The Power of Double-Goal Coaching: Developing Winners in Sports and Life [Perfect Paperback]

Jim Thompson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 12, 2010

The playing field is the ideal place to teach life lessons. Youth and high school sports offer an endless procession of teachable moments, but these are too often sacrificed in the headlong pursuit of winning at all costs. The Power of Double-Goal Coaching helps coaches build winners on and, more importantly, off the field. Whether coaching pee-wees or varsity, Double-Goal Coaches prepare their teams to win on the scoreboard but know the second goal of sports using competition to teach life lessons is the source of lasting impact for coaches, parents, and athletes alike. In this book, Positive Coaching Alliance founder Jim Thompson shows you how to: Create a coaching legacy that will live on through the lives of your players; Improve your athletes' performance by focusing on effort rather than results; Elevate your athletes' emotional state so they can perform at their peak level and have more fun; Teach athletes to compete while honoring the game; Deal with common coaching challenges, such as managing parents, planning effective practices, allocating playing time, coaching your own child, handling a losing season, and deploying assistant coaches; Become part of a national movement to transform youth sports so sports can transform youth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Power of Double-Goal Coaching is a practical book that coaches can use to get better results from players while providing an ethically superior approach to competitive sports...I am proud of the 10 NBA championship rings that I have earned as a coach, but I also want the success of Positive Coaching Alliance to be part of my legacy. --Phil Jackson, NBA coaching legend and National Spokesperson for Positive Coaching Alliance --Forward, The Power of Double-Goal Coaching

About the Author

Jim Thompson, named by the Institute for International Sport as one of the nation s top sports educators, has written seven books on youth sports including Positive Coaching, Shooting in the Dark, Positive Sports Parenting, and The High School Sports Parent. He founded Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) in 1998 at Stanford University, where he teaches classes in coaching, leadership, and sport and spirituality.

Product Details

• Perfect Paperback: 70 pages
• Publisher: Balance Sports Publishing; 1st edition (March 12, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0982131747
• ISBN-13: 978-0982131749
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #573,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You want to be a youth-sport trainer/coach? Start here!, October 15, 2010

By 

Ad Bakker - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Power of Double-Goal Coaching: Developing Winners in Sports and Life (Perfect Paperback)

Nine years ago I started coaching a soccer team. My son turned 6, joined a soccer club, and the team needed a coach. Which at that age means, make sure they are all there, make sure they all get enough playing time, and make sure they are having fun. Most children of that age don't notice what is going on outside the pitch, because the only thing they are interested in is that round object, or a daisy in the grass, or a plane in the sky. Most parents are happy to see their kids running, in a pack, for the ball. Easy going for a coach. One and a half year later I transitioned from coach to trainer/coach. Training kids that are the better players of that age-group(7-9). Kids more aware of their surroundings, more aware of what the soccer game is. And, of course, parents who are expecting more of their children. Making it more difficult for the players and the trainer. Fun is still the ultimate goal, but even at that age the children already notice that winning is met with more enthusiasm, outside the pitch, than losing. Today my son is 14, as are most of his teammates. Puberty rears its head. Kids find other interesting hobbies. Have a mind of their own. Are not always interested in the idea of training to get better. See coaching remarks as criticism. Think they know it all. As does the trainer :-) Some parents are only satisfied when the team wins. When the children lose, you hear denigrating remarks. Even when they just played their best game of the season, despite the loss. This makes it difficult for a trainer/coach to stay focused on training to make the players and the team grow. A couple of months ago I read an article (in Dutch, as I am from the Netherlands) called 'coaches en coaching in jeugdvoetbal' written by Hans van Kasteren, regional coach for the KNVB (Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbal Bond (Royal Dutch Soccer Association)). In the article I read about the double goal coach, ELM, and the emotional tank. It struck a note. I googled a bit and found an article 'Coaching met een dubbel doel' by Albert Hendriks, from the Dutch soccer club SDV Barneveld. Read that too. Then I ordered the book 'the Double Goal Coach' by Jim Thompson from Amazon. I think Mr. Thompson is right in how youth sports should be experienced and taught. I think it is a great book. Every sports association, every sports club should encourage their trainers/coaches to consider, and start using, these ideas. That said, the 'double goal coach' book is already 7 years old. Recently Mr. Thompson published another book 'The power of double goal coaching'. So I read that too, to see if there were new ideas in this book. The new book is just 70 pages though, where the older book is over 300 pages. I think you should have them both. See the new book as a summary of the first. Use it every once in a while to freshen up your memory. Then use the old book to read more about a particular subject. Most importantly: Make the ideas in these books your own and start using them. Training and coaching the children (and parents) in your team, because they will benefit the most.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars for Double-Goal Coaching, January 3, 2011

By 

Matthew Dodd (Virginia, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Power of Double-Goal Coaching: Developing Winners in Sports and Life (Perfect Paperback)

If I locked myself in a quiet place, thought about the roles and responsibilities of youth athletics coaches, and what those coaches should be teaching their players (and their parents), and then organized my thoughts into a book, this book is the book I hope I would write. Jim Thompson has written an outstanding book that should be required reading for anyone associated with youth athletics - coaches, parents, players, teachers, spectators, administrators, and umpires/referees.

Thompson fully understands and believes in the value of using the competitive environment of youth athletics to teach essential life lessons to our young athletes. With the principles of the ELM Tree of Mastery (aka: redefining winning), the Emotional Tank, and Honoring the Game, and the many techniques and examples used to explain them, Thompson has made it totally feasible for coaches and parents to turn the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) mission to "transform youth sports so sports can transform youth" into reality.

I wish I had read this book before I started coaching my son in sports about four years ago. I believe I have done a good job with my teams, but now I realize how much better I can and should be as a coach. I have started using the "Double-Goal Coaching" principles and techniques in this book with my 4th grade boys basketball team and their parents, and I am excited with what I am feeling and experiencing.

With so much good information in such a small book, buying, reading, absorbing, and putting into practice the "Double-Goal Coaching" principles was one of the best investments of time and money that I have ever had.