Coaching Champions for Life
  • Home
  • Coach Adam
  • CCFL
    • Developing Championship People
    • Developing Championship Athletes
    • Preparing to Develop Championship Players
    • Developing Championship Players
    • Developing Championship Mental Conditioning
    • Developing Championship Teams
    • Developing Championship Leaders and Team Chemistry
    • Let Champions Play
    • Coaching Championship Games
    • Developing Career and College-Bound Champions
  • New Book!
  • Hot Stove
  • Resources
  • Why Order CCFL?
  • Book Testimonials
  • Contact Me

you have served and served well

7/13/2023

0 Comments

 
There are very few certainties in life.  In coaching, one of those certainties is that no matter the season, not matter the league, no matter the sport, no matter the team, the head coach will be criticized and second-guessed.  The criticism may come from parents of players, “boosters”, other coaches, casual fans of the game, an athletic director, a league board member or members, or all of the above, but it most certainly will happen.

Such criticism will often feel very painful; it may even rise to the level of feeling like a betrayal. Sadly, depending on the source of the criticism and how long it persists, it may even get the coach fired. 

This is why every coach should have this famous quote, known as “The Man in the Arena”, on their wall and should read it every day:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”  
President Theodore Roosevelt, April 23, 1910

Most importantly, these are the things every coach should do as the person in the arena:
​
(1) Be sure the highest priority of what you do every day is developing players of high moral character and integrity, great leaders, and role models,  The planning for every season, every training session, every practice, and every game should begin with how the coaches will proactively teach life lessons within the game for beyond the game.  The expressions of gratitude from the people who matter most, your players, ten years after they played for you, will not be about the wins and losses; they will be about how you made them a better person.
(2)  Be sure the universal goal of getting better every day begins with the coaches - personally, athletically, and professionally.  Don’t just preach the standard; be the standard.
(3) Be sure the process and the methodology of how your team, program, league, and sport are operated and taught were better because you were involved.  Speak, write, and volunteer to give others knowledge that will elevate what they do so that players far beyond your team and program will benefit from what you know and have done.
4) Be sure you and your team volunteer to serve the disabled and disadvantaged with no expectation of any kind of monetary return.

When you do these things, it will not matter what others outside the arena will say.  Those in the arena will know the truth – that you were much more than a coach.  You were a teacher, a role model, and a mentor – a true Champion for Life.  For whatever time you had the privilege to spend in the arena, you can stand tall and be proud.  You have served and served well.

0 Comments

Lessons from the Legends - What Legendary Coaches Taught Me About Coaching

7/1/2023

0 Comments

 
“The need to get better every day begins with the coaches.  If you expect your players to be students, you must first be a great student yourself.”
 
I. Rod Dedeaux – your team must expect to win and have a swagger about them, i.e., something the opponent cannot help but take note of and is very concerned about overcoming – “The other team is going to hate us anyway; we might as well give them a good reason.”

II. Augie Garrido – your team must know that everything about who they are as people and as players matters to you at the deepest level, i.e., their development as people of strong character and as elite athletes is something you care about on a personal level.

III. John Wooden – the best motivator of your players is the development of their self-esteem – coaches spend too much time with how to praise and discipline their players (less than 15% of his coaching time combined) and not enough time on the details and methodology of player development.  Players are motivated most by doings things individually and as a team that they never dreamed they could accomplish.  Becoming a better teacher is the best way to motivate your players.

IV. John Scolinos – the importance of surrounding yourself with good people and those ‘good people’ start with Him.

V. Jose Mourinho – when you watch sports, watch off the ball much more than what happens with the ball and study coaches more than players; there is much to be learned from good coaches in all sports.

VI. Bill Self – how to coach your players to play hard and to think and play unselfishly in practice so you only need to be concerned with execution in games.

VII. Jim Calhoun – how to imprint your personality on to your team during practice and how your team will impose it upon the other team in the game.

VIII. Lou Piniella – a coach establishes a bar of excellence for all of his teams, but great coaches adapt to the personalities of each of his players on every team.

IX. Geno Auriemma – the critical importance for all players to master the details of every aspect of the game and how to design practices that teach them to do it through “perfect practice”.

X. Mike Krzyzewski - how to empower team captains while teaching leadership skills to all players.

XI. Urban Meyer – how to get your team to play in sync and with a single purpose – team claps and cheers; consistent discipline.

XII. – Anson Dorrance – how to build team chemistry by gatherings and events off the field; how men’s and women’s teams differ in this regard.

What I am most proud of in my own coaching - teaching life skills within the game for beyond the game – explicit program and practice design that makes it clear to the players that what the players are learning transcends sports into their personal lives.
0 Comments

    Archives - new posts are added on or about the 1st of the month

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    October 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    November 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    March 2020

    Author

    Adam Sarancik is the owner of Elevate Sports Academy which mentors student-athletes in physical conditioning, nutrition, career and college counseling, and sport skills.  He has spent most of his adult life coaching youth ages 8-22 in baseball, soccer, and basketball.  He is a favorite speaker at and director of coaches' and players' clinics. 

    In baseball, Adam’s teams have consistently won championships at every youth league and high school level.  In administration, he has served as league founder, board member and coaches’ and players’ clinic director many times in his 40+ year coaching career.
    ​
    Adam is a frequently published contributor to the ABCA publication Inside Pitch, Collegiate Baseball News, and the Coaches Insider, Coach Deck and Sports Engine websites.  He is also a favorite guest on national podcasts for coaching sports. 
    ​
    Adam is known for his comprehensive and innovative practice plans and for consistently developing championship teams and players who excel at the next level. 

    He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State University, his J.D. degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and his Masters of Arts in Teaching from Western Oregon University.


    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

See Archives at top right of page for more articles!
Proudly powered by Weebly