Archive for the ‘Life Coaching’ Category
Jerry Sandusky trial: Coaching colleagues describe Sandusky as busy, involved with children
Posted: June 18, 2012 at 5:18 pm
BELLEFONTE -- The first witness called to testify on behalf of Jerry Sandusky in his child sex abuse case is his former colleague on the Penn State football team and self-described close friend, Richard Anderson, who testified about the grueling schedule with long hours and little free time that college football coaches endure year-round.
But on cross-examination, Anderson said Sandusky spent a good deal of time at The Second Mile and working with young boys. It was common for him to include boys in football activities, and he saw them on occasion showering together, Anderson said.
Its something Anderson himself admits to, he said. At the YMCA, at Penn State, at other places. The first time I took a shower in high school was with coaches, it was part of my life, Anderson testified.
Yes, I do. Anderson answered.
Eleven year olds?
Yes.
Who you didnt know?
Yes. There are regularly young boys at the YMCA showering at the same time there are older people showering.
Do you hug them in the shower?
Anderson smiled. No.
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Jerry Sandusky trial: Coaching colleagues describe Sandusky as busy, involved with children
Life Mastery Coaching With Stefan From ProjectLifeMastery.com – Video
Posted: June 17, 2012 at 2:16 pm
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Life Mastery Coaching With Stefan From ProjectLifeMastery.com - Video
Ex-KU aide Barry Hinson sets out on coaching comeback at SIU
Posted: at 2:16 pm
Endless smiles. Quick one-liners. Southern-fried charm. An encouraging word and a drop of wisdom for everyone who crossed his path. Bill Selfs close friend Barry Hinson showed that face to the public during his four years in Lawrence working for the Kansas University athletic department in the wake of his unjust firing by Missouri State.
Now that hes back in the ranks of head coach, hired March 28 by Southern Illinois University, Hinson reveals that was his poker face Lawrence saw. Behind it, a bruise stretched from head to heart to gut.
There were probably only three people in Lawrence who knew how much it bothered me and how much it hurt me, Hinson said by phone from his new office in Carbondale, Ill. My wife, Angie, coach Self and Cindy Self.
Hinson didnt hide his true feelings when interviewed by the SIU search committee charged with finding a replacement for Chris Lowery. After nearly two hours of answering questions, Hinson was asked if he had any himself. He said he had one question and then a statement.
The question: Im going to ask you guys if you have any concerns with me because I got fired.
Hinson said it was quiet until one member said if they had concerns he would not be standing in front of them.
The statement: Im not damaged goods. We won at Missouri State. We didnt have any violations. We graduated our student-athletes. And we had the third-best record in the Missouri Valley (Conference) in my nine years. Im not damaged goods. If you hire me, youre going to hire a guy who comes into this conference extremely upset.
Hinson said he grew very emotional during that point of the interview.
Later to find out, he said, they liked it.
They also liked that Hinson had the highest academic-progress rate in the conference. SIU athletic director Mario Moccia mentioned a decline in academics first when citing the reasons for Lowerys dismissal. In every public appearance with his new coach Moccia has cited Hinsons academic record as the No. 1 reason for his hiring, Hinson said.
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Ex-KU aide Barry Hinson sets out on coaching comeback at SIU
AGOSTINI: UOP'S Thomason did it the right way
Posted: at 2:16 pm
Bob Thomason's coaching career flashes life-lessons that beam far beyond the basketball court.
We like to think we were a part of his growth, given the fact he cut his coaching teeth at Escalon, Turlock, Columbia College and Cal State Stanislaus. But to hear him tell it recently, these stops weren't exactly designed as stepping stones toward a greater goal.
Thomason, 64, enjoyed each of these ports of call. Better still, he understood their importance toward his return to his alma mater, University of the Pacific. And isn't that the way it's supposed to be to savor the journey at least as much as the destination?
To him, it never was about sneaker contracts, TV exposure or a bigger school in a bigger arena. If so, he would have bolted from Pacific years ago. If he coached solely for cash, he wouldn't have stayed in the area for 15 years.
More than 100 former and current players, boosters and students heard the Thomason message last month when he announced his retirement effective after next season.
"It wasn't like I was trying to make money coaching basketball," he told them. "I was coaching the game."
Was he ever.
Thomason took no shortcuts and didn't climb on others' backs. Simply, he worked from the bottom up, coached his players and won games. At each stop, his teams won at least one league championship.
We especially remember the unbeaten Escalon Cougars of 1976, the ground he prepared at Columbia for the Claim Jumpers' glory years under Denny Aye, and his successful rebuilding job at Stanislaus.
A recent chat with Thomason, however, revealed the obvious: Those weren't just passing hello's. He and wife Jerri were raising their two sons, and their family's maturation coincided with his career moves.
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AGOSTINI: UOP'S Thomason did it the right way
Haleh Gianni, certified Life Coach interviews with Mr. Farrokh Torkzadeh on Persian TV – Video
Posted: June 16, 2012 at 1:17 pm
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Haleh Gianni, certified Life Coach interviews with Mr. Farrokh Torkzadeh on Persian TV - Video
Life Challenges, Life Coaches
Posted: at 1:17 pm
Having a preconceived impression of a life coach as being a New Age concept, I was quite surprised to discover that I knew one. I have worked with Barbara Marchand on any number of projects involving such decidedly down to earth organizations as the Rotary Club, the Chamber of Commerce and the Alameda Welfare Council. I have always known her to be level-headed, practical and honest. When she asked me if I would be interested in trying some coaching, I had to re-evaluate my whole idea of it.
When I first started talking with Barbara about this, I had just learned that my mother-in-law had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. The family was in the process of sorting out her living arrangements, medical care, and financial situation, all the while grieving the future loss of a vibrant and brilliant woman. Because she had always been fiercely independent and (justifiably) proud, we were completely side swiped by this turn of events.
Unfamiliar with the process involved with consulting a life coach, I wasn't sure whether what I was going through was even an appropriate direction to pursue. My understanding of what I would address during the coaching process would be to try to organize my time and resources, or to try to get in the routine of regular exercise or eating right. How would those principles apply to processing the painful, frightening truth of what we were going through?
I have plenty of sympathetic ears and shoulders because we are by no stretch of the imagination the only people who are going through the ageing process with our parents. I consider myself to be extremely fortunate to have a support network to help with the unfamiliar emotional terrain.
I am discovering, however, that there are actually very practical, organizational facets to this process. For example, I was trying to determine what government programs might be available to my mother-in-law. Navigating the Internet, I discovered that there are any numbers of government programs, but the qualifications for each of these programs differ in infinitesimal ways. The language is deceptive and unwieldy. Before long I felt as if I would never make progress on this relatively small project I had been assigned. Much like being the poor sap that catches the ball in the middle of the game, with no idea of what the rules are or what team I'm on. Like the team coach, Barbara is not on the playing field surrounded by all of the players, she is able to watch the "game" from a distance, and see the directions that are available to me. With a gentle nudge, she points out what she can see, and then the obstacles fade away. It might be a simple suggestion to call an organization to ask for help, or it might be a way to sort out the information that I have in order to be able to make heads or tails of it.
One of the most important tools that Barbara has given me, or should I instead say she has reminded me that I already have, is to write it down! Whether it is a note about a conversation I have had with a medical professional, a question that has come up that I need to find the right person to ask, or simply the way that I am feeling at any given time about the process, it is important to be able to access that again easily.
This is a long, arduous road we're setting off on. The way is frequently murky, and it certainly feels as if we're walking uphill both ways barefoot in the snow. In helping to guide me through this unfamiliar terrain, both emotionally and practically, Barbara is making it possible for me to navigate it, and share with you my journey.
Carrie Beavers can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . For a free one hour coaching session, visit barbaramarchandassociates.com or call 510-410-8100.
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Life Challenges, Life Coaches
Coaching up the talent
Posted: at 1:17 pm
Rick Suhr says he has no use for the spotlight. Can you blame him??In his one big moment on the national stage, he was unfairly vilified for a perceived berating of Jenn Stucyznski after she won a silver medal four years ago in Beijing. People wondered what was the guy's problem.
What they should have been asking was, What's his secret?'
Really, now. Can someone explain it? How in the world could one man have produced so many elite pole vaulters? In an area that has been otherwise irrelevant in major track and field for decades, how could five national pole vaulting champions have come out of one makeshift training facility outside Suhr's home in Churchville.
Is there some unknown coaching technique, some mystical method for inspiring athletes? Some magical jumping beans, perhaps?
"It is a secret," said Jenn Suhr [formerly Stucyznski], who married Rick two years ago. She tells her husband all the time, in fact, that he's the best-kept secret in sports.
"It's amazing what he's done, going back to 2004," she said. "I look at all the records. He's produced a national champion every year. That's too many years and too many people for it to be a coincidence. It all revolves around one person, and that's him."
No, it's hardly a coincidence that three women's pole vaulters from Western New York will be in Eugene, Ore., next weekend at the U.S. Olympic track and field trials. Suhr is the defending Olympic silver medalist, a 10-time national champion who is considered a virtual lock to make the American team.
Mary Saxer, who broke the girls' national record seven times at Lancaster High, will be there. So will Medina's Janice Keppler, who vaulted in college at Eastern Michigan and Arkansas and finished second last winter in the indoor U.S. Open at Madison Square Garden.
Suhr, Saxer and Keppler were all ranked among the top 10 in the nation recently. All three got their start in Churchville, where Suhr has been producing champions since putting a couple of quonset huts end-to-end to serve as a pole vaulting practice facility about 15 years ago.
"They all came out of a steel building in Buffalo," Rick said. "That doesn't make sense. I don't care what the records of the Bills and Sabres are. We've got the best pole vaulters in the country, hands down. I don't want to toot my own horn, but it is what it is."
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Coaching up the talent
Coaching your child: Expert advice from T-ball to high school and beyond
Posted: at 1:17 pm
It's the second-most memorable line in Field of Dreams: "Hey, Dad, you wanna have a catch?" Kevin Costner is already an adult when he tosses a baseball to his ghostly father. For most dads and kids, the moment comes much sooner; and for thousands of families across the country, a simple catch leads to dad signing up his son or daughter with the local youth league, and then signing up himself as coach.
Then the simple joy of tossing a ball back and forth transforms into something more complicated. The team, of course, includes other players. And they have parents, many of whom have opinions about you as a coach. Practices are difficult enough to run smoothly, and they lead to games, and games are competitive. Are you a good coach or a poor one? Is your child a good player or a lousy one? Are you playing favorites with your child? Or are you harder on your kid than on the others, creating friction in the family?
Chipper Jones has enjoyed a 19-year career thanks to the teachings of his dad. (AP) None of that mattered during the backyard catch. Coaching a son or daughter, it turns out, is one of the most challenging pursuits a parent can take on. It can be exceedingly rewarding. And it can be exceedingly frustrating to the child as well as the parent.
Even if the child hits the sports equivalent of the lottery and becomes a professional athlete, memories of the years under dad's tutelage can be a mixed bag. Kevin Neary and Leigh A. Tobin co-authored a book, Major League Dads, which features 250 pages of big-league baseball players recounting being coached as youngsters by their fathers. Most of the memories are positive: the work ethic dad taught, the skills he honed, the fun he emphasized. Others are telling, and could help serve as a road map for any dad piling bats and helmets into his car and heading off to the field. Neary and Tobin even reference Field of Dreams (and its most memorable line: "If you build it, he will come.")
Another resource for parents coaching their children is Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, who has spoken to more than a million young athletes, parents and coaches over the last 12 years. His common-sense advice helps anyone involved in youth, high school and college sports maximize their enjoyment while avoiding pitfalls. He was the primary source for a story I wrote in February on how to avoid being a nightmare sports parent.
Brown points out that because professional athletes often have such freakish athletic ability, their success isn't necessarily the product of a dad who did everything right as a coach. Then again, some dads do get it right. The finest youth coach in tiny Pierson, Fla., 35 years ago was Larry Jones, whose son, also named Larry, was such a chip off the old block people started calling him Chipper. Of course, today Chipper Jones is a 19-year MLB veteran and seven-time All-Star with the Atlanta Braves.
"My dad and I still talk two or three times a week," Jones told Neary. "Whenever I get into a slump, my coaches ask me if I've called my dad. He knows my swing the best of anyone."
Greg Maddux, who ranks eighth all-time with 355 wins, is appreciative of something most children don't hear: "The greatest lesson I learned from my father was that you've got to think for yourself. You've got to learn how to do things for yourself. I know it was hard for a dad to do and say, but he did it."
Greg Maddux's father taught him how to be independent. (Getty Images) It's inevitable that a coach will say something to his child he wouldn't say to another player. When a pre-teen Derek Jeter wouldn't shake hands with the other team after a loss, his father/coach told him it was "time to grab a tennis racket, since you obviously don't know how to play a team sport." And Tampa Bay Rays slugger Evan Longoria's dad told him to stop crying when the boy was pitching at age 8.
"I can just remember him walking out to the mound and him giving me that stern look almost a yell, but not really saying, 'What are you doing crying out here?'" Longoria said. "But he made sure not to go too far with his look because he didn't want me to cry even more."
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Coaching your child: Expert advice from T-ball to high school and beyond
Positive Soccer Coaching: Never Blame a Child on the Soccer Field
Posted: June 15, 2012 at 10:14 pm
In a recent youth soccer game that I was coaching, a player on the opposing team made a defensive error. My team took advantage of the miscue, and we scored a goal. The other coach immediately yelled at his player, blaming him for the goal. It was loud enough for all the players and parents around the field to hear. The child also heard the comments and slowly walked up the field with his head down.
It Happens Often
Believe it or not, incidents like this one do happen in youth soccer. I have seen it happen over and over again in local soccer games. Nothing good can come from blaming and embarrassing a child on the soccer field. Coaches should never blame children for anything they do on the field.
Kids Do Try
Kids do try on the soccer field. They want to win. After all, that is the point of the game of soccer. So it makes no sense to blame a child on the soccer field. The last thing they want to do is make a mistake and give up a goal. And they feel bad enough when errors happen.
Filling the Emotional Tank
Coaches in the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) are taught to fill players' emotional tanks. In other words, the best way to motivate young players is to praise and encourage them. Blaming kids on the soccer field just drains their emotional tanks in one shot.
The Magic Ratio
PCA also recommends a magic ratio when providing feedback to young players. They suggest giving five compliments to ever one criticism. By providing praise along with criticism, players are more likely to listen. On the other hand, a coach who only gives criticism will quickly be tuned out by the players.
Send the Right Message
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Positive Soccer Coaching: Never Blame a Child on the Soccer Field
Effective coaching and mentoring through questions, not answers
Posted: at 10:14 pm
Published : Saturday, June 16, 2012 00:00 Article Views : 112 Written by : MOJE RAMOS-AQUINO, FPM
WE have a tendency to spoon-feed our coachee especially when we think we have all the answers. Effective coaching and mentoring asks questions, not provide answers.
Questions are very powerful tools and are very empowering. They work like magic. Here are some benefits of questioning and, from the book Co-Active Coaching (ISBN978-089106198-4) here are some examples:
Provocative questions make us think for ourselves and explore possibilities. Example, what do you want? What is it to have a full rich life? What is it to be powerful? What is it to be always present and punctual? What do you regret or resent? What are you unwilling to change? Where are you slowing down?
Questions encourage us to look at different perspective, different sides of the coin, so to speak. Example, what are possibilities? If you had your choice, what would you do? What are possible solutions? What will happen if you do, and what will happen if you dont? What options can you create?
They enable us to explore and look deeper, wider, intensively, extensively at the focal point. What is here that you want to explore? What part of the situation have you not yet explored? What other angles can you think of? What is just one more possibility? What are your other options?
They motivate, capture, hold and sustain attention and interest of our coachee. What do you need in order to reach your goals? What is the distinction between feeling good and fulfillment? Great goals are compelling; vague goals are forgotten. Which type are your goals? What is it to be undaunted? What is it to speak from and act from the heart? What is it to be tenacious? What is it to be passionate?
They are diagnostic tools to analyze readiness of our coachee and their difficulties in learning and doing the tasks at hand. How do you operate? What is choice? What is it to choose? What is the difference between a wish and a goal? What is present when you are at your best? What is your structure to win?
They help sort, organize, synthesize and evaluate data, information and lessons learned. What works? If you got it, what would you have? How do you know you have reached it? What is your conclusion? Hows this working? How would you describe it? What do you think this all amounts to? How would you summarize the effort so far?
Also, from data and information, questions can help the coachee generalize and find applications for lessons learned. If your life depended on taking actions, what would you do? Where do you go from here? What are your next steps?
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Effective coaching and mentoring through questions, not answers