My class experience

This class has taught me about something I would not have learned otherwise. It was interesting to learn about coaching styles and how athletes learn to thrive. The different coaching styles are noticed on the field but to learn the technical terms was cool. Watching my sports now is more involved because I am actually diagnosing how it could get better or how a coach can get more out of those players. I feel more coaches should think of taking a class like this to tailor their work to their players. I didn't play sports a child so I didn't get the things my children will gain from their experiences. I enjoyed the class, I think that is something I'm interested in looking into.

Youth coaches...from a mom's view

As a mom of a child playing youth football, it is important to make sure the coach is taking cRedit of him learning the game, but also the unspoken skills from team sports. Children gain self esteem, leadership skills, social skills, and team building. As a parent, I want to make sure the coach is not too hard but also not too soft. The coach has to learn the players and see what skills are needing to be built in the children and then know how to put that in the child. Most think little league coaching is end easy but it is an involved job and even requires training at times. When I watch my son at his first game, I saw a change in him that was funny. My son will be 6 on monday but he matured that day. He was smiling on the way to the field but came back with a grid iron look on his face. :) And he was still adorable. But the coach he has is great with their age teaching the sport and seeing the boys on the bench talking after a play or huddling up to get the next play, there had been some things built in the boys during practice that they showed at this game. The coach is a motivational coach, he gives positive feedback and corrects them when they are wrong. There is some hustle involved where he gives to then some tough love, but it's enough that the boys understand and do not get mad. This coaching is good for my son, a balance. The boys won 19-0! Their next game is today and hopefully it will be just as good.

Team changes and Loyalties...is this a trend in society?

As I see the changes made during the off season, one changes in particular makes me wonder about our society as a whole. When the Broncos took on Peyton Manning, leaving Tim Tebow moving to the Jets, what does that say to players who stay with the teams they start with and retire from them? Is there a becoming a fad in the NFL, in our lives? No matter how much of an asset you are to the team or how much of a bond created, it is time to move. After 14 seasons for Peyton, it just makes me wonder where is the commitment and stick-ability people showed to anything they started. This crosses the football board, it goes into everything. You have sports moves like Lebron James and his move to Miami and going into jobs saying you are complacent after being there for several years. This can even go into families with the rate of divorce being at one of its highest. Thing I seem to miss is what happened to people showing an ability to have loyalties and society welcomes it. My mom was told that being on a job too long showed laziness or being content with where you are. Gone are the days when being in one job for years is a good thing. Now it is necessary to move. I have met people that have had several teams in a life time or can say they have more than one team they go for. That is ridiculous. Where is your loyalty? What happened to one team, your blood running that color? I know mine does, bleeds COWBOY blue and no other team can take that away. I admire other players on teams but nothing makes me want to jump on this two team band waggon. I just wonder is this becoming a fad in our society, is this being taught to our children? At the end of the day, loyalties go beyond the field, they come into our homes and jobs as well.

UNC - fail...

UNC played Kansas last weekend a good game that was tied at the half and could have went either way. At the end, with three minutes left, Kansas shut down Carolina's scoring and took over the game. It was a good game. The players played with a great deal of enthusiasm as you could tell they were playing for their spots in the championship. One of the biggest things I noticed is the crowd. The fans, especially Carolina were so good about cheering on their team and it seemed as thought the team felt that energy and played to it. Once the clock started to go the other way, the crowd still cheered for their Tarheels. Unfortunately fan enthusiasm wasn't enough. AT the end of the game, the Jayhawks were the victor and rightly so. They played an amazing game. Those last three minutes displayed them being in the zone, as we talked about in class. They played as one team, with one pulse and that is what wins games. No matter how many Carolina blue shirts and hats and face paints were in the stands, playing like that is why they won that game. Congrats to them as they move on to play Ohio State on Saturday. As a former student at NC State, as our fight song says...GO TO HELL, CAROLINA!!!! LOL Sorry, good game.

My son's Football Practice

Watching my son's football practice was so amazing to me. He is 5 and this is his first time playing. He has been involved in soccer and Karate, but this is the first team sport I have seen him show so much excitement for. The kids are all so tiny, of course from a mom's view. They are all little sponges, looking to their coaches to show them the way. The coaches are patient and work with their ages. I did notice that the coaches were trying to get to know the kids by watching them. They observed the kids actions as they went through different drills, seeming like they were watching for strengths and weaknesses. After a child would do a drill and get it wrong, the coaches encourage him to get back in line to try again. When a child got it right, out side of their own congratulatory dances and excitement, the coaches patted the boys on the back and clapped but not too much as to encourage the next child to try as well. My son jumped up and down for about a minute after a passing drill where he was quarterback. LOL! It was a nice balance. Motivation is vital for this age, it would seem, as well as knowing the players. With children that young, it is easy to break their spirits or make the kids feel like they are not good enough, but the coaches experience with the age group must make them very aware of how to handle these little ones. The older kids were not as lucky. The coaches were harder on them, expecting them to do and know certain things. The push on these kids were harder, but I could still identify that the coaches knew their players. One kid didn't get it and he was told to come on a little harsher than the other child may have been. This kid responded well to it and did the drill perfectly the next time. The child that needed more coddling was pulled to the side to work with another coach to get it right. I think at the age level these kids are, beginner and ones that played before, the key is knowing the type of player you have and how they respond to different types of motivation.