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The Hidden Layer of Sport
From the outside, this layer of sport is almost invisible. But from within, one thing becomes clear very quickly: match manipulation is not rare. It exists in plain sight, but few notice it.
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Extreme E: Racing Toward Culture Change for the Planet
Whether you believe in ‘climate change’ or whether you are a denier, it has to be agreed that climactic conditions in recent years have impacted on sporting events and this is happening now not in some far-off dystopian future and its global – we’re all in it together. The success of winter sports programs and…
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Getting Comfortable In the Status Quo
I had a coach recently reach out to me to ask if I had any suggestions for her, as she felt stuck in her coaching journey. Upon some great discussion and learning for both of us, it was identified that she was not stuck in her coaching journey, but she was just stuck in the…
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Five Mistakes Coaches Will Make This Summer and How To Avoid Making Them
Picking up where we left off last week in “Five Harmful Trends to Watch As Sports Restart Post-Covid,” and building off Culture in Sports colleague’s Paul Robbins “The 5 Essentials for Becoming a Professional Sports Coach,” this week, we want to speak directly to coaches. Hopefully, athletes and parents will read this, too, as we…
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Inclusive Culture in Sports
“If you can play, you can play.” – Miami University men’s hockey team We’ve talked a lot about sexism, racism, even classism in sports, but of course there are many ways to exclude and disenfranchise people, and surprisingly in our seemingly enlightened times, it’s still very much an issue. I’m referring to the treatment suffered…
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“It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Loses an Eye”
The larrikin is praised in Australian culture as iconic, Peter Lalor of Eureka Stockade notoriety, the infamous bushranger Ned Kelly, television’s Chips Rafferty and Paul Hogan, even our own one-time Prime Minister Bob Hawke. It’s thought that this idolatry of the larrikin arose as a reaction to the corrupt constabulary in colonial days – a…
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The 5 Essentials for Becoming a Professional Sports Coach
The road to becoming a professional sports coach is a challenging one. There are many amateur sports coaches operating today without any formal qualifications. There have been, mainly in the past, some sports coaches at the highest level who have achieved outstanding results without being formally qualified. The question is, can the coaches in these…
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Testing is Failing
The Tokyo Olympics are in trouble. The immediate issue is COVID-19. Case rates in Japan are rising while vaccination rates are low. It will take a logistical miracle to figure out protocols and rules on how to follow them effectively. Public pressure is mounting to cancel them altogether. However, there is a more significant threat…
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Flying Like A Hawk
Come on, Marty, let’s jump in the DeLorean, get up to 88 miles per hour, and head back to the 80s! As we make this jump, or perhaps a better term considering the subject of this article would be “ollie,” back in time, we’re going to see the start of one of the most talented…
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The Real Champions: a Culture of Courage & Charity
We read about all the magnanimous generosity of sports stars in the world; giving of themselves because they have the means to help or because the cause touches them in a special or personal way. LeBron James is giving back to his hometown of Akron, Ohio to the tune of $41 million in college scholarships.…
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Comradery and Competition: a Delicate Dichotomy
Triple world champion surfing superstar Mick Fanning was famously attacked by a shark in the middle of competition at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa in 2015. Spectators watched on as the Australian fought off the three-meter shark with a punch to the back on live television. The highly praised event officials launched into swift action…
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Winning the Week
Last week did not get off to a good start for my home team Houston Astros. Their tour of shame entered the Bronx on Tuesday for a three-game set, and the Yankees fans did not disappoint. The socially-distance crowd of ten thousand treated the Astros with the expected anti-social behavior. At the same time, the…
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Is Nepotism a Necessary Evil?
I recently heard a podcast from two former NFL players discussing Tim Tebow’s return to the NFL, nearly a decade later. Their comments summarized were that Tebow only got the job because 1. Who he knew and 2. He is just a great human. They also referenced his stint in the minor leagues being as…
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What Sports Teach Kids: Four Key Skills
As I wrote in my last article, sports have been on the chopping block of school budgets for decades. Physical education classes and extracurricular programs at all grade levels have suffered as districts insist on exam preparation as a more worthwhile pursuit. This is a dangerous trend, as a wealth of research points to the…
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The Importance of Facilitating Mentorship Between Athletes
Older elite athletes are something that you do not see very often. Many times, an athlete’s mental and emotional abilities far outweigh their physical abilities. I personally enjoy watching the old person running out on the pitch, field, court, or swimming in the pool. It really shows that with some hard work, dedication, the right…
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Five Harmful Trends to Watch Out For As Sports Restart Post-Covid
It seems we are coming out of this for real. Vaccine distribution is outpacing many even optimistic expectations and trendlines are headed in a positive direction. People are demonstrating far greater confidence in their choices, including this author, who even dined out inside and took public transportation for the first time in 13 months within…
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Sport Driving the Culture of Society
We are all aware of the need to establish a winning culture in sport to achieve optimal performance, but it should also be considered that sport can affect the culture in a society. This is not a new concept; studies have indicated that sport can incite such a wave of positivity in the culture of…
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“Change the Routine”: The Ugly Side of a Beautiful Art
After an undiagnosed stress fracture led to an horrific ankle fracture during a routine, aspiring Olympic gymnast Georgia Simpson came to the realization that she would never compete again. Simpson was told that she should “toughen up” and with that her career was over. Years later she laments that “…our voices weren’t valued”, decisions were…
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Coach – Protect Yourself!
Most people will now be aware of the ethical mess that some National Governing Bodies (NGBs) get themselves into when the media publicly denounce sports coaches accused of abusive behaviour. In the UK we have seen high profile cases involving football, gymnastics and swimming to name but a few. However, rather than stand firm by…
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Searching for Fat Tails
Big-time data analytics has arrived in college football. FCS Division school Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina has hired Kevin Kelley to coach the Blue Hose next year in the Pioneer League. Kelley has been a successful high school coach at Pulaski Academy in Little Rock, Arkansas. For the last 20 years, he became famous…
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When You Call Me, You Can Call Me Al
Paul Simon wrote a song back in the mid-80s with a chorus that states, “If you’ll be my bodyguardI can be your long lost pal, I can call you Betty, And Betty, when you call me, you can call me Al.” While Paul Simon, a lifelong New York Yankees fan, did not write this song…
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“The First and Greatest Victory is to Conquer Yourself”
“In every adversity there lies the seed of an equivalent advantage. In every defeat is a lesson showing you how to win the victory next time.” – Robert Collier Melbourne Victory FC were fortunate to have the massively talented Adama Traora on board and the Spanish born superstar was equally pleased to have re-signed with…
