I was watching Star Wars: Rebels the other night (actually, it’s pretty good for a cartoon) and the kid is being trained by a Jedi to use the Force. The Jedi is good at using the Force but he’s a horrible teacher.
In one scene, he …

I got to watch a 2nd grade class work on some football skills. It was pretty cool how the teacher did it.
First, she’s the only one out in the field with 40 kids! That’s a lot of squirmy kids. But she kept them inline and interested.
First, …

(Feel free to comment or add your own at the end!)
 
Open ended questions are the type that encourage deeper thinking from your kids. They are the ones that don’t have a correct answer and can’t be answered yes or no.
 
“What the hell are you doing!?” is not …

Every coach, every sport has different seasons.

They have different lengths
Some have weekly competitions, some twice a week
There are sports that last six weeks and sports that last a year.
Some coaches have a lot of control over the athletes
And some coaches have almost no control.

Planning varies by sport, …

This years World Cup has brought a soccer fever to the US. More people are watching it and talking about it than ever before. I’m wondering if it will have a boost on US youth soccer programs (probably) or professional soccer attendance (probably not).
What has …

I play basketball on most Saturdays. Today was pretty brutal with lots of running and jumping with a bunch of guys who are younger, faster and more skilled. It’s frustrating but always fun and a great workout.
I like to observe myself during the game. My …

When I watch youth sport teams such as football, basketball, and baseball workout, most teams do a lot of running.
They run a warm-up lap, then they typically do sprints at the end of practice.
The kids are encouraged to go fast and compete. But I don’t …

Yesterday’s post was about different types of strength training that can be used in a youth sports program. I believe that all youth sports teams should do some type of strength training and so should PE programs. It’s needed not only for the success of …

Recently, I’ve been experimenting with doing different types of strength training on myself.
When I started lifting weights in high school and college, a typical workout was a basic body building workout. It was pretty much taken from Muscle and Fitness and it looked like:
1. A …

Sprinting is an integral part of most youth sports. Being able to run fast is crucial for football, baseball, basketball and soccer.
Even in volleyball, sprinting is important, though it’s not part of the game.
And long distance and cross-country runners need to sprint. And swimmers need to …