For Eric McIlquham, a fresh start in Waynesboro coincided perfectly with lifes ever-changing agenda.

Appointed as the new athletic director of the district by the Waynesboro Area School Board on Friday, McIlquham leaves behind a prestigious coaching career at the University of Alabama for the small-town atmosphere that surrounds his new position.

For the 42-year-old who grew up on a farm in Massachusetts, the transition has been a long time coming.

My wife (Sharon) was born and raised in Pittsburgh and we have several relatives that live in Hagerstown, so weve been talking about moving to the area for quite some time, McIlquham said. After I found out about the position, I put a resume in, went through an interview and then found out I got the job. Its a new chapter in life and Im looking forward to getting started.

McIlquham officially takes over as the districts athletic director on July 15, replacing Dan McLaughlin, who had held the position since 1997 before retiring last month. His salary will be $72,000 per year.

While grateful for the opportunity to serve as the Crimson Tides head swimming and diving coach since 2003, the dedication required of McIlquham to oversee an NCAA Division I program left little family time for the father of two, son Brenner, 6, and daughter Breanna, 4.

With coaching in college for the last 20 years, Ive missed out on a lot of time with my family, McIlquham, who has also coached at Virginia and West Virginia, said. Growing up on a farm, I know what its like to be in a small town. Waynesboro reminded me a lot of my hometown and Im excited to raise my kids in that type of atmosphere.

Moving forward

Despite the decision bringing an end to his coaching career during which he was also the head swimming coach for Egypt in the 2000 Sydney Olympics McIlquhams new position doesnt affect his desire to succeed.

My goal is to develop something that everyone in Waynesboro can be proud of, McIlquham said. My first priority is to sit down and meet with the head coaches and let them know that we have to attack this process as a team. Im not coming in here to coach their teams, but Im willing to do everything I can to help them succeed.

Continued here:
Eric McIlquham excited for new role as Waynesboro's athletic director

MONTREAL Its probable, even likely, that Larry Robinsons coaching career is not over.

It just wont continue with the team on which he became a Hall of Famer, winning six Stanley Cups as one of the greatest defencemen of all time.

Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin rounded out his clubs coaching staff last week, naming former Habs defenceman Jean-Jacques Daigneault as the second bench assistant for head coach Michel Therrien. Daigneault joins Gerard Gallant, with Clment Jodoin contributing perspective from the press gallery and Pierre Groulx continuing his work as goaltending coach.

There had been considerable talk in the Canadiens universe since Bergevins May 2 hiring that Robinson, at that time an assistant coach for the New Jersey Devils, would be an ideal choice to nurture a young Montreal defence corps.

Ultimately, the composition of the coaching staff was left up to Therrien, and on Friday he decided on Daigneault as the final member of his staff.

There is no bitterness in Robinson, who a few times in the past half-dozen years has been in a contractual position to return to the Canadiens in a coaching capacity.

On several occasions, longtime Robinson friend and business agent/adviser Donny Cape has attempted to broker a deal to bring Robinson back to Montreal as a coach, team ambassador, or both. For a variety of reasons, from awkward timing to telephone calls that were not returned by the club to team brass saying it was satisfied with its incumbent staff, a Robinson-Canadiens reunion has not taken place.

It is not happening again; Robinsons NHL career now is unlikely to end in the city where it began.

On Sunday, from his Florida home, Robinson spoke to The Gazette for nearly an hour.

I understand the Canadiens had to get going, they couldnt wait, he said, settling into the off-season with his wife, Jeannette.

Read more:
'Life goes on,' Larry Robinson says after Canadiens fill last coaching vacancy

Staff Photo: John Bohn Christie Thompson, a Gwinnett North graduate and current North softball coach, runs a softball camp held at North Gwinnett High School. The camp is hosted by former Gwinnett softball players now playing in college.

Christie Thompson knows as well as anyone, and better than most, how important it is to pick a college for more than a coach or a name.

Thompson was well advised when she was a standout at North Gwinnett. Her instructors at The Pitcher's Mound, where she had been training since she was 13, did everything they could to help her get a handle on what was most important when picking a college.

"I had plenty of visits everywhere," Thompson said. "I was told exactly what I needed to do. I sent letters to colleges. I went on several different visits to figure out exactly what I wanted. And I got everything I needed out of it. I had a great college experience. I ended up exactly where I needed, and where I wanted, to be.

"I loved it -- even when we didn't do that well. It was such a good time."

It wasn't about a coach. Hers changed after one season. Or about being at a big-time SEC school. Columbus State turned out to be just the right place for Thompson.

"I was told that several times -- it's about what works for you," Thompson said. "It's not about you going to a Georgia. That helped me a lot. I didn't want that and I was not pushed to do that just because it looked good. I appreciated that because a lot of instructors might have been like, 'Go out there and make me look good.'"

Now it's Thompson offering the advice.

She's been a full time instructor at The Pitcher's Mound in Duluth for the last two years.

Going to Columbus State, where she started at second base for four years, and going through a coaching change is something she draws from when talking to her students.

Excerpt from:
Former North softball star enjoying life in the coaching ranks

SHORT HILLS, N.J., June 29, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation announced it has awarded almost $425,000 in Quality of Life Grants to 69 nonprofit organizations in the United States. Twice yearly, the Quality of Life Grants Program rewards nonprofit organizations that mirror the Reeve Foundation's mission to enable individuals living with paralysis to live full and healthy lives. Since the Quality of Life Grants Program's inception, 2,055 grants totaling over $15.6 million have been awarded.

The Painted Turtle Gang Camp of Santa Monica, California received a $7,500 grant for the Spina Bifida and Paraplegia Family Weekend, which brings whole families together to experience empowering recreational activities, learn new methods of self-care from medical professionals, and foster peer support.

Another camp being supported by a Reeve Foundation Quality of Life Grant is Lions Camp Tatiyee in Little Rock, Arkansas. This $4,000 grant will help to support camperships for children living with spinal cord injuries at a well-established, accessible camp. Campers that would not otherwise be able to attend camp to enjoy new experiences, meet new friends, increase their independence and self-esteem will be able to benefit from all that camp offers.

Gottsche Rehabilitation and Wellness Center based in Thermopolis, Wyoming was awarded a grant of $19,751 to support a project that will provide functional electrical stimulation motorized ergometry rehabilitation to its patients at the rural Cody, Wyoming center. No other facilities in this region currently offer this type of therapy.

One of three organizations in Florida that received a Quality of Life Grant was awarded to Stand Among Friends, located in Boca Raton. The $5,500 grant will support a career-focused Assistive Technology Initiative for college students and adults living with disabilities. The program uses Assistive Technology as a key component of a larger professional placement program called Careerability, which includes vocational evaluation, pre-placement training, internships, on-the-job training, placement, job coaching and long term success mentoring.

"The Reeve Foundation believes that each of the nearly six million Americans living with paralysis deserves access to the best programs and services available. The Quality of Life Grants Program supports other nonprofit organizations that not only believe in that same independence, but achieve great success in carrying out their programs' missions," said Peter T. Wilderotter, president and CEO of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation. "We are honored to recognize these organizations which empower those affected by paralysis."

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Quality of Life grants program was conceived by the late Dana Reeve to address the myriad needs of children and adults with paralysis and other mobility impairments and their families. Grants support critical life-enhancing and life-changing initiatives that improve physical and emotional health and increase independence. Funded projects offer a diversity of services and approaches: improving access; providing education and job training; sponsoring organized sporting activities; and much more. Quality of Life grants are funded through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Award #1U59DD000838).

About the Reeve Foundation

The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is dedicated to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research, and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through grants, information and advocacy. For more information, and to review the entire list of Quality of Life grant recipients, please visit our website at http://www.ChristopherReeve.org or call 800-225-0292.

Janelle LoBello (973) 379-2690 ext. 7111 JLoBello@ChristopherReeve.org

Continued here:
Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation Awards 69 Nonprofit Organizations Quality of Life Grants

Tiffany Molinar thought she had a full plate in life, until she was offered something shed enjoyed before but never tasted at the highest level coaching high school volleyball.

When Justin-Siena athletic director Michael Fisher offered her the position of varsity head coach, Molinar had to not only think about it for a few days, but make a list of the pros and cons.

The cons included the time it would take away from raising her 3-year-old daughter Raine, and doing homework for a full-time class load at Sonoma State, where shes pursuing a bachelors degree in liberal studies. It would also mean she would have to leave a great job as hostess at The French Laundry, one of the top restaurants in the world, in her hometown of Yountville.

But the pros won out for the 2007 Justin-Siena graduate and former Napa County Volleyball Player of the Year.

Fisher announced her hiring last Friday, June 22, in an email.

We are very excited to have Coach Molinar join the Justin-Siena community, he wrote. We are always so proud to have an alumnus return to join our coaching family!

Molinars experience made her Justin-Sienas top choice: two unbeaten Bay Valley Conference campaigns as a setter for Napa Valley College, one season of co-coaching the under-16 Evolve club team with NVC head coach Kelly Van Winden, another season of coaching the Evolve U-14 team, and coaching Justin-Sienas freshmen two years ago and its junior varsity last year.

I already know the girls because Ive coached them for two years, she said. It will be a young team, with no seniors, mostly juniors and sophomores and probably some freshmen, and I felt bad stepping away. I didnt want to leave them hanging. I also enjoy coaching, and this is a great group of girls. I know what its like being their age and playing volleyball, and I know how much I love the game. Its a passion of mine, and I hope to see that through them when I coach.

She also figured she belonged at Justin-Siena as a coach instead of a spectator, watching her boyfriend and daughters father, Blaize Boles, when he returns to assist JV boys basketball head coach Guiles Particelli.

Molinar enjoyed being the first face seen by diners at The French Laundry, where reservations must be made many months in advance. It was a job she said kind of fell into my lap because Boles is a manager at another Yountville restaurant, but one that fit well her high-energy personality and ability to work under high stress.

Read more:
Braves tab former star to coach spikers

Youth soccer coaches teach players many things. They teach them how to play the game. They improve their skills. They turn them into conditioned athletes. But sometimes the most important lesson gets lost. Sometimes youth soccer coaches take the fun out of the game. Coaches should teach players to enjoy the game first.

Build a Love for the Game

The first thing youth soccer coaches should do is create a love affair between young players and the game of soccer. Players who enjoy the game will live and breathe soccer. They will play soccer on their own and thirst for more. Taking the fun away will turn them off to soccer. Then they will never realize their potential.

Focus on the Journey

The poet Don Williams Jr. said that lessons come from the journey not the destination. This is so true for youth soccer. If your only goal as coach is to attain college scholarships, you are setting your players up for failure. Only two percent of high school athletes attain full or partial scholarships. Chances are that none of your players will get one. So there has to be something more. This is why it is your responsibility as coach to make this journey a fun and enjoyable one. Otherwise your players will look back at their soccer experiences with regret.

Soccer and Life Lessons

The Positive Coaching Alliance believes that youth soccer coaches have two primary directives. The first is to teach players how to win. The second is to teach life lessons. Creating an enjoyable experience is a big life lesson. A happy player gains confidence, learns teamwork, feels a sense of accomplishment and more. There are so many positive outcomes when players enjoy the game. Coaches should facilitate this by keeping the game enjoyable.

Your Legacy

When your players grow up and look back at their soccer experiences, how do you want to be remembered? Do you want to be seen as the coach who made soccer miserable for them or do you want to be the one who inspired them to love and continue soccer? Coaches affect the lives of young players. What do you want your legacy to be?

Making soccer enjoyable is a youth soccer coach's first priority. This should be your indicator for success. If you are not sure if you are meeting this goal, just count the smiles the next time your players are playing soccer.

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Positive Soccer Coaching: Enjoy the Game First

Ricardo Viera stepped into the job as athletic director at Rockford Christian in April and immediately rolled up his sleeves.

And within two months, he hired new coaches in boys basketball, football and volleyball.

Its been the same kind of year for Christian Life, which replaced about half of its varsity coaches less than a year after hiring new athletic director Rich Wood.

It has been challenging, but I think the changes are good, Wood said.

Its been an extremely busy few months for two of Rockfords smaller schools. Now, as they head into July, they are getting familiar with all the new names.

At Rockford Christian, the Royals started by hiring Viera to replace six-year athletic director Kirk Heidelberg. Days later, he was busy interviewing candidates for the head football coaching job, which was left vacant when the Royals did not renew one-year coach Glynn Jones contract after a 5-4 season.

RC chose Chad Carpenter, who played for Taylor University in Upland, Ind., has been an assistant at the University of Virginias College at Wise, Emory and Henry College, and Bristol Tennessee High School. He has experience coaching offensive and defensive lines, wide receivers and special teams.

Then Viera focused on a replacement for boys basketball coach Shane Bautch, who announced his resignation in May after three years. He chose Trent Emenecker.

Emenecker has been an educator for 17 years and coach for 11. His longest stint was with Catalina Foothills High School in Tucson, Ariz., where he racked up a 160-102 record. Locally, he served as Christian Lifes girls coach from 2008-09 and the Eagles boys coach in 2009-10.

RC also hired Tom Lynde as the new volleyball coach to complete the major hirings.

Read more:
Rockford Christian, Christian Life have coaching overhauls

Having a mentor is like watching a good trailer to the upcoming movie of your life and could increase the probability of its becoming a blockbuster. Nyahra.

In addition to having coaches all of my coaching life, I have always found it useful to have a mentor and to pay it forward by mentoring younger people.

Unlike coaches, mentors have free reign to give you advice, to literally tell you what to do, and since you dont pay them you are getting a gold mine of wisdom for free. The mentor/mentee relationship can sometimes mimic a paternal or maternal relationship and so some scolding may also be involved when mentees go off on a frolic of their own.

That being said, it is all done in the spirit of tough love.

Finding a mentor

I recommend that every young professional or career rookie seek a mentor. The operative word is seek. Your job is to examine your strengths and limitations, career vision, goals and values and try to find a mentor who is willing to help you along your career path. You should select someone whose character you emulate.

It is advantageous to find a mentor within your own career but someone within the industry or in a related field will be just a beneficial. In addition,

I like to recommend that young professionals seek out mentors who have also had several careers and business experiences, with varied interests and having travelled.

This is important since one of the enduring and critical attributes for success is being able to step outside your comfort zone and engage several types of people while coping with unfamiliar environments and circumstances.

Your next task is to get the mentor to say yes to you. There are three popular ways to achieve this.

View post:
COACHING LIFE: Why should I have a mentor?

One morning, while working as an assistant on Andy Landers' women's basketball staff at the University of Georgia, Bernadette Mattox picked up a newspaper and read something that ultimately would impact her life. Rick Pitino wanted to hire a woman as one of his assistants at Kentucky. Interesting, she thought. Little did she know then that she would become the first female assistant coach in Division I men's basketball history.

That was nearly 20 years ago. There have only been two others who have done what Mattox had done, and no woman has been named head coach of a Division I men's team. Many agree that one person who could have broken that barrier was Pat Summitt.

"I think Pat would have been accepted, once the players were around her somewhat and saw her as a coach that could greatly impact the team," said Dan Hughes, coach and general manager of the WNBA's San Antonio Silver Stars.

Of course, this issue is far deeper than just the college or pro level.

"It is frustrating to me that more women are not coaching youth sports," said state Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford. "I think we want young girls to see women as leaders, and there are far too few. Go to any softball field, Little League field, soccer field even when girls are playing. I love that fathers are involved, but we need both mothers and fathers and men and women coaches."

Mattox, now an assisant coach for the WNBA's Connecticut Sun, recalled how her piece of history came to be.

"[The story] was about how Ralph Willard left Coach Pitino's staff at Kentucky to go to Western Kentucky," said Mattox. "The article said Rick was going to think about replacing [Willard] with a female; I'm thinking to myself, 'Great, Coach Pitino is innovative, good for him,' and I left it at that.

"Then I got the call."

It was from Tubby Smith, then one of Pitino's assistants. He told Mattox that Pitino wanted to speak to her.

"One thing led to another. I went on the visit, and the staff was super to me," Mattox said. "Everyone gave me such a great feeling about the place. That set the tone. I did not know Tubby Smith, and you know what, I never asked any of them how they got my name. I simply have no idea."

Excerpt from:
Women Coaching Men Remains A Long Way Away

PLEASANTON, CA--(Marketwire -06/26/12)- Callidus Software Inc. (CALD), the leader in sales effectiveness and cloud computing, and Scribe, the leader in CRM data integration solutions, announced today the availability of a new Scribe Online connection with CallidusCloud Sales Coaching that enables businesses to add cloud-based sales coaching to their CRM system.

"This announcement not only reinforces CallidusCloud's commitment to the Salesforce.com community, but also extends the availability of this industry leading solution to the Microsoft Dynamics community by leveraging industry leading cloud integration from Scribe," said Curt Richtermeyer, Vice President, Sales Effectiveness Solutions, CallidusCloud.

CallidusCloud recently joined the Scribe SPARK Solution Developer Program -- an innovative, new program for Cloud ISVs and Implementation Partners. The program offers partners access to the Scribe Online platform, which supports cloud, hybrid and on-premise integration with ease and reliability. ISV partners are able to quickly extend their applications using Scribe's intuitive integration tools, creating a seamless experience for end users. Scribe's SPARK program provides the resources and support necessary to ensure partner success from development through deployment.

"We are delighted to partner with CallidusCloud to extend the value of CRM within leading organizations by integrating CallidusCloud's class-leading sales coaching capabilities with Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce," said Lou Guercia, President and CEO, Scribe Software. "Our Scribe Online platform was developed specifically to provide ISVs, such as CallidusCloud, a flexible, cloud-based integration architecture that is both simple and powerful."

The Sales Coaching solution, including Sales Coaching Mobile, is a class-leading sales coaching solution that is delivered as part of the Selling Cloud, a SaaS solution suite that helps companies motivate their salesforces with the right incentives, coach them on the right skills and behaviors, and drive a culture of sales collaboration and best practices based on proven results.

Cloud-Based Sales Coaching

The CallidusCloud Sales Coaching solution provides real-time visibility into the leading indicators that determine the actual results of the sales team, and delivers a real-time cloud and mobile platform that lets managers collaborate with their team on each goal, deal by deal, so they can focus on gaps or lagging indicators and ensure that each rep is successful, quarter over quarter. Based on CallidusCloud's collaboration platform, the solution enables companies to transform the process of coaching from a time-consuming and paper-driven process to an efficient, real-time participative process ensuring a lift in overall team attainment.

CallidusCloud and Scribe have rolled out this new solution to several market leaders across an array of industries including communications services and equipment, consumer products, specialty glass, medical equipment and security.

CallidusCloud's sales & marketing suite is designed to help businesses drive enterprise engagement, sales performance management and sales effectiveness at all stages of the sales cycle with award-winning, multi-tenant Cloud software. CallidusCloud offers the following software-as-a-service and mobile solutions: candidate assessment tests for hiring, video interviews, marketing automation, sales performance management, quotes and proposals, sales enablement, sales coaching, sales commission management, learning management and content authoring, underpinned by analytics and gamification.

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Scribe and CallidusCloud Deliver the Power of Sales Coaching to CRM