By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

We never realize how good our parents are until we become parents ourselves.

Growing up, I always knew that I had an incredible Dad who lived an amazing life.

At various times in my childhood, I learned that Dad played college football for Purdue University, played pro football for the Chicago Bears and even fought in the Korean War as a proud member of the United States Marine Corps.

Dad had a bald head, biceps that looked like cannon balls, and a voice that sounded like thunder from Mount Olympus.

If I chose one adjective to describe Dad, it would have to be strong. His feats of strength at times seemed almost super human while I was growing up.

When contractors unearthed a couple of boulders in back of our house in Indiana, Dad decided they would look good in our back yard. He talked it over with the builders, and they said we could have the boulders if Dad could get them to our yard.

Dad went “World Strongest Man” style on it and rolled the boulders into our backyard all by himself.

When we wanted a basketball hoop in our driveway at the same house, Dad mixed the concrete, set the pole, then attempted to hang the backboard using our family’s wobbly wooden later.

Dad would never admit this himself, but he was pretty handy around the house. Unfortunately, the ladder collapsed and the backboard slammed on to the top of Dad’s head. As he stemmed the bleeding with a handkerchief, the five kids went running for the house absolutely sure that we weren’t going to have a basket.

But Dad was never wired to quit. He walked around to the back yard and single-handedly lifted our full-sized picnic table up by wedging one edge against his waist and waddling around to the driveway. He stood on the table and finished the job. He threw open the door to the house and yelled in that huge voice, “Who wants to shoot some baskets?”

The strongest I have ever seen my Dad, however, has been displayed over the past six years.

In August 2007, Dad had three rods and eight screws inserted into his back, fusing his bottom five vertebrae. He spent weeks at a rehab center, being nursed back to health by the love of his life and wife of 49 years, Florence.

Eventually, Dad was healthy enough to return home from the rehab center.

What he was not prepared for was the next day when Mom had to enter the hospital with a mysterious swelling in her throat around her thyroid. Dad, who still could not walk after his surgery, watched as the only woman he had ever loved, died 10 days later in the hospital.

At the funeral service, Dad was in a wheel chair while the kids tended to his needs, and I remember him gathering us in the vestibule of the church where he and Mom had been attending Mass for the previous 11 years.

“I know all of you are sad, but we’re all going to hold it together for your mother,” He said.

In the months that followed, Dad learned to walk again and worked to rehabilitate his body.

It was the strongest I had ever seen Dad.

That is until he proved to be even stronger two years later.

That’s when my brother, Rock, was diagnosed with follicular lymphoma.

Dad abandoned his life in Indiana and moved in with my brother in Greenville, North Carolina. He was there for every chemotherapy session and every radiation treatment. He celebrated good white blood cell counts and supported my brother through the long, dark journey that eventually ended in his death three years ago.

Now, as Dad settles in to this next phase of his life, still the only adjective that comes to mind is his indomitable strength.

He uses a walker to get around the house, he’s in a wheel chair when he goes to a movie or out to eat, but he remains the epitome of strength.

When I want to complain about the inconveniences of life or complications at work, I think of all that Dad has endured in these past six years.

He has a will that refused to break when fate took away two of the most precious people in his life.

As I hold my daughter close on this Father’s Day and enjoy a delicious meal cooked by my wife, I’ll be thinking of my Dad, who proves to me every day that we can get stronger as we get older.

Time to go make a phone call…

By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

“Every battle is won or lost before it is ever fought.” – Sun Tzu The Art of War

Great advice is timeless.

This quote by Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese general estimated to have lived about 500 BCE, emphasizes the importance of planning.

One common feature among all athletes is that every one of us wants to win on game day. However, when you reference General Sun Tzu’s quote, we realize that game day is too late. Our success will lie in the quality of the plan we have developed and our devotion to training.

As a coach, quality planning will give you several advantages.

1. Efficiency – Practice time is limited, so you must be sure to use what little time you have to yield the highest rewards with your team. Effective planning will help you make great use of your most precious resource – time.

2. Strategy – a good plan includes an analysis of your opponent’s strengths and weaknesses. By taking the time to identify these traits before competition, you will have a clear purpose in your preparation and a roadmap to success when it’s time to perform.

3. Teaching – When coaches have a sound practice plan, it frees them up to concentrate on teaching the technical skills needed to perform the critical tasks associated with the sport. Coaches who don’t have a plan will be trying to make up drills on the spot and will project uncertainty to their team, never a good situation.

4. Flexibility – this advantage may seem counterintuitive, but it is easier to adjust your strategy if you had a good plan in place. Planning produces clear vision, and if something is not working, that clarity of vision will help you see exactly what is wrong, and you will have the ability to adjust from there.

5. Confidence – A coach with a good plan is more confident, and when a team senses that a coach feels optimistic about a game, the team will follow suit.

A quality plan combined with a true devotion to training will put all teams on the best possible path to success. I’m a firm believer that the better a coach’s plan, the more enthusiastically the team will embrace the physical and mental strain that comes with training.

Teams that are highly motivated are reflective of coaches who embody the same characteristic.

So develop your plan, coach it with enthusiasm and give yourself a great chance at success.

By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

There is a Nike advertising campaign based on the statement “There is no off season.”

The message centers on the concept of working hard – an important quality for all athletes and coaches. In our quest to outwork our opponents, however, we can’t lose sight of taking time to recharge our batteries.

We need to take a break, and we need to let our athletes have some time away from the sport as well.

As we continue to devote our time to serving others, many times we forget to take care of ourselves.  The summer can be a good time to do this.

Here’s a short list to get you started.

Reconnect with your family – there are countless relationships that have been destroyed in the wake of coaches who are passionate about their craft.

The off season is the time to devote yourself to your family and reconnect with your spouse and children. They will support you if they know that somewhere down the line they will have your undivided attention. The off season is a good time to give it to them.

Work out – Coaching can consume your mind and your body. The off season is a good time to improve your physical conditioning for the next year. It’s hard to keep your energy at a high level if you’re not in good shape. Now that your schedule is a little less packed, use that time to exercise.

Eat right – Another great way to take care of yourself is eating right. All of us have experienced the great feeling that comes with eating a healthy diet.

It makes us wonder why we ever deviate from the plan by resorting to the convenience that junk food offers. Eating right will not only make your body feel better, but it will improve how feel about yourself as well.

Go the doctor – You owe it to yourself, your family, and your team to make sure all is well with your health. Get a physical, see the dentist, and make sure that all your parts are functioning properly. Take your health seriously.

Think big thoughts – Now is the time to dream big. When you are out on a run or lying by the pool allowing your mind to drift, begin picturing the big idea for your program. When you create the giant vision, the steps you take toward making it a reality will improve your program.

Take time to reflect – Our world is packed with noise and activity so relish the opportunity to be silent and still. Look inward to connect with the reasons why you coach and why you coach the way that you coach. As you discover more about yourself, you will have more of an impact on your team.

In a profession so rooted in service, coaches easily neglect themselves as they focus on their athletes.

When your off season comes (whenever that may be), it is our hope that you will remember to take some time to take care of yourself. It will be one of the best decisions you make.

By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

How you end a season will be almost as important as how you begin a season. In fact, it might even be more memorable.

The end of a sports season provides an excellent opportunity to emphasize for your players one more time the lessons that you tried to teach them throughout the year.

Most of us have some fond memories about banquets or final words of appreciation from a coach. The end of a season has a natural sense of gravity that will add weight to what you say and do.

Be sure you get the message right.

Here are a few tips for good ways to wrap up your season.

• Stay positive – If you have a banquet, say only positive comments about players. Your message might be the last one a player hears from you, so make sure you are building your players up. Avoid making the mistake of saying something negative in your effort to say something positive such as, “Even though Johnny could be a handful at times, he was a good addition to our team.” Johnny will remember being a handful, not that he was good for the team.
• Focus on the Team – Avoid giving out individual awards if you emphasized playing as a team all year. By my third year coaching, I realized that Most Valuable Player awards flew in the face of the team concept I was trying to build.
• Connect to the Future – It is never too early to teach the younger players how to be leaders. Have the players who are moving on write out advice to the players who will be returning. Save those throughout the years and pretty soon you will have great advice from one generation of players to the next.
• Celebrate your Relationships – Allow the players to revel in the friendships that they have formed this season, and while you’re at it, be sure to take a moment yourself to appreciate the bond your team has built.
• Leave Nothing Unsaid – If you have a message you want the athletes to hear, be sure you tell them. We have more wisdom inside of our hearts and minds than we’ll ever know, so share it with your team.

Saying goodbye can be a difficult, emotion filled moment especially if you are coming off of one of those special seasons that no one wants to end.

Having a great celebration ceremony will bring closure to the season and send your players off with one more powerful life lesson backed with an experience that will build them up for a long time to come.

By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

Transformational Coaches Central Coast builds its philosophy off of the work described by Joe Ehrmann in his groundbreaking book InSideOut Coaching: How Sports Can Transform Lives.

One of Ehrmann’s most useful documents is his Coach’s Code of Conduct. It is listed in his book and available for free download from his Coach for America website: http://www.coachforamerica.com/images/stories/pdfs/coc_coach.pdf

The code of conduct begins with a mission statement that would be great for any program or coach to adopt, “The purpose of my coaching is to: help boys become men and girls become women of empathy and integrity who will lead, be responsible, and change the world for good.”

The mission is a big one, but why else would anyone coach?

When people coach for a purpose other than the one described above, their coaching drifts into the realm of self-satisfaction. Once this occurs, coaches run the risk of abandoning their principles to fulfill their desires.

Ehrmann’s Coach’s Code of Conduct keeps a coach focused on her role of serving the players in her charge. Here are a few more lines from the code:

• I am mindful to never shame a player, but to correct in an uplifting way. Affirmation!
• Parents are our partners. I strive to work with each family in helping their child succeed. “Every boy is a son, every girl a daughter to their mother and father.”
• My job is to put players in a position where they can develop to their fullest potential through proper teaching and nurturing.

And finally…

• Because I am a role model who has the power, position and platform to make a positive difference in the lives of my players, I commit to this code of conduct. When failing to live up to our standards I will allow for accountability and take responsibility for my actions.

At the very least, we recommend that coaches read through Ehrmann’s Code of Conduct.

It serves as a wonderful blueprint for how to treat the athletes on your team. No matter how much you teach an athlete about techniques related to your sport, the lasting memories will all be related to how you treated the players.

You will either leave scars or make them feel like stars.

The influence of a coach lasts a lifetime. Because many athletes eventually become coaches themselves, your impact on your players may even carry over into the next generation of players.

We encourage you to adopt a philosophy focused on the well being of your players first. This way you will ensure that the lasting image your players have is a positive one.

By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

One of the true pleasures of having a nine-year-old daughter is that you wind up watching some movies that you otherwise would never see.

This weekend it was High School Musical.

For those of you who have not had the pleasure, the plot revolves around a high school basketball player who is leading his team to the state championship, but he is hiding a secret from the rest of the world.

He wants to sing.

The conflict comes in the main character’s struggle to break free from the established role of being the school’s star athlete to become the lead in the school musical.

The movie reminded me of the two most pressure packed tryouts of my life.

The first was when I auditioned for our advanced chorus in 8^th grade. The second was when I tried out for the varsity football team my freshman year in high school.

Not too many people know that I sang in our 8^th grade chorus, but I guess it’s public knowledge now.

We were called the “Pioneers of Music,” our them song was I Believe in Music, and we performed at Disneyland during the spring wearing shirts modeled on Luke Skywalker’s tunic in Star Wars.

With a knot in my stomach and a lump in my throat, I auditioned to This Land is Your Land.

I never imagined that experience would come in handy the following fall when I had the opportunity to try out for the varsity football team at Salpointe Catholic High School in Tucson, Ariz., but it did.

Our team was reaching the end of preseason practice, and when I walked into the locker room, the veteran players were waiting for me, standing around a step stool, and smiling.

The knot returned to my stomach; the lump re-emerged in my throat as they handed me the lyrics to our school song and waited for me to embarrass myself.

Fortunately for me the tune was the same as the Notre Dame Victory March, a song that I learned growing up soon after I had learned to speak.

With the sheet of paper shaking in my hands, I blasted the first line of the song as loud as I could, “We’re gonna tell you something tonight, about the team that you’re gonna fight…”

The laughing faces converted to expressions of surprise. By the time I hit the final lines, “Win or lose we’ll stick together, onward to victory!” the locker room exploded in a roar and the veterans had fire in their eyes.

I learned the power of being well rounded that day.

Be sure to always encourage your players to pursue excellence in the classroom, to write computer code or poetry, to sing or dance or bake. It will make them complete players and allow them to tap into a part of their being they might have otherwise never known existed.

After singing the school song in the locker room that day, I led our team and our school in the lyrics at every rally for the subsequent four years.

Lucky for me, I had the training throughout a year of chorus in eighth grade.

Even luckier for me, I have a nine-year-old daughter who watches movies that remind me of the importance of being well-rounded.

By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

None of us like to imagine it, but eventually, we all have to face it.

Defeat.

A good coach plans for every occasion, so it is important to consider how you will handle defeat when your team confronts it.

Here are a few guidelines that I have picked up throughout the years.

1. Love Them When you Lose – Many young coaches make the mistake of chastising their team when they lose and showering their team with affection when they win. You need to take a different approach. When your team loses, you need to be supportive because they are in a vulnerable state where their confidence is in jeopardy and team chemistry is at risk. This is when they need you the most. Do not turn your back on them. Ever.

2. Don’t make any excuses – Whenever you lose a game, it is for one simple reason: the other team played better than you. It’s not because you made too many mistakes, it’s not because of referees calls, and it’s not because you beat yourself. Give your opponent credit for winning the game. You will gain the respect of your team and the opposition at the same time.

3. Find something to praise – Not all victories can be seen on the scoreboard. If your team competed hard and improved, praise them for their effort. If they played with great sportsmanship, compliment them. If they have shown improvement, point out the positives. Tell them you are proud of them. Let them know that great effort will provide a foundation to build upon in the future.

4. Stay with the team concept – In your post game comments, explain to the team that it’s important for everybody to take responsibility for the outcome of the game. Then hold everyone accountable beginning with you. When you are the first person shouldering the responsibility for the result, it proves that you are strong enough to do so. You are modeling a rare trait in our society, for very few people will admit fault in any situation. From this position of strength, you can then speak about all areas of the team that need to be improved.

5. There is no Shame in Losing – Competing in a sport and putting yourself out there for others to judge is an act of courage and holding your head high after defeat shows your character. Teach your players not to sulk or hide their face in a towel when they lose. Instead, teach them to congratulate the victorious team and then learn from the experience so they can improve.

6. Define success the correct way – If your definition of success is tied directly to your record then your players’ self esteem will ebb and flow with defeats and victories. If, on the other hand, you define success in terms of your work ethic and your progress toward reaching your team’s potential, then you will not experience the wide emotional swings that accompany victory or defeat.

Finally, you will find out much more about yourself and your team after a defeat than you will after a victory. You find out how strong your team is when they are most vulnerable. You will discover how much they care about each other when times are tough. You will find out how much you love them, when that love is tested.

With some perseverance, you will emerge a better coach for having endured struggle and a better leader for your team having guided them through the dark days of defeat.

By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

The idea seemed crazy to me at the time, and I have to admit, that was part of the appeal.

I was in my fifth year as the head football coach at Pacific Grove High School, and we had strung together a number of successful seasons.

We had reached the point in our development where we knew we could win plenty of games. Winning felt great, but sooner or later many successful coaches come to the realization that sports can have a lifelong positive impact that will mean more to the players than a good record.

I had reached that point when I had the idea of turning our early season practices into a football camp that focused on teaching our young men to not only be better players but better people.

We would practice in the morning, send the players home for lunch. Then bring them back after lunch to listen to a guest speaker before the afternoon practice.

After the second practice, a group of devoted parents prepared dinner for our players, and then we would review our practice film before cutting our players loose at the end of the day, so they could rest and prepare to do it again the next day.

Most of that sounds pretty typical until you look at our guest speaker topics.

Understanding that football players have a poor reputation when it comes to sexual violence, we brought in a guest speaker from the Monterey Rape Crisis Center to educate our players on the responsibility they have to treat women with respect at all times.

We discussed the fact that sexual conquest does not define a man, but the quality of treatment of the people in a man’s life does.

We also brought in a guest speaker who worked with teens who were battling drug and alcohol abuse.

The speaker taught our players that many of the people he works with slipped into addiction when they had not noticed that partying became so frequent that their social lives revolved exclusively around it.

The mayor of Pacific Grove also made an appearance to explain to our players that they represented the city as well as the school. He told them that their contribution to our city’s image was an important one.

The concept of bringing in the guest speakers was pretty simple, and being brand new, I had the usual doubts that we all experience when we extend ourselves.

I was careful to explain to the players the reason why we were taking time out of our day to implement the speaker program was because we wanted them to be the best people they could be – not just the best players.

Like all of the risks I had taken with our team, the players loved it.

Taking the focus off of football and showing the players that we cared enough about them to discuss important issues proved that they were important to us.

It also sent a message that we expected them to grow into responsible leaders.

So the next time you have an idea rattling around in the back of your mind and you are excited by the possibilities it holds, give it a try – it just might be one of the best chances you ever take

By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

On this day when we remember our troops who have died in the service of our country and honor those who continue to ensure our freedom, it makes sense to reflect on what coaches can learn from the military.

The characteristics that make for a successful military unit transfer well into the world of sports.

Growing up, I did not realize how my dad’s service in the Marine Corps touched our family, but our defining family characteristic, loyalty, grows right out the Corps’ motto – Semper Fidelis (always faithful).

Soldiers rely on each other to survive combat, and in a much less threatening way, teammates count on each other during competition and families depend on each other to get through the trials of the day.

Another defining characteristic of our military that coaches can impart to their athletes is duty. By being a constant reliable presence in your athlete’s lives, coaches teach their players the importance of stability.

Duty is the knowledge that others are counting on you, and you will never let them down because of the team’s importance to you. The team’s importance grows out of the quality of relationships that have built on the team, not out of devotion to the game.

The power of duty lies in strength of the bond you have built with the people around you.

One of the awe inspiring aspects of the armed forces is discipline.

Watching a drill team perform with precision is a physical manifestation of the unity that forms within a group. That kind of discipline established trough a repeated routine is what teams need during a tight contest when nerves or panic threaten to take over their thoughts.

A related military trait is training.

The repetition involved in military training ingrains the necessary skills to fight a battle.

In a similar fashion, repeating techniques used in sports convert a learned behavior into a reflex. When this level of proficiency has been reached, an athlete no longer has to think about the technique. Muscle memory takes over and the technique becomes a natural aspect of performance.

Finally, perhaps the greatest lesson coaches can learn from our men and women in the armed forces is service.

We hold our soldiers in high regard because they are willing to literally place their lives on the line to uphold the rights and freedoms that we enjoy daily in our country.

When coaches view their role as an act of service to the athletes placed in their care, they truly begin to embody the ideals of transformational coaching.

As you pause to remember and appreciate our soldiers on the Memorial Day, remember that you too have the honor of serving your fellow Americans through coaching.

By Buck Roggeman, President of TCCC

The importance of teaching your athletes to compete hard seems obvious, yet players who try as hard as they can on every play are rare.

They always have been.

Most players think they are giving their best effort, but they do not truly know what an all out effort feels or looks like. Coaches play an important role in this regard, and how you teach a player to go all out will leave a lasting impact on the athletes you coach.

It’s important not to use shame or humiliation to motivate your teams to play with great effort. I have always regretted when I approached that line while coaching and wound apologizing for it later.

Playing hard is exhausting. Playing hard is rewarding.

The best part about playing with incredible effort, is that it does not require any physical talent whatsoever. It does, however, require something much more important, mental toughness.

There will be times in a game, or practice, where you are physically exhausted, and your body is telling your mind, “That’s it. We can’t go on another play.”

I wish I could report that I always worked through the wall of fatigue, but that would be a lie.

All of us have succumbed to this message at one time or another during our playing days and experienced the feeling of defeat that comes with it; however, most of us have also conquered this mental battle and reveled in the sense of accomplishment in beating back this demon.

The reality of the situation is that our athletes can compete in the face of exhaustion, and they can train themselves how to do so.

Here are five suggestions that might help when you are encouraging your troops to play hard.

1. Talk yourself into it – During a tough practice or game, your body and mind will begin having a debate. Your body will be sending your mind messages about how tired it is and how uncomfortable it is to keep playing hard. Your mind must have an answer for your body. Your mind needs to tell your body that we are in great shape, this isn’t so bad, and we’re going to get through this – one all out effort at a time.

2) Rest when you can – Most games will have some built in opportunities to rest, and you should take advantage of them. Penalties, timeouts, quarter changes, and any pause in the action include brief moments where you can catch your breath and prepare for the next play.

3) Practice it – By playing as hard as you can in practice, you will train yourself to play hard in the games. The more often you compete at your maximum capacity, the more your body and mind will get used to what intense effort feels like. You’ll never feel more comfortable when fatigue comes calling on your body, but you’ll have the confidence that you can work through it.

4) Take conditioning seriously – If your sport requires conditioning drills at the end of practice, have the right spirit about it. Participate completely with the knowledge that it will pay off during the games.

5) Stay in shape during the off season – Play other sports, go to off-season workouts, but stay active. A body at motion tends to stay in motion, and a body at rest tends to get soft and lazy. Keep moving and the health benefits will last your entire life.

Talking with your athletes about the challenge of working through fatigue will help them cope with the fear of being exhausted.

Then go with them to that limit, so they learn how much they can accomplish.