Where Have All The (Good) Baseball Coaches Gone?
By Steve Kallas Once upon a time (from the beginning of the 1900s through about the end of the 1960s), virtually all of the best athletes played baseball. Starting in the 1930s (thanks to legendary baseball builder Branch Rickey) through the 1940s and 50s, there were hundreds of minor league baseball teams with players who, … Continue reading
Selecting the Team’s Captains
By Doug Abrams Last week’s column urged coaches to trust their players to make many of the team’s decisions throughout the season. Like the rest of us, young players learn leadership skills best by leading, and not simply by listening to leaders. I wrote that my 9-10-year-old squirt hockey teams had rotating tri-captains so that … Continue reading
Teaching Leadership In Youth Sports
By Doug Abrams Aristotle said that people “learn by doing,” and not simply by listening to instruction about what to do. Parents and coaches want sports to teach children leadership skills, yet we adults sometimes forget that youth leaguers (like the rest of us) learn how to be leaders best when they actually lead. On … Continue reading
Commitment to the Team: Just How Important?
One of the more distressing calls I received this AM came from a sports parenting Dad who was concerned about his son, who’s a senior in HS and plays on the school lax team. For a variety of reasons, the boy rarely gets any playing time, and he’s now questioning his dad as to whether he … Continue reading
Be Careful of Travel Team Hopes and Dreams
One of the more remarkable calls I received on the air last Sunday on WFAN came from a sports mom named Camille who really hit the target regarding kids AND their parents who fall prey to the lure of travel team programs. In short, before your kid becomes totally seduced by the travel team promises … Continue reading
Recognizing What’s Really Important in Youth Sports
By Doug Abrams A few years ago, my Central Missouri Eagles high school hockey team visited the University of Missouri Children’s Hospital to distribute about 400 toys and stuffed animals that the players had collected from friends and neighbors, and from fans who attended our benefit game a week earlier. The team spent the afternoon … Continue reading
A New Look at The Age-Old Issue of Playing Time
Of all the issues in the world of sports parenting, perhaps the single one that conflicts parents and coaches the most is the one regarding a kid’s playing time. Coaches, I urge you. If you’re working with a team of kids anywhere from ages 5 to 12, please have the COURAGE and the CONFIDENCE to make sure every … Continue reading
When the Coach Throws a Game
By Doug Abrams A hockey scandal hit the headlines in Winnipeg, Manitoba early last month. Not a National Hockey League scandal, but a scandal in an early round of the Winnipeg High School Hockey League’s A-Division playoffs. Ahead 3-2 against College Jeanne Sauve late in the third period, the Westwood Warriors coaches deliberately schemed to … Continue reading
Brett Gardner: From Being Cut to Lead-Off Batter for the Yankees
By Rick Wolff To me, one of the great attractions of sports are those stories of how an athlete comes back from adversity and succeeds. Brett Gardner, the fleet-footed outfielder for the Yankees, fully personifies that. According to a fine article by Harvey Araton in The New York Times, Brett came from a baseball family, … Continue reading
Concussions and Heading in Soccer: Should You Be Concerned?
Interesting conversation this AM on WFAN with Dr. Stephen Kanter, one of the nation’s leading certified trainers, about heading soccer balls. I had read that last year, concussions among HS soccer players (both male and female) accounted for more concussions than with HS athletes who play baseball, softball, wrestling, and basketball COMBINED. And the general consensus … Continue reading
Doug Abrams
Rick Wolff
Steve Kallas
Ask Coach Wolff 