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The Greatest Athletes the World Has Never Seen
Sports are often framed as the ultimate meritocracy. But long before the games begin, some athletes inherit opportunity while others are simply trying to survive long enough to dream.
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Pole Vaulting: A Culture of True Sportsmanship
When one thinks of Culture In Sports, Track & Field (specifically the Pole Vault) embodies the mentality that any athlete should aspire to be a leader and to work hard. When I was eleven years old, I made the decision to be a diverse athlete. Well, that did not work; I fell in love with…
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The Physical Gap Between Our Best Intentions and Reality: The NWSL Crisis
“If we go along with you and lie our asses off, the world of truth and ideals is, er, protected.” That’s a line from an old (if you think the 1970s is old) movie about NASA faking a Mars landing in order to avoid embarrassment and maintain its meaningful work – one that also helps…
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Pressure Makes Diamonds
As our cultural shift has led sports teams from a centralized leadership role to one that expects each player to have those capabilities, the ongoing need for athletes to be more self-sustaining has dramatically increased. There will always be some sort of authoritative figure within the team, only now their dictatorship shared among others. How…
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Competence: It’s more than just doing the job
In a recent article by the Harvard Business Review (2020), 40% of recent graduates did not feel “job ready” and potential applicants would not even consider applying for entry level positions. They cited a lack of skills as one of the top reasons. It got me thinking about we cultivate competence in those we lead,…
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A Culture of Silence
Here we go again. Again. Last week, detailed sexual harassment allegations spanning over the past decade against women’s professional soccer coach Paul Riley surfaced in The Athletic. Two former players who claimed to be harassed by Riley, Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim, and US Women’s National Team star Alex Morgan have made several television appearances…
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When Ws Don’t Mean Winning
Do you remember when you first realized the former name of the Washington Football Team was racist? Maybe it was a gradual shift in thinking or perhaps it hit like a thunder bolt. Either way, once you saw it, you couldn’t unsee it. Such a realization was the result of decades of activism by advocates…
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A Learning Organization
Culture in Sports is a learning organization. Our goal is to learn everything possible, whether it is about culture, leadership, or anything else that can help athletes, coaches, support staff, teams, and organizations. Being a learning organization is the cornerstone of anything that we are trying to do. Is your organization one that you would…
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Feedback: How to optimize learning and confidence
Carol Dweck is acclaimed for her work on Growth Mindset. It has provided material for educators and coaches for years. However, there is one area of research that I want to bring back into focus today, that has a direct impact on effort, focus, and confidence for athletes. How we utilize feedback. After all, feedback…
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Strength Through Purpose
A year ago, talk show host Skip Bayliss criticized Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott after admitting he was suffering from anxiety and depression after his brother’s suicide. His admission was called a sign of weakness, and it would impact his ability to lead. Bayliss apologized, but his reaction reflects what most people feel. Since then,…
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When an Athlete Is Not Focused
Athletes, regardless of age and level, are not always mentally prepared or focused for practice or competition. This lack of focus can lead to poor technique, not giving 100 percent, having a bad practice, teammates’ or a coach’s frustration, and even injury. Sometimes something is not going well at home for an athlete, maybe they…
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It Is All About What Comes After
Devoting my second weekly column to Ken Burns’ Muhammad Ali documentary, that aired in four parts- Four Rounds- last week on PBS, has me running the risk of repeating myself. But in “Round Four,” which followed Ali from highest high, his victory over George Foreman in Zaire in 1974, through his long physical decline, suffering…
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Yasiel Puig Walked So Everyone Else Could Run
The Culture Shift in Major League Baseball If you’ve watched much Major League Baseball at all over the past few years, you’ve probably noticed a pretty big shift in the culture of the game. Not only has the game itself changed (guys are throwing harder, hitting more home runs, and striking out more than ever),…
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How DOMS Dooms your Athletes
Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS) is something almost every single athlete, amateur or pro, has experienced in their lifetime. It starts off with an intense exercise followed by a day of feeling fine, then followed by aches, sores, and pains. This is caused by introducing new stress to the muscles, or by repeatedly stressing the…
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Motivation: What drives a more sustainable willingness to grow?
What motivates you? What motivates the ones you lead? These questions are common. Especially, when we think about how to inspire others (in particular Gen-Z). Understanding a person’s drivers can be beneficial for increasing motivation in difficulty. For example, if an athlete values competition, or playing time, and they are being asked to switch to…
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The Strongest Athletes in Sports
Last week the women of USA Gymnastics testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee about their stores of abuse, assault, and being ignored. One of the highest elements of government heard their stories, and made these women again relive their experience, even though they have done it so many times to just be ignored. Will this…
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Prime Time Coaching
When many of us think of Deion “Prime Time” Sanders, we think of how he completely dominated the NFL for 14 seasons. But now, the 2x Super Bowl Champ has found a different way to impact the great sport of football. Deion Sanders is in his first year as head coach at Jackson State University…
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The Athletes We Share and the Athletes Who Divide Us
Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns, has thirty plus year legacy of making thought-provoking documentaries for PBS. His current subject is Muhammad Ali. Burns’ four-part look at Ali’s life and times premiered on Sunday and continues over the next three days. There is probably no athlete, perhaps at any time in history, who became such a lightning…
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It’s Part of Taking Care of Your Athletes
As a coach, athletic director, trainer, general manager, or a host of other positions in an organization that focus on athlete safety, health, and performance, an athlete should be ready for competition. That is what all of the practices are for. That is what coordinating transportation or lodging is for. Everything is there to support…
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The Power of Perception: The Impact on Culture
This can be a tough pill to swallow, but the reality is this: The people we lead know us better than we know them. Why does this occur? Especially for so many well-meaning leaders out there? Every society on earth has people in power and people who are in more vulnerable positions. What we have…
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Documenting Greatness
For people like me, this is a beautiful time of the year. I’m a sports fan, and the overlapping of the end of the baseball season and the beginning of football creates excitement. I’m also a history buff. And I am excited about a PBS documentary that premiers next week that highlights how sports and…
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“That Man Miller” & Derek Jeter, Team Owner in the Hall of Fame Together
In Cooperstown, NY last Wednesday afternoon, four new members of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s 2020 class were enshrined in the Hall- a year later than planned due to the Covid pandemic- but since no one was picked for the class of 2021 this “better late, than never” class is what we must cheer. Two…
