As I lead our MAE Coaching course - HPR 510 Coaching Character, this post from Dr. Fredric Neuman about the importance of character is timely (thanks for the tweet by Dr. Bruce Johnson). The reflection also raises the important discussion of defining success in life. As Christians, what defines a successful life? How do we go about pursuing the answer to this ongoing question?

The Secret of Success in Life -Not brains, good-looks, or even good luck | Psychology Today http://t.co/m6OlgHqtgV
— Dr. Bruce A. Johnson (@DrBruceJ) October 29, 2013

Coach Bum Phillips passes away at 90

Legendary football coach Bum Phillips passed away today at the age of 90.  Sports Illustrated writer Peter King shared a thought from Phillips typical of him - words that seem simple at first but over time are profound:

RIP Bum II: Said Bum Phillips: "Coaching is not how much you know. It's how much you can get players to do."
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) October 19, 2013

Bum was correct then and, perhaps, even more so now. In the era of saber-metrics and new levels of analysis, coaches can easily get caught up in valuing what they know more than what their athletes do.

Stanford University Head Football Coach David Shaw - Harbaugh he's not - ESPN

Last week (10/4/2013), ESPN Magazine's Molly Knight penned an interesting article on Standford University Head Football Coach David Shaw and his balanced, even keel approach to his career and guiding the Cardinal football program. In a world where coaches with a work-'til-you-drop, win-at-all-costs worldview seem the rule, it is refreshing to see that loyalty to the school and family still can succeed.

Shaw's story is also a great opposing example for athletic directors who think the only alternative in a coach search is hiring a "savior" coach from outside the institution who may know the sport but not necessarily understand the "warp and woof" of the school. Coach Shaw honed his coaching expertise at Stanford and in the NFL and, perhaps most from his father, long-time college and NFL coach, Willie Shaw.

The week the Kentucky High School Athletic Association banned handsakes and then didn't

Did you catch this news blurp this week - The Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) first issued a directive about post-game handshakes reported by some media outlets as recommending a ban to the long time post-game ritual. Not surprisingly, this caused a fury of reaction - mostly negative. I think the decision, in a healthy way, caused folks to step back and think about the purpose of sports and education.

No matter how hard fought the game, all parties (one article points out post-game conflict is not limited to football) have to take time to have perspective and model civil, respectful behavior in victory and defeat. 

To give up on that ideal is poor and strikes me as an administrative cop-out "I told them not to do it..." The issue also gives us (athletic administrators and coaches) an opportunity to reiterate what success in interscholastic athletics is and is not. 

So what is the definition of success in HS athletics? The answer is more difficult than it first appears when the question is asked. What role does winning and losing play? How about the importance of playing the game well? Development of the student-athlete? I think it is something we have to continually study and discuss and share with our community.

Athletic Business blog on the handshake issue:

http://www.athleticbusiness.com/editors/blog/default.aspx?id=1206

KHSAA association clarifies it's statement:

http://msn.foxsports.com/other/story/kentucky-bans-postgame-handshakes-high-school-sports-khsaa-fines-additional-penalties-100813

"Struggling" to learn balanced with the freedom to play

British educator Russell Tarr tweeted an interesting article by NPR station KQED's Mindshift blog this morning about the different approaches taken by western and eastern cultures in terms of "struggling to learn."  Importantly, eastern cultures tend to approach struggling as part of the learning process versus the west's tendency to think something is wrong or defective with the learner.  However, I like the reminder near the end of the article that the eastern approach to learning isn't the end all. Students from China and Japan work incredibly hard but tend to lack creativity in learning. 

This August 2011 FastCompany article reinforces that claim in a powerful story of a centuries old system of student testing that should give pause to test mania minded reformers in Washington DC and our state capitols. Students will thrive in an educational culture of care that offering challenging learning balanced with the freedom to play and create.

	russeltarr (@russeltarr)
11/17/12, 3:01 AM Struggle Means Learning: Difference in Eastern and Western Cultures #education #pedagaogy #ukedchat: tinyurl.com/bprhxaj

Grantland article - Summer 2012 - not men or women, just great athletes

Author Jay Kang insightfully shared a great observation about the summer of 2012. Appropriately in the summer of the 40 year anniversary of Title IX legislation in the United States, mandating equity, millions of fans tuned in to watch great athletes practice their craft at world-class levels.

http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/8372737/from-serena-williams-missy-franklin-gabby-douglas-summer-2012-defined-female-athletes

The Olympics, Doping and the Race for an Edge

Current doping charges against two American athletes, seven-time Tour De France champion Lance Armstrong and most recently Olympic track and field 400 meter runner Debbie Dunn , mark the latest chapters in a long running conflict over where to draw the line between training and illegal performance enhancement. A look at the history of athletes using all manner of substances to improve their performance reveals it has been happening as long as there has been sport. The first well documented use of drugs in the modern era of sports is credited to the 1960 Rome Olympics. Author David Maraniss in his 2009 book Rome 1960: The Summer Olympics that Stirred the World  offers a compelling story of Danish cyclist Knud Jensen and his teammates warned against taking a blood circulation enhancing drug Roniacol given the extreme hot temperatures in Rome (p. 138).   Jensen ignored warnings and succumbed to the heat during the competition, his condition exacerbated by the drug (p. 139).

In the current issue (July-August 2012) of Smithsonian, author Christie Aschwanden details today's inner battle between athletes who, despite the warnings and regulations and random testing of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), continue to use illegal substances. Although detection of illegal substances or medical practices is more sophisticated than ever, Aschwanden, in a second article in the same issue , reports future practices will envolve altering athlete's DNA.

The USADA case against Armstrong will be interesting to watch. Armstrong is strident in maintaining his innocence and USADA's case is built not on identifying a specific drug violation but on blood test results according to an Examiner.com article . Sprinter Dunn has left the Olympic team and is working through the process for appealing the test findings.