ANNOUNCEMENT: Interview With One of College Baseball Elites!!!

Interview Chat with Louisville University Cardinal baseball player Phil Wunderlich. Phil is a standout player and the #1 hitter for the Cardinals. His outstanding play helped Louisville make it to the Super Regional of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championships.

Where: The Athlete’s Sports Experience

When: Sunday July 12th at 6:30pm central time (7:30 eastern)

Come join Phil and I as we discuss his baseball experiences in youth and high school Baseball, as a Division I college player, his future aspirations, along with other important issues facing high level athletes today. It should be an enjoyable evening as you will get to join in on the conversation and interact with Phil during and at the end of our interview.

How often do young athletes, parents, and coaches get a chance to listen and interact with a top level athlete as they go through the ups and downs that elite college sports encompass? It should be a great night. Hope to see you there.

And stay tuned in to my blog to find out who and when the next athlete will be to appear on The Athlete’s Sports Experience.

Interview With a National Gymnastics Champion, Elite College Ball Player, & Major League Ball Player

In keeping with my purpose of giving young athletes, parents, and coaches valuable information about youth sports, I have planed several interview chats with some highly successful athletes. These competitors have been through it all.

The first interview chat will be with a USA Gymnastics National Champion on June 30th at 7:00pm central time so mark your calendars (announcement below).


ANNOUNCEMENT:

Interview Chat with the 2009 Level 10
National Gymnastics Champion
Keeley Kmieciak

Where: The Athlete’s Sports Experience

When: Tuesday June 30th at 7:00pm central time

Come join Keeley and I as we discuss her experience at the USA Gymnastics Championships, life as a gymnast, her future aspirations, and other issues facing high level athletes. It should be an enjoyable evening as you may get a chance to interact with Keeley at the end of our interview. Hope to see you there.


The second interview chat will be in July with a top level ball player from Louisville University’s (Big East Champions and NCAA qualifier), and the third in September with a pitcher from Bradley University who was selected as the 8th round draft pick for the Colorado Rockies major league baseball team.

All have had a wealth of youth sports experiences and are willing to share them with those who are interested.

It is not everyday that you get a chance to hear directly from athletes of this caliber, so please feel free to join us and find out what it’s really all about.

And stay tuned in to my blog to get the actual dates and times for the next two sessions.

Process Over Outcome: Has America Forgotten?

The first half of this post’s title takes direct aim at something I have spent a good deal of time referencing in many of my articles pertaining to youth sports. What I would like to do here is step back from that environment for a moment, taking a look at this idea of process over outcome, and the loss thereof, as it relates to the “big picture” – our society as a whole. Before I go ahead with my rant on this topic, it might be a good idea to define these two terms as they pertain to the relationship I am about to draw between them and what I see as a shift in American ideals.

What I mean when I refer to the term “process” is the actual work and/or effort that one essentially puts into a task. It is demonstrated by a clear and organized path that takes into account what is to be done today, tomorrow, and in the future. One who focuses more on the process takes great care in clarifying for themselves how what they are doing today will build on what they want to do tomorrow. “Winning” today is not as important to one who prioritizes the process as is building toward consistent success down the road. It is more of a long-term approach that lends itself to continued gains and achievement through time rather than immediate gains in the here and now. Making sacrifices now for possible future successes later fits well with the idea of “process” type thinking.

Conversely, the outcome is the end result, the “reward” so to speak. It is the “gains” one has or gets after the work has been completed and/or choices have been made. It is characterized, at least in reference to what I am discussing here, as more of a short-term approach. Concentration and focus is weighted toward ways to achieve that outcome in the shortest and most efficient way possible – this is of utmost importance. “Winning” today is of high priority, even if it may negatively impact the future. The impact on this future that today’s decisions have 2, 5, 10, or 20 years down the road is looked at as something that can be dealt with later, when or if those impacts materialize. It is not of primary concern at this immediate juncture. Making sacrifices now that would limit current gains is not something indicative of outcome-type thinking, rather it centers on accomplishing short-term-type goals.

Now that we have those clarifications and definitions to work with, let’s take a look at how things have changed. Most of you reading this post are either 3rd, 4th, or maybe even 5th generation immigrants, meaning that you, as I (3rd generation), come from descendants who came to the United States to make a new life for themselves. Many did this with little or nothing but the clothes on their back, building their lives and supporting their families from the ground up. They were a hard working lot who focused on the “process” of putting in a full day’s work, and then some, building something from nothing. Their approach exemplified the definition I am using for the term “process” in this article. Sure they were concerned about future outcomes. It was (and is) impossible not to be – it is part of the equation, but their attitudes and work ethic were most certainly weighted toward the idea of process over outcome.

As we move forward through time to today, we see a gradual but definite shift from the focus just described to one where behavior and attitudes become more outcome-centered. Gaining immediate gratification or short-term access to success has become a top priority. Many are willing to seek out shortcuts toward what they want to “achieve” as concentration, focus, and effort move in the direction of the ends over the means, and all too often with little or no consideration of the risk or cost to oneself or to others.

In order to clarify and add credibility to the statements listed above, let me take a moment to list some fairly recent events supporting my conclusions:

a. Auto Manufacturers – whether they want to admit it or not, the American auto industry has placed themselves in a position of possible non-existence due in large part to their inability to see the “big picture.” While their counterparts focused on the longer term process of building high quality automobiles that gave owners better gas mileage and provided an in-road to a more solid future for themselves, our short-term outcome-based automakers concentrated their efforts on gas-guzzling SUV’s and luxury vehicles (something the short-term outcome-based American consumer helped support). In the end, it all boiled down to making money now over making consistent money over time. It is not to say that those types of vehicles should not have been offered, there was and is a limited need; however, it is difficult to argue with the idea that our countries automakers had their eyes on the immediate $$$$$ that could be made. At least much more so than on a “process” that would guarantee future success and longevity.

b. Enron Scandal – a situation where a company’s (and/or executives within that company) greed and focus on making money - the outcome, came before anything else. And at a big cost to many.

c. Other Big Business Scandals – if you Google “scandals in big business” the list that comes up is wide and varied. Most all causes eventually boil down to finding ways to circumvent the “process” in order to quickly get to an “outcome,” or $$$$$.

d. NCLB & Schools – as partially inferred in my last blog Things Your Kids Didn’t Learn in School and the Youth Sports Environment, our schools are heavily focused on the end result. Emphasis is moving away from counting efforts put forth for practice and homework – “process,” and being placed only on test scores, especially standardized test scores – “outcome.”

e. PED & Steroid Scandals – even though major league baseball is currently getting the brunt of publicity regarding their use, I can assure you that these illegal substances are used as a means to gain access to success for too many in professional, Olympic, and elite level sports. The outcome-based focus here – fame, fortune, glitzy lifestyles, winning at all costs, and (false) achievement.

f. U.S. Government – often times uses a “band aid” approach to addressing financial issues borrowing from Peter to pay Paul. How long can we actually borrow from funds saved for other means, and from other countries, to build roads, pay bills, or any number of other things, and not dig a hole so deep that we cannot ever recover. Making things better for the short term without truly considering the long-term risk is central to an outcome-weighted approach, at least as to how I have defined it here.

g. Youth Sports – the emphasis in youth sports today that places winning as the #1 priority and/or the scholarship as the reason for sports participation, both of which lend themselves toward the less rewarding aspects of an outcome-based foundation.


I am sure there are other aspects I am not aware of that many could add to this list; however, the items above help to prove my point inferred in the title of this blog. That we, as a society, may truly have forgotten an important foundational principle; one that was part of an internal strength that Americans and America had at its core.

So even though this blog, and my general focus, centers on youth sports and positively impacting its participants, this issue of placing more emphasis on outcomes rather than the process seems to be symptomatic of a bigger problem affecting our society as a whole.

From my vantage point, when our approach to gaining success and achieving goals becomes so heavily weighted toward the “end result,” or outcome, with little consideration for the consequences of that approach, or process used, then trouble usually follows. Looking at the list I provided certainly helps to justify that conclusion.

Whether in work, sports, or life in general, focusing in on the process with the understanding that the outcome is a byproduct of this process, gives advantages not easily seen from the outside. It is central to the intrinsic value one receives and pride one feels when true and real accomplishment is achieved, creating the type of success that lasts from generation to generation.

Things Your Kids Didn’t Learn in School and the Youth Sports Environment

In perusing the internet, talking to colleagues, and sharing information from within the teaching and coaching profession, I come across interesting bits and pieces of information that force reflection. One such piece was recently emailed to me by a colleague and it is one I have seen circulate on the internet from several different sources.

It is claimed by some to be a piece from a speech Bill Gates gave to a group of high school students. However, it actually comes from the teachings of Charles J. Sykes, author of “Dumbing Down our Kids” and “50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School.”

Most discussions using this information list 11 things that kids won’t learn in school and are directed toward high school and college-age students. Actually, the original list contains 14, with the last 3 usually omitted. I will provide the complete list of 14 in this blog.

There are probably many who have seen this list before; those that have might wonder why I am taking the time to post a blog regarding them on a youth sports blog/website. However, as I take time to read through the list of items, I could not help but reflect on whether the underlying message most of these concepts convey had relevance to the youth sports environment I am trying to impact, something I will raise questions about at the end of this blog.

As you read through the list below, keep in mind that the information was targeted to high school and college-age students, albeit based on what they learned up to and through that age bracket. And that the emphasis in Mr. Sykes’ books come from a position of the “system” (school system) creating a generation of young adults who have no concept of reality and/or the real world, possibly setting them up for failure. Here is the list:

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it!

Rule 2 : The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3 : You will NOT make $60,000 a year right out of high school. You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4 : If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get a boss.

Rule 5 : Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping: they called any chance to work an opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes and listening to you talk about how cool you thought you were. So before you save the rain forest from the parasites of your parents’ generation, try delousing the closet in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers, but life HAS NOT. In some schools, they have abolished failing grades and they'll give you as MANY TIMES as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers off and very few employers are interested in helping you FIND YOURSELF. Do that on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.

Rule 11: Be nice to nerds. Chances are you'll end up working for one.

Rule 12: Smoking does not make you look cool. It makes you look moronic. Next time you’re out cruising, watch an 11-year-old with a butt in his mouth. That’s what you look like to anyone over 20. Ditto for “expressing yourself” with purple hair and/or pierced body parts.

Rule 13: You are not immortal. (See Rule No. 12.) If you are under the impression that living fast, dying young and leaving a beautiful corpse is romantic, you obviously haven’t seen one of your peers at room temperature lately.

Rule 14: Enjoy this while you can. Sure parents are a pain, school’s a bother, and life is depressing. But someday you’ll realize how wonderful it was to be a kid. Maybe you should start now. You’re welcome.

Before I continue relating this to youth sports I think it best to get some facts straight regarding when this material was written, where the pendulum is currently swinging, and where the implied emphasis of responsibility is placed for success.

Sykes’ book, “Dumbing Down our Kids,” was published in 1996, a good distance of time from our current year of 2009, and a lot can happen in 13 years. In contrast, “50 Rules Kids Won’t Learn in School” was published in 2007. Presently, I have only read other individuals’ accounts of both of these pieces, but I would venture to guess that his “50 Rules” book expands on the concepts he presents in “Dumbing Down our Kids” just based on the titles alone and the list of some of his “rules” above.

With regard to that pendulum swinging, many of you would be surprised to learn that some schools are moving toward giving ½ credit to students for work (homework) that is either done poorly or not even turned in. For example, I gave an 18-point assignment recently that approximately 50% of a class did not even bother to turn in. Under the stipulation above, I would have to give 9 points minimum to everyone even if they made more mistakes than that, or did not turn in the worksheet.

The idea behind this is that if I actually gave them the score they “earned,” like say a 0, and they continued to do poorly on work, or didn’t bother to do it, they would put themselves so far behind they would not be able to pass the course in fairly short order. That giving them more opportunity to right the ship, so to speak, is a better method for learning than is applying the natural consequences that exist based on the effort they put in (or based on what they really know at the time), thus keeping the student from digging themselves a hole they cannot get out of.

Taking it a step further, there is a good deal of talk about not counting any homework toward their grade, a step up from #8 on the list of letting students re-do work until they get it right and then counting it toward their grade. That as long as they do well on tests and other assessments, that is all that matters.

In this type of framework, much more emphasis is placed on the outcome with little reward on the actual efforts put in on the process – so outcome over process. This is something I have emphasized on many occasions as being a big issue in the youth sports environment. To me, there should always be a more balanced approach that emphasizes the process over the outcome. That principle alone accounted for much of my success as an athlete, as a coach, and as a teacher.

Now I should point out that I don’t follow the “new age” concepts I discussed above myself simply because I do not believe them to be appropriate for the age I teach, high school. I could write pages of details as to why this is the case; however, let me just say that I am much more inclined to support the idea of allowing one to get what one actually earns. Even though very blunt and possibly a little harsh, I suppose I am pretty much in line with the list of items suggested by Sykes. I most certainly could apply many, if not all, of them in some way, shape or form to what happened to me, or for me, in my athletic career.

Bringing this conversation back full circle, what I find most interesting about Sykes’ list is the way he tactfully implies that the responsibility for one’s success lies within the individual themselves, the choices they make and the perception they take. Anyone reading through many of my blog posts on youth sports will surely notice the same underlying theme.

From my vantage point as a teacher, former coach, and parent of athletes who have grown up through the current youth sports environment, I see the same type of issues with too many adolescents and athletes in high school. It is becoming much more difficult to find young athletes today who have the fortitude and perseverance to take personal responsibility themselves for achieving what they want, have the perspective it takes to do so, and make the types of choices necessary to accomplish personal and team goals that are set. And I find the relationship between what Sykes implies and what I am discussing in youth sports to be something worth pondering.

With that purpose in mind, I would like to create several questions that promote thought on the topic I have presented. Hopefully, they will initiate good discussion on that list of things that kids won’t learn in school and their possible relationship to youth sports.

Questions to ponder:

1. What relationship, if any, do you see between Sykes’ list and youth sports?

2. Is this list something that is “all” age-encompassing, gradual in nature – so as to encompass age-appropriate application, or is it simply not applicable to youth sports in any form?

3. Are there other implied meanings within that have relevance to the environment our young athletes are growing up in today? (I have a few more)

4. Are there specific rules on this list that seem to have a more direct relationship to youth sports? Others that don’t apply at all?

5. Do any of these have personal connection for you, something that you emphasized as a parent and maybe hoped your kids might learn through their participation in sports?

6. Anything else you might want to add to the conversation?

Your thoughts and discussion are welcome and encouraged. Please elaborate and give examples whenever possible. It will help with continued discussion and create better clarity.

Top 50 Of All Time At Northern Illinois University

I was surprised and humbled by a phone call I received from a former professor, Dr. Hubie Dunn, at Northern Illinois University this past Thursday night. He had called to inform me of my selection by the Northern Star (the NIU official newspaper) as one of the Top 50 of All Time who have competed for the Huskies. I was in even more shock when he told me that I was chosen #8 on a list of athletes that included the #16th round pick in the 2009 NFL draft Larry English and former NFL player and Heisman trophy candidate LeShon Johnson. This is in addition to other current/former NFL players, basketball greats, and a slew of other well-deserving athletes from a variety of sports.

It was very unexpected and I would like to personally take a moment to thank the University, the Northern Star, and anyone else associated with the selection process. I am honored that all of you would consider me one among such a prestigious group of athletes. The opportunity that NIU gave me, not only as an athlete but as a student, was extraordinary as it holds a special place for me as one of the best experiences in my life. I will never forget my time at Northern and can only wish that every collegiate athlete has an experience as positive as the one I had there.

Thanks for the memories NIU!!!

Open Chat Discussion on Issues in Youth Sports Today

I recently made contact with an individual who is also concerned about the current youth sports environment. So much so he created a website called Repairing Youth Sports to express his concerns. This prompted an invitation to him for an open chat, to be held here at my blog this Tuesday evening at 8:00pm central time, to discuss whatever issues come up in relation to that topic. Hopefully the exchange of ideas between everyone present will benefit all. Hope to see you there.

Best

Kirk
The Athlete's Sports Experience: Making a Difference

A “What If?” for Coaches

What if you were able to gain specific information about the athletes under your direction that gave detailed insight into their personality strengths and weaknesses, how they think, react, are motivated and inspired? The type of information that would give you the ability to interact with them at their best level of understanding, allowing you to reach inside each athlete and pull out the potential they have within. Do you think this type of information might help you to create a team environment where everyone on that team thrives? Where leaders can be chosen based on who brings the best leadership skills to the table, and where goals become a mere end result of a process rather than the brass ring that few can reach. If any of this has sparked your interest, then stay with me as I introduce you to Pam Brooks, a certified behavior analyst from Arizona.

I had the pleasure of making contact with Pam through her interest in my book Becoming a True Champion. She had wanted to purchase my book “on the spot” as a “great teaching tool for young people who aspire to be great athletes.” It was on emailing her back to explain that I am still in the process of seeking publication that we commenced a dialogue between us regarding what behavioral analysis, especially athletic behavioral analysis, is all about and how it works. Through this dialogue she offered to test me to see where my results might fall on all of the parameters at her disposal. Since I had been through both a successful high school and college athletic career, I felt it would be interesting to see how all this panned out. In addition, I was genuinely intrigued by what Pam was trying to accomplish. Now I should point out that Pam, aside from being a certified behavior analyst (as mentioned above), also holds two masters degrees in counseling and communications, worked as an athletic academic adviser at Boise State University and was a former Division I collegiate volleyball player out of the University of Washington. With a background like this, what more could one ask for from a behavior analyst who assesses athletic behavior.

Without going into any form of great detail, let me just say that Pam spent a great deal of time with me over the phone thoroughly detailing my results. The passion for what she does was very evident throughout our conversation and the accuracy of her results, or profiling as it might be called, was, well, uncanny to say the least. I was shocked and amazed at how well these assessments laid out my own personality and how well Pam was able to interpret them, and not just strengths but also my “areas of improvement.” Pam, and these tools, basically took my personality apart piece by piece leaving a pretty comprehensive picture of who I was and how I react. Any minor discrepancies Pam was able to clarify using data from the assessment tools themselves. From a coach’s standpoint, it gave all the pieces necessary for a coach to actively work with me as an athlete, and as a person. It would have enabled any coach the capability of enhancing his or her ability to inspire me to reach my own potential, as well as giving the coach the information needed to effectively integrate me into his or her team environment.

Pam’s work is nothing short of amazing. Just keep in mind that Pam and the tools she uses are only as good as the willingness the coach has to put her results into practical use. As the Baylor Men's Tennis coach said, "We would not have won the National Championship in 2004 without the insightful assistance of Pam Brooks.
She helped us better understand one another and brought out the best in all of us. I can think of no better way to help your program move to the next level than placing your group in her capable hands.”

If you would like more information on Pam and her work you can peruse her website at Understandingyourathletes.com or you can email her directly at CCSuccess@qwest.net.