2006 promises to be a great year for Washington lacrosse! I know you are getting your schedules set, fields reserved, and uniforms in, preparing for the first face-off.

Now is also the time to prepare yourself and your coaching staff for the challenges ahead.

WHSBLA, BYLW, and WALOA have joined forces to provide the leagues with a phenomenal opportunity using the services and knowledge of the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). I am copying an email from Jim Thompson, Executive Director of the Positive Coaching Alliance, at the bottom of this email, as well as detailed information on the PCA clinics provided for you and your team parents.

January 28, 2:00pm at the Bertona Building at Seattle Pacific Campus, PCA will present the Leadership Workshop. This two-hour workshop is for coaches, team presidents, and league administrators, and focuses on "shaping the culture" of positive coaching environment. http://www.sportability.com/spx/Leagues/Client.asp?ClientID=279

January 29, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Bertona Building is the 2006 Coach's Clinic. This features the PCA "Double-Goal" clinic for coaches. Also featured are two "Skills and Drills" clinics, one for Basic Instruction, and one for Advanced Instruction. The "Skills and Drills" portion is provided by Brian Silcott, head coach of the San Francisco Dragons, Ryan Boyle of Trinity Lacrosse Camps, and Brodie Merrill of the Portland Lumberjax. Another key feature for the Coach's Clinic is the 2006 Rule Changes and Discussion. DO NOT MISS this clinic! The information provided will help you and your team be ready for the 2006 season.

http://www.sportability.com/spx/Leagues/Client.asp?ClientID=279

February 26, From 2:00 to 4:00, is the PCA Sport Parent Workshop and Timer's and Scorer's Training. The weekend before the season starts is a GREAT time to have your Timer and Scorer selected. WALOA will provide training on how to properly execute these tasks, improving the flow of the game and reducing "Box Errors". The Sport Parent Workshop is a training session for Sideline Managers, providing instruction and methods of maintaining a positive culture on the sidelines, making your job much easier.

http://www.sportability.com/spx/Leagues/Client.asp?ClientID=279

Please put these dates on your schedule, and line up your parent and coaching staff to attend.

The National Youth Sports Report Card issued earlier this month highlighted many of the problems facing youth sports in this country. But beyond the problems, there are many youth sports organizations that are working with Positive Coaching Alliance to create outstanding programs for youth athletes.

The Report Card was issued by the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance, for which I served as one of 20 expert panelists. CTSA (http://www.sportsmanship.org/) comprises several major pro sports leagues and collegiate and high school sports governing bodies.

We are all concerned with the Report Card's:

Two Ds, one for "Parental Behavior/Involvement" and one for "Child-Centered Philosophy," which focuses on the child's perspective of the experience rather than winning at all cost
C- for the "Coaching" category
C+ in the area of "Health and Safety"
B- in "Officiating."

The good news is that Positive Coaching Alliance can help raise the grades of the youth sports organizations in which you and your children participate. Youth sports can be a beautiful experience when everyone plays their role, that is, when:

Leaders are active culture-shapers, who ensure that "Honoring the Game" is a paramount value
Coaches are Double-Goal Coaches^TM who strive to win AND teach life lessons
Parents are "Second-Goal parents," who help kids take the right lessons from sports while letting kids play and coaches coach
Athletes are "Competitors," who focus on improving themselves, their teammates and the game itself.

Contact PCA at [email protected], or toll-free 866-725-0024 or go to our web site at http://www.positivecoach.org, where you can learn more about our Partnership Program for youth sports organizations and leaders. You can also be certified online as a Double-Goal Coach here.

The overall report card for youth sports may be bad, but youth sports organizations and schools all over the U.S. are earning A grades by partnering with PCA.

All the best,

Jim Thompson
Founder and Executive Director
Positive Coaching Alliance

PCA Training & Development Workshop Summaries

LEADERSHIP WORKSHOP (2 hours)

Theme #1 - Leadership and Culture Shaping

We talk with the leaders about how they have a powerful role to play in shaping the culture of their organization (and we define ?culture? as simply ?the way WE do things HERE?). If leaders do not make an intentional effort to create a Positive Coaching culture, their organization will most likely experience the de facto Win-at-All-cost culture that is prevalent in youth sports today.

Theme #2 - Elements of a Positive Coaching Culture

Here we discuss what a Positive Coaching Culture looks like. We review what areas leaders believe are already going well at their organization, and what areas need improvement. We introduce them to the Positive Coach Mental Model (this is a Positive Coach's job description that entails Honoring the Game, Redefining Winner, and Filling the Emotional Tank).

Theme #3 - Creating and Maintaining a Positive Culture

This section assesses how to create a Positive Culture through "Setting the Table" (how to set coach, player, and parent expectations). Then we talk about the fact that, no matter how much prevention you do, you will always encounter problems, so you have to know how to intervene (we call this "fixing broken windows").

Theme #4 - Structural Pillars

These refer to the supporting planks an organization needs to put in place to maintain the Positive Coaching culture year after year. This segment includes development of an organization-specific action plan.

The workshop also presents tools that can be used with parents (letter to parents and parent pledge) and coaches (expectations sheet, season-ending evaluation), as well as suggestions for structuring a Positive Coaching Awards Program.

COACHES WORKSHOPS (2 hours each)

The Double-Goal Coach? I

The workshop begins by defining the Double-Goal Coach? as one who strives to win and works to prepare his/her team to play at its highest level, and, at the same time, teaches life lessons (teamwork, dedication, bouncing back from mistakes, etc.) to his/her players. We explain that these are not mutually exclusive goals.

Various scenarios are presented. We ask coaches to pair up to discuss how they would handle different situations. The scenarios lead into the discussion of PCA?s themes.

Principle #1 - Honoring the Game

Honoring the Game goes to the ROOTS of the matter, where we all have to RESPECT the Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates and one?s Self. Coaches receive specific tools to help them introduce the concept of ROOTS to their players and parents.

Principle #2 - Redefining "Winner"

Here we talk about how the American culture is a Win-at-all-cost culture, and we have to work to shift our focus away from the scoreboard. What?s more important is a ?Mastery? definition, where we care most about our players? giving their maximum effort, continuing to learn and improve, and dealing well with mistakes when they happen. Again, we introduce specific tools (such as "flushing" mistakes, in which a coach makes the motion of flushing the toilet after a player makes a mistake, which symbolizes that the mistake is done and everybody?s moving on). Coaches can use these tools to Redefine Winner with their teams and parents.

Principle #3 - Filling the Emotional Tank

This theme talks about how players who have FULL emotional tanks will have more fun and perform better. The thought-provoking piece of this theme is that, according to research studies, coaches should achieve a 5:1 ratio of positives to negatives with their players to keep their tanks full! We talk about how coaches can use both verbal and non-verbal cues to attain this ratio in a meaningful way. We stress that coaches are still teaching when they are giving positive feedback, and we illustrate how they can effectively correct mistakes within the context of this 5:1 ratio.

Double-Goal Coach? II: "Culture, Practices and Games"

Some teams have fun, work hard and achieve great things. Most do not. This

practical workshop shows how great coaches build a culture that calls forth the

best in people:

Elements of team culture that encourage athletes to work hard & strive for excellence
?10-step Guide? to successful practice sessions that reinforce team culture & get the most of limited time available
The art of game coaching

Double-Goal Coach? III: "Coaching the Mental Game"

All athletes experience anxiety under competitive pressure. Some rise to the occasion and perform at their best but many wither. This interactive workshop provides practical tools for coaches to build self-confidence in their players:

"The High Road Framework" for helping athletes view pressure as a privilege
Off-field tools to prepare for competition
On-field tools that can be used in the heat of competition to remain and regain focus

SPORT PARENT WORKSHOP (2 hours)

The objective of this workshop is to give parents a clear understanding of their role as a ?Second Goal? parent ? supporting their child so that he or she has a fun, positive experience in sports. The workshop begins by asking parents what THEIR goals are for their child in youth sports. Spirited discussions spring from this exercise. Parents often reaffirm that their objectives include wanting their child to have fun, make friends, gain increased self-confidence and learn life lessons. We ask them to think about how their goals compare to their child's goals, and we discuss if their own behavior on the sidelines reflects their answers to this question.

Parent specific scenarios are presented to encourage discussion and interaction. This leads to:

Principle #1 - Redefining "Winner"

This section discusses how parents can help their kids redefine what it means to be a "Winner." One major point here is that the questions we ask our kids reflect what we care most about, so if the first question we ask after a game is, "Did you win?" that tells our kids that we think winning is most important. We talk about better questions to ask, such as, "What was your best play of the game?" "What did you learn at today's practice?" We also talk with the parents about developing mistake rituals (like the flush), so that when their kids make a mistake in a game and look at them on the sidelines, they will have something positive to signal to their child.

Principle #2 ? ?Filling the Emotional Tank?

Like coaches, parents need to meet the 5:1 ratio so that their child will have fun and perform better. We discuss specific steps parents can take to achieve this 5:1 ratio.

Principle #3 ? ?Honoring the Game?

As in the Coaches Workshop, we explain the PCA acronym of ROOTS. We ask parents to seize teachable moments with their kids (to discuss instances of honoring and dishonoring the game that they see live, or on TV). Strategies such as waiting for the right opportunity for discussion, asking open-ended questions rather than yes-no questions, and listening to your child rather than doing all the talking are reviewed.

All PCA workshops include comprehensive, interactive workbooks that attendees may write in and take with them as permanent resources.

Honor the Game!

Contact Bob Heckmann at (650) 736-1365, or [email protected]

Positive Coaching Alliance

Stanford University Department of Athletics

Stanford, CA 94305-81