S pecial td itio n • M orrow C ounty I-air and K odeo • H ep p n er G azette-1 im es, W ed nesday. July 2 9 , 2 0 1 0 - P ag e 1 /
Conceiving a new view of youth activities
By Brian Meehan of “The Oregonian
What is the most daunt
ing challenge in sports?
Coaching an NBA team
in this age of enormous contracts
and bigger egos might get a few
votes. Chasing Lance Armstrong
through the Alps certainly is in
timidating.
But my ballot goes to
the challenge taken on by Jim
Thompson, founder and executive
director o f the Positive Coaching
Alliance at Stanford University.
T h o m pson has c o n
ceived a mountain o f a task: he
wants to change the culture o f
youth sports.
Perhaps when he fin
ishes he will turn to solving the
federal budget deficit or teaching
Shaquille O ’Neal to convert free
throws.
“Youth sports is really
about teaching life lessons, but
too often adults behave like they
would at professional events,”
Thompson said. “It’s this win-
at-all-costs mentality that is the
enemy.”
Thompson was a mid
dling athlete growing up in North
Dakota. His love o f sports re-
emerged when he began coaching
his son, Gabriel, 20 years ago in
Northern California. He read
books on coaching but couldn't
find one that broke down the
intangible aspects, such as mo
tivation. So he began work on
what would become his first book,
“Positive Coaching.”
“There were too many
parents and coaches overly fo
cused on winning,” he said. “They
had good intentions but were do
ing exactly the wrong thing.”
Thompson thinks coach
es who motivate by fear stifle their
players’ performance, chase away
kids and lose opportunities to use
sports as a teaching tool.
“ How do you teach
character in a classroom?” said
Thompson, 56, who once taught
leadership seminars at the Stan
ford Graduate School of Business.
“It becomes too abstract. But
youth sports is a totally underuti
lized classroom for teaching kids
about life.”
Thompson developed a
new coaching model. He calls it
the “double-goal coach,” a men
tor who wants to win but is more
focused on developing character
n kids.
“What is the best thing a
coach can do?” Thompson asks.
“A coach can make it OK for a
kid to make a mistake.”
In 1998, T hom pson
sounded the alliance at Stanford
and began giving seminars to high
schools and youth sports groups.
The alliance now has more than
400 partnerships nationwide and
presents workshops to coaches,
athletes and parents. Nike thinks
enough of the alliance to provide
$240,000 in grants so Thompson
can take his message to urban
neighborhoods in Los Angeles,
New York and Chicago.
The nonprofit alliance
has drawn support from coaches
such as Phil Jackson, the alli
ance’s national spokesman; Dean
Smith, the former North Caro
lina men’s basketball coach; and
Herman Edwards, coach of the
New York Jets. Detroit Pistons
coach Larry Brown also is on the
advisory board. Thompson said
Brown offered to help after his
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young son had a bad experience
with a baseball coach.
A key to Thom pson’s
double-goal coaching model is
positive reinforcement. Thomp
son encourages coaches to follow
the “magic formula,” which is
five positive comments for every
negative one.
“John Robinson, the for
mer USC (football) coach, once
said something that stuck with
me,” Thompson said. “Robinson
said, ‘ I never criticize a player un
til I am totally convinced that they
believe that I believe in them.’”
Before you conclude
Thompson’s approach is the prod
uct of too much new-age thinking,
consider the evidence that shows
his strategies lead to victory.
He cites studies by sports
psychologist Joan Duda. In one
study, Duda tracked 62 athletes at
the 2000 Olympic Games in Aus
tralia. She found that athletes who
were coached to master their skills
and compete to the best of their
ability won more medals than
athletes whose coaches focused
solely on winning gold.
It makes sense: Athletes
perform best when relaxed and
confident, not when looking over
their shoulder at a slightly apo
plectic coach.
T h o m p so n t hi nks a
coach can free his or her athletes
by erasing fear of failure. In its
place, confidence and joy take
root. The kid continues to play
and bump into the life lessons
sports offer.
That’s Thompson’s view
of a new youth sports culture, and
a grand one it is.
As we approach fair time
let’s all try to keep in perspective
what we are trying to accomplish
with the 4-H program and proj
ects. “Winning” should not be
the goal. Doing the very best we
can should be the goal. If 4-H
members have worked hard on
their projects all year, doing well
in their classes will come.
Have a great fair and
good luck to all.