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Synergizing Leadership Styles for a More Effective Coaching Team
Diverse leadership styles can create a dynamic, efficient coaching team when adequately managed.Research shows that a one-size-fits-all approach to leadership is insufficient; the best leaders adapt their styles to their teams’ needs (Northouse, 2018). However, it is also essential that the coaching team’s leadership styles align cohesively to benefit the whole team. Different coaches bring…
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Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
In week 17 of the 2020 NFL season the Seattle Seahawks beat the San Francisco 49ers, in fact they had already clinched the win in their final possession of the game. Most quarterbacks would take a knee and let the clock play out. Instead, Russell Wilson through a pass to received David Moore, then took…
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The ‘Business’ of Team Sports
Every team has a culture, the question is what does this culture say about the team? A culture is a set of observable behaviors that are promoted and widely accepted by the organization. Teams whose members are aligned culturally, are more engaged and have better morale which ultimately leads to greater success through enthusiasm, collaboration,…
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Have the Houston Rockets Hit Rock Bottom?
The Houston Rockets had a sad outing against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday. It was their 11th straight loss (They now have lost 12 straight), where they had the lowest shooting percentage and the fewest made field goals in a game in NBA history, it was the biggest point differential in Memphis’ history, and longest…
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The Olympics, China and the Possibility of Boycott
It seems difficult in 2021 to separate sports from politics. Calls now are rising on both sides of the U.S. and Canadian border and across the Western nations to organize a boycott of or put pressure on the International Olympic Committee to force a move of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, scheduled to be held…
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The Highs and Lows in Sports Help Bring People Together
On Tuesday, February 23rd golf legend Tiger Woods experienced a terrifying car accident. His car tumbled down a hill and he was pulled out of the SUV by the jaws of life. After the accident, he was immediately rushed to the hospital and sent to surgery. Tiger Woods experienced a tramautic event but a light…
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Life in the Fast Lane: ‘Bad’ Boys on Bikes
Marco Lucchinelli is an Italian former professional, and legendary, Grand Prix motorcycle road racer, who in 1981 won the FIM 500cc World Championship with Suzuki. He is known for being fast … very fast, and he lived his life that way too. Lucchinelli had a taste for the seamier things in life and was known for…
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Competition Is a Great Time for Reflection and Discussion
There are many coaches who say that they remember their losses the most. After the losses, many coaches begin a period of reflection as to why the loss happened, whether the athletes or coaches could have done something differently, or maybe a change to a small part of the training regime. After winning, there are…
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My Game of the Century
In Nebraska, where I grew up, everyone knows about the 1972 Nebraska-Oklahoma game. It is known as the “Game of the Century.” Lyle Bremser’s call of the classic Johnny Rodgers punt return is legendary. Still today, it is considered the best game in the history of college football. Unfortunately, it was just a little bit…
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Rings of Loyalty
Okay, full disclosure here, even though this is only my second article, I may ruffle some feathers with these next few statements. I am a native New Englander, which means I have a passion for all things related to New England sports, and a significant distaste for a certain professional baseball team from the Bronx.…
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Forever Changing Goalposts
On Monday 22 February the British Prime Minister, Boris Johnston, unveiled the UK’s latest road map to lead the UK out of lockdown into the new ‘normal’ of existing with Covid. 12 April being the date set to resume all sport for those under 18 years old. Lockdowns in the UK have been happening on…
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Louder Cheers and Less Boos
What role do we have as spectators and fans when it comes to sports culture? We know how toxic it is to have rude parents in the stands of youth games, but why does that seem to be lost at the professional level? Support and loyalty to a team is fantastic in so many ways,…
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What Can I Do to Make the Culture at My Sports Team Better?
There are so many great ideas on how to influence positive change in an organization that are spoken about in academia, leadership circles, and in the news. Everyone has an idea. Everyone is an expert. Everyone wants to give you their idea, but at a cost. The cost normally starts with a small one time…
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The Problem With Professional Franchises
There are two hallmarks that make North American (U.S. & Canadian, specifically) professional sports different than their global peers. The first of these is that North American pro leagues, going back to the turn of the 20th Century, have been have been aligned toward maximizing the value of their individual teams or franchises. Given this…
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‘Trivialized, Infantilized, and Sexualized’
His name was Eddie… he was my first unfortunate experience of sexism in sport, before that I always felt safe on the swimming team and playing netball and softball with my classmates at my girls-only school. Eddie, whose image is forever burned into my memory, was a ‘little’ man and I’m not referring to his…
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Flopping
Last week, LeBron James earned a warning from the NBA for his acting. While his acting was not good enough to win at the Oscars or Golden Globes, it did fool the officials on the court and they called a foul on the opposing player. The Lakers were down by a good amount at that…
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Black Sox and Whistleblowing
Anyone familiar with sports, and baseball in particular, is sure to have heard of the infamous 1919 scandal involving the Chicago White Sox and the allegations that they “threw” (no pun intended) the World Series against the Cincinnati Reds that year. The background, for those unfamiliar, is that members of the White Sox were approached…
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Stitched Up: Racism in Australian Football
The Australian Football League (AFL) has a long unfortunate history of systemic racism. Although the AFL was the first major sporting code in Australia to adopt a no-tolerance stance over racial-sledging on-field, the sport is proliferated with shameful incidences. Australian sporting fans, it is theorized, struggle to include the indigenous figure in their vision of…
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Why We Need More Parents in the Stands
Bruce Arians already won points in my book when he added two females to his coaching staff. He recently won a few more when I read that he told his staff if they missed their child’s sporting event, he would fire them. His reasoning, he missed too many of his own kid’s events and admitted…
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Jalen Johnson, Journalism, and Business Decisions
“It takes courage not only to make decisions, but to live with those decisions afterward.” – Coach K Who is Jalen Johnson? He’s a top prospect with the Duke Blue Devils who was going to be a “one and done” player from the very start. Great! He’s a 19 year old kid that will soon…
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Why Doing the Right Thing Seems So Hard
In trying to define the focus of Culture in Sports, and what we should be writing about on this site, the Led Zeppelin song title, What Is and What Should Never Be, comes to mind. Making a Led Zeppelin reference threatens to reveal both my age, (decidedly, middle) and my hipness (tragically, un-hip). The British…
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Fuel-injected Leadership: Motivational or Menacing
Recently, Australian Supercar Erebus Motorsport team boss Barry Ryan has come under fire for his arrogant and insensitive style of leadership. Ryan suggests that he is the victim of clever editing to make him appear to be a ‘villain’ for entertainment’s sake. This is not the first time Ryan’s leadership has been called into question…
