Teamsnap

We've all heard the phrase "practice makes perfect." But is it possible to construct the perfect practice? Well, nothing’s perfect. But that doesn’t mean you’re practice can’t be a resounding success! We asked volunteer coach Clint Schumacher for his thoughts on what makes a successful practice. Clint has extensive experience in youth sports, coaching all three of his sons in two different sports. Topics covered include: Does the definition of a successful practice vary across sports? What are the common elements of a great practice? Are full-team scrimmages good for players? Is the post-game ice cream party a good reward for a hard practice? If you've got practice coming up, this is the episode for you!

It’s no secret that great coaches have a profound impact on their players. No matter the sport or the age, great coaching can’t be ignored.  That’s why we invited Tampa Preparatory School Varsity Baseball Head Coach A.J. Hendrix to join the show. As a winner of the prestigious Positive Coaching Alliance Double-Goal Coach Award, A.J. is an expert on what it takes to motivate young athletes. Topics covered include reduce overuse injuries to players, how coaches influence players off the field, how coaches influence other coaches and even a little story time. If you’re a coach, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. (This episode is part two of a four-part series with select winners of the Double-Goal Coach Award. Check out part one with Jill Kochanek, and stay tuned for more!)

Finding the right coach for your young athlete is never easy. Throw money into the equation and you've got yourself one tricky situation. That's right––we're talking about professional coaches and volunteer coaches. How can parents decide which type of coach is right for their young athlete?   John O'Sullivan, founder of Changing the Game Project, joins host Emily Cohen to discuss the pros and cons of both professional coaches and volunteer coaches. What can parents do to compare them? Do some volunteer coaches prevent their players from moving on to higher levels? Is there an age group for which professional coaches aren't needed?    If you're a parent, this is an episode you won't want to miss. Listen in!

The introduction of technology into physical fitness has fundamentally changed how people work out. We track steps taken, calories burned, heart rates, distances, feet climbed, and more. It seems that everyone is wearing a Fitbit or using another fitness tracking technology when they exercise, giving quantifiable information during and after the workout. But when youth athletes train during practice or play in a game, no one tracks data that could improve player performance and prevent injuries. Fit for 90 aims to change that. Focused on preventing injuries and increasing performance, Fit for 90 is cutting-edge, science-driven technology that coaches can use to optimize the training of youth athletes. Listen in as Dr. John Cone, founder and CEO of Fit for 90, talks with Emily Cohen about bridging the worlds of science and sport.

If the weather outside is frightful, the sprinters and cross-country runners in your house are probably going crazy. But it doesn't have to be that way, if you take advantage of one––or more––of the many cross-training options available in the winter months. In fact, some common running problems, including runner's knee and iliotibial (IT) band syndrome, can actually be helped by cross-training with a winter sport.  Listen in as Dr. Monica Rho, director of the Women’s Sports Medicine Program at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago and attending physician in the RIC Sports and Spine Rehabilitation Center, talks about the advantages of figure skating, hockey, downhill and cross-country skiing, and skate skiing for runners of all ages. She also provides some valuable advice about exercises to help prevent and rehabililate common running injuries, as well as some tips for training at elevation. This is one episode in which parents, coaches, and youth athletes alike can find something to use. So let's get movin

What makes a great coach? Not an easy question, is it? From teaching mechanics to inspiring their players, great coaches do a whole lot. We went to Jill Kochanek, Head Girl's Soccer Coach at Oldfields School in Baltimore, Maryland to discuss this subject. Jill is a recipient of the prestigious Positive Coaching Alliance Double-Goal Coach Award presented by TeamSnap, so it’s safe to say that she knows a thing or two about great coaching. Where does passion for coaching come from? How do we help our players balance academics with athletics? How important is it for young female athletes to have female coaches? And what can we do about problem parents? Whew. That's just a few of the topics we cover!  If you're a coach, thinking about becoming a coach, or want to know what it's like to be a coach, this one's for you! (This is part one of a four-part series with select winners of the Double-Goal Coach Award. Stay tuned for more!)

Mentors can be some of the most influential positive forces for young athletes. The best of them are sort of like teachers, role models and advisors all rolled into one.  However, great mentors aren't easy to come by. So then the question becomes this: how can you connect your young athlete with a good mentor? For some parents, the answer might be CoachUp, an online network that connects coaches with athletes for sport-specific training. In this episode, CoachUp CEO John Kelley and host Emily Cohen discuss exactly what makes a good mentor. How do they alleviate pressure on their young athletes? How do they keep motivating their young athletes? What about the "fun" aspect?  If you’re looking for a mentor for your young athlete, listen in!

How do you judge the success of a youth sports team? Is it the win/loss record? Is it the number of tournament championships won or the amount of hardware on the coach's shelf? Or is it something else, something intangible? And what challenges do youth athletes, parents, and coaches face in today's overly-competitive youth sports world?  Listen in as podcast host Emily Cohen talks with Jenn Starkey of Fastpitch Fit, a former college softball player and author of the a book for teens on leadership called “A League of Your Own,” a compilation of leadership lessons from all-star athletes in many sports. While Jenn's area of expertise is softball, her strategies for success on and off the field are applicable to all youth sports. Game on!

It’s Super Bowl Week and all eyes will be on Santa Clara, California as the Carolina Panthers meet the Denver Broncos. And with the increased awareness of concussions, all eyes will also be on the sideline staff evaluating the players for concussions and determining whether they can return to the action. While the players in the Super Bowl are professionals, what do parents of youth football players—and of other young athletes—need to know about concussions? And what about CTE, which has recently entered mainstream conversations thanks to the film, Concussion?   Listen in as Chris Nowinski, co-founder and executive director of the Concussion Legacy Foundation and co-director of the BU CTE Center, explains what you need to know about concussions, Second-impact Syndrome, Post-concussion Syndrome, and CTE. If you're the parent of a youth athlete, this is one podcast you won't want to miss!

Let's face it. Being a young athlete isn't always easy. Whether it's pressure from your parents, from coaches, or even from yourself, there's a lot to deal with. And at such a young age, it can be hard to deal with all that pressure without folding. Luckily, athletes who've been there and done that can help. That's where Peter Cipollone and Tommy O’Hare come in.  Peter and Tommy join the show to talk about InstaViser, the company they founded to connect athletes with mentors. As former high-level athletes, Peter (a gold medalist in crew) and Tommy (an Olympic speed skater and U.S. record-holder) both know the value of mentors. Topics covered include: how mentors help young athletes overcome stress, some common issues young athletes are facing these days, and what age athletes need mentorship the most.  Whatever your involvement in youth sports, we think you'll get a lot out of this episode. Take a listen!

Whether for his accomplishments in the pool or his personality outside of it, Gary Hall Jr. is simply unforgettable. You probably remember him as a U.S. swimmer for the 1996, 2000, and 2004 Olympics, where he won a total of 10 medals, five of them gold. And if you don't remember him for that, then you probably remember his pregame warmups, which included shadow boxing and flexing.  Gary joins the show to give us an inside look at the Olympics. What's it like to be born into a family of hugely successful swimmers? What's the deal with athletes using nutritional supplements all the time nowadays? Do they actually work? Does early specialization really help kids achieve greatness at higher levels?  It's a fun, informative, and fast-paced interview you won't want to miss. Listen in to see why Gary says, "It's the athlete who has fun that wins, not the athlete that wins who has fun."

They say defense wins championships. Few coaches know that better than Joe Daniel. As the defensive coordinator and offensive line coach at Prince George High School, Joe knows a thing or two about keeping offenses out of the end zone. He's also been writing about the game for years on joedaniel.com and writing about it on The Football Coaching Podcast. So yeah. He's a busy guy. In this episode, Joe answers some of the toughest questions about coaching youth football. How can you get players to think of themselves as a team rather than an individual? What's it like trying to deal with parents? How can coaches become more proactive about concussion prevention?  If you've been waiting for a podcast with a football coach, you've found it!

Let's face it. Being a referee is a tough job. No matter what the level, no matter what the sport, refs are challenged, screamed at, and booed by players and spectators alike. In fact, according to the California North Referee Administration more than 5,500 refs from 2014 haven't registered for 2015, probably because of the treatment they receive on the field. Clearly, something's not right here. Randy Vogt, referee of over 9,000 soccer games and author of Preventative Officiating, joins us to discuss this growing trend of disrespect. How much does arguing with refs at the pro level influence similar behavior in the youth game? Why is it that the people who seem to know the least about the sport heckle the most? What role can coaches play in preventing this kind of treatment? For a look into the life of a soccer referee, it doesn't get any better than this podcast.

Have sports become not a game of skill and athleticism, but a game of money? Sometimes it might look that way. More parents than ever are encouraging their kids to puruse D1 scholarships, and that means travel teams, new equipment, personal trainers, and more. Where does that leave the kids whose parents might not be able to afford all those resources? Tom Farrey, Execuitve Director of the Aspen Institute's Sports and Society Program, joins the show to answer these questions and more. You might know him better as a reporter on ESPN's Outside the Lines and E60, or as the author of Game On: The All-American Race to Make Champions of Our Children. Tom tells us all about what we can do to make youth sports better for kids who don't have the economic resources other kids have. Why is our definition of an athlete so narrow? Why are only 40% of kids today regularly active in team sports? Why won't parents let their kids have ownership over their own games? Check it out!

If the college recruiting process seems a little confusing to you, you're not alone. Not only are there are differences in recruiting among different sports, but there are even more differences depending on Division I and Division III sports. And what's the deal with verbal commitments versus actually signing? And how does a player get noticed in the first place? Whew. There sure is a lot to this stuff...  The best way to understand college recruiting is to learn as much about it as you can. Mary Beth Haggerty, founder of college recruiting consulting company Mother on the Sidelines, joins the show to shed a little light on the whole subject. If you're a parent in need of some assistance with your young athlete's recruiting process, this is the podcast for you.

Let's face it: no matter how great a coach might be, some just aren't good matches for their players. Your young athlete's coach might yell, might be impossible to reach, might have an agenda off the field––whatever the case may be, sometimes it's tough to find the right fit. And just as coaches choose which players get to play, shouldn't players choose their coaches? Craig Haworth of Winning Youth Coaching joins the podcast for a lively discussion on what it means to be a youth sports coach. If you're a parent, what's the best way to find out if a coach is right for your child? If you're a young athlete, how do you decide when to work with a coach and when to find a better fit? And if you're a coach, how can you improve your skills? Spoiler: podcasts might help...

Unruly. Ugly. And it seems to be getting worse. What is "it"? It's sports fan behavior. Some days you just can't believe what you're seeing in the stands at professional sporting events. But, as Justine Gubar explains in her new book, Fanaticus, sports fans have been misbehaving for centuries. So what's new? This bad behavior has trickled down into youth sports as well, with parents mimicking what they saw on TV last Sunday at their children's sports events this Saturday. In this episode, Justine, a seasoned ESPN producer and Emmy award-winning investigative journalist, joins host Emily Cohen for a lively discussion of jaw-droppingly bad fan behavior past and present--and what messages these outbursts send to our kids. It's a must-listen for parents of young athetes who are concerned about the state of youth sports parent behavior and want to do something about it. If you like what you hear, go out and grab a copy of her book at fanaticusthebook.com (where it's currently on sale), Amazon.com, Barnes & Nob

No matter what sport your young athlete plays, safety is a concern at every level of competition. Young athletes wear helmets, pads, and braces, but who makes certain all that equipment is safe? Thomas Healy, founder of HeadSmart Labs and current college football player, joins the show to give parents the lowdown on youth sports equipment. Exactly how do companies determine how safe helmets are? What role do pro leagues play in adhering to these safety standards? What tests haven’t been done but should be done to improve safety? For any parents of young athletes out there, this is a must-listen.

Did you know that professional rugby leagues are emerging all over the U.S.? Did you know that rugby is actually safer than American football in many ways, despite the lack of pads? Did you know that rugby will be in the Olympics next year for the first time since 1924? All these facts indicate one thing: rugby is a sport on the rise. Dominic Wareing, Youth Development Director at Play Rugby USA, joins our podcast to discuss what makes rugby such a great sport. Dominic and host Emily Cohen discuss the basics of the game, the upcoming reintroduction of rugby to the Olympics, and why he calls rugby “a hooligan’s sport played by gentlemen.” Whether you’re an avid fan or a novice, we guarantee you’ll learn something new!