Sport and the Growing Good

Coach Dusty Mattison is the highly-regarded head coach of the University of Wisconsin’s Lightweight Rowing program. We met at the Porter Boathouse, where she described 1.  Lessons she learned from her background in swimming; 2.  Teaching “the basics;” 3.  The importance of everyday steadiness; 4.  Some of her key organizational strategies; 5.  Her “practice binder” – and the down-to-the-minute practice plans that she develops; 6.  Why she utilizes email instead of apps for team communication; 7.  Her use of a “daily focus” for each practice session; 8.  Why she pumps music during early morning practice sessions; 9.  How organization at home affects her coaching; 10.  Developing a balance between coaching and family life; 11.  Finding the balance between technology and old-school work in training; 12.  Encouraging athletes to develop life skills; 13.  Weekly check-ins with individual athletes.

As the youth sports industry continues to rapidly grow throughout the US, Professor Bell warns us of some problems with the athletics pipeline. He discusses: 1.  What should parents and youth coaches know about sport? 2.  What are the impacts of physical activity in youth and young adulthood years? There are widespread physical and social effects. 3.  Why are more and more kids dropping out of sports at younger ages? 4.  What is the definition of youth sport specialization? What does “highly specialized” mean? How is this different from just being a “single sport” athlete? 5.  What does puberty have to do with specialization? What should parents know? 6.  Why are there higher rates of specialization among young female athletes? 7.  The importance of the triad between coach, parent, and athlete in creating a healthy sporting experience. 8.  Recommendations: delaying specialization as long as possible; play on one team at a time; don’t play a single sport more than eight months per year – especially before puberty; play a sport no more hours per week than your age; and take two days off per week. 9.  What can college-level coaches and leaders do to help foster a healthy pipeline? 10.  Previous injury predicts future risk.

Coach visited with us to describe the many details he addressed when taking over a struggling Wisconsin football program in the early 1990s: 1.  Before taking a new job as a coach, you better have a real clear idea of what is expected of you by the leaders who hired you. “Where is the program today, and how are you going to support me?” You have to know the lay of the land before you take a job. 2.  The importance of identifying and securing the players you need and winning over their coaches. “The best players in the state weren’t staying here.” “I knew I had to win over the state high school coaches… I told them, ‘your program is important…You can visit anytime.’” 3.  How off-the-field problems affect on-field performance. 4.  Develop a thorough plan on how you are going to run your program. 5.  Figure out the best recruits you can get at your school – those that are athletic, academic, and geographic fits. 6.  Before you take the job, establish a detailed list of coaches you will try to bring with you. Know what kind of staff you want and get the staff you need. 7.  You have to sell your plan to recruits and high school coaches – but also to your own new staff. 8.  You must communicate your plan to “every person who touches the program.” You must be clear and precise about what you expect of everyone. You have to implement the day-to-day expectations. “If you do things properly during the day, during the week, things will go well on Saturdays.” 9.  Develop a “staff policy book” that addresses every detail about what you want/expect regarding people’s behaviors and expectations, all the way down to the way you dress and the way you conduct meetings. 10.   Among your staff, develop a specific recruiting plan. “What are we selling? What does this place have to offer.” Deliver a coherent, cohesive message. 11.  Be very specific about the roles/expectations for each of the assistants – including their key roles in supporting the academic side of their players’ lives. 12.  Be clear and consistent as a staff about the way feedback is offered to players. 13.  The three questions every coach needs to know of his players: “Can I trust you?” “Are you committed?” “Do you care?” 14.  Develop a player policy book: What do you expect from your players? The importance of the “weekly truth statements.” 15.  The importance of maintaining success by staying hungry and not making compromises. 16.  Being honest with parents and players, including questions about playing time. 17.  Putting players in uncomfortable positions in practice in order to prepare them to perform in difficult situations. 18.  What Coach Alvarez learned from Bob Devaney, Hayden Fry, and Lou Holtz.

What happens when families and communities come together every weekend for youth sports games? SGG presents ten minutes of condensed Saturday morning basketball action. What do we hear in these ten minutes? 1. A community of volunteers coming together…running concessions, coaching, running the clock; 2. Parents meeting each other and developing relationships; 3. Young athletes cheering for each other and have fun playing a game together; 4. A kid getting a bloody nose; 5. Teammates communicating with each other and coordinating their actions on the court; 6. Parents cheering for their teams; 7. Coaches giving the players instruction, encouragement, and correction during the game...and across the years.

Yvette Healy is the head softball coach at the University of Wisconsin. She’s led the team to great heights during her ten years in Madison. Coach Healy discusses: 1.  The value of small group practice sessions; 2.  Why an indoor dirt field is important; 3.  Her daily routine – splitting time between the office and the field; 4.  One of her coaching models, Eugene Lenti; 5.  Building a competitive atmosphere; 6.  Developing belief on a team; 7.  Designing practices that are fun and competitive; 8.  Making players uncomfortable in drills; 9.  What coaches can learn from watching kids run the bases; 10.  The best advice she received from Barry Alvarez; 11.  Being more present to the team; 12.  Having “side-to-side” conversations with players; 13.  Modeling self-challenge; 14.  Building relationships off the field with the coaching staff.

Kelly Sheffield is the head coach of the University of Wisconsin's volleyball team. Fresh off a run to the national championship game, Coach Sheffield discusses: 1.  His initial team goals during his first season at Wisconsin in 2013; 2.  Why he chose to hold a critical team meeting in the top corner of the field house; 3.  His purposeful design of the team’s locker room; 4.  The messages that are conveyed by different spaces where the team gathers; 5.  The film room’s “classroom” feel; 6.  Player seating in the film room; 7.  His “goulash” style of learning from other coaches; 8.  Being unafraid to ask questions; 9.  How to make large amounts of information simple and useable for the team; 10.  How he utilizes the days and weeks immediately following the season; and 11.  Preparing for top rivals’ specific strengths and strategies.

Chris Clark is the head coach of the men's rowing team at the University of Wisconsin. Reflecting on his years as leader and competitor across the world, he discusses: 1. Dwelling on failures (7:04). 2. Eliminating impediments (11:50) 3. The myth of Sysiphus and the momentum of a team (12:20) 4. Multi-sport athletes who "know they know nothing" (16:00) 5. The value of athletes with "the right attitude" (19:55) 6. Finding his first rowing mentors at Orange Coast College, the national team, and beyond (25:00) 7. Reassessing coaches years after being on their teams (27:45) 8. Oxford Coach Mike Spracklen's patience with young "Heater" Clark... and the lessons Heater learned (28:20) 9. Coaching at Navy...while delivering pizzas (33:50) 10. His perspective that "nobody is above or below anything" (34:30)