“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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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, […]
Read More
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. […]
Read MoreDid 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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 […]
Read More
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 would follow if one third of Fortune 500 companies changed CEOs or COOs annually? But […]
Read More
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 the tone of the team’s culture. If every single person contributes to a positive team […]
Read More
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 entire organization revolves around his every want and need. And as an added bonus, rookies […]
Read MoreThe 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 there were Harden was involved in multiple verbal confrontations and that he threw a ball […]
Read MoreRussell 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, which the Houston Rockets have proven to be over the years. The organization seems to revolve around […]
Read MoreA 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 Fontana, a multi Olympian from Italy, shamed and threatened the girl to not report the […]
Read MoreJuliet 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 how coaches can adversely impact #athletes both short and long term. However, Maggie Haney, the coach that […]
Read MoreLast 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 his overall behavior. Obviously, these repeated warnings did not stop his actions. He created an […]
Read MoreI 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 figure skater in 2017 is finally under investigation by the U.S. Center for SafeSport and the police. […]
Read More
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
Sometimes telling someone thank you or good job can change the way they perform for your organization.
Read More
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 entire game. Another coach was sitting on a bag of balls and was occasionally on his […]
Read More