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Gronk’s Legacy
Nine seasons, three Super Bowls, three rings. Rob Gronkowski was an exhilarating player and a lively character on the field, bringing pride to all Patriots fans. He wants to show how once a Patriot, always a Patriot. Gronk signed a one-day contract with the Patriots on November 12, 2025. He decided he wanted to officially…
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The President of the Tokyo Olympic Organizing Committee Is Really a Reflection of Sports Around the World
Over a week ago, Yoshiro Mori, the president of the Tokyo Olympics organizing committee suggested that women talk too much in meetings. I was shocked to hear what Mr. Mori said, especially for the Japanese Olympic Committee’s focus in increasing female representation in their leadership ranks. While he admitted that his comment was discriminatory towards…
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Doing the Right Thing Is Still Only Reactional
The Jacksonville Jaguars made a short lived hire this week, with Chris Doyle lasting a little more than a day before resigning. Their new and now director of sports performance came with a checkered past, most notably rumors of racism and abuse of athletes. This coach was supposedly vetted thoroughly by Urban Meyer and the…
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Nightmare for the ‘Dream Team’
It’s a fine line between confidence and egotism, a lack of self-confidence can be terribly disabling in terms of reaching one’s potential in all aspects of life and certainly in sport. But at what point do cumulative successes and accolades begin to create monsters; divas whose demands threaten the stability and cohesiveness of the team.…
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Old School Behaviors
What do you do when a leader in your organization makes backwards and derogatory comments about a group of people you identify with? Do you quit? What if you are passionate about the organization’s mission? Do you let it roll off your back? Do you complain? Can you complain? We have all probably asked ourselves…
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More Cases of Sexual Misconduct in Cheerleading
Another week, another story about another sexual misconduct issue within cheerleading in the United States. Last week, a 25 year old coach was arrested for indecent liberties with a child and a 23 year old college cheerleader, who was also featured in Netflix’s “Cheer” and NBC’s “America’s Got Talent”, was arrested for aggravated sexual assault…
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Are Sports Fertile Ground for Abusive Treatment and Abusers?
Are sports more susceptible to giving abusers and harassers space to operate, and if so, are sports particularly poorly structured to expose these abuses, and protect athletes and those victimized because of their love of the game?
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The Sum of All Its Parts – There Is an ‘I’ in ‘Team’
The often-employed mantra “There’s no I in team” is obviously a reference to the concept that the combined skills and endeavours of the team outweigh the desires and abilities of the individual. But can a team or organisation function in a climate where the individual’s needs are ignored, or their problems overlooked? In the collaborative…
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Andy Reid’s Leadership and Positive Team Culture Lead to This Day
The big game in the United States of America is going to start in a few hours. Two great teams are going to battle it out. Millions of fans are going to watch and many NFL players are going to watch as well, hoping for their own chance at a Super Bowl ring. One on…
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What Happens When Your Favorite Team is Part of the Problem
Former New York Mets Manager Mickey Callaway has been accused by five different women of “incessant, inappropriate sexual advances toward women in sports media.” These women needed to interact with Callaway to do their jobs. https://sports.yahoo.com/former-mets-manager-mickey-callaway-accused-of-unrelenting-lewd-behavior-toward-women-in-media-020746255.html This is the third significant sexual harassment or discrimination allegation against a Mets employee or owner since 2014. It…
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Celebrating Women in Sports
As I write this, today we celebrate National Girls and Women in Sports Day in the United States. Women have come a long way in the sports world, and quite frankly still have a long way to go. We celebrate firsts like Sarah Thomas as the first woman to officiate in this weekend’s Super Bowl…
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The Culture Is More Than the Team
In Australia, sport has always been a reflection of egalitarian attitudes; mateship; and sense of a ‘fair-go’. Modern social changes have commercialised sport adding new pressures to the structures of the clubs. This has unfortunately instilled a ‘win or die’ attitude within some, or perhaps most sports. Sadly, In 2018, news media revealed the result…
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Diversity in Hiring, Limitations of the Rooney Rule
One of my favorite authors is Michael Lombardi. Lombardi has been a senior player personnel executive with several NFL teams, including a stint as GM of the Cleveland Browns. He has three Super Bowl rings from his time with Bill Walsh and the 49ers and Bill Belichick and the Patriots. His book, Gridiron Genius, serves…
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I Believe in You
Did you ever have a coach tell you that she believed in you? If you did, that coach may have been onto something. That same coach probably told you that he was proud of you or maybe even said that she loved your effort or hard work. When you reflect back in your time as…
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When an Athlete Is Injured
Last time I wrote about “Ed”, a retired professional athlete who also participated in the Olympics. Ed experienced an extremely toxic environment the last few years of his professional sports career. During my discussion with him, he brought up how many athletes played injured. These injuries were potentially career ending if they were to get…
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The Impact of Fan Engagement
In 2017 Sebastian Lletget, a mid-fielder for LA Galaxy suffered a season ending foot injury while playing for the USMNT. It was my first year at LA Galaxy. At the end of the last home game of the season, the players go around the stadium and take pictures and sign autographs with the players. The…
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Team Culture Can Make or Break Athletes
I recently conducted an interview for research about organizational culture. I interviewed a professional athlete that has played at the highest levels, and even attended the Olympics. He unfortunately had to retire from his profession due to the extremely toxic culture he was enduring. I was extremely saddened to hear his story. I have used…
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Treat Those Two Imposters Just the Same
We have a chance here to demonstrate that while winning and losing have value, they are as Rudyard Kipling- talk about a complicated potentially toxic legacy-correctly observed, two imposters to be treated the same. Victory is a neutral, not definitively a positive concept.
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The Endemic Culture of Abuse in Gymnastics
In mid-2020 a Netflix documentary about the sexual abuse inflicted upon US gymnasts by Larry Nassar was released. This film called ‘Athlete A’ outlines the former USA Gymnastics national team doctor’s abuse and the organisation’s failure to prevent it and paved the way for gymnasts around the world to expose the toxic culture of ‘control,…
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Throwing Chairs
Yes, the photo you are looking at is of a chair. I had many chairs thrown at me as an athlete. All of them were thrown by a coach. Normally, coaches were throwing chairs to try and motivate the athlete, or maybe it was out of frustration. In my career as an athlete, I had…
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Using Sports as a Platform for Social Justice
Recently someone told me they stopped watching the NFL because they were tired of athletes speaking about their causes, and they just needed to “shut up and play.” To which I ask Why? What makes athletes less qualified to speak about social justice than you or I? Because they are rich athletes? Maybe now, but…
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Toxic Culture Claims in Australian Women’s Hockey
After the shock early termination of Australian women’s hockey team coach, Adam Commens in 2016, for allegedly exposing himself to some of the Hockeyroos during celebrations after the finals in Rio, Hockey Australia is again launching inquiries into improprieties within the sport. Currently allegations of a toxic and destructive culture within the organisation are being…
