she went back to her real gig on Tuesday.

No time for a victory lap - though one certainly would seem warranted.

Deem was the coach for the U.S. women's track and field team at the London Olympics, part of the group that helped Americans win more medals and more gold medals than any other nation at the games. U.S. track and field athletes won 29 medals in London, 14 of them by Deem's side of the roster, including three golds by sprinter Allyson Felix.

Still, at 7:20 a.m. Tuesday, Deem was back in her office at Miami, where she's the director of track and field and cross country for the Hurricanes, sitting at her desk and sneaking a peek every now and then at - what else? - Olympic highlights playing on the big-screen television mounted on the wall.

"I think I was really able to enjoy the whole experience," Deem said in an interview with The Associated Press. "It was hard work. It was stressful at times. But we had a tremendous group of athletes, a lot of experience, the team meshed really well together. For an Olympic team, it felt like we had minimal issues, nothing that you weren't expecting. It was a truly amazing experience."

The numbers back that up as well.

Americans won by far the most medals in track and field at London, part of the reason why the U.S. team overall came home with 104 medals and 46 golds. Deem works closely with U.S. relays coach Jon Drummond, and the relays delivered perhaps two of the top moments for the Americans at the Olympic Stadium - the win in the 4x400-meter women's relay, and the record-smashing show in the 4x100-meter women's relay.

In the 4x100, the U.S. finished in 40.82 seconds - 0.55 seconds faster than the old mark, which doesn't sound like much, but for that event it was a complete breakthrough. The previous time was 41.37 seconds by East Germany, and that mark stood for nearly 27 years.

"Every time that word came up, I squashed it," Deem said, referring to any record talk. "That's just me. To me, it was more important for those young women to get the stick around the track and get the medal. Everything else was icing on the cake. We really tried to focus on the execution of the relay and let everything else take care of itself."

Then the moment came - and even Deem got wrapped up in it all.

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After Olympic coaching success, Deem back at Miami

DRIPPING IN sweat, Temple's reserve quarterback walked off the Owls' practice turf on Monday after a steamy morning under the North Philadelphia sun. After stripping off his helmet, cleats and pads, he let out an exhaustive sigh.

"This is a little different than baseball," he said, laughing. "It's a lot of fun being out here, though."

Meet Connor Reilly, Temple's only dual-sport male athlete. In the first week of training camp, Reilly, a 20-year-old sophomore, is trying to work his way up the depth chart at quarterback. He is currently battling for the No. 3 position behind starter Chris Coyer and backup Clinton Granger.

If Reilly seems particularly overwhelmed compared to his competition, it's probably because he is. In a coup for the program, Steve Addazio brought newcomers Kevin Rogers (quarterbacks) and Ryan Day (wide receivers/offensive coordinator) into the Temple coaching fold this past spring.

But at the time, Reilly was busy patrolling the outfield for the Owls' baseball team, where he hit .263 with four home runs and 25 RBI in 38 starts as a freshman. He has been playing a frantic game of catch-up ever since.

"A lot of the plays are kind of similar to last year's playbook, but I am still getting back into the football mentality," Reilly said. "It's kind of like being a freshman again, in a way."

Reilly's father, Neil, played professional baseball in the Texas Rangers' system in the '80s before an eye injury forced him into retirement. Connor has played baseball all of his life and didn't step on a football field until his sophomore year in high school.

Nevertheless, he was able to get into three games last season after redshirting in 2010 - experiences, he says, that were invaluable to his development. Blessed with a strong arm, Reilly's main focus in this camp, outside of continuing to learn, is working on his mechanics.

"I throw like a baseball player, so I drop the ball," Reilly said. "Coach Rogers and I are working on instead of dropping my arm, bringing it straight back."

When he isn't on the gridiron or on the diamond, Reilly is a proud member of a military family. Shortly after his pro baseball career ended, Neil Reilly joined the Army. Lt. Col. Reilly returned from Afghanistan last September, making it home just in time to see his son's Owls take on Penn State at the Linc.

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The busy life of Temple football player Connor Reilly

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Good Life Institute welcomes Craig Simpson for inaugural event

Yohance Salimu, an All-City defensive lineman at Crenshaw High, had run out of options.

His family had lost its apartment and was living at a homeless shelter far from school. He was taking trains and buses and staying with friends. There was no place to put his clothes, so they were starting to smell.

Crenshaw football Coach Robert Garrett decided it was time to intervene. He offered Salimu six lockers at school.

The catch: Salimu had to memorize six locker combinations. "I'm really good with numbers," he said.

Salimu stored his dirty clothes in two of the lockers. Four others contained his clean clothes. And despite all his other duties involving coaching and teaching, Garrett would take home a bag full of Salimu's dirty clothes and do the player's laundry.

When graduation day came in June 2011, Salimu had a 3.8 grade-point average and was accepted to the Air Force Academy.

"I'm thankful for my teachers pushing me above and beyond, and one of them was Coach Garrett," he said.

At a time of budget cuts, furlough days, student defections to private schools and growing unease about what the future might bring, there are coaches in the sprawling Los Angeles Unified School District such as Garrett who refuse to be deterred.

"You never know who you're getting through to," said another of them, Dorsey football Coach Paul Knox. "You never know who you're going to touch."

Garrett, Knox and Mike Walsh of San Pedro have spent 22 years or longer teaching and coaching football at the same school, making them the longest-tenured football coaches in LAUSD.

More here:
High schools: City Section football coaches are in this for life

KUSA -Ever wonder if you areachieving your greatest potential in life? A workshop next month in Vail hopes to help women answer that question.

The Second Annual Women's Empowerment Workshop, Sept 13 to 16 at the Vail Racquet Club Mountain Resort will take women on journeys throughexplorations in nature, rafting, rock climbing, hiking, groundwork with horses, seminars and life coaching.

Susie Kincade, co-founder of the workshop was a guest with Susie Wargin for the latest Sidebar. She talked about how the workshop is designed to take women outward into nature, not to conquer it, but to learn from it. Activities are designed for all ages and abilities, and provide skills and tools that women can take directly into their life.

On the river expedition women will learn to understand currents, of both water and life, and apply the metaphors and navigation skills learned on the river to situations in their life. Journeying to the soul of nature through hiking, and learning from horses as they mirror the authentic self are other activity options in this diverse, extraordinary workshop. Yoga, journaling time and Envision Your Life seminars round out the four days.

"We know and understand the magic that can happen when venturing out into the natural world. We have lived it our entire lives here in the Colorado mountains," said Kincade. "This is our way of offering it to others so that they can experience in a few days what we've learned over a lifetime, and be able to take practical skills into their life, no matter where they live. People can always use nature as a touchstone."

For information and registration, visitwww.womenempower.us. or call877-595-8622.

(KUSA-TV 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)

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Workshop helps women achieve goals