Coaches of Excellence Institute

You can't play Today's Game by Yesterday's Rules!

2010-01-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

Today is a different day in the world of Coaching...3 different coaches have been fired for the alleged mistreatment of players under their watch. These men were the winningest coaches in the history of their respective universities. All these men are excellent technical and tactical coaches however, these series of events solidify what we (Coaches of Excellence) teach in our workshops. The motivational techniques that may have been considered "normal" in the past are no longer tolerated by today's society. As coaches we must recognize this, make adjustments in our motivational styles and implement a 3-dimensionalTM model of coaching and focus on capturing the hearts of our parents and athletes while demanding excellence out of love. Coaches of Excellence is providing those Tools for the 21st century coach...today's coach...go to our new website www.CoachesofExcellence.com, we want to help you navigate the waters of today's coaching world!

Coaching Your Child...A Blessing or the Hardest Thing I've Ever Done!

2009-10-19T15:44:00.000-07:00

Following a speaking engagement I just had in Wisconsin, a father came up to me and said, "I need help, I am coaching my son and I think I am ruining him. I even went into the last game promising myself that I wouldn't say anything. It wasn't long and I couldn't take it and I started critiquing everything he was doing...all in the name of making him better. I don't know what to do, I am ruining our relationship, I am thinking that I need to quit coaching all together."

Wow, let's start with this...Coaching your child can be one of the biggest blessings in your life if it is handled properly. However, it can ruin your relationship with your child if you don't understand a few important principles. Let's discuss 3 keys to insure that coaching your child is a huge blessing and not a curse for your family!

1. Focus on the development of your child and the progress he/she makes everyday. Do not compare your child to other children and remember great coaches coach what their players can do not what they can't. If you error on the side of love and progress not production you will have the correct perspective.

2. Get the scoreboard out of your sight and mind! One of the biggest mistakes we make as coaches is to measure progress with the scoreboard or results. The scoreboard can hinder performance as we become obsessed with winning at all costs or worse...saying we performed well just because we won and we did not play well. Again focus on the progress and process your child is in regardless of score.

3. Most importantly, keep your perspective that sport is supposed to be fun and the reason you coach is to spend fun-time with your child and grow closer...not grow apart. You don't want your child to end up hating a sport or worse you just because he/she didn't do something the way you wanted them to.

Lastly, remember this great coaches, parents and leaders are easy to please and challenge their followers to new levels. Let's be easy to please and a little harder to satisfy!

COACH O SPEAKS AT USA OLYMPIC COACHING SCHOOL!

2009-09-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

Coaches of Excellence continued its partnership with the USA Olympic Organization by having Coach O' teach at their Silver USA Wrestling Coaching School on Friday, September 4!

Here's a few of the comments we received:

Thank you for your presentation today it was great. I learned many important things today from you and can't wait for your DVD." - Wrestling Coach from Los Angeles, CA

"Rod Thank you for your presentation, I had several Coaches ask if they could skip our next session and spend more time with you!" - T. Black Director of Coach Education USA Wrestling

"We will be using Coaches of Excellence and Rod at many of our US World Trials across the country." - M. Hull

We look forward to keeping you updated with our growth until then remember...

Inspire Greatness by being a Great Coach!

One of Coach O's Quarterbacks on Cover of Sports Illustrated!

2009-08-13T16:44:00.001-07:00

Many of you may not be aware that I run a small business called the Coach O' QB School. Through this entity I train Middle School, High School and College Quarterbacks to succeed on the field and especially in life. I am very proud to say that one of my long time students is on the cover of this week's Sports Illustrated Magazine...Zac Robinson!

What a blessing it is to see Zac achieve his dreams, but it is an even greater honor to know what a super young man he is and how his faith and family have been the foundation of his success! Go Zac and Go OSU!

Coach O' Trains Coaches in Texas!

2009-08-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

Just returned from Texas where I was blessed to perform two Coaches of Excellence Workshops!
Football is king in Texas and I think we'll be back in the future!

Catching Up with Coach O!

2009-08-04T06:22:00.000-07:00

I just returned from a speaking engagment at the Tubby Smith (Univ. of MN Basketball Coach) Legacy Builder Conference for Coaches and their spouses in my home state of Minnesota! It was a great weekend as Coaches from Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota came together to improve professionally and personally. What a blessing, as this is one of several conferences we have had across the country in the past few years. The conferences are based upon the books I authored called the Legacy Builder Discipleship Series for Coaches, Athletes and Business Leaders. The purpose of the conferences are to unite and develop leaders of sport.

It was a great weekend and many were blessed including myself!
This week I am doing 4 Coaches of Excellence Workshops in Colorado, two for youth organizations and 2 more for entire School Districts in Colorado... we will train over 1500 Coaches this week alone!!!

Stay tuned, next week I will be speaking in Dallas, training the leaders of our Country's Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) in how to Coach their teams to greatness!

Make it a great day!

Coach O

Coach O' Speaks to 500+ Coaches in Wyoming!

2009-07-24T08:18:00.000-07:00

I just spent the last two days in Wyoming on behalf of the Coaches of Excellence Institute and what a blessing! I was asked to give the keynote to kick off the Wyoming Coaches Association 4 day Conference. I was honored to share with over 500 Coaches from the great state of Wyoming as we discussed how to motivate the 21st century athlete. I was blessed to have many people come up to me following up the talk to visit and ask questions, very cool, love being around coaches!
What's next?... I will be speaking in Minnesota this weekend and will keep you updated...Make it a great week!

Coach O'

Keeping Sports Fun for Smaller Sluggers

2009-07-20T12:59:00.000-07:00

Coaches of Excellence was recognized on the front page of today's Denver Post's fitness section with an article called "Keeping sports fun for smaller sluggers." We are extremely thankful for this acknowledgment and are excited to see what opportunities come out of it.

A combination of stories, testimonies and expert advice, the article discusses some of the growing issues in youth sporting events. Coach O addresses the behavior of parents and coaches alike, and how adjustments can make a real impact on the 21st century athlete.

Make sure to read the helpful tips outlined in the article, such as "Advice for parents" and "Car-ride rules: What to say before and after the game." Veteran umpire Jim Evans also shares his perspective with "Advice for--and about--umpires."

Interested in reading the full story? Pick up a Denver Post or read the full article here.

7 Things You Should Know

2009-06-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

7 Things You Should Know About Being A Successful Coach by Rod Olson, "Coaches of Excellence" founder/director

Many thanks to Mile High Sports Magazine for featuring Coaches of Excellence in the May 2009 issue. We always appreciate when publications support our cause. Mile High Sports was certainly a pleasure to work with!

Click on the image to the right to view the entire article. Let us know what you think!

In the article, Coach O lays out these 7 pieces of advice:

1. Kids don't care what you know until they know how much you care about them.

2. Success is based on relationships.

3. Motivating the 21st century athlete is tricky.

4. Coaches need balance.

5. "Trigger terms" are essential .

6. Don't place too much emphasis on winning and don't specialize.

7. Even the "big hitters" are on board with Coaches of Excellence.

Coaches of Excellence In the News

2009-06-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

With the recent stories surfacing about unruly parents and coaches losing their cool at games (See: “Parent Attacked Ref at Cheyenne Mountain Game”—Feb 1, 2009 and “Father Pepper-Sprayed After Argument With Coach”—March 14, 2009), Coaches of Excellence has recognized a growing need for solutions and ways to combat these negative scenarios.

In the past few months, we have been asked by the media to step up as an expert in the field to address some of these issues and talk about ways parents and coaches can create positive sporting environments.

In March, KOAA covered one of our 90-minute Coaches Workshops in Colorado Springs, where we had the opportunity to speak to over 100 coaches. See the full story…

Rod was also a guest on Fox 31’s Good Day Colorado in May to speak about ways parents can alter their actions and mindsets in order to be better supporters and spectators.

More than anything, we are grateful for the opportunity to spread our knowledge and training in order to reach the hearts of 21st century athletes. For us, getting in front of media outlets is a chance to reach a wider audience and offer real and practical solutions for the negativity we are seeing.

Our goal, of course, is to be an active group, not a reactive group. By traveling to different schools and speaking with coaches all around the country, we are hoping to begin a new style of coaching that will keep athletes motivated and involved for the long haul.

A Few Pointers for Parents

2009-04-29T13:56:00.000-07:00

Although Coaches of Excellence works directly with coaches, we strongly believe that there are many "players" in the world of sports which can affect the atmosphere of a game. A lot of parents come to us asking what they can do as spectators, so we thought we'd share 5 important tips to remember:

1. Understand Your Role at a Sporting Event! Realize there are only 4 types of people at a sporting event; the Coaches, the Players, the Officials and finally the Spectators. You cannot be all 4, you are only 1, the spectator…so enjoy the day by not trying to be all 4! Know your role.

2. Pick the “Right Seat” at your child’s sporting event. Do not sit by people that will try to draw you into the negative parent/fan culture of sports. If you end up in a bad seat or section, simply move…there are not any padlocks on your seat cushion. Be a problem solver not a problem spotter!

3. Let the Coaches Coach! Be committed to refraining from yelling out instructions to your child during games or practices. Understand that this is the Coach’s job. Understand that games are chaotic times for children trying to deal with fast paced action and respond to opponents, teammates, and coaches. Simply limit your comments during the game to encouraging your child and the other players… for both teams.

4. Be a Positive Role Model toward Officials! Be a great sport Parent by being sure to Mention good calls by the officials to others in the stands or on the sidelines. Start to create a climate where we recognize this is about the kids and not winning!

5. Keep Your Perspective and Practice Self-Control Routines...do not criticize officials, coaches or especially your child. Remember to have fun and Enjoy the day!

Let the Games Begin!

2009-03-16T14:43:00.000-07:00

Hello! This is the start of the Coaches of Excellence Blog. We hope to use this blog as a tool to share the principles and teachings of Coaches of Excellence and connect with you, our community. Let's join together to create a positive & character-building sports world for the 21st century athlete.

Stay tuned for more from Coach O!