Customer Reviews

The Double-Goal Coach: Positive Coaching Tools for Honoring the Game and Developing Winners in Sports and Life (Harperresource Book)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Discussions of character in sports hinge on two sometimes competing beliefs. One holds that sports build character, the other that sports reveal it.

The case can be made that both ideas are valid. Character is regularly revealed in the way that players, coaches, parents and leaders of youth sports organizations (YSOs) conduct themselves on and off the field.

The "Sports Builds Character" belief is a trickier proposition. Who is to question that sports provides a wonderful setting for the development of poise, confidence, determination, resilience, self-sacrifice, courage? The list goes on, and it is not a coincidence that a strong involvement in sports was the common feature of those who tried to take back the plane on 9/11. Yet every Positive Life Skill associated with sports has a counterpart that can be learned equally well. And often more easily. If you can learn fair play and sportsmanship, you can also learn to cheat. If you can learn about commitment, you can also learn to quit on yourself and your teammates. Accountability and accepting responsibility: making excuses. Again, the list goes on.

Many of the adults involved in sports simply assume, based on their own experience, that the positive side of these character traits will emerge. In fact, without a concerted effort to use sports to teach positive Life Lessons, you might as well be flipping a coin.

Attention to these issues is a major focus of "The Double Goal Coach", the latest book by Jim Thompson. The author is founder of the Positive Coaching Alliance ..., an organization based at Stanford University which seeks "to transform the culture of youth sports so that sports can transform youth."

Like many books on the state of youth sports, Thompson chronicles the excesses. What sets the book apart are solutions to these problems based on research in the fields of education and sports psychology as well as lessons in organizational culture drawn from the business world. Theory then becomes practice through the presentation of many practical tools for establishing and maintaining a positive culture for youth sports. Coaches, parents and the leaders of YSO's will find things here that can be put to immediate use.

What is a Double Goal Coach? He or she is a coach who wants to win. Thompson makes clear that the Positive Coaching message is not anti-competitive or about "happy talk". This is not an invitation to go out and kick a ball around with Barney. Indeed, at a time when real competitions at Field Day have been reduced to (at most) a 50 yard dash, Thompson sees the competitive sports experience as an increasingly important, and rare, opportunity for the development of positive character traits - the second, and more important, goal of the Double Goal Coach. Because it's the character traits that will endure long after the ball's gone into the closet.

There are three elements to Double Goal Coaching. The first seeks to redefine winning, changing the definition from one based only on results (the "win at all costs" model, or waac - which so often becomes wacko!) to a "mastery approach" based on effort, learning, and a positive view of the value of mistakes. The essential difference in the approaches has to do with control. Results are so much in the control of others; with a mastery approach, control belongs to the athlete. What's interesting, though, is the research that shows that a mastery approach actually produces better performance than one where the focus is primarily on the scoreboard.

Next comes the concept of Honoring the Game. This is largely a proactive view of sportsmanship issues, based on what you do rather than what you don't do. Honoring the game involves developing and demonstrating respect for Rules, Opponents, Officials, Teammates, and one's Self (ROOTS).

The third element of the Double Goal model involves "Filling the Emotional Tank", motivation through encouragement and positive reinforcement. Again, the book provides a number of useful tools for coaches.

There is also a section of the book for Sports Parents. Thompson promotes the notion of the "Second Goal Parent", whose primary task is to be unconditionally supportive of their child, whose focus is on those Life Lessons and positive character traits, who recognize that their child's participation in sports belongs to the child, and who leave coaching to the coaches.

Thompson advocates a "systems approach" to developing positive cultures for youth sports, and his organization provides an integrated set of workshops for coaches, parents and leaders of YSOs. Where that's not in place, "The Double Goal Coach" will give the individual coach many ways create a more enjoyable environment for his or her team, and one where the players are much more likely to reach their potential as athletes. That a Double Goal approach will also be much more enjoyable and rewarding for the coach is no insignificant bonus.

This book covers some of the same topics as Thompson's classic, Positive Coaching. However, it has some new ideas in it, and also has some lessons learned since Positive Coaching was written. It also has a handbook-type approach - it gives you example talks, helps you plan a practice and also shows you ways to help you acquire Positive Coaching skills. I have found all of Jim Thompson's books enjoyable and enlightening.

Many books on the subject of improving youth sports are written to create awareness of the importance of the subject, but say little of practical value on the way of doing this.

Other books treat the 'how' comprehensively but are as dry as fossilized bones.

The DGC avoids these two pitfalls admirably. It does a great job of describing and explaining the problems that youth sports programs have in the US (and in many other parts of the World), with such feeling, sensitivity and clarity that one cannot avoid being moved by the arguments.

Jim Thompson goes further, though, the DGC translates ideals into practical measures to build exemplary youth sports programs.

My organization is currently using the DGC as a blueprint to develop a soccer program in Mexico, and its lessons and arguments are as useful, relevant and potent here as they seem to be in the US, judging by the growth of The Positive Coaching Alliance.

The premise of the book is that winning is not a bad thing. It's not necessarily the only thing however. Thompson uses real life examples from youth through professional, where focusing on the positive, correcting the negative, and focus on improving have helped teams be successful.

It is our job as youth coaches to make sure we are building solid citizens, teaching them life lessons through sports, and helping them become the best athlete they can be. Winning happens to be a great side effect of this approach!

The book is great for coaches and parents alike!

I would put this in my top for coaches. It doesn't go over drills, defense, or offense. It goes over the most important things a coach should know like Honoring the game. Great book for getting the most out of the kids you coach and it will help you to enjoy coaching more too.

I coach AAU basketball for the #1 ranked AAU program in America.

Absolutely the best book for any coach of any sport. I searched for this book while I was coaching with someone who was a very negative coach. This encouraged me to counteract her, and it was incredibly successful. Even if you are a veteran coach, you can learn tools and tips for dealing with difficult situations, or fix things that aren't working well for you.