Coaching Management 13.3

Coaching Management VOL. XIII, NO. 3

BASKETBALL

POSTSEASON

EDITION

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$5.00

2005

LOOKING GOOD!

How to have a positive media presence ■ ■

Teaching Mental Skills Strengthening Your Center

Circle No. 100

Coaching Management Basketball Edition Postseason 2005

CONTENTS

Vol. XIII, No. 3

LOCKER ROOM

Bulletin Board

COVER STORY . . . . . . . . . . .2

NCAA Division I to vote on recruiting reform … Strategies for scheduling equity … John Wooden’s legacy goes online … Samford U. makes Webcasting part of its game plan … Tips on conduct codes … A new institute is geared for D-III coaches … Big House Gaines tells his story.

Q&A

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Kevin McCarthy, Head Men’s Coach at SUNY Cobleskill, talks about combining education and athletics, filling three different roles, and the relationship between coaches and administrators.

ADVERTISERS DIRECTORY

Publisher Mark Goldberg Art Director Pamela Crawford Art Assistant Dina Stander Business Manager Pennie Small Special Projects Dave Wohlhueter

Editor-in-Chief Eleanor Frankel Associate Editor Dennis Read Assistant Editors R.J. Anderson Kenny Berkowitz Abigail Funk David Hill Greg Scholand Laura Smith

COVER PHOTO: BILL DILILLO/UVM PHOTO

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Looking Good!

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Presenting a positive, effective presence to the media takes more than pausing to answer a reporter’s questions. Top coaches give their advice on how to be media-savvy in today’s media-heavy world.

OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

The Mental Edge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25 How can you get your athletes to give maximum effort in every aspect of their performance, on every play? Consider the following mental (and life) skills program.

COMPETITIVE EDGE

Center of Strength

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Size is only part of the mixture that makes a great post player. Strength, agility, and footwork are what keep centers on the ball.

Uniforms & Apparel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Team Equipment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Basketball Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Strength Training & Cardiovascular . . . . . . . 44

Circulation Director Dave Dubin

Production Manager Kristin Ayers

Circulation Manager John Callaghan

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Circulation Assistant Joan Doria Prepress Manager Adam Berenstain

Ad Materials Coordinator Mike Townsend Administrative Assistant Sharon Barbell

Asst. Prepress Manager Jim Harper

IT Manager Mark Nye

Coaching Aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Video Editing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 More Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Advertising Sales Associates Diedra Harkenrider, (607) 257-6970, ext. 24 Sheryl Shaffer, (607) 257-6970, ext. 21 Marketing/Sales Assistant Danielle Catalano Business and Editorial Offices 2488 N. Triphammer Rd., Ithaca, NY 14850 (607) 257-6970, Fax (607) 257-7328 info@MomentumMedia.com Mailing lists for Coaching Management Basketball are provided by the Clell Wade Coaches Directory.

The Coaching Management Basketball edition is published in July and March by MAG, Inc. and is distributed free to college and high school coaches in the United States and Canada. Copyright © 2005 by MAG, Inc. All rights reserved. Text may not be reproduced in any manner, in whole or in part, without the permission of the publisher. Unsolicited materials will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

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COACHING MANAGEMENT

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bulletin board College Coaches Seek Reform in Recruiting How can the NCAA Division I recruiting process become a positive instead of a negative aspect of college and high school basketball? College basketball coaches have come up with some potential answers to this question through a wide-ranging set of proposals that are now under review by Division I members. A vote by the Management Council and Board of Directors is expected in April.

The overriding goal of the rules changes, which were put together by the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, is to give college coaches greater access to prospects before and after they sign with a school. More contact with young athletes, college coaches believe, will help steer them in the right direction as they make the transition from high school to college.

Another aim of the rules proposals is to de-emphasize noninstitutional teams in favor of high school teams and coaches in the recruiting process. The thinking is that when college coaches are encouraged to depend more on high school coaches than club team coaches for contact with high school players, there will be more integrity in recruiting. College coaches also believe it will help them better judge prospects’ readiness for college and their character.

A third goal of the rules changes is to simplify the recruiting process by making recruiting dates more flexible.

College coaches believe this

will allow them to better match their schedules to their needs and resources, and perhaps help level the recruiting playing field.

Here are the major changes sought by the NABC: Grant signed athletes the “full benefits” of enrolled student-athletes the summer before their freshman year.

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coach, and to lift the restriction on more than four players taking part in off-season skillinstruction sessions with coaches. The NABC believes such changes will help coaches better mentor student-athletes.

The WBCA’s proposals are very similar to those of the

while following the NABC’s proposed calendar.

The packages were greeted with skepticism by some members of the NCAA Division I Management Council at the January convention. They saw them as a backdoor attempt at getting in more coaching of incoming freshmen

■ Allow college coaches to contact prospects who’ve signed a letter of intent during the dead period in the recruiting calendar. Also allow men’s college coaches to contact and meet in-person with high school academic officials to ask about a signed prospect’s college eligibility.

■ Allow college teams to hold tryouts for up to six prospects at a time, and up to 18 prospects a year.

■ Simplify the recruiting calendar by creating a flexible recruiting period from Sept. 9 to April 30, rather than relying on 40 designated days from fall through spring.

■ Forbid coaches to evaluate players during the academic year at nonscholastic events.

■ Forbid college coaches to work for or volunteer at noninstitutional camps or clinics and institutional camps and clinics not at their own school.

And they couldn’t work for professional teams.

Have the NCAA run the national letter of intent process and establish a clearinghouse for international prospects.

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Some other proposals aren’t strictly recruiting-related, but deal with relations between student-athletes and coaches.

The NABC wants athletes to have unlimited participation in summer conditioning conducted by an institution’s strength

University of Kentucky Head Men’s Coach Tubby Smith was one of the coaches who helped develop proposals to alter the current recruiting rules in NCAA Division I. The Management Council is slated to vote on the package in April.

NABC, except for these points: ■ During the offseason, coaches could use their allotted eight hours of off-season sport activity contact with student-athletes any way they see fit.

■ The number of person-days allowed for recruiting would shrink from 109 to 85 but allow for greater flexibility

before they enroll, and more coaching of current studentathletes in the off-season.

The Management Council nixed one significant proposal, which would have allowed institutions to pay for one parent to accompany a prospect on his or her official visit.

Small schools argued that it would give them a further disadvantage. Also, the NABC

For more on the Division I recruiting reform proposals, see the NABC Web site at: nabc.collegesports.com/sports/mbaskbl/spec-rel/072804aaa.html. The WBCA package and updates can be seen at: www.wbca.org/RAcommittee.asp.

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bulletin board withdrew an earlier proposal for a flat five years of eligibility with no redshirting.

David Milson, Head Boys’ Coach at Cedar Hill (Texas) High School, who regularly has players recruited by Division I programs, likes the idea of allowing prefreshmen more time to get acclimated to college life.

“Nothing was more beneficial to me than going to summer school and getting on campus before the masses got there,” he says. “The athletic part is overwhelming, and then there are the responsibilities and time commitments. So to get a kid there to be indoctrinated a little in the summer is a huge benefit.”

But Milson wonders if contact with a college coach after signing will cause problems. “I wouldn’t be too fired up if the college coach was telling my senior, ‘I saw your game the other night, and you need to be doing this or that,’” he says.

“The kid is already being bombarded by his parents and people in the stands who think he ought to be doing this and that. I can’t imagine them wanting to be on the phone with their college coach a whole lot.”

er crowds, and they are sometimes relegated to playing a disproportionate number of their games on school nights. But a handful of state associations and local conferences are pushing their members to make scheduling more equitable.

There is more than one way to get there. Some conferences have schools play each other’s teams on the same night but at different sites—the girls’ team at one gym, the boys’ at the other. In some areas, traditional two-gender doubleheaders are continued, but the start times alternate to give girls’ teams more opportunities to play the later game, which generally draws a larger crowd.

Other leagues, however, must deal with long-standing traditions in scheduling that are more difficult to alter.

One such conference is the Northern Lakes League (NLL) in northwestern Ohio. The conference wanted to address scheduling equity in two areas: which nights the genders play and which gets the marquee late-game starting time.

In the past, NLL girls’ teams typically played on Tuesday and Thursday nights, while boys’ teams competed on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday nights.

Freshman and j.v. teams played before the varsity contests of their gender.

The league’s solution was to set up a master schedule in which the boys and girls would each play the same number of Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday games. “With 14 games in the conference season, if there are games on Tuesday nights, the girls play four and the boys play four,” says Mike

When the topic of gender equity in athletics comes up, it usually concerns spending—on equipment, uniforms, travel, and the like. But an emerging area of Title IX application is scheduling.

And perhaps more than other sports, high school basketball is at the center of this balancing act.

COACHING MANAGEMENT

This did require some juggling of the lower-level teams, however. “For that first varsity doubleheader, on Thursday, we played the freshman boys at 5 o’clock, the j.v. boys at 6:30, and then the j.v. girls played the last game that night,” says Vannett. “Then on Friday, the freshman girls played the first game, the varsity girls played second, and the varsity boys’ game was last.

Wooden’s Legacy Spreads Online

At Bowling Green (Ohio) High School, changing the dates and times of both the boys’ and girls’ games is providing females with more prime time play. Above, BGHS’s Amy Bargiel shoots against Sylvania Northview.

It has been nearly 30 years since John Wooden last blew a whistle as the coach of the UCLA Bruins, but as most people know, he has never stopped coaching or teaching.

And now, a new online resource will ensure that Wooden’s lessons continue to extend beyond the hardwood.

PICACTION.COM

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The league also experimented with bringing the teams together a couple of times a season. “We took two Friday nights within the season and scheduled them so that the varsity girls’ and the varsity boys’ teams played at the same site and against the same opponents,” Vannett says.

“The first Friday, the girls played first and the boys second. On the second Friday, the boys played first and the girls play second,” Vannett says.

“The girls draw pretty well anyway,” continues Vannett, “but there were definitely more people at that Friday doubleheader because both the boys and the girls were playing. The girls’ reaction was positive.”

Strategies for Scheduling Equity

The issue boils down to a simple reality of scholastic basketball: There are certain prime nights and times for games, and in many places, they have historically gone to the boys’ teams.

This means girls miss out on the chance to play before larg-

Vannett, Athletic Director at Bowling Green High School, near Toledo. “If there are six Friday night games, the girls play six and the boys play six.”

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bulletin board The John & Nell Wooden Legacy Center (WLC), named for Wooden and his late wife, is a new Web-based educational and interactive tool, providing outreach programs and recognition for outstanding teacher-coaches. Founded by a group of some of Wooden’s closest friends, including former players Jamaal Wilkes and Bill Walton, it is designed around

and the National Association of Basketball Coaches have endorsed the award.

The site’s educational component includes downloadable print and audio-visual materials for coaches, parents, and athletes. These materials are offered in collaboration with “CHARACTER COUNTS! Sports,” and are designed to

Paterno, and Tom Osborne.

The coaches’ responses will be videotaped and posted on the site.

The fifth aspect of the WLC is the “Coaches Hall of Honor,” which encourages anyone who has benefited from a relationship with a coach to express his or her gratitude by submitting stories and photos chronicling their experiences. The WLC encourages people of all ages to share their experiences, and will provide samples and a template to assist in this process.

Deciphering the Conduct Code

A new Web site dedicated to John Wooden’s teachings hopes to spread the legendary coach’s influence to more than the top teams and players.

In this photo, Wooden presents the 2004 player of the year award, named in his honor, to St. Joseph’s Jameer Nelson. five aspects, all of which are consistent with Wooden’s teachings.

For more information about the WLC, go to: charactercounts.org/wlc/.

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The site also offers the Wooden Virtual Library, an online collection of writings on and

by Wooden. The library will include unpublished writings

by Wooden, a bibliography of his published works, and selected poems, interviews, and articles about him.

The WLC will also feature a “Wisdom Center” that solicits questions from coaches and athletes, to be answered by prominent coaches such as Wooden, Dean Smith, Joe

Former Cedarburg Head Boys’ Basketball Coach Ben Siebert had set a strict rule for his players: Anyone caught drinking alcohol was off the team.

But when several players were dismissed for violating that rule last year, parents complained that it was inconsistent with the athletic department’s code of conduct, which stated that the penalty for a student’s first drinking offense was only a one-game suspension. They felt that Siebert’s zero-tolerance approach held basketball players to a different, and therefore unfair, standard for out-of-school behavior.

All basketball players and their parents had signed agreements before the season acknowledging that they understood team policies, and the students

The controversy raises a broader issue for high school coaches: Should individual team rules be allowed to trump athletic department policy?

The Cedarburg school board clearly didn’t think so, and in July it adopted a uniform disciplinary code for all the school’s athletic teams to follow.

No separate team rules are allowed on matters addressed by the new code, which covers student-athlete misbehavior away from their sport. Coaches may still lay down their own disciplinary policies on internal matters like punctuality and practice attendance.

In retrospect, Siebert agrees that creating higher expectations for players, despite good intentions, can be problematic. “I set high standards for the student-athletes on my team,” he said in a written statement after learning that he was not being retained as head coach. “The events surrounding this season have convinced me that a single athletic code for all studentathletes would be the best course of action.”

Daryl Herrick, Superintendent of the Cedarburg school district, says the situation illustrates the importance of frequently reviewing any policies that apply to student behavior.

“It was very obvious to the school board that the codes were inconsistent, and that simply wasn’t fair,” he says.

AP/WIDE WORLD PHOTOS

The first is the John Wooden Teacher-Coach Award, which beginning in October will present $10,000 to an outstanding teacher-coach as voted on by the board of directors. Initially, the WLC plans to focus this award on coaches from youth sports, and thus far the American Baseball Coaches Association, the American Football Coaches Association,

teach the ethical, characterbuilding, and sportsmanship philosophies fundamental to Wooden’s teaching, coaching, and personal life.

It’s widely accepted that codes of conduct are a good idea for high school athletic programs—and most schools have one. But how much autonomy should coaches have in setting their own team policies? The Cedarburg (Wis.) School District recently grappled with this question after a clash between the athletic department’s policy and a head coach’s team rules landed the district in court.

who were dismissed admitted that they had broken the coach’s no drinking rule. Nonetheless, parents of two of the athletes filed a notice of claim (the precursor to a lawsuit) against the school, claiming that Siebert’s enforcement of the team policy had led to “emotional distress” for their sons. That litigation has since been dropped, but concerns over Siebert’s zero-tolerance policy were central in the school board’s decision to not renew his coaching contract.

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bulletin board Streaming Out of Samford This season, fans of Samford University’s men’s and women’s basketball teams could see every tip-off and buzzer-beater on the teams’ home schedules, even if they couldn’t make the trip to Birmingham, Ala. All home games, as well as most of the school’s football, women’s soccer, volleyball, and baseball games, are available via the Internet on a payper-view basis. It adds up to one of the most extensive Webcast offerings in college sports.

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Samford University broadcast all of its men’s and women’s home games over the Internet this season, which proved helpful for both fan support and recruiting. Above, Josh Hare makes a move.

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The benefits of offering sporting events over the Web are manifold, according to Justin Firesheets, Director of Broadcast Operations at Samford.

“Our coaches have found that one of the biggest benefits is in recruiting,” he says. “Let’s say we’ve got a kid from Colorado who might want to play here, but he’s wavering because it’s 800 miles from home. This might help seal the deal for him because mom and dad know that they can still watch him play. And maybe having that expanded recruiting appeal helps push the program up to another level. We’ve seen this help

bring kids in for several of our sports.”

with fans of teams from long distances away.

Another advantage is that prospects can be invited to check out a home event before they make a campus visit. “A player can see what our atmosphere is like, plus they see what we’re willing to do to give exposure and publicity to our teams,” Firesheets says.

The Webcasts are not currently bringing in any straight advertising revenue, but advertising spots are being offered as a bonus to corporate sponsors.

“We’ve noticed a lot of the companies want to be involved just because it’s something new and different,” Firesheets says. “They know they’re not going to reach thousands of people, but they like being able to say they’re part of helping this new medium become mainstream. And our athletic department feels the same way—we’re really proud to be on the cutting edge of this new technology.”

Viewers pay between $6 and $10 per event, and special rates are available through season passes. And while parents and friends of Samford athletes make up most of the audience, the athletic department reaches out to opposing teams’ fans as well. At the start of the season, opponents receive information to distribute in press releases and among players, and Firesheets says it’s especially popular

The behind-the-scenes work involved in Webcasting is minimal once the initial set-up is complete. There is typically

only one camera, and play-byplay audio is provided by Firesheets or by feeding in the local radio broadcast when available. Samford partners with Maxvu Sports Broadcasting Network to stream the broadcasts over the Web, and Maxvu receives a share of the revenue collected from viewers. The athletic department’s only regular expense is what it pays the student workers who set up and run the camera.

Institute Examines D-III Coaching Those who work in the NCAA Division III ranks often talk about how coaching at this level is very different from any other. So, last summer, Haverford College hosted the first edition of what’s envisioned as an annual conference to

explore just what it means to coach at a Division III school.

Titled the “Division III Coaches’ Institute,” its aim was multifaceted: to help coaches and administrators in D-III get better at their jobs, to talk about the nontechnical aspects of coaching, to encourage networking and pursuing career goals, to discuss developments in the NCAA affecting the division, and to appreciate the Division III philosophy.

The Institute also aimed to help coaches align their coaching aspirations with their own institution’s goals and mission.

“Division III coaches are charged with the task of not only creating successful programs on the playing fields, but also with the educational piece and the institutionalmission piece,” says William

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bulletin board Roth, the Institute’s Executive Director and Executive Director of Development at Goucher College. “In addition, the coaching is really much more intense and involves more grooming and teaching of athletes than in other divisions.”

Session titles included “Recruiting and Admissions,” “Ethics and Sportsmanship,” “Appreciating Institutional Mission and Culture,” “The Value of Winning and Success,” and “Division III Philosophy and Practice.”

For Monica Severson, Head Women’s Basketball Coach and Associate Director of Athletics at Wartburg College, the sharing of ideas with others working in Division III was the best part of the Coaches’ Institute. Ideas gleaned from the event that are either in

April Williams, Assistant Women’s Basketball Coach at Hunter College, speaks during a breakout session on “Appreciating Institutional Mission and Culture” at the 2004 Division III Coaches Institute. The conference will be held June 12-14 this year at Swarthmore College.

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place or planned at Wartburg include having Student-Athlete Advisory Committee members usher at campus music events, regularly holding an athletic director-captains’ lunch, and surveying student-athletes for their views on sportsmanship.

Severson also enjoyed that everything was considered from the Division III perspective. “There’s a need out there for more discussion among Division III institutions,” she says. “I’ve been to conferences that were open to people from Divisions I and II, and they often focus on their own issues. I’m much more focused on Division III because that’s where I am.

“The really nice thing is that it helps you realize you’re not alone in the issues with which you are dealing, like recruiting and campus integration, from the perspective of our Division,” she continues.

The second Division III Coaches’ Institute will be held June 1214 of this year at Swarthmore College and will include a new session on the many-hats aspect of coaching in D-III, called “Other Duties as Assigned.” The cost is $475 for registration by April 22 and $525 for registration through June 3, and covers housing on campus.

For coaches who aren’t in Division III but are interested in learning about a possible career in the division, the fee is $375. “We know that this can also be a really nice networking opportunity for folks who want to know what it’s like to be in college coaching and how to become a part of it,” Roth says.

For more information about the Institute, contact William Roth at: (410) 337-6097 or wroth@goucher.edu.

Big House Tells His Story From 1946 to 1993 as Head Coach of Winston-Salem State University (called WinstonSalem Teachers’ College until 1969), Clarence “Big House” Gaines won 828 games, 12 conference titles, and an NCAA Division II national championship. He is fifth in career victories among all college coaches, and in 1982 was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

But Gaines’s recently released autobiography, They Call Me Big House, focuses more on how the game has changed and the lessons he learned than on how to win basketball games. Having begun his coaching career during a time when separate white and colored water fountains existed and his teams were prohibited from competing against white players, his words reveal how basketball helped break down some of the most egregious racial barriers.

One of his stories recounts the days when current CBS broadcaster Billy Packer was a guard at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem’s cross-town neighbor. In 1959 Packer showed up at a Winston-Salem game and Gaines invited Packer to sit next to him on the bench. Packer then convinced his white teammates that they could improve their skills by scrimmaging against Gaines’s team—an act Gaines says was considered illegal in many southern towns during that era.

For years the scrimmages continued and goodwill was established between white and black players from the town, something Gaines calls the unofficial integration of Winston-Salem. It was also during this time that Gaines began seeing more white faces attending his team’s home games.

Former Winston-Salem Head Men’s Coach Clarence “Big House” Gaines and Willis Johnson pose with the team’s first Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association trophy. An autobiography by Gaines has recently been released.

“I came along at just the right time in history to witness and to play a small part in the crossing over of black sports talent,” Gaines writes. “What I experienced … was an awakening on the part of white people that the time had come to let black people compete on equal terms.”

Throughout all his years of coaching, Gaines focused on educational goals. One of his players, Hall of Fame guard Earl “The Pearl” Monroe, skipped a celebration ceremony after the team’s 1967 national championship to take the national teaching exam, even though Monroe was almost certain to be a firstround pick in the upcoming NBA draft. Monroe came to his decision after promising his mother and his coach that he would fulfill the requirements

of his degree—something 80 percent of Gaines’s players did.

Gaines’s experiences also offer a terrific perspective on recruiting. For instance, in a time when black colleges operated with extremely thin financial resources, Gaines and rival coach John McClendon made recruiting trips together to save money.

“When we headed to my territory … John would sit beside me and not say a word,” Gaines writes. “When we got back in the car and drove on, the roles were reversed. No coaches today would trust the others not to steal their prized prospects.”

For more information on They Call Me Big House: go to blairpub.com.

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KEVIN McCARTHY SUNY Cobleskill

Some might say that Kevin McCarthy’s business card from SUNY Cobleskill is too crowded. Along with being Head Men’s Basketball Coach, he serves as Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Physical Education and Sports Science, and Athletic Director. But McCarthy says he really has only one profession: teaching.

McCarthy’s success on the court speaks for itself, with 10 straight 20-win seasons and a 292-97 record in 13 years at the upstate New York twoyear school. His off-the-court successes include a 2004 NACDA/ GeneralSports Turf Systems Athletic Director of the Year award.

McCarthy’s passion for teaching was recognized by the National Association of Basketball Coaches last year when he received a Guardians of the Game award for education. The award is designed to focus attention on the positive role coaches play in the lives of student-athletes and the contributions they make to their communities.

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daily basis. I think that if you show them people from their own lives who they can emulate, whether it’s a professor, a coach, or even a fellow athlete, then at some point it becomes real to them and personal to them. Eventually, it can overtake the other type of role modeling that may be more distant.

I also talk a great deal to our student-athletes about some of our former students who had success here and continue to be successful in the next chapter of their lives. Maybe they moved to a four-year institution, or they’re out in the world as a business owner, teacher, or police officer.

This shows our players the parallels between athletic success and academic success.

JOHN BAGDOVITZ/FINER IMAGE PHOTOGRAPHY

Before joining SUNY Cobleskill in 1992, McCarthy spent six years as Head Men’s Basketball Coach at Carthage College. He also served as Assistant Coach at Central Michigan University and the University of Chicago. In this interview he talks about combining education and athletics, filling three different roles, and the relationship between coaches and administrators.

CM: What did the Guardians of the Game award mean to you?

KM: When I was first contacted, I was overwhelmed that such a prestigious organization would present an award to, quite frankly, a small-time junior college basketball coach. I was also very honored to receive an award that had been given to John Wooden. But most of all, I appreciate the NABC recognizing not only bigtime college coaches but also the little guy in the trenches. I felt the award was not just for the success I’ve had, but for all junior college coaches—who often don’t get the attention that Division I coaches do, yet are doing really good jobs of educating young men and providing solid coaching.

What do ethics mean to you, and how do you teach them?

I think ethics have to do with one’s own core values as they relate to life’s rules of behavior. It can be something as simple as sleeping in and then making an excuse

for not being on time, or it can be something as dramatic as using illegal substances to enhance performance.

What we do is set a standard and educate our student-athletes about what is right and wrong. Then we reinforce and model ethical behavior. That includes relating real-life experiences to our players to make them very aware of values, and continually reinforcing appropriate behavior, self-discipline, sportsmanship, and integrity, both on the court and in the classroom.

How difficult is it to teach those values when your athletes see some NBA players acting without regard to sportsmanship?

Professional sports are a very strong influence, and they can create conflict in the minds of student-athletes. So it’s critical to show them positive examples of behavior and for them to have good role models who exhibit those values on a

Coach McCarthy believes, “It all starts on the defensive end of the floor.” Above, SUNY Cobleskill’s Isiah Forde puts the pressure on vs. Corning Community College.

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What is your basic coaching philosophy?

From a technical standpoint, I believe that you have to play good defense. We believe it all starts on the defensive end of the floor, so we spend an awful lot of time in practice on pressure defense and team defense.

But the more years I spend in the business, the more I think the real key is getting a group of young men together who like

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What is the appeal of being a selfdescribed “small-time college basketball coach?”

When I was a young coach, I had aspira-

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tions of being at the Division I level, but that just wasn’t in the cards for me. However, I have found as I’ve gotten older that I continue to need additional challenges, which I’ve gotten from my other roles. It has been very gratifying to be involved in classroom experiences and touch the lives of the general student population. I’ve also gotten a great deal of satisfaction out of building a small college athletic program that has been sensitive to the needs of female athletes and athletes in individual sports. I have been given a great opportunity to broaden my focus and be more than just a basketball coach. Now, I also think of myself as a coach of coaches and a coach of students.

How does coaching at the junior college level differ from coaching at the four-year level?

The perception is that it’s markedly different, but the reality is that we continue to do the same things here that we did at the four-year level. We do a great deal of work on teaching fundamentals, team skills, and sharing the basketball. And we still spend a great deal of time working on the psychological issues related to team success, such as motivation, defining expectations, asking for commitment, and setting personal goals. The one negative associated with coaching at a junior college is that the student-athletes pass through our lives quickly because they’re with us for only two years.

What do you think are common misconceptions about junior college basketball?

There is a perception that many junior college programs have issues regarding academic credibility and the character of some of our student-athletes. But if you look at the landscape of two-year programs and the number of student-athletes who participate in strong, academically credible programs, you’ll find that those perceptions are not true.

Are you concerned about how the new academic progress rules in NCAA Division I affect junior college transfers?

Yes. The biggest challenge right now for our high quality student-athletes is the 40-60 percent rule that the NCAA has enacted. We are working hard to make sure that when the student-athletes are here, they’re on an academic track to be able to transfer into a four-year school and have eligibility at the college level.

But the new NCAA rules make it increasingly difficult for student-athletes at two-year colleges to move along and

Q A

&

successfully participate at the scholarship level.

are working hard to establish their own program.

How do you balance all of your different roles?

For one thing, I am a workaholic, and my wife constantly reminds me that I spend 10, 12, or even 16 hours a day here, seven days a week. But the other imperatives are the tremendous resources and support I receive. I have a very comprehensive athletic department staff with an associate director and an assistant director. I have two assistant coaches in basketball who do the yeoman’s tasks in recruiting, and we have some excellent full-time sport coaches who manage and administer their own sports. So really, a lot of what I do is facilitate things. It does require energy and time, but if you have

One of your assistant coaches is your brother, Joseph. What are the ups and downs of this arrangement?

He is the life blood of our program because he handles almost all the recruiting. In this day and age for someone to make the personal sacrifice for 18 years and not strike out on his own and look for a head coaching job is a story in itself.

We not only spend 40, 50, sometimes 60 hours a week together on the court and riding busses, we also spend much of our personal time together. As we’ve grown as professionals and coaches, I think we have learned to respect each other and each other’s differences of opinions.

We know that once we leave the building, we have to set those differences aside so that we can still have harmony in the family—not to mention harmony on the golf course!

“The biggest challenge right now for our high quality student-athletes is the 40-60 percent rule that the NCAA has enacted … This makes it increasingly difficult for student-athletes at two-year colleges to move along and successfully participate at the scholarship level.”

a good staff and good support, you can still fill more than one duty—even in this day and age.

How does being an administrator and a faculty member help you as a coach?

I think coaches, especially at the nonscholarship level, need to focus on the primary role of athletics, which I believe is to support the academic mission. As a faculty member, I’m always very aware of integrity issues, ethical issues, and the place of academics in our institution.

What should coaches know about working with their athletic directors?

I think that young coaches need to really be cognizant that the world of sports extends beyond their own individual program. They need to understand that administrators have to take a global look at all the programs in a school, even if that sometimes disappoints coaches who Circle No. 110 COACHING MANAGEMENT

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LOOKING GOOD! Presenting a positive, effective presence to the media means planning ahead, being accessible, and prepping your athletes on the process. Top coaches give their advice on how to be media-savvy in today’s media-heavy world.

BY GREG SCHOLAND

B

laine Taylor had a lot on his mind as he stepped in front of the microphones for his first press conference as the new Head Men’s Coach at the University of Montana. He had just been promoted from an assistant coach position he’d held for the past five years, and the first question he faced was a tough one: What is the biggest adjustment you’ll have to make now that you’re a head coach?

“The list of things in my head was endless,” Taylor recalls. “I had no idea how to answer.” He took a moment to think, and then responded: “Making more than the minimum payment on my credit card bills.” Everyone in the room laughed, instantly the mood was lightened, and the rest of the press conference went smoothly.

Taylor likes using humor to set an informal, conversational tone when he talks with the media. He says it makes him feel more comfortable and less 16

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pressured, and allows him to develop a rapport with the people asking the questions. And because he’s comfortable, he speaks more freely, openly, and honestly about his team, which his listeners appreciate. Now the Head Men’s Coach at Old Dominion University, Taylor’s reputation for media-friendliness has followed him throughout his career, allowing him always to put a positive face on his program, and letting reporters know that he and his team are accessible and welcoming.

Developing a good relationship with the media improves your program’s public perception. Media-savvy coaches look better in front of the cameras and in the papers, attract more coverage for their teams, and represent their programs and their schools in a consistently positive way.

Part of the Job Coaches who are most adept at dealing with the media agree on one thing: It’s part of their job description. Understanding that your responsibilities as a coach go beyond the team’s internal daily operations is a necessary first step to being media-savvy.

“Talking to the media should not be seen as a chore, and I don’t understand coaches who look at it that way,” says Phil Martelli, Head Men’s Coach at St. Joseph’s University. “The job of a coach is three-pronged: you’ve got to coach your team, recruit your future teams,

COVER STORY

University of Vermont Head Men’s Coach Tom Brennan and two of his players talk to the media after a 2004 NCAA Tournament game.

and be responsible for the public relations of your program.”

For Martelli, working with the media means making the best possible impression on the public. “I look at every opportunity, whether it be print media, television, electronic media, or anything else, as a chance to do a service for the university and for the basketball program,” he says. “The way I present myself and the way I present our team affects the way people think about us, our reputation, and even which students might want to come here.”

Once you’ve accepted that it’s your job to work with reporters, remember that it’s also their job to work with you.

In other words, for the media covering your team, your accessibility is the key to their ability to do their work.

“You need to show that you appreciate reporters’ interest in covering your program by being available when they

need you,” says John Tharpe, Head Men’s Coach at Lawrence University.

“We make time to meet any requests that the media has, whether it’s to talk to me or to any of the players, and that’s because we understand that they’re trying to do their job. And you can’t just deal with them after victories and when things are going well—they have a role and a job to do, and it’s your responsibility to be available to them, even when things are not going your way.”

It’s also important to know that reporters work in a deadline-driven business, so making yourself available when they contact you will be greatly appreciated. “The people I’ve dealt with have enjoyed the fact that they can pretty much walk through the door and be welcome 24-7,” says Taylor. “Even if I’m in the middle of other work, when the phone rings I’ll drop what I’m doing to talk to a reporter for a little

while if they need me. It’s just a part of exposing your program to the public.”

All About Control No two coaches relate to the media in the same way. Everyone develops their own style for communicating, based on their personality, comfort level, and the way they run their program. But when a coach has a bad episode with the media, the same culprit is usually to blame: loss of control. The most important skill that makes a coach media-savvy is the ability to remain in control under any circumstances.

“Coaches say things they might regret when their emotions are too far toward an extreme—whether it’s too high or too low,” says Amy Ruley, Head Women’s Coach at North Dakota State Greg Scholand is an Assistant Editor at Coaching Management. He can be reached at gs@MomentumMedia.com.

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University. “It’s critical to maintain an even level of composure every time you’re talking with the media. You can think a lot more clearly when you’re not overemotional or upset.”

Tom Brennan, Head Men’s Coach at the University of Vermont, agrees that composure is key. And, he points out, timing is sometimes the biggest determining factor in whether a coach appears composed.

“I’ve always said that if I talked to the media an hour after the game instead of 10 minutes after the game, I’d tell them entirely different things,” he explains.

“Your perspective completely changes.

Right after the game, you’re so emotional that you’re either gushing because you won or you’re devastated because you lost, and it definitely affects the way you act. That’s when you’ve got to be especially careful.

“Say you run into a question that you don’t like, or you feel that a reporter takes a cheap shot with a question— right after a game is the time when you’re most vulnerable,” Brennan continues. “If you overreact and get nasty

about it, that doesn’t make anybody look good.”

Ruley suggests taking some time to wind down after a game before you face reporters. With even five minutes to yourself, you can collect your thoughts—and gather some objective information about the contest. “I always take a little time to look over statistics after a game before I go to a press conference,” she says. “Sometimes when you watch a game you get an impression that isn’t quite accurate. I’ll look at the numbers and realize that a player I thought was shooting really well actually wasn’t. Having the stats in front of you can help you to focus on the facts and not your own emotions.”

Keeping your composure also requires understanding the questions and not overreacting to what a reporter throws at you. “One thing that coaches do—and I know I’ve done it—is mishear questions,” Martelli says. “You hear part of a question, and you assume it’s going down a certain path. But if you had listened to the whole question and thought about it, you’d realize it was get-

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ting at something else entirely. And so maybe a question that you thought you were uncomfortable with and was making you upset really isn’t a problem.”

Planning Your Message Coming off well every time you face the media is challenging, since during the course of a season you’re inevitably faced with a variety of highs and lows.

But knowing what you want to say before you speak can help you to look good, whatever the circumstances.

For instance, when Martelli is preparing for a press conference, he plans a message in advance to help him get his points across. “I go into the game with a game plan, so why not have a media plan to focus the message that I want to get out there?” he says. “When I talk to the media, that’s my chance to deliver a message—maybe it’s subtly to the team, or maybe it’s to the fans, but it’s important to face the reporters having a plan.

“Let’s say we lose a disappointing game to a less-talented team that we were favored against,” Martelli explains.

“My message to the media and to fans

COVER STORY

might be that I’m well aware we’ve got some holes or areas where we’re incomplete, but we’re trying to fix them. So I might speak in these terms: ‘We know we’re not getting the results that we want, and we’re working very hard to make it better.’”

Preparing a main message also allows you to set a tone and steer the questions in a direction you’re more comfortable with. “By having a plan for your opening statement, you can actually end up dictating what the questions are going to be about,” Martelli says. “That way, they know what you think is important and what you want to talk about. Of course, you should answer any questions they have, but a lot of questions are openended, and you can make them think along the same lines you’re thinking.”

Other coaches say they are more comfortable being spontaneous with the media—especially if they’ve been answering questions for many years. Brennan, who is retiring at season’s end after a 24year head coaching career, doesn’t go into media sessions with any pre-conceived ideas. “I’ve never prepared for a press conference,” he says. “I just go in

and shoot. They ask, I tell, and that’s it— there’s no forethought whatsoever.”

However, Brennan is careful to make sure each response sends the right messages. “I always try to really think the question through before I answer,” he says. “You only get one chance to respond to a question, so you’ve got to take a second to think and make sure that your words reveal what you really want to say.”

Team Effort While the head coach is the most visible spokesperson for a team, remember that there are other components of a media-friendly program. The way your team looks in print and on screen depends on the performance of others as well.

Your athletes, of course, are consistently front and center for the media, and many coaches take time to prep them on communication skills. “I bring our kids to the microphone with me in a lot of different settings,” Taylor says. “The point is to develop their ability to communicate, think on their feet, articulate their thoughts, and handle questions.

“For example, we hold an event in the fall to introduce our players to the public, and I use that time to give them some practice speaking for themselves,” Taylor continues. “I walk around with a microphone and interview every kid on the team. They don’t know what the questions are in advance, and they’ve got to stand up in front of hundreds of people and talk about themselves, their background, their expectations, or whatever I decide to ask them. Part of the kids’ development is learning how to step up to a microphone and answer questions and speak to people.”

At North Dakota State, Ruley’s players sit down with “reporters” from the sports information department for mock interviews that introduce them to the media process. “Fortunately for us, most of our players come from pretty successful high school teams, so they’ve usually had some media exposure,” she says. “But some of them have only talked to a local newspaper reporter a few times, and then when they get here there are radio and television stations covering us. So we take the time to educate them and make sure they know what’s expected of them

HIGH SCHOOL NEWS For the typical high school coach, media relations are fairly straightforward—be available for the local media after games, and talk to reporters when they seek you out. But there are also some proactive steps high school coaches can take to ensure that their programs receive maximum, positive exposure.

Providing local media with team information as soon as it’s available is a good start.

“Before the season, I mail out our schedule, our tournament schedules, and our roster information to the local newspaper,” says Mike LeDuc, Head Coach at Glendora (Calif.) High School. “I know that they have trouble getting that information from some schools, so I make sure they receive ours well in advance.”

Once the season is underway, it can be worthwhile to keep local media abreast of

anything noteworthy involving your program or your players. “We print a program for every game, and I’ll include little tidbits of information about things that have been going on with our team that week,” LeDuc says. “The reporters who come to our games get a copy, and if they see something that interests them, they call me to ask about it. Sometimes we’ll get additional coverage that way.”

An important key to keeping a good relationship with local writers is working within their time requirements, particularly after games. LeDuc communicates in advance with the reporters who cover his team, letting them know the routine: When a game ends, he’ll spend one to three minutes in the locker room addressing his players, and then he will be available for interviews.

“It’s mutual respect—they respect that I need to talk to my team right after a game, and I respect that they need to finish their work in a timely fashion,” he says.

In talking to his players about being interviewed by the press, LeDuc keeps his advice simple—be polite, always share credit with teammates, and speak respectfully about opponents. He also tells them to always think about what they’re going to say before they say anything.

LeDuc has found that veteran coaches will often have more experience than the reporters covering their teams, and sometimes a little media coaching is not out of line. “High school teams are usually covered by young sports reporters who are just starting out, and sometimes you might not agree with the angle they’re taking or the questions they ask,” he says. “If they’re covering your team on a regular basis, instead of getting caught up in the fact that their style doesn’t work for you, try helping them out a little bit. Let them know when they ask a very good question, and suggest that they try something else when they ask a bad one. They will probably appreciate it, and they’ll cover you better.”

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and how to handle themselves. Once esting, and rarely reflects well on a coach. usual game one night, I’m not afraid to they’re used to it, most players really “You hear some coaches going on say that she didn’t have her best outing, enjoy talking to the media.” and on with these overworked clichés, but I’ll never say that a player cost us a Ruley says that making athletes comand when you break them down, game or call out a player who didn’t perfortable with the press is the most they’re really an attempt to say nothform. Talking with the media is not the important thing. “Learning to relax is ing,” says Martelli. “I think it’s much time to address those things.” the biggest part, so we tell them to realbetter to be honest and say what you Often, not being too harsh is simply a ize that when they’re being interviewed, really think, instead of sounding like matter of choosing your words diplomatthey’re participating in a conversation,” you’re just trying to waste time.” ically. “To say ‘So-and-so shot two-forshe says. “We tell them to use complete Brennan agrees that honesty is a eight, he obviously didn’t have a great sentences, to be articulate and concise, coach’s best policy. “I think talking in shooting night’ is fine—it’s the truth, and to answer questions as thoroughly coachspeak is insulting to the media,” and that just makes you look honest,” as possible. And we also make sure they he says. “Of course you don’t want to says Tharpe. “But to say that the kid who know that if there’s a question shot two-for-eight really stunk they don’t want to respond to, tonight is not something a coach Especially when things aren’t it’s alright to let the interviewer should be doing.” know that, or to request that a going well, it can be easy to Slow down. When you’ve got question be directed to the slip into a routine of saying the a lot to say, remember it doesn’t same things over and over … coaching staff.” all have to come out at once.

Aside from athletes, sports “I think it’s much better to be Taking the time to organize information staff members also honest and say what you really your thoughts allows you to play a large role in how well a communicate clearly and effecthink, instead of sounding like team relates to the media. From tively. “When you get excited providing up-to-date statistics you’re just trying to waste time,” and you have a bunch of ideas to and confirming facts, to sending says Martelli. get across, I’d say the best thing video highlights for local news to do is pause for poise,” Taylor broadcasts and arranging player intercome out and kill the kids if they had a says. “If you choose your words carefully views, media members rely heavily on bad game, but telling the truth and givand don’t rush, you won’t speak in runsports information personnel when they ing real answers to questions is part of a on sentences or a flurry of fragmented cover a team. So a good working relacoach’s responsibility.” thoughts, and that’s when you’ll come tionship with your sports information Don’t criticize the refs. The officials off looking your best.” department can be a big help. can be an easy scapegoat after a loss in “Our sports information people which it felt like every whistle went the There’s Always Tomorrow work so hard, and their efforts have other way. But even if you’re convinced Perhaps the best piece of advice is done a lot for our program’s exposure,” that the refs did a bad job, taking frusalso the hardest to follow—go easy on Ruley says. “I make sure to provide them tration out on them doesn’t come yourself. You won’t like every article with everything they need whenever across well. “I’ve found that criticizing that’s written about your team or every they ask, so that everything they give to anybody, other than yourself, can make single quote that you give, so it’s not the media about our team is first-class. you look bad, and that’s especially true practical to expect a perfect perforIn response, they work really hard to with officials,” says Taylor. “People are mance every time. increase exposure for our program by expecting you to speak about the things “I go into media settings and just try sending out information that’s easy to that were within your control, not comto do the best job that I can, and then I read, accurate, and useful.” plain about the things that weren’t. I walk out, and that’s all I can do,” says think you have to say to yourself, ‘My Taylor. “You can talk brilliantly for 10 Avoiding Mistakes words are going to be professional, minutes, then say one dumb thing, and Nobody is perfect when it comes to they’re going to be honest, and I’m not that’s what gets printed. You really can’t public speaking, and almost every coach going to digress into the negative.’” take yourself too seriously.” has said something that they later Go easy on your players. When a “The one thing you find out when regretted. But experienced coaches sugplayer, or an entire team, has an offyou get a lot of media attention is that gest following some tried and true bits night, any reporters who were at the the things you say are here today and of wisdom to avoid making mistakes. game will already know it. If you ridicule gone tomorrow,” adds Brennan. “When Refrain from “coachspeak.” Especially someone’s performance, you won’t be you see your own name and quotes in when things aren’t going well, it can be offering anything new, but you will leave the paper, it seems to take on a lot more easy to slip into a routine of saying the a negative impression of your own abiliimportance, but everyone else that same things over and over. Trotting out ty to handle a rough night. reads it just takes it in and goes on to the old maxims about needing to work “My philosophy is that we’re all in this the next thing. When you talk to the hard, play as a team, and take one game together, so if the team doesn’t execute, media on a regular basis, there are at a time may seem like a safe way to get that reflects as much on me as it does on bound to be great times and bad times. through interviews, but it doesn’t commy players,” Ruley says. “If someone If you don’t take either too seriously, municate anything meaningful or interwho’s normally reliable doesn’t have her you’ll be fine.” ■ 20

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The Mental Edge How can you get your athletes to give maximum effort in every aspect of their performance, on every play? Consider the following mental (and life) skills program.

BY MITCH LYONS

SIDELINEPHOTOS.COM

IN MOST ATHLETIC PROGRAMS, coaching is more of an art than a science. Every coach has his or her own strategies, style, and methods of motivation. The common understanding is that there is no “one right way” to coach a team.

But there is one area of coaching that could benefit from more science and less art: teaching athletes the mental skills necessary to succeed in sports. To fully reach their potential, athletes need to be taught how to “think to win” in a structured way.

Through research and trial and error with my own teams, I’ve developed a program for teaching the mental side of sports that I’d like to share with other coaches. Its premise is actually pretty simple: If you teach athletes how to be aware of their thinking process and remain positive in all that they do, their performance will improve.

Most mistakes made by athletes are mental mistakes. When a player misses an

easy basket, it is not because he or she can’t make the shot, but because some mental lapse caused them to not execute at that point in time. When an athlete is not concentrating during practice, it is a mental problem, not a physical one. If you can teach your athletes to recognize this, corrections become more permanent.

As a result, practices are more efficient—players end up learning more in a shorter period of time. And athletes

are more effective during competition.

I’ve used the program with teams at many different levels—youth, high school, and college—and I’ve watched these squads consistently give the most effort they can, have fun, and perform better than anyone thought possible.

Here’s the best part: You will also be teaching skills that will help your student-athletes succeed in life. Teaching athletes how to think inside and outside the classroom setting and to be positive even when faced with a pervasive negativism in our society can help them be leaders as adults.

Mitch Lyons is an Assistant Coach for Men’s Basketball at Lasell College. He is also the President of GetPsychedSports.org, Inc., a nonprofit corporation based in Newton, Mass.

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Game of Life The program I describe in this article aims to make athletes winners both on and off the court. Most of you probably already subscribe to this ideal. We all want to win, but any good coach also thrives on seeing an awkward freshman mature into a confident senior leader.

And we certainly aren’t the first generation of coaches to think this way. For example, today, we take the concept of teamwork for granted, but 100 years ago it was a new idea. Back in 1906, Luther Halsey Gulick, the first Physical Activity Director for New York City, started high schools operating sports programs (for boys) because, in his words, “Through the loyalty and self-sacrifice developed in team games, we are laying the foundations for wider loyalty and a more discerning self-devotion to the great national ideals on which democracy rests.”

Gulick was amazingly successful.

Today, not only do players and members of educational institutions understand “loyalty to the whole,” but entire communities support their home teams with abandon. We regularly pepper our speech with sports metaphors because the teamwork lessons in sports are clearly what we experience in our everyday lives.

Gulick’s vision also included teaching morals through sports. And while most coaches would agree with the idea that we should be teaching life skills on our teams, this concept has proven more difficult. One hundred years later, we still don’t have a standard method for teaching these types of lessons. We point out right from wrong during teachable moments, and we hold our athletes accountable to a code of conduct, but I think we can do more. I think we can teach life skills—through mental skills training—in a systematic way. I think the time is ripe to fulfill Gulick’s ideal of using sport to shape society.

Studies in sports psychology say that performance can be improved through building an athlete’s self-worth. Our program combines self-talk, goal-setting, visualization techniques, and a positive environment to help athletes enhance their performance in any sport.

These same mental skills help today’s young people find the right path and succeed in life. My belief is that low selfworth contributes to many of our adolescents’ problems (violence, addictions, eating disorders). We must teach young 26

COACHING MANAGEMENT

people how to find success by building their own feelings of value in our society.

If our society’s negative attitudes promote feelings of hopelessness, we must teach young people how to create a positive atmosphere in which people flourish and are empowered. Mental skill training fills those needs for your team, your school, and our society as a whole.

The Program A main tenet of the program and sport psychology is that people who engage in positive thinking and feel good about themselves will probably perform better in anything they do. But what is not so obvious is that self-worth and positive thinking need to be taught.

Helping your teammates, focusing, and even working hard are all skills. They may seem like simple skills to adults, but to youngsters they can be difficult.

Thus, we need to teach them, just as we teach sport-specific skills.

Here are the six major skills we teach in the program: ■ Give maximum physical effort because when we do we feel good about ourselves.

■ Be positive with ourselves and with others because people perform better and learn faster in a positive environment.

■ Set written goals because they promote preparedness, which leads to feeling confident.

■ Be task-oriented and not outcomeoriented, because our own performance is all we can control and success is more likely when we think about the details than when we focus on the final product.

■ Visualize performing tasks successfully outside of practice.

■ Meditate to learn how to change harmful thoughts to helpful ones.

You may already talk about these things, but are your athletes getting the message? Is there a text that your players follow? Are they absolutely certain what they are trying to accomplish through sports? Do all players on your team understand the concepts?

On the teams I coach or advise, the program starts with a 90-minute workshop where we introduce the principles of the curriculum. Athletes are also given a text to read and are tested on it with a short open-book quiz. By reading and writing about the skills, the athletes better understand their meaning and

importance. We then apply those skills at every practice and game, without fail.

We push ourselves as coaches the way we ask players to push themselves.

Of the six major skills, the three we concentrate on most are effort, goals, and creating a positive environment. We work as a team on these areas and also ask each athlete to think about them individually. In the following sections, I’ll elaborate on these three points.

Maximum Physical Effort Giving maximum physical effort is a mental skill, not an emotional event.

While emotion may aid us, we must make the conscious choice to give all the effort we can muster for as long as we can sustain it. The following points are what we tell our athletes and show them in writing: Accept that each practice is a game in itself. The game is, “How long can I keep up my maximum physical effort?”

Identify maximum physical effort as if it were a separate goal so that you know how it feels kinesthetically, how it feels emotionally, and what it looks like visually. Identify maximum effort in practice when it is happening so you know what it is.

Demand that you make a choice whether to give all you have—or not.

Don’t kid yourself with your answer.

Expect consequences for bad choices that do not fit the identity of the team.

Each person on the team has been asked to give something they have complete control over: their effort.

Ask, before each drill, “What am I thinking about?” (Answer: My level of effort.) During the drill, when the effort level sags, ask, “What am I thinking about?” Sometimes we just forget to give maximum physical effort as our thoughts go elsewhere, especially during long routine drills.

Rate your effort after each drill, individually and as a team, until maximum effort is the rule, not the exception.

This means completing each drill all the way through without shortcuts.

(Shortcuts do not improve self-worth, but drive it downward.)

Work all sides of a practice drill, so it is truly game-like (e.g., the defense on an offensive drill should play as if it were a real game).

Stop and reflect on how confident and prepared you feel when you work as

Circle No. 115

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OPTIMUM PERFORMANCE

hard as you can all practice, every practice. Stop to reflect on how good you feel as a person after you’ve worked as hard as you can.

Notice each physical letdown and consciously try to reduce the number of letdowns.

Support teammates, whether you are on or off the court. During games, bench players should help the players in the game achieve the level of effort everyone practices daily.

Naturally, athletes who spend the time and have the commitment toward maximum effort in every practice will play better in games. But more importantly, each member of the team learns how to raise his or her self-worth. They feel more confident and prepared and have learned that hard work has more dividends than just playing better. They respect themselves.

Writing Goals Setting written goals is another way to gain self-worth. Before practice every day, each athlete must write down three goals to be worked on that day. Why should you insist that players construct written goals?

1. Scientific evidence shows that setting goals, with a coach’s feedback, improves players’ performance.

2. When players write down the little things they have to do to improve, they remember them better and make more progress.

3. Setting daily goals helps players transition to practice time. By handing in their goal books as they come into the gym, athletes think about their sport before they begin to practice and clear their minds of whatever they have just been doing.

4. The discipline required to run a play all the way through is the same type of discipline required to bring written goals every day. I have found that if you inform kids of what is expected of them, they see parallels between what they do off the court and what they can accomplish on it. As coaches, we establish discipline in a number of ways, and goal-setting can be one of them.

The type of goals set is very important.

Goals should be challenging, yet realistic.

They should be performance-related, specific, and quantifiable. And they should be short-term, as we want success every day so athletes can see their own progress.

For example, a goal of “making bet-

ter passes” is not specific enough.

Instead, the coach should work with the athlete to discover how to achieve that goal in a more detailed way. If the answer is, “Look at the defense before passing,” then that’s the goal.

Giving feedback on goals is also important. After the players drop off their goal books and start warming up, I, as an assistant coach, make the time to read their goals, make comments, and try to remember their goals during practice so I can see how they are doing.

Creating a Positive Environment Being positive all the time is not easy—for coaches or athletes. Thus, the program actively teaches the mental skill of being positive and demands that coaches model it. Here is what we do to make a positive environment a constant: ■ We make sure all athletes understand and accept that people learn faster and perform better in a positive environment.

■ We make sure athletes understand that it is a skill to be actively positive. We

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agree to practice this skill every time we meet and model it for each other.

■ We notice and correct negative behavior as soon as it happens in ourselves and others. We make sure it is corrected in a positive way, such as, “I understand your frustration, but stay positive.” To encourage this, we notice impatience, sarcasm, negative tone, rolled eyes, and other body language in ourselves and others—then we say something about it.

■ We frequently ask ourselves and others, “What are we thinking about?” to determine if we are having negative thoughts that hurt our performance.

Everyone practices replacing negative thoughts with positive ones.

■ We encourage loud and frequent support from those not in the drill during practice.

■ We actively attempt and encourage others to see the good in people, getting past old differences for their own happiness and the unity of the team.

■ We teach and model that constructive criticism from others is instruction—it is not about you as a person, but about your play. We recognize defensiveness and practice changing it.

■ We acknowledge as a group that the bench has the most difficult job on the team. As coaches, we must take the time to teach them how to be positive without the self-worth gained from playing. For example, have them work on replacing negative thoughts (“Why aren’t I playing?”) with helpful thoughts (“How could we do that play better?”).

My teams have won many games with insights from the bench.

Too Much Time?

For those of you thinking this all takes too much time, I can tell you from experience that because players learn faster in this environment, the amount you can fit into a practice increases.

More importantly, the quality of the practice improves.

What you will find over time is that To request a copy of the curriculum offered by GetPsychedSports.org, the author can be contacted at mitchlyons@getpsychedsports.org.

The group’s Web address is: www.getpsychedsports.org.

you are not using more words, just different ones. You can concentrate your critiques on the cause of the error instead of the result, making corrections more permanent. And because the athletes are grounded in the material, they will respond to your coaching much more quickly.

But, beyond this program helping your athletes on the court, it can help create a society that Luther Halsey Gulick began to talk about a century ago, adding in what we now know about

the mind-body connection. If we standardize coaching to include practicing the skill of being positive, millions of young people will become adults who know the power of positive thinking.

Ten years from now, the athletes you have on your team today will not remember the squad’s win-loss record.

They may not even remember your name. But if you teach them to be aware of how their thoughts affect their performance, they will remember that lesson in everything they do. ■

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Circle No. 120

COMPETITIVE EDGE

CENTER OF STRENGTH Size is only part of the mixture that makes a great post player.

Strength, agility, and footwork are what keep centers on the ball.

BY JACKIE ANSLEY

O ELSA/GETTY IMAGES

N THE BASKETBALL COURT,

post players are often the center of attention. Coaches will develop their offensive game plans around good centers, and may even change their offense completely if they do not have a dominant one. On defense, a powerful center can influence the opponent on almost every trip down the court.

Therefore, these players deserve the same amount of attention in the weightroom that they receive on the court.

Many centers have relied on the advantages of their height at lower levels of play only to find that advantage negated as they reach higher levels of the game.

To be effective, centers have to use their

strength and agility to compete, not just their height.

I have had the opportunity to coach some great post players, and my work with each began the same way, by studying them completely. The underlying questions I need to answer before designing a program are: What does this player need to be a better center?

What can I do to help create a strong, dominant center who will play effectively on both ends of the floor?

Although each player has different attributes and needs, there are some common problem areas in many of the

tall centers I see: hip strength, core strength, balance, and body positioning. The last two problems result from, yet also exacerbate, the first two.

Insufficient hip and core strength inhibits a center’s ability to achieve good body balance and positioning on the court. Bad habits created by a lack of balance and proper positioning, in turn, lead to further weakening of the core and hips.

These four classic problems also combine to create another deficiency: lack of explosive power. Without good core and hip strength, balance, and

Jackie Ansley is the Founder of Sports Excel and Performance Training Inc., both located in Knoxville, Tenn. A former NCAA Division I player and high school coach, she has trained players at the professional, college, and high school levels.

COACHING MANAGEMENT

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body positioning, centers can be easily bodied out under the basket.

A comprehensive preseason conditioning program for basketball centers should address all of these needs systematically. This is achieved by integrating stretching, strength training, core work, and speed, agility, and quickness (SAQ) training into one program. Of course, the program should be modified when working with younger players, players with less training time available, or players with a lower overall level of conditioning.

constantly preach to the athletes that success on the court begins in the weightroom. Power, speed, and agility all rely on strength, so it’s important to build a proper strength base before training these other areas. Without the proper strength, athletes can’t do the rest of the workouts needed to improve, and the risk of injury is greater.

Since some athletes are a little reticent about spending a lot of time in the weightroom, I prefer to structure my pro-

gram with shorter weight work sessions spread throughout the training week rather than bunching weightroom work into its own days. I seem to get more strength built when I split weightroom work into a four-day program. However, a three-day split can also be effective.

The program design is based on the age of the athletes and their baseline strength when they report for preseason conditioning, which should begin about six to eight weeks prior to the first

Dynamic Warmup In the desire to make your centers bigger, faster, and stronger, it’s easy to overlook the importance of stretching.

Many of the players I see are very tight, yet do not take the time to stretch. This will often show up in a player’s inability to properly perform certain movements or as repeated injuries.

Before beginning any of our workouts, I have players warm and lubricate their muscles with some jogging, followed by both static (stationary) and dynamic stretching (ballistic movements in all planes of motion). Once the warmup and stretching are complete, the players’ muscles will be more elastic, and blood flow and muscle metabolism will be elevated, thus increasing the effectiveness of their workouts.

To drive home the importance of stretching before any workouts, practices, or games, I frequently ask players how many times they have said, “It took me three trips down the court to finally get my legs.” Once they have learned to start every session with stretching, they always want to continue because they feel ready for whatever comes next.

Don’t forget about post-workout stretching. Finishing each strength and conditioning session with stretching allows athletes to relax the muscles and gently return the body to its resting state.

It also keeps circulation slightly elevated, which lets the muscle cells deliver nutrients to and clear metabolic wastes away from the muscles. Thus, muscles recover faster, are less sore, and are better able to stave off cramps and injuries.

Strength Training The bedrock of my preseason program for centers is strength training. I Circle No. 122

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COMPETITIVE EDGE

practice. Ideally, the athletes have increased their overall strength in the off-season so we can focus on power and explosion as they directly pertain to basketball. If not, this base strength must be developed first before specific power and explosive training can begin. This is especially true for centers since longlimbed and thinner players will often be lacking in upper-body strength.

In Table One (on page 38), I have shown typical upper- and lower-body routines and core training for the first

week of lifting, which I will vary with each post player depending on muscular endurance and strength. I choose exercises that relate directly to what the players need to do on the court and adjust the mix to address specific weaknesses that I have seen.

During the first four weeks of the preseason, I focus on overloading and increasing loads as much as possible.

But even in this stage of strength training, I encourage the athlete to think about being explosive and performing

the concentric phase of each lift with speed. They must then be able to control the weights on the negative.

After four or five weeks, I evaluate each player’s progress and start to change their sets and reps to get them ready for the first day of practice. When it comes to the numbers of sets and reps or the amount of weight, I am more concerned with increasing the work load each week than reaching any preset maximums.

Along with our structured core training, I challenge players to focus on core activation and proper posture throughout the entire workout. In everything we do—warm up, weights, speed-agilityquickness exercises, and court workouts—I hammer home the importance of the core and balance.

Agility Adjustment By working intensively on agility (change of direction/change of speed) and explosive power (first step along with vertical leaping), you can create a more explosive, more active, and quicker center who is able to compete at a higher level. This process begins with training footwork and teaching athletes how to load their hips and gain more explosion and balance.

To develop foot speed, I focus on performing the positive phase of lifts quickly. Whether they’re doing leg presses, leg curls, or other exercises, I stress the importance of exploding quickly to start, then pausing before controlling the weight on the way down.

I also tie their ankles together with bungee cords and put them through shuffle drills, or even run them through one-on-one drills with a ball.

Loading the hips is very important to developing the explosive power needed to become a better rebounder, post up strongly, hold space, and be ready to shoot once the ball is received. It also puts a center in a better position to move their feet when on defense. Many posts are not able to execute multiple jumps without losing elevation each time. By improving hip strength and learning how to get in proper position with their hips down in a quarter-squat type of stance, posts can load their hips and elevate better in multiple jumps.

After footwork and hip loading comes specific agility work. Many posts can only play well if they stay in one

Circle No. 123

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COMPETITIVE EDGE

spot. Once they are asked to make cuts they lose all balance and strength.

I continually challenge the athlete in each SAQ workout and try to convey how this skill comes into the game. I’ll constantly ask, “What are we working on? Why are we doing these drills?” If a player understands how a drill can help down the road, then he or she will usually work extremely hard.

In Table Two (below), I have included a sample SAQ workout that addresses lateral movement and linear explosion.

As we progress through the preseason, I will change the work level and number of reps to keep the workout challenging.

TABLE 1

STRENGTH WORKOUTS

UPPER BODY Lat pulls in front Cable low rows Pec decks Push-ups Shoulder presses DB shoulder raises: lateral, front, reverse Triceps overhead cable ext.

DB curls Pull-ups/dips: weight loaded if needed

I also adjust the workouts to meet each player’s specific needs. For example, one player may be great straight ahead and weak laterally, so I would increase the number of side runs or zigzag shuffles.

Another player may have the opposite characteristics so I would use more highknee skips or run-throughs.

The drills prescribed to each player should represent what he or she actually needs rather than a one-size-fits-all agenda. I know some coaches have favorite drills they like to use, but you must ask yourself, “Is this player ready to do this particular drill? Will it make him or her a better center?”

3x8 3x8 3x8 3x10-15 3x8 2x10 each 3x8 3x8 2x10 each

LOWER BODY Hip abductions 3x15 Hip adductions 3x15 Leg presses (single leg) 3x10 each Leg curls (single leg) 3x10 each Short arcs (single leg) 3x10 each Calf raises (standing or seated) 3x10

3x10 each 3x10 1x10 1x10 1x10 1x10 each

CORE STRENGTH Bridges on floor: front, back, left, right 3x30-60sec. each (add 5 leg lifts at end to challenge) Push-ups on physio ball 2x10 Physio ball pass over and back 1x10 Medicine ball routine: Overhead passes 2x10 Chest passes 2x10 Trunk twists 2x10 Crunch to push passes 2x10

SAQ WORKOUTS

TABLE 2 MINI HURDLES (6-8 hurdles): Side runs Side runs back and forth Side runs and back Side hops Side hops back and forth

DB step-ups Tuck jumps Box jumps routine: Single box up (2 feet) Single box drop off and up Single box over 2 boxes drop off and up: small to big, big to small

PLYOMETRICS: x2-3 x2-3 x2-3 x2-3 x2 each

Skate jumps with sidewinders x3 Skate jumps without sidewinders x1-2 Zigzag shuffles with sidewinders x3 Zigzag shuffles without sidewinders x1-2 Zigzag shuffles on visual command, sprint back x4

BALANCE AND STABILIZATION: Defensive stance with movement (hold 10 sec.)

Single leg stabilization (hold 5 sec.)

Single leg hops (5 sec.)

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COACHING MANAGEMENT

x3-5 x3-5 x3-5

COURT SPRINTS (build to 1:1 rest to work ratio) Big threes Figure eights clockwise/counter clockwise Shuttle sprints, start left/start right

x4 x2 x2

Cardio Training My emphasis when developing the cardiovascular fitness of any player is avoiding excessive impact. This is even more important with centers, many of whom are more inclined to foot and ankle problems because of their size.

I do not recommend having players jog long distances. We have all done long-distance running as athletes or prescribed it to our athletes. But players need to prepare for the specific demands of their position. Post players need to develop endurance that allows them to recover very quickly between repeated high-intensity efforts that engage a lot of fast-twitch muscle fibers.

They do not need endurance that allows them to sustain a steady, moderate intensity involving mostly slowtwitch fibers. Long-distance running is therefore counterproductive.

I primarily use cardio equipment such as a stationary bike, elliptical trainer, or cross trainer, as well as sprint drills on the court. I avoid treadmills because of the constant pounding on the legs and feet.

I use workouts featuring sustained, high-intensity intervals. These can go as long as two minutes at high strides per minute (spm) or revolutions per minute (rpm) with an active rest of one to two minutes at a lower spm or rpm.

As the first practice approaches, we move to short sprint intervals (15- to 45seconds at a higher spm or rpm with 15to 45-second active rest at a moderate spm or rpm).

If your facilities permit pool workouts, they are another excellent way to perform conditioning work with minimal impact. These workouts can incorporate not only cardio training but also strength and power training while producing a fraction of the impact forces that are absorbed on the court.

Regardless of the resources at your disposal, you will be able to help your centers become more effective on the court if you are able to build their core strength and improve their agility. The specific exercises and drills are only tools and are of little use if not used correctly.

So make sure athletes are ready for the drills you assign and that the drills will benefit the player on the court. ■ This article originally appeared in Coaching Management’s sister publication, Training & Conditioning.

Circle No. 125

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Top names such as adidas, Dynamic Team Sports, and Moyer’s Custom Line are among the many brands available. The company’s in-house lettering facility enables Moyer to offer quicker service than the competition. A free color catalog is available.

Circle No. 504 Moyer Sports Corner offers a complete line of shooting shirts and tearaway pants with custom styling, available in men’s and women’s cut.

Call Moyer for more information or to place an order.

Circle No. 505

Pro Look Sports 800-776-5665 WWW.PROLOOKSPORTS.COM One Price Promise: You get custom design, embroidery, tackle-twill letters & numbers, larger sizes, and more for one price. You won’t be charged more for any upgrades. You don’t have to worry about what your end cost will be. You know what it will be from the start. Pro Look Sports’ One Price Promise frees you to design the perfect basketball uniform for your team. Go Pro. Circle No. 506 Pro Look Sports’ reputation is built on custom team sportswear. You choose your materials and style; you apply team logos where you want them; you choose the style of the lettering and numbering. No other team sportswear manufacturer offers this kind of freedom. You get all of this for one simple price; there are no up-charges for number of embroideries or tackle-twill applications. Go Pro. Circle No. 507

Russell Athletic WWW.RUSSELLATHLETIC.COM Russell Athletic combines tradition, performance, and design to create basketball uniforms that actually enhance athletic performance. Russell Athletic uniforms are offered in a variety of innovative fabrics, including Russell’s Dri-Power moisturemanagement technology, which keeps players cool, dry, and comfortable on the court. Russell’s sleek new uniform with a Vneck and contrasting back paneling is

Uniforms & Apparel

designed especially for women, offering ease of movement and improved performance.

Circle No. 508 Russell Athletic has a longstanding tradition of producing team uniforms that are used at the highest levels of competition.

More than 100 NCAA basketball teams wear Russell Athletic in practice and during games. Russell Athletic uniforms are designed with superior fit and durability to enhance on-court performance. The company’s uniforms are offered in innovative fabrics, including DriPower moisture-management technology, which allows athletes to compete at their very best.

Circle No. 509

Saxon Athletic 866-879-8766 WWW.SAXONATHLETIC.COM Since the game’s inception, basketball players have demanded quality uniforms that withstand rigorous play. Saxon Athletic demands the same from every uniform it designs. That’s why the company is excited to introduce the newest member of its team: Caliber 1. Caliber 1 sublimated uniforms are guaranteed never to crack, peel, or fade. With a wide variety of fonts and logos to choose from, you'll surely get the look you want. Saxon also welcomes all custom orders.

Circle No. 510 Also available from Saxon Athletic are custom-sublimated shooter shirts. These stylish shirts are available in a variety of fabrics, and they look and feel great. The sky’s the limit with Saxon. Get the quality and service you’ve come to expect from a great company. Saxon Athletic: Get it on.

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Team Equipment Cho-Pat 800-221-1601 WWW.CHO-PAT.COM Cho-Pat’s patented Dual Action Knee Strap provides an extra level of relief for painful and weakened knees. It applies pressure to the tendon below the knee to reduce patellar subluxation and improve tracking and elevation. It also puts pressure on the tendon above the knee to provide added support and stability. The Dual Action Knee Strap allows full mobility.

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New Balance Athletic Shoe 800-253-7463 WWW.NEWBALANCE.COM The BB902 is an ultra-durable performance basketball shoe built to last from tryouts to the conference finals.

This shoe has great stability, cushioning with excellent durability, and maximum shock absorption. It offers superior support in the midfoot while reducing overall weight. It is constructed with solid rubber and blown rubber for exceptional durability, natural comfort, and breathability. The collar and tongue are made with breathable moisture-wicking foam.

Circle No. 516 The BB887 from New Balance is a supportive team basketball shoe for players who demand long-wearing comfort. It offers exceptional shock absorption and superior support in the midfoot while reducing overall weight. Natural comfort, durability, and breathability make this shoe a great choice. The outsole pattern is designed for increased traction during lateral motion.

Circle No. 517

Testimonial

University of Nebraska Uses Rotating Signs to Generate Valuable Advertising Revenue

“We would like to extend our immense appreciation to you and your crew for your extra hard work and dedication to the Nebraska athletic department. Again, SignCo has gone over and above our expectations, hurdling obstacles and deadlines to help us look our best for fans at kickoff last Saturday. Your service deserves more than any ‘thanks’ or ‘good job’ we can possibly give you.

“SignCo is definitely one of the best companies the athletic department works with, and we appreciate everything you do. Thanks for being a big part of our ‘team.’”

Marc Boehm Executive Associate Athletic Director Paul Miles Associate Athletic Director John Ingram Director of Facilities Dana Sayler Marketing Coordinator The best and easiest way to generate revenue for your program is through corporate sponsorship and advertising.

With SignCo rotating scorer’s tables, you are able to create 20 spots of inventory for your advertisers that are as close to the action as possible. Call SignCo to find out more about these amazing products.

SignCo 300 Speedway Circle, Lincoln, NE 68508 402-474-6646 sales@signco.com WWW.SIGNCO.COM COACHING MANAGEMENT

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Great Ideas For Athletes...

Knee Strap Cho-Pat’s Original Knee Strap is designed to alleviate certain knee discomforts due to overuse syndromes, arthritis, and other forms of degeneration. Nearly two million sold!

Sizes: XS - XXL • Colors: Black and Tan

Dual Action Knee Strap Patented device offers an extra level of pain relief and protection from knee degeneration and overuse syndromes.

Stabilizes and strengthens the joint while allowing full mobility.

Sizes: Sm - XL

Achilles Tendon Strap This patented device will reduce stress upon the Achilles Tendon and provide effective relief from pain and discomfort associated with Achilles Tendonitis. Sizes: Sm - Med - Lrg

www.cho-pat.com 1-800-221-1601 Circle No. 126

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COACHING MANAGEMENT

ADVERTISERS DIRECTORY CIRCLE NO.

COMPANY

PAGE NO.

CIRCLE NO.

COMPANY

PAGE NO.

128 . . . . Austin Plastics & Supply . . . . . . . . 45

119 . . . . Porter

(Fair-Court)

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

113 . . . . Bassco Sporting Goods . . . . . . 22-23

117 . . . . Porter

(Torq-Flex) .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29

133 . . . . Better Basketball. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51

122 . . . . Power Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

126 . . . . Cho-Pat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

108 . . . . Powernetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

107 . . . . Courtclean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

112 . . . . Pro Look Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

118 . . . . CyberSports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30

125 . . . . Pro Look Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39

116 . . . . DeLong Sportswear . . . . . . . . . . . 28

134 . . . . Russell Athletic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IBC

135 . . . . Dr. Dish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BC

136 . . . . Saxon Athletic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

129 . . . . eFundraising.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

123 . . . . Shoot-A-Way

101 . . . . Gatorade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

110 . . . . Shoot-A-Way (The Gun) . . . . . . . . . . 15

131 . . . . Human Kinetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

111 . . . . Signco. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

106 . . . . JV Pro, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

100 . . . . Spalding/Hydra-RIB/BPI . . . . . . . . IFC

104 . . . . K&K Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

130 . . . . Specialized Seating . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

114 . . . . LRSSports Software. . . . . . . . . . . . 24

132 . . . . Stadium Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

103 . . . . McDavid . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

109 . . . . TurboStats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

121 . . . . Moyer Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34

124 . . . . U.S. Sports Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37

115 . . . . Nevco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

120 . . . . VertiMax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

102 . . . . New Balance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

127 . . . . Xvest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

(Rebounder)

. . . . . . . . 36

105 . . . . OPTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

PRODUCTS DIRECTORY CIRCLE NO.

COMPANY

541 . . . . Airborne Athletics

PAGE NO. (Dr. Dish) .

. . . . . . 47

CIRCLE NO.

COMPANY

533 . . . . OPTP

(Stretch Out Strap)

PAGE NO

. . . . . . . . . . 44

540 . . . . Airborne Athletics (Dr. Dish Ball Cart) . 47

532 . . . . OPTP (The Athlete’s Ball) . . . . . . . . . . 44

521 . . . . Spalding/Hydra-RIB/BPI. . . . . . . . . 43

524 . . . . Porter (Fair-Court rim-testing device) . . . 43

555 . . . . Austin Plastics & Supply . . . . . . . . 52

525 . . . . Porter (state-of-the-art goal) . . . . . . . . 43

501 . . . . Bassco (custom game uniform) . . . . . . . 40

534 . . . . Power Systems (Basketball Power Program) 44

500 . . . . Bassco (spirit pack) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

526 . . . . Power Systems (catalog) . . . . . . . . . 43

542 . . . . Better Basketball. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

535 . . . . Power Systems (Jump Rope Training) . . 45

. . . . . . 43

537 . . . . Powernetics (Power Trainer) . . . . . . . . 45

523 . . . . Bison

(Baseline 180° Breakaway)

522 . . . . Bison

(conversion packages).

. . . . . . . . 43

536 . . . . Powernetics (The Dominator) . . . . . . . 45

515 . . . . Cho-Pat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

507 . . . . Pro Look Sports (custom team sportswear) 40

556 . . . . Courtclean . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

506 . . . . Pro Look Sports (One Price Promise)

557 . . . . CyberSports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

508 . . . . Russell Athletic (basketball uniforms). . . 40

..

40

503 . . . . DeLong Sportswear (2005 catalog) . . 40

509 . . . . Russell Athletic (team uniforms) . . . . . 41

502 . . . . DeLong Sportswear (custom uniforms) 40

510 . . . . Saxon Athletic (Caliber 1) . . . . . . . . . 41

558 . . . . eFundraising.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

511 . . . . Saxon Athletic (shooter shirts) . . . . . . 41

559 . . . . Gatorade . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

544 . . . . Shoot-A-Way (rebounding machine)

...

48

543 . . . . Human Kinetics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

545 . . . . Shoot-A-Way (The Gun) . . . . . . . . . . 48

520 . . . . Spalding/Hydra-RIB/BPI . . . . . . . . 43

562 . . . . Specialized Seating . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

560 . . . . JV Pro, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

563 . . . . Stadium Chair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

561 . . . . K&K Insurance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

546 . . . . TurboStats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

550 . . . . LRSSports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

551 . . . . U.S. Sports Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

505 . . . . Moyer Sports (line of shirts/pants) . . . . 40

530 . . . . VertiMax . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

504 . . . . Moyer Sports (team apparel) . . . . . . . 40

531 . . . . VertiMax (V6) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44

517 . . . . New Balance (BB887) . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

539 . . . . Xvest (Don Chu) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

516 . . . . New Balance (BB902) . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

538 . . . . Xvest (Fire Fighter model) . . . . . . . . . . 45

Basketball Goals Spalding/Hydra-RIB/BPI 800-435-DUNK WWW.SPALDING.COM WWW.HYDRA-RIB.COM WWW.AMERICANATHLETIC.COM Spalding, Hydra-RIB, and Basketball Products International (BPI) share a long history of providing quality products to athletes worldwide, from high school to the pros. The companies’ extensive product lines include portable and ceilingsuspended basketball backstops, backboards, rims, basketballs, pads, training equipment, and accessories. For a free product catalog, please call or visit the companies’ websites.

Circle No. 520 The Slam-Dunk Pro Goal, available from Spalding, Hydra-RIB, and Basketball Products International (BPI), is ideal for collegiate and high school play. This performance breakaway goal is factory calibrated to meet rebound elasticity requirements and includes continuous ram for easy net installation. The Slam-Dunk Pro Goal meets all NCAA and NFHS specifications and comes with a fiveyear warranty. For a free product catalog, please call or visit the companies’ websites.

Circle No. 521

Bison Recreational Products 800-247-7668 WWW.BISONINC.COM Convert old side-court, fan-shaped backboards to competition glass with one of Bison’s easy-to-install conversion packages. With a single order, you’ll get a glass backboard with a lifetime warranty, a breakaway goal, and DuraSkin backboard padding, all official products of the NFHS. Bison has money-saving gym upgrade

packages for 42-inch and 48inch backboards, and standard mount or fan-conversion mount in premium and standard grades to fit existing wall or ceiling mount structures, regardless of manufacturer.

Circle No. 522 Bison has introduced the Baseline 180° Breakaway, an innovation in breakaway goal technology.

Whether players are coming from the left, the right, or down the lane, Bison’s new Baseline goal will protect them, and protect your facility’s equipment as well.

This is the only 180° breakaway with a popular positive lock release mechanism and “any angle 180°” movement. Bison breakaways are the official goals of the NFHS and meet all applicable rules, including the new NCAA rule for rebound elasticity testing.

Circle No. 523

Porter Athletic Equipment Company 800-947-6783 WWW.PORTER-ATH.COM New NCAA Division I Ruling! To improve the integrity and fairness of the game of basketball, beginning with the 2004/2005 season, rim testing is mandatory for all Division I Competition Courts and Tournaments. The Fair-Court® rim-testing device by Porter Athletic Equipment Company was designed to measure the rebound performance of the basketball rim and entire support system. Contact Porter for more information about the FairCourt® rim-testing device.

Circle No. 524

This state-of-the-art goal by Porter Athletic flexes around a 180° arc at the front of the rim, at the sides and anywhere in between.

The accuracy and simplicity of this adjustable goal make it superior in design and performance for the highest levels of both NCAA and FIBA competition requirements by providing proper elasticity and ball rebound characteristics and increased player safety. The goal is maintenance-free and will provide years of slam-dunks.

Circle No. 525

Catalog Showcase Power Systems, Inc. 800-321-6975 WWW.POWER-SYSTEMS.COM Since 1986, Power Systems has been a leading supplier of sports performance, fitness, and rehabilitation products and programming. The company prides itself on being the one resource for all your training needs. The 2005 catalog has a new look, with better graphics and photos. It includes sections on core strength, medicine balls, speed, plyometrics, agility, strength equipment, strength accessories, and fitness assessment. The catalog features hundreds of new products and dozens of products available exclusively from Power Systems. The company has even lowered some of its prices, enabling the customer to purchase premium products for less. Call or visit the company Web site for your free copy.

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COACHING MANAGEMENT

43

Strength & Cardio Equipment VertiMax 800-699-5867 WWW.VERTIMAX.COM No matter what kind of lower-body strength and speed training you are doing, it falls into one of three categories: heavy resistance, plyometrics, or low-load, velocity-specific training—the VertiMax. If heavy resistance were 10 on a scale of one to 10, and if plyometrics were one, VertiMax would be five. It’s plyo with overload: the best of both worlds. VertiMax offers maximum transfer to the field.

Circle No. 530 ”Only the VertiMax V6 incorporates upper-body loading into an already highly effective explosion training device. Training the upper body to improve the lift aspect of vertical jump is a giant breakthrough. You can use it for arm action in the running phase,

jam techniques, or combine all resistance bands for run-into-jump maneuvers. I can say without hesitation that this device can be of great importance in any training program.” – Garrett Giemont, Professional Football 2002 Strength & Conditioning Coach of the Year Circle No. 531

OPTP 800-367-7393 WWW.OPTP.COM The Athlete’s Ball, by Rick Jemmett, PT, provides a cutting-edge, research-based exercise approach for athletes at all levels. The basis for this book is a comprehensive approach to physical conditioning known as Integrative Training.

This training simultaneously incorporates balance and strength exercises to help athletes perform at higher levels and reduce their injury risk. Special sections, such as one on knee injuries for female athletes, are also included.

Circle No. 532

The patented Stretch Out® Strap by OPTP delivers the benefits of PNF stretching without a partner.

This type of stretching combines isotonics, isometrics, and prolonged stretch capabilities. The multiple-position grips allow deep and gradual stretching of major muscle groups with greater safety and effectiveness than is possible unaided. This strap is made for athletes over six feet tall. Included with the strap is a training and conditioning poster that contains over 20 stretching exercises.

Circle No. 533

Power Systems, Inc. 800-321-6975 WWW.POWER-SYSTEMS.COM The Basketball Power Program by Power Systems is a 12-week training program designed to bolster the performance of basketball athletes. The package includes equipment necessary to develop the speed, agility, and quickness needed to excel in this very competitive sport. The

Voted “Best of the Best” in Testosterone Magazine The Xvest is considered by many of the Major League strength coaches to be an essential tool for “the edge”.

“We have used the Xvest and have found it to be the best, most comfortable and effective weight vest. We have seen measurable improvements in range of motion, strength and power.”

Gene Coleman, Ed. D. Strength and Conditioning Coach – Houston Astros

Lance Berkman Houston Astros

If you want to play XPLOSIVE, you have to train

XPLOSIVE !

Xvest can be used in your strength, conditioning, speed, agility, plyometric and sport specific drills or training. You will see dramatic improvements in speed and power as well as conditioning and strength.

A few Major League Baseball Teams using the Xvest: 2002 World Champions Anaheim Angels Houston Astros (Divisional leader) Chicago White Sox (Divisional leader)

It’s not a coincidence.

Get the Xvest if you want to compete.

Call 800-697-5658 281-693-4034 Email Info@TheXvest.com www.TheXvest.com

Circle No. 127

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COACHING MANAGEMENT

Strength & Cardio Equipment program includes: a Pro Agility Ladder, a 6-lb. Power Med Ball, a Lateral Stepper, a VersaDisc, a Power Builder, six Agility Cones, a nylon carry bag, a Power Program manual, and your choice of a VHS or DVD. The video shows the proper way to use the equipment, and the training manual takes you step-by-step through the program.

Contact Power Systems for more information on this and other products and programs.

Circle No. 534 Develop quickness, agility, strength, power, and endurance, all from one training source. Six-time national wrestling champion and Olympic athlete Buddy Lee used rope jumping as part of his training regimen, and he explains proper jumping and turning techniques for warmups and sportspecific training in his Jump Rope Training instructional DVD and manual from Power Systems. Both include exercise progressions, and the fully illustrated manual also includes sample training programs. For a total-body workout, use the Buddy Lee Hyperformance Jump Rope, which maximizes rope speed while eliminating tangle.

Circle No. 535

athletes from junior high to the collegiate level. The Power Trainer enables an athlete to not only do cleans safely, but also to reverse the clean. The unit can be used to perform seven different exercises: the clean, reverse clean, dead lift, lift jump, high row, bench press, and shoulder press. The Power Trainer has proven over the years to be the safest and most effective way to perform the power clean.

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Xvest 800-697-5658 WWW.THEXVEST.COM Xvest has a new weight configuration, and it’s heavy: 84 pounds of heavy. The new Xvest, known as the Fire Fighter model, was developed especially for fire fighters and their rigorous training.

It has the same basic design as the original Xvest, but internally it has a new weight

“I have found the Xvest to be an excellent tool for providing overloads in plyometric, strength training, conditioning, and rehabilitation programs. The fit and adaptability are excellent. The Xvest allows freedom of movement and doesn’t interfere with any of the agility, bounding, or running programs that I write for a wide variety of athletes, collegiate and professional. The Xvest has proven itself in my programs. Thank you for all your efforts and help in improving my capability as a strength and conditioning specialist.”

—Donald A. Chu, Ph.D., PT, ATC, CSCS, author of Jumping Into Plyometrics.

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ATHLETIC RECORD BOARDS “Strive For Athletic Achievement” What a great way for motivating your basketball players!

“RECORDS ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN”

Powernetics 800-829-2928 WWW.POWERNETICS.COM Powernetics offers a line of strength training machines that develop power by providing a consistent ratio of speed, resistance, and intensity.

The Dominator builds strength in one unbroken line from the feet to the hands. The machine’s ground-based torquing motion works both sides of the body, and provides an explosive chest punch.

The unit will more than double strength in the 90-degree torso rotation.

Circle No. 536 Powernetics also offers the Power Trainer, which for more than 10 years has made the power clean a safe exercise for

configuration that allows for 84 pounds of weight. Because of the ability to adjust weight like the original Xvest, everyone from body builders to military personnel is buying them. For more information on all the Xvest models, call the company or visit its Web site.

Circle No. 538

NOW DISPLAY THEM FOR ALL TO SEE! 48” x 66” board shown $895.00 with engraved records or $750.00 using our perforated card stock Record boards available for all sports Custom boards available

Austin Plastics & Supply, Inc. 2415 A Kramer Lane, Austin, TX (800)290-1025

78758

www.athleticrecordboards.com Circle No. 128 COACHING MANAGEMENT

45

Testimonial

“Just thought I would drop you a note.

Several years ago I had knee replacement surgery as a result of too many hours on the tennis court. As a part-time tennis teaching professional, the pain was almost overwhelming—even after the surgery. I bought one of your Dual Action braces a few months ago. I have tried every brace on the market, and I can’t tell you what this one has done for my comfort as well as my game. I am playing competitively again and can chase down balls with confidence and without pain. This is the greatest thing since graphite tennis rackets. I just ordered another one! Thanks.”

M. John Velier, Las Vegas, NV “I have osteoarthritis, which is now affecting the mobility in my knees. The Cho-Pat Dual Action strap has provided great support and pain relief when I’m walking and running. It is a great product, far superior to anything I have tried before.”

Dennis Kenney “Several months ago, I purchased a pair of your Dual Action knee straps. I’m happy to report that they are the finest of several different kinds of straps I’ve tried.

They offer just the kind of support I need.

I’ll be looking forward to using them for hiking in the Canadian Rockies in a few weeks!”

Arthur Jensen, New Wilmington, PA

Cho-Pat, Inc. P.O. BOX 293 HAINESPORT, NJ 08036 800-221-1601 SALES@CHO-PAT.COM WWW.CHO-PAT.COM

46

COACHING MANAGEMENT

The Most Innovative On-Line Buyer’s Guide

Athleticbid.com

Stay Active with Cho-Pat’s Dual Action Knee Strap

for Athletic Organizations the complete product lines of companies listed.

O View catalog pages or spec sheets from many of the top companies.

O Read a profile or description of select companies.

O Send an e-mail directly to a supplier or make a request to be contacted by a company representative.

O Request catalog and sales literature from companies.

O View

AthleticBid.com is a free service to help buyers at schools and athletic organizations contact many companies in the most efficient fashion to request product specs and pricing information. It used to take hours to contact dozens of companies to research products and plan purchases.

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Coaching Aids Airborne Athletics, Inc. 888-887-7453 WWW.DRDISHBASKETBALL.COM The Dr. Dish™ Ball Cart is more than a storage cart. Its unique design keeps basketballs conveniently located at hip level for fast, easy access, which is especially important when running fast-paced drills.

Coaches can now have a tough, multi-purpose cart built specifically for basketball. The Dr. Dish Ball Cart can also collect balls when used with the Dr. Dish basketball shooting machine and BallBoy net collection system.

It holds up to 18 balls.

Circle No. 540 Dr. Dish™ from Airborne Athletics is an allin-one machine that handles shooting, passing, and rebounding. Like traditional machines, Dr. Dish can pass balls around the perimeter to outside shooters. But unlike traditional machines, Dr. Dish can also throw game-like passes from anywhere on the court, training all your shooters. Plus, it can simulate missed

Circle No. 129

shots for rebounding and tipping drills. Dr. Dish’s Court Smart Technology™ includes programmable operations, pre-programmed drills, and memorization of your favorite drills. It’s available with a counter to keep track of shots and calculate shooting percentages.

Circle No. 541

Better Basketball, Inc. 800-238-8372 WWW.BETTERBASKETBALL.COM If you believe that player development is the key to your team’s success, you will benefit from the Better Basketball videos. The precise teaching progression and

detailed techniques in the Better Basketball videos have earned the respect of coaches at all levels. To learn exactly what is on the videos, there is a comprehensive breakdown of each DVD on the company’s Web site. Visit the site today to learn more.

Circle No. 542

Human Kinetics 800-747-4457 WWW.HUMANKINETICS.COM The Basketball Handbook puts Coach Lee Rose’s 45 years of experience as a player, coach, clinician, and director of the annual NBA Pre-Draft Camp to work for you. This detailed player- and teamdevelopment manual combines technical and tactical instruction with targeted drills to improve performance offensively, defensively, in transition, and in special situations. Rose also shares his time-tested organizational skills, performance rating system, expert assessment of talent, and tactics and insights for mastering every facet of the game.

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Coaching Aids Shoot-A-Way 800-294-4654 WWW.SHOOTAWAY.NET Shoot-A-Way has introduced its new rebounding machine. This machine will help teach players to rebound with power and control by forcing them to pull the ball down through arms of resistance.

An adjustable ball height of seven to 11 feet makes this rebounder versatile enough for almost any team. The optional block-out pads allow a player to block out into spring loaded pads, then rebound with authority.

Circle No. 544 Dependability and simplicity best describe The Gun from Shoot-A-Way. It has people excited about shooting again. The Gun zips out passes from 15 to 35 feet.

Multiple settings allow it to throw to the same spot consistently, or to throw as it rotates to a series of spots around the perimeter.

The fast-paced workout forces players to shoot and move, catch quickly, and get their shots up. Call ShootA-Way for more information and a free demonstration video.

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class. Track unlimited games for unlimited teams with shot charts and statistics right on your PDA screen, print game summaries and play-by-play reports on your PC, and update Web sites automatically with HTML output. A ProSeries version of TurboStats, with an animated playbook, is also available.

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Check out TurboStats Software Company 800-607-8287 WWW.TURBOSTATS.COM TurboStats has introduced Version 6.0 for the PC, and ScoreKeeper for Basketball for the Palm OS handheld computer.

Either product can be used alone, but when used together they create the most advanced and versatile product in their

www.AthleticBid.com to contact these companies.

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Circle No. 131

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COACHING MANAGEMENT

Circle No. 132

stad chair 133.indd 1

2/17/05 1:21:40 PM

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Technology, Innovations, Quality, Comfort, Durability, Service Circle No. 136

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Company Spotlight

CoachComm’s Technology Solution Integrates VHS and Digital CoachComm’s MiniDV and S-VHS, integrated into one deck, make the CCDVS300—the perfect deck for making the digital transition.

Many athletic programs have made the move to MiniDV for capturing their game

footage, but are still required to swap tapes in VHS format. Faced with this situation, most programs have been using their digital camcorder as a source deck for dubbing to VHS, thereby greatly shortening the life of the camcorder.

The CC-DVS300 is a great investment, because it plays and records MiniDV and S-VHS tapes. The CC-DVS300 is also compatible with the Commando PRO DVS remote, making the combo a great viewing station for your coaching staff. Take your video to the next level with the CCDVS300 Dual Deck VCR from CoachComm.

Call the company or visit its Web site today to learn more about this great product.

Video Editing

LRSSports Software

US Sports Video

www.LRSSports.com 888-577-0001 See ad on page 24

www.USSportsVideo.com 800-556-8778 See ad on page 37

Primary Advantages: Gamer™ systems for basketball provide the affordable, portable solution for video editing and game analysis needs. Gamer utilizes today’s technology to help you analyze video anywhere—on buses and planes, in airports, and in hotel rooms.

Search and sort events, including changes of possession, attempted shots, missed shots, or other types of possessions.

Integration with Microsoft® PowerPoint® gives you the power to include video frames and full video with your presentations. The LRSSports Viewing Station gives coaches and players one-button control over viewing and studying game video.

Gamer’s unique versatility allows LRSSports to meet the needs of programs large and small, from Division I to high school.

Support Services: LRSSports offers the option of 24/7 or business day toll-free telephone technical support, along with installation and on-site training. The company provides guides for getting started, user’s manuals, and online help with each product.

Upgrades Available: Upgrades of all LRSSports products are available. The next release of Gamer for basketball will be version 9.0, due out later this year.

Customer Quote: “If you want to enhance your team’s ability to improve through postgame and practice edits, prepare for opponents, and have a teaching tool for your team, then you need to look into the LRS product. The ease of use and time-saving elements in editing alone are worth the money. When you add the versatility, comprehensive training program, and tremendous customer service element, I know you will not find a higher quality, more useful product.”

Larry Davis, Head Basketball Coach, Furman University LRSSports is a registered trademark and Gamer is a trademark of Levi, Ray & Shoup, Inc.

CoachComm 205 TECHNOLOGY PKWY. AUBURN, AL 36830 800-749-2761 SALES@COACHCOMM.COM WWW.COACHCOMM.COM

Background: LRSSports Software provides innovative, high-quality digital video editing and scouting solutions developed by the LRSSports team of creative software engineers based on suggestions and comments received from coaches and video coordinators. Since LRS offered its first digital editing system in 1996, more than 300 sports teams, from Division I to high school, have turned to LRSSports products.

LRSSports Software Circle No. 550

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COACHING MANAGEMENT

Primary Advantages: Sports video is this company’s only business. U.S. Sports Video developed the “MARK” camera, a portable recording system so coaches start with the best quality game tape. The Video EDIT TOWER is second to none. The integrated editing system is quick and easy to learn.

The company’s exclusive remote control video recording systems, SKYHAWK and FALCON, are the best end-zone and wallmounted units, respectively, on the market.

The FALCON operates from anywhere within the gym complex. This wall-mount system is great to record action on the floor from an elevated view. Optional decorative “basketball” cover is available.

Support Services: U.S. Sports Video offers 24/7 technical support.

Upgrades Available: Upgrading is the name of the game as technology changes. The company works with coaches to provide the best system to fit their needs and budget.

Customer Quote: “We have used US Sports Video systems since my last few years at Kent State, where we won three championships and played in three postseasons. I believe that the addition of the tower, and its capabilities, helped our program take another step forward. Since having the US Sports Video system, the Kent State program has won four NCAA games in the past two years. When hired at Rutgers, the first call I placed was to US Sports Video, and we now have a state-ofthe-art video package with linear and digital components at our disposal. I highly recommend US Sports Video!

“At Rutgers, we use all US Sports Video equipment, from the camera for practice and game action, to the four portable laptops, the six-deck tower, and editing desktop computer. It has been the most useful and practical application to teaching the game of basketball for our players that I have ever used. Without US Sports Video, we would be light years behind.”

Larry DeSimpelare, Assistant Basketball Coach, Rutgers University

Background: Inventor, developer and manufacturer of custom-built sports video systems. Sports video has been 100 percent of its business since 1988.

US Sports Video Circle No. 551

Circle No. 133

More Products

Austin Plastics & Supply, Inc. 800-290-1025 WWW.ATHLETICRECORDBOARDS.COM

always there to help us and to make our work as easy as possible.”

Circle No. 557

Athletic record boards from Austin Plastics are a great way to motivate your basketball players to do their best.

The boards are easy to install, made of durable plastic, and available in many different colors.

The 48” x 66” board is shown, allowing space for all the most important basketball stats, and other sizes are available as well.

Use engraved record nameplates, or you can print your own using perforated card stock supplied by the company. Record boards and custom boards are available for all sports.

Circle No. 555

eFundraising 866-825-2921 WWW.EFUNDRAISING.COM

Courtclean 800-900-2481 WWW.COURTCLEAN.COM Are slippery gym floors and wrestling mats a problem? Courtclean is the answer. It’s fast, easy, safe, and affordable. With the Courtclean system, one person can easily damp mop your floors or disinfect your mats in less than five minutes. And play can start immediately. 100-percent satisfaction guaranteed.

Circle No. 556

CyberSports 315-732-4333 WWW.CYBERSPORTSINC.COM Georgia Southern Assistant Basketball Coach Craig Kennedy has been working with CyberSports for five years now, and the reason is simple: The company continually works with basketball coaches to expand its services for recruiting student-athletes.

“Their new CyberMail product is amazing,” says Kennedy. “It allows me to track which recruits open up the e-mail and which ones click on the link to our Web site. Plus, their hands-on customer service is incredible. They are

52

COACHING MANAGEMENT

Try eFundraising’s On-line Fundraising Program, a new way to raise money quickly and easily. With your free, personalized Web site, complete with a magazine store, your supporters can purchase magazine subscriptions on-line and 40 percent of each purchase amount will go back to your group. Simply enter the site and send e-mails to friends and family across America, inviting them to visit your on-line store and buy, renew, or extend their magazine subscriptions to help support your group. They’ll save up to 85 percent off the newsstand price on over 650 magazine titles while you earn 40-percent profit.

Circle No. 558

The Gatorade Co. 800-88GATOR WWW.GATORADE.COM After years of extensive research, scientists at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute have developed Gatorade Endurance Formula for athletes’ longer, more intense workouts and competitions. Gatorade Endurance Formula is a specialized sports drink with a fiveelectrolyte blend containing nearly twice the sodium (200 mg) and three times the potassium (90 mg) of Gatorade Thirst Quencher to more fully replace what athletes lose in sweat when fluid and electrolyte losses become substantial.

Circle No. 559

JV Pro, Inc. 800-962-2440 WWW.JVPRO.COM JV Pro offers custom-made, freestanding, and convertible bleacher-mounted scoring tables. Standard options include an LED possession arrow with bonus indicators, illuminated shatterproof lexan panels, and heavy-duty soft

rubber casters for easy movement. The table collapses down to 16 inches for easy storage. JV Pro also offers heavy-duty courtside chairs in school colors featuring your logo or mascot to complement your scoring table. These products create the perfect image for your sports program.

Circle No. 560

K&K Insurance Group, Inc. 866-554-4636 WWW.KANDKINSURANCE.COM K&K offers a variety of insurance products for the sports industry. The company’s camp, clinic, league, and team programs offer low minimum premiums, simple self-rating applications, quick turnaround time, and superior coverage. K&K also offers quality coverage for school athletic programs, stadiums, and sports complexes. A total commitment encompasses everything K&K does, from competitive pricing to prompt claims resolution. K&K Insurance is there to help when you need help the most. Applications are now available online.

Circle No. 561

Specialized Seating 877-SEATING WWW.SIT123.COM Sit back and relax with the seating professionals at Specialized Seating. The company has seating for team benches, sidelines, locker rooms, meeting rooms, fundraising, and even for time outs.

Call the company to design your own custom sideline package and sit with the pros.

Circle No. 562

The Stadium Chair Company 888-417-9590 WWW.STADIUMCHAIR.COM The SidelineChair is the best seat on the market in its price range, with the durability and quality you’d expect from higher-priced products. It features two- or three-inch pads covered with quality vinyl that provides two large imprint areas. The extra-sturdy, powder-coated frames come with dual reinforced steel support bars on the back legs, and carry a 10-year limited warranty.

Circle No. 563

NO TIME ON THE CLOCK, A SEASON HANGING IN THE BALANCE. AS SCRIPTED FOR 15 YEARS IN THE DRIVEWAY OF 53 POPLAR CIRCLE.

The biggest success comes to those who have been working for it their whole lives. Athletes who know that are Russell Material. Just like the 500 NCAA® Division I teams we outfit.

Visit us at www.russellathletic.com.

©2005 Russell Athletic, a division of Russell Corporation.

Circle No. 134

Tool

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Rebounding

Specialty Introducing Court Smart Technology™ 1. Programmable operation 2. Pre-programmed drills 3. Memorizes your drills

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Multi-tool

Steve Alford, Head Coach, Iowa Hawkeyes

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Airborne Athletics, Inc. • 116 West Main St. Belle Plaine, MN 56011