Blogs

Since April I have had a front row seat watching the Decorah Eagles, one of best teams in the nation, at work.

Who are they? A baseball team? A lacrosse team?

No.  These Eagles are actually, well, a family of American bald eagles from Decorah, Iowa - members of the bird family Accipitridae and a proud symbol of America - whose teamwork between the eagle parents (coaches) and the players (eaglets, now fledglings) set an example from which every youth sports stakeholder- parents, coaches, fans and especially young athletes - can learn valuable lessons. 

SEP Games 5 & 6 can be summarized in one word:  communication.  Like any team sport, communicating with your teammates is key to success.  As the third team on the court, my partners and I communicated from the opening tip to the final buzzer ending overtime. The referee, or the "R",  before the opening toss, established eye contact with the U1, who is near the table and "chops the clock", and the  U2, who is opposite one of the team benches.

Each summer, my officiating organization evaluates non-varsity officials for potential promotion. The event, the Summer Evaluation Program (SEP), is by invitation only. Three-person crews officiate highly physical and intense boys' varsity games. We are evaluated on game management, crew/coach/player communications, call accuracy and quality, court demeanor, physical fitness, and ability to apply suggested changes. I will be evaluated over a ten game, five week period. A decision to promote me (or not) to officiate high school varsity games will be made by end of summer.

I was visiting recently with a friend who was the assistant coach on a local high school team the past several years. The head coach had been under great pressure from the parents of the players for many years, but it had intensified the past year.

He told me that no matter the quality of the coach, nobody should go through what the head coach had to endure with the result that, after 9 years, the head coach was taking a leave of abscense for a year. I agreed with him, but, as I thought more, I realized that much of the blame really fell on the coach. He is not a good communicator and manager of people. He is passionate about the sport, studies the game like no other coach, but yet he failed to sell his vision and program to the parents and players.

Whatever your sport is, the key to developing into a competitive athlete with a possible view to playing in college is starting early!  Beginning at an early age enables athletes to sharpen their skills so they will always on top of their game.

Most soccer players begin in the diaper division and play on small fields, small- sided teams, with 5 v. 5, not the usual 11 v. 11.  This way everyone gets to touch the ball, play offense, defense and even score a goal.  The key to having younger players in sports is that it is fun, builds self-esteem, teaches them to play with others, and gets them up and moving.