Sport and the Growing Good

Wquinton “Q” Smith was a standout football and basketball player at Rufus King High School in Milwaukee before becoming a point guard for the University of Wisconsin’s Men’s Basketball team. Q joined the SGG podcast, where we discussed: 1.  What Rufus King is known for: academics and basketball. 2.  The “Wall of Fame” at King. 3.  The neighborhood surrounding King High School. 4.  What makes King such a good school. “Everybody takes pride in it.” 5.  Playing football in the Neighborhood Children’s Sports League growing up. “It prepared me.” 6.  Why Q nearly quit football after his freshman year of high school. 7.  What Q didn’t like about football. 8.  Sub-par facilities and equipment for the football team at King. 9.  How King’s identity as an academic and basketball school may have served as a barrier to the team’s football program. 10.  “If you build it, they will come.” 11.  Why some kids at King couldn’t go out for football. 12.  Dwindling football participation across the country. 13.  Building character and friendships through football. 14.  “Football helped me branch out and meet different people…Once I started playing football, I started opening up to people and trusting people more. And I brought that with me to UW-Madison.” 15.  Ensuring all kids opportunities for out of school sport development.

Art Rainwater was the superintendent of the Madison Metropolitan School District from 1998 until 2008. He later served as a revered faculty member in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Art was formerly a football coach in Arkansas and Texas, as well as a school principal in Alabama. In this SGG episode, we discussed: 1.  His high school football and basketball coaches being “people I could talk to.” 2.  Starting a little league in his Arkansas hometown. 3.  Why he asked the coach of his college if he could join the team as a scout team member: “You really need to experience the things you’re asking people to do.” 4.  Keeping in touch with players he coached 55 years ago. 5.  The school administrator in Texas who first recognized his administrative potential, and the innovative way he prepared Art for a leadership role. 6.  In the coach-player relationship, “kids see through you… you can only be honest if you’re going to be successful with them.” 7.  “The ability to lead is based solely on trust and trust can only occur if you’re truthful.” 8.  Success stories of families he’s worked with, including the Flowers family at LaFollette High School in Madison. 9.  What he looked for in building a leadership team. 10.  Non-negotiable beliefs. 11.  Providing developmental and leadership opportunities for members of your staff. 12.  His daily routines as a leader, including detailed planning, early starts, and generous time allotted each week for individual team members. 13.  Carving out time for reflection. 14.  Being conscious of power in relationships.

Mark Lusic is a teacher and the head football coach at Amherst High School in Wisconsin. By developing an intensive weight training program, developing deep relationships, and building a winning culture, he’s led Amherst to four state championships and built one of the most respected programs in the state. In this episode of SGG, we discuss: 1.  Learning from Coach John Koronkiewicz about how to listen and develop relationships. 2.  Does “scheme” win games? (no) What does? 3.  Make your average players good, your good players great, and your great players “studs.” 4.  What does the team talk about in the weight room? 5.  Developing a team identity, sticking to it, and putting time into practicing it. 6.  The 600, 800, and 1000 pound clubs. 7.  How kids develop confidence through weightlifting. (see excerpt from student essay below) 8.  Kids needing football more than football needs them. 9.  Asking kids to “pay it forward” one day. 10.  It’s all about the players. 11.  Why he asks his team, “Are you satisfied?” after each game. 12.  His annual “life review.” 13.  Knowing what to do on 3rd and 1. 14.  Being ok with not always knowing the answer right away.

Coach Don Julian led Sheridan High School in Wyoming to five state championships and, before that, coached Riverton High School to four state titles. He was also formerly a member of the University of Wyoming’s football coaching staff. Even more than wins on the field, he is widely known as an exemplary developer of leaders. Coach Julian, currently the athletic director at Sheridan, continues to inspire leaders of all levels. As Wisconsin coaches examine how they can impact lives and communities through sports, much can be learned from Coach Julian. In this SGG episode, we discussed: 1.  Growing up on a sheep ranch in Kemmerer, WY (the ranch is now on its fifth generation in the family). 2.  Learning loyalty, independence, and ownership on the family ranch. 3.  Ownership: “Unless you own it, you can’t really give it away…Nothing that’s really important to us is given for free.” 4.  The huge span of territory covered by a range sheep operation in Wyoming. 5.  Learning from his grandmother: “Most of her knowledge came from working with animals.” 6.  The importance of leadership – but lack of true understanding/teaching about what it actually is. “We’ll teach them everything about a handoff… But we’ll yell at a kid and tell him to be a leader when, quite frankly, we don’t teach him how to lead.” 7.  “I think we need to plan for leadership.” 8.  “As the seniors go, the season goes.” The importance of the leadership process leading up to senior year. 9.  Taking seniors to the mountains right before fall camp. 10.  Running a “transformational” leadership program built on purpose statements. 11.  Defining the “why?” 12.  Our purpose here is to help kids become great men. 13.  The importance of writing in leadership development, including the value of journaling. 14.  Using break-out sessions to engage kids on various leadership topics. 15.  Creating such a relationship that “we don’t want to let each other down.” 16.  Prior to taking the field, the team is reminded: “Believe in yourself. Believe in the guy next to you. Believe in the plan.” 17.  The “Nissi Flag:” “When the kids are in the battle of the game, and they grow tired and weary, they can look to the sideline and see their team and the Nissi Flag.” 18.  “Bronc football is life-changing.” 19.  The annual “person of influence” night. 20.  One of the most special moments of his coaching career: one of his player’s baptisms, when most of the team showed up. 21.  Success stories. 22.  The necessity of adversity: “I don’t think we can get anything done in life without handling adversity.” 23.  Coming together at the end of every practice and game to identify something specific that they saw a teammate do well that day.

Bruce Larson is the head football coach at Somerset High School. He’s recognized as one of the best in state of Wisconsin and, actually, in the whole country, having won the Don Shula National High School Coach of the Year award in 2015. Coach is renowned for winning championships on the field and, more importantly, instilling life-long values and habits in those who play for him. In this episode of the SGG podcast, we discussed: 1.  Somerset as a working class community. 2.  Growing up on a dairy farm in Spring Valley, Wisconsin…where he learned to get things done. 3.  The impact of his high school coach, Bob Thomas – how he made his players feel and the time he invested in them. 4.  UW-River Falls coach Mike Farley. 5.  “Don’t worry about winning – just do it the right way and things will be ok.” 6.  Arriving at Somerset in 1987 as an assistant coach to Brad Nemec. 7.  When everything “fell apart” during his third year as head coach, writing down everything he didn’t like in the program. 8.  DW Rutledge and Dennis Parker, two of his coaching influences. 9.  “What you see is what you coach.” 10.  “If you don’t like it, change it.” The coach is the person in charge. 11.  Using Army values in his program. “Everything we do is built around that.” 12.  “What it comes down to more than anything is attitude.” 13.  “The world is full of educated derelicts.” 14.  The Friday morning routines with the team. 15.  The army transforming a person “into a machine” in 14 weeks. 16.  2002 state semi-finals vs Auburndale: kids falling back on what they know best. 17.  Making changes to the weight training program. 18.  The coaching advice to his sons – it starts with relationships. 19.  When “what you believe in got beat” it hurts. 20.  What makes Wisconsin football unique: tough, hard-nosed kids. Ass-kickers.

Devonte Windham, a graduate of the University of Missouri Law School, is an assistant state public defender in the Madison Trial Office. Originally from the Chicago area, Devonte coaches youth football with the Southside Raiders program in Madison. The Raiders are in their 50th year -- and are widely regarded as one of Madison's excellent community-based youth sports programs. In this episode of the SGG podcast, we discussed: 1.  The role and benefit in his life growing up. 2.  One of his early influential coaches, Coach Kennedy. “He was one of the first coaches who took an interest in my academic realm.” 3.  Seeking out the Southside Raiders program when he was new to Madison. 4.  The historical tradition of the Raiders. 5.  How being part of the Raiders has assisted his transition to the Madison community. 6.  Periodic intersections of his work and youth football life. 7.  The importance of family engagement in youth sports. 8.  Challenges associated with youth football. 9.  A success story with a particular family amid a very difficult time.

Dr. M. Alison Brooks is a professor in the Department of Orthopedics in the Division of Sports Medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She played college soccer for one of the all-time college sports dynasties: the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. She is currently a team physician for several UW sports teams and the Associate Director of Concussion and Nutrition Research for the Badger Athletic Performance Program. She joined the SGG podcast to discuss groundbreaking concussion research and football. We discussed: 1.  The role sports played in her life growing up. 2.  The importance of kids having structure in their days. 3.  Studying and playing soccer at the University of North Carolina. 4.  How she ended up pursuing sports medicine. 5.  What makes the concussion study unique, including its size: 45,000+ participants. 6.  An important finding: when athletes delay reporting of their head injury, it costs them more time in the long-run. “They have more severe symptoms and they take longer to get better.” 7.  Another important finding: longer return to play times may result in less frequent repeat concussions. 8.  The majority of athletes who suffer concussions in sports probably don’t develop CTE. 9.  Just having athletes sit and rest for long periods of time isn’t best for recovery. More pro-active rehab approaches are better, including exercise for treatment. 10.  We don’t yet have a definitive test that says, “You have a concussion.” 11.  How do you go about behavior change to better address brain injuries in sports? “It starts with the coach.” 12.  Developing a healthy team culture around head injuries. 13.  “I think we have to be careful about focusing on only the negative and only the risks. Sometimes that gets lost in the discussion…There are research documented benefits of sports…Including reduced risk-taking behavior and leadership, self-esteem, and confidence.” 14.  “There are ways we can reduce risks.” 15.  “There’s not a reason to have lots of contact to the head at a young age.” 16.  Evidence that cumulative number of head impacts (“hit count”) matters. 17.  The joy of working with Wisconsin student-athletes. 18.  The UW athletics administration having the student’s best interest in mind.

Matt Molle is a long-time head football coach and teacher at Seymour High School in Wisconsin. Coach Molle’s success as a coach is well-documented, but many people don’t know how important his roots in the mill town of Niagra were on his trajectory. On this SGG episode, we discussed: 1.  Growing up in Niagra, Wisconsin. “You had a lot of people in your corner.” 2.  The influence his dad and other coaches had on his early development. 3.  Common attributes of the best coaches: Building relationships. “You have to get them to know you care before they care about what you teach them.” 4.  I always admired and respected that my dad made time for everyone.” 5.  Learning “the grinder mentality” as an assistant coach. 6.  How a principal served as an important mentor to him. 7.  Seymour football: Trust, Commitment, Care 8.  “If you’re a person that can trust others and be trusted; If you can show that you care and you’re committed to a cause… it doesn’t matter if we’re talking about football, being a husband, father, brother, whatever the case may be, you’re going to be ok.” 9.  Leadership classes in the spring. 10.  Showing what “the TCC” look like (videos, pictures, discussions, etc.) 11.  Using TCC for evaluation of the team. 12.  “You’re wearing #4. Let me tell you about these guys who wore #4 before you…” 13.  How he’s changed over the years: “I’ve become more reflective.” 14.  Another change: structure of practice. 15.  How he reflects: with his wife, writing things down, end of year debriefing, taking moments to acknowledge the present moments. 16.  Balancing the various roles in his life. 17.  Routines: early rise and workout; dog walk; quiet lunch period. 18.  His relationship with his former players. 19.  “It’s ok to say ‘I love you.’” 20.  “If all we’ve done is teach you football, we’ve failed.” 21.  Officiating the weddings of former students and athletes.

Coach Dave Keel earned Hall of Fame distinction in both football and softball during his 30+ years of teaching and head coaching at Homestead High School in Wisconsin. Coach Keel is known broadly for his wins on the field, including six football state championships. But those who know Coach Keel are even more impressed by his care for the young people he led. On this SGG episode, we discussed: 1.  Growing up playing football at Milwaukee Hamilton High School and UW-LaCrosse. 2.  Learning from Coach Phil Datka at Germantown High School and from John Brody at Homestead. 3.  Common attributes of his mentors: their love of the young people. 4.  Developing the tenets of his program. 5.  One tenet: Getting the most people on the field as possible. “We’re going to have 22 really committed players.” 6.  A second tenet: Get the community involved. 7.  His role within the broader school community. 8.  What makes football unique: it’s uniquely American and it’s significant in our culture and it embodies what our lives are like. “You’ve got two choices when you get knocked down. You can roll over and say, ‘Dang it!’ and walk off the field or you can get up, dust yourself off a little and say.’Hey, I’m going to do my best not to get knocked down again.’” 9.  The social component: Learning to work well with other people through sports. 10.  A difference he’s observed between girls teams and boys teams. 11.  Community impacts of his program. 12.  His efforts in making football safer with USA Football’s Heads Up program: “We’ve seen a tremendous buy-in.” 13.  How he’s changed as a coach over the years. 14.  The leadership skills program he developed at Homestead. 15.  Learning about developing a leadership program from Coach Craig Bohl. 16.  Conflict and “the skill of listening.” 17.  The listening activity he used with his program. 18.  Listening and empathy as being at the heart of conflict resolution. 19.  “Listen with your eyes.” 20.  Recognizing the impact that coaches have upon young people. “Coach, you don’t know this, but for the last four years, you were my father.” 21.  “Every one of these coaches, has that young person on your team…You need to recognize that those little folks out there, there’s more than one that really needs you more than they need the sport… Recognize that and use that to help young people become successful.”

Following up on episode #66 with Zander Neuville, we have Zander's coach from Waupaca High School in Wisconsin, John Koronkiewicz. "Coach Koronk" served as a coach and teacher at Waupaca High School for 40 years. He spent 24 years as head coach of the baseball program and 32 years as head coach of the football program. He was elected into the WFCA High School Coaches’ Hall of Fame and also into the National High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame. Coach Koronk won many championships over the years and is respected by coaches across the state. Coach is admired by former players, families, and community members for his positive impact over the years. In this episode (a re-edit of episode 30), we discussed: 1.Playing football for Wisconsin Hall of Famers Jerry Schliem and Russ Young. 2. Growing up playing sports on the farm. 3. His emphasis on creating a positive, fun environment during his initial years at Waupaca—and his emphasis on developing lessons that could be used for life. 4. Leaving the field in a positive mood each day. 5. “Attitude, character, enthusiasm, team.” 6. Playing the Beach Boys on Friday afternoons in the classroom. 7. Being yourself, not faking it, and having a passion for the game. 8. Creating the team as a “home away from home.” 9. Coaching as a gift. 10. Finding a niche for each player – and the coaches “owing it” to each player to get him on the field with a meaningful role. 11. Working in the best interest of the kids by being honest and caring. 12. Coaching as a service to others – not an enhancement of one’s own ambitions. 13. Continuing to learn, even amid long periods of success. “Losing can become a habit – as can winning.” 14. Building a program that the community could be proud of. 15. Doing the best you can and setting a good example for kids. 16. Being proud of and keeping friendships with past players and assistant coaches, including Amherst’s Mark Lusic. 17. The identity of Wisconsin football.