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Should You Coach Your Child’s Team?

Coach Dayna

Image by TheImageGroup via Flickr

With more and more parents becoming involved in sports with their children, it seems like a logical choice that children would simply enjoy it. Some do not, though. Before you sign up to be a coach, know what the process entails. Ensure it provides you with the best possible outcome.

Why Not?

There are a few reasons why coaching your child’s team may not be the best route to take. In many cases, it is. This is especially true when you are able to provide the right atmosphere for all who are involved. But, when can it be a problem?

  • Do you have the patience to work as a coach? Learning how to be a coach is important. You cannot simply demand results from players. You have to earn through respect, first.
  • Do you have the time to commit to the process? For many, this is the underlying problem. Being able to commit to coaching can be a struggle, for anyone. If you cannot give it the time and commitment, pass on it.
  • Do you love the game and are passionate about it? While you may love to watch it, loving to play it is a different thing. You should love both.

Before you become a coach for your child’s team, know what it takes. There is a demand here for quality parents who are able to help encourage and develop strong team players. Playing fair is the only way to play, though. If you cannot do these things, it may not be best to step into this role.

 

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How to Get Better at Roulette

Playing casino games is fun for most people. There is a thrill from putting your money down and there is an even better thrill of watching your bet turn into winnings. One of the most popular ways to convert dollars into fortunes at the casino is at the roulette table. Here a simple bet can win big and it’s exactly the kind of thing you want to take advantage of. Here are some tips to take your roulette game to the next level.

The first is to practice. You can spend time in an online casino and it will take the pressure off of a real casino and let you focus on building your betting habits and finding the kind of bets you are comfortable making. If you just devote a little time each day or each week you can improve the kind of player you are and find yourself in a position to win money.

Stick to your better pattern most of the time. Just because red has hit 15 times in a row doesn’t mean the next spin has to come up black. The law of averages doesn’t exist in just that space and time. You need to stick to the numbers and the colors you know. Failing to do so with just leave you with regret.

Of course there are the occasional times when it’s okay to take a chance. Roulette is a risk and sometimes it helps to take a risk with it. Bet red if it’s hot. Just be smart about the bet.

Roulette can give you big gains. Practice your strategy and you’ll be on the winning end soon.

 

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The Diversity of Sports

SFU's women's softball team sports Olympic logo 

Image by SFU Public Affairs and Media Relations via Flickr

Sports is such an amazing thing. It’s hard to imagine something else that holds so many separate and unique functions for so many people. One of the most prolific uses of sporting events is that of creating a “commonality” between a group of people. Whether it’s the Friday night high school football game against the local rival or watching one’s country compete internationally in the Olympics – it’s a bonding and uniting force that creates a sense of community.

Watching athletic professionals is also popularly considered an important form of entertainment. Whether you support one team or one city or one sport, or enjoy sports as a whole, both team sports and individual sports are considered a popular form of entertainment in most countries. Not only that, but there are many entertainment options within the sporting events themselves: from tailgating before an event, having a party at the house and watching the game on t.v., or meeting up with friends at a favorite watering hole to celebrate the festivities as a group.

Then, of course there’s those that choose to participate in sports for a multitude of reasons including lifestyle improvement as well as for the physical, mental and emotional benefits. For others, participating in a team sport is a social opportunity while still others use it as a proving grounds for their own physical prowess. Regardless of your sporting personality and recreational preferences, one thing is for sure – sports isn’t going away.

 

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“Oh, Captain, My Captain:” How to Be the Best Team Captain or Coach

If you have ever played sports before (or even simply watched them), you probably have an opinion on who is a good coach and who is a bad one. The other side of the field, however, can be a difficult place to be. Before you rag on captains and coaches too much, here are a few of the aspects to keep in mind about what makes a good coach or team captain.

Be a good speaker. – When a team is down and out, a good captain or coach can find the words to bring them back. With only a few moments to evaluate the situation, he must find the right words to inspire his team. Whether they need a good yelling or an uplifting portrait of hope, the coach or captain knows what words will work.

Have a picture of the whole. – An individual player knows his own role within the whole, but a coach or captain must have the ability to see how all the individuals interact and combine to create that whole.

Take the blame. – If the team does not win, the coach or captain cannot hide behind his players. More than anyone else on the team, it is his neck that is on the line. That can be a great weight to bear, and the good coach or captain carries it with a cool head and a collected demeanor.

The next time you feel tempted to yell at the coach or captain of your favorite team, keep in mind the challenges that they are facing, and be glad that you are not in their place.

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The Perfect Pieces: How to Assemble the Best Team

You may be able to hone your own prowess as an individual athlete, but assembling and elevating a team of athletes is a different set of skills entirely. When you are put in that position of power, you must begin to examine the physical and emotional strengths of each member of the team, and put them together in the best way possible. Here are some things to keep in mind when assembling your team of athletes.

Skill – The basis of any team is skill. Without skill, a team cannot compete. Look for players with skill, the players who can move the ball, dodge the defensive players, and bring home the points for their team. In addition to looking at each individual’s skill, examine how these skills fit together within the team. Look for skills in individuals that complement one another. Complementary skills will make the team stronger.

Physical Strength – Physically, a team needs to be strong, but different positions require different kinds of strength. Some positions need speed, others upper body strength. Again, assemble players with complementary strengths in order to make your team unstoppable.

Belief – Above all, you need players who believe in their team and are committed to working together to achieve victory. While this trait may be difficult to uncover in your players at first, its presence will help keep your team together and trying when nothing else will.

Keep these aspects in mind the next time you are in charge of a team.

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Staying on the Long, Rewarding Road: How to Stay Motivated When Training

When you are training for a marathon or sporting event, staying motivated throughout your training period can be the most difficult part of the process. It is easy to become discouraged partway through, and to give up on your goal. Here are a few suggestions to help keep you on the road to achieving your training dreams.

Set a reachable goal. – First of all, remember that you have to be able to achieve your goal. No training plan will work if you cannot reasonably reach your goal. Of course, that being said, don’t be afraid to push yourself to go outside your normal limits. Don’t expect the impossible, but do strive to build up your strength and endurance.

Pace yourself. – Once you have a reasonable goal, establish smaller, manageable goals to break up the training marathon. Having these smaller, mini-goals can give you a reason to celebrate your mini-victories, and help you reach your ultimate goal.

Tell your family and friends. – Telling your family and friends about your goal can help keep you motivated to meet it.  In fact, tell everyone! The more people you tell, the more incentive you will feel to achieve your training goal. Who would want to disappoint everyone they know?

Next, recruit them! – Now that your friends and family know about your goal, recruit them to train with you. The more people who are striving together to become healthier and stronger, the more likely everyone will be to succeed.

Reward yourself. – Whether you are rewarding a small accomplishment or your final training goal, rewards can be a powerful motivational tool. They do not have to be large, lavish, or expensive, only effective. You know best what will motivate you.

Don’t give up on your training. With the right motivations, you can achieve your goals, and feel justified in celebrating enthusiastically when you do.

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The Best of the Best: How to Be the Best Teammate Possible

If you want to feel the thrill of victory, you have to remember that you can’t win without the rest of your team. You may be wondering how you can be the best teammate possible for your fellow sports enthusiasts if you have recently joined a sports team. To help you become the best teammate you can be, and the strongest team possible, here are a few suggestions that you can incorporate.

Show up for practice. – You can’t be a teammate of any kind if you don’t show up for practice, let alone the best teammate you can be. If you want to be on a team, make that commitment to come every week or every day. Anything less than that commitment would be disrespectful to your teammates, and certainly not the best foot on which to begin.

Once you are at practice, give it your all. – Once you’ve showed up for practice, show your dedication to the team by focusing your energies and really playing well. You can’t contribute anything to your team if you are distracted, distance, and disagreeable.

Remember the love sandwich. – If you have any constructive criticisms for your teammates, you need to remember to include positive comments as well. Sandwich your suggestions between two positive statements, such as “I love the way you do this.” Your point will hit home, but won’t make your teammate want to hit you.

After a good game or a rough game, go out together. – Whether celebrating a victory of recovering from a defeat, you should hang out with your teammates periodically off the field. It will give you a chance to get to know them a little better personally, and make your team that much stronger when it goes back on the field later on.

If you strive to be the best teammate possible, your teammates will reciprocate that feeling and your team will be stronger for it.

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The Chicago Cubs: Will They Ever Win a World Series?

Ah, those lovable losers. Springtime is around the corner and the Cubs are back in Arizona, getting ready for their next season. What should the fans expect? More of the same? Probably. If there is one constant about the owners of the Cubs, it is that they do not bother to put much money into the talent. As unfortunate as it may be, baseball is about buying a team, not building one. The new owners of the Cubs seem to be relying on the fact that the fans use the park as an excuse to take a day off of work and get drunk instead of watching baseball.

This is an inexcusable reason to keep the Cubs out of any chance of ever winning a World Series. Treating the club like it is a cash cow instead of something for fans to get behind and root for is shameful. As long as the owners go down this path, they will see the law of diminishing returns come into play. Fewer and fewer people will buy tickets, causing revenues to decline. Who knows, there may even be a re-do of Lee Elia’s famous rant from 1983 where he blasted the fans and critics for their lack of support.

Until there is a turn around in the attitude at Cubs headquarters, the chances are good that nothing will change. The Cubs will stay a second rate MLB team and hope that the fans will still bring their beer money to watch the team fail over and over again. And that is a crying shame.

 

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How To Play Basketball

Basketball is a sport that has 2 teams with 5 players on each team. The goal of the game is to get the ball in the net as many times as you can and blocking the other players from getting the ball. The game starts when the ref throws the ball in the air and one player from each team tries to take the ball. The team who gets the ball first will be the offensive team first. The players will pass the ball to each other so the other team does not take it. There are different positions each player has.

Throughout the game you have to keep bouncing the ball on the floor continuously. This is called dribbling the ball. You cannot hold the ball at any time. This is called traveling and it is illegal. At all times you must dribble, pass, or shoot the ball. Or also cannot kick the ball. One player cannot have the ball more than 35 seconds at a time.

Any kind of rough contact is called a foul. If one team makes a foul, the other team will get a free throw. A player will be disqualified from the game is he or she makes 6 fouls in one game. There is a time limit in basketball and the team that gets more points when the time is up is the winning team. If the teams are tied, they go into overtime. At the end of overtime, the winning team is the one who has the most points.

Each quarter of the game is 10 minutes long. There are 4 quarters in a game. You do not need to be a professional to play basketball. Anyone can play.

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How To Coach Football

If you love football, then coaching could be a good career for you to look at. Coaching is exciting and you can take this chance to pass on your skills to other players. To become a coach you need to live the game. Watch the game as often as you can and do some research about coaching. It is pretty easy to learn the basics of coaching just by watching the game. To be successful, you have to be willing to commit to the game and always be thinking about your players and your opponents.

You will want to get an education. You can get a bachelor’s degree in physical education, coaching, sports science, physiology, fitness, or anything else in that department. You may want to volunteer with a local football league. Watch the coach and learn from how they are doing things. There are not a lot of requirements for coaching a youth league other than spending a lot of time with your players.

Apply at a school. Junior highs and high schools will often hire a part-time coach. You will have a better chance of getting hired if you have a college degree. It usually takes years of experience before you can become a professional coach. You will also need a winning record.

If you want to become a professional coach, it is much harder. You will need to prepare yourself in every way possible. Read every book you can about professional coaching. Takes notes and keep journals and watch every football game you can. get experience by coaching high school and volunteering. Volunteer at college squads and the NFL. Concentrate only on football. After a few years, start applying for internships and anything else that will help you get to the top.

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