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 […]
Read More
Articles
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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. […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
‘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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More 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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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. […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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, […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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? […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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?
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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. […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read MoreI 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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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.
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
There Are Actually No Winners in a Press Conference – Changing Results Means Changing Culture
This is NFL hiring season, an annual ritual in which somewhere between 25% and 33% percent of the league’s 32 franchises fire and hire new head coaches every year. Can you imagine the chaos that […]
Read More
Team Culture Is a Top Down Concept
Some teams have a great culture and some struggle with it. Ultimately, the leadership of a team comes from those at the top, the CEO, president, GM, head coach, and a few others. They set […]
Read More
Will an NBA Team Change After a Trade?
There was a “blockbuster deal” that took place yesterday in the NBA. James Harden is no longer at the Houston Rockets. Houston players and staff no longer have to hear “Whatever James wants” and the […]
Read MoreTreating Teammates Horribly
The National Basketball Association (NBA) season has officially started, and James Harden is in the news again, even before the Houston Rockets played their first game. Shams Charania, of the The Athletic, reported on an incident during practice on Monday where […]
Read MoreWhatever James Wants: A Toxic Culture Surrounding One Player
Russell Westbrook, who was recently traded to the Washington Wizards, recently spoke about the #organizationalculture of the Houston Rockets. Tim MacMahon of ESPN wrote an in-depth piece of the extremely #toxicculture at the Houston Rockets where he shared the extents of the #toxicity. #Toxic organizations can be extremely successful, […]
Read MoreThere Needs to Be a Better Way To Protect Athletes
A little over a month ago, I wrote about how an athlete’s innocence was taken away from her at 13 years old and how US Figure Skating Association‘s Hall of Fame member John Zimmerman and Silvia […]
Read MoreCaring for Someone Should Never Translate Into Mental, Physical, or Emotional Abuse
Juliet Macur of the #newyorktimes wrote a great article about a decision that USA Gymnastics made earlier this year: They suspended a coach for eight years for repeatedly putting her #athletes‘ #mentalhealth, #emotionalhealth, and #physicalhealth in jeopardy. This decision by USA Gymnastics shows they are aware of […]
Read MoreInappropriate Relationships With Athletes
Last week, British Cycling dismissed one of its top coaches after finding him guilty of gross misconduct, to include inappropriate relationships with athletes. Kevin Stewart, who was the head men’s sprint coach, was given repeated warnings about #inappropriaterelationships and […]
Read MoreTaking Innocence Away From a Child
I saw this article (https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2020/09/29/sexual-abuse-olympic-skater-morgan-cipres-under-investigation-retires/3573251001/) a few weeks ago and then heard nothing else about it. Morgan Cipres, the French Olympic skater who sent two lewd photos of his genitalia to a 13-year-old American female […]
Read More
Coaches and Trainers, Please Stop Holding Practices
Coaches and trainers need to do the right thing and stop holding practices. If coaches still choose to hold practices, then maybe article could be used to persuade them. An athlete’s mental, physical, and emotional health and safety should never be compromised for training or competition.
Thank you Dr Jon Rudd and Christian Klaue for your contributions to this article.
Read More
One Small Gesture Could Mean the World to Members of Your Team
Sometimes telling someone thank you or good job can change the way they perform for your organization.
Read More
A Contagious Culture
I watched a local high school soccer game in Orange County, CA last week and saw some pretty disturbing things. One of the coaches was laying on his side and was on the phone during the […]
Read More