As coaches we would never arrive at a competition without a detailed game plan, and simply put something together on the spot or improvise as the competition unfolds. Yet unfortunately, all too often I still observe coaches showing up to practices without having planned in advance.

When coaches speak about team culture they usually emphasize ‘buy-in’ or ‘getting athletes on board’. However, a key lesson I learned through working with championship coaches is that strong team cultures don’t require a sales pitch, instead, they spread like a virus.

Helping "old school" coaches see the value in coach education

Nothing is more inspiring to players than signs of improvement. Yet, as coaches, how often do we actually show our players that they are better at something than they were before?

The only thing worse than losing is competing with anything less than full effort and focus. Champions don’t just show up and win, they earn every title, in part, with their enthusiasm.

We commend you for your commitment to coaching, your willingness to learn and improve, and your desire to provide the most positive sport experience possible for the athletes you coach.

Special instructions for Pennsylvania classroom course takers pertaining to IDs and accessing records and certificates.

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An increasingly popular and successful model is to offer the coaching education courses as part of in-service days.

Chasing a title keeps athletes hungry and focused. But when a team becomes champion the chase is over, and suddenly it is now being chased. That can make the season following a championship very stressful for athletes and coaches alike.

We [as coaches] form impressions of our athletes from the moment we meet them, and these impressions are then typically reinforced through a self-fulfilling prophecy referred to as coach expectancies. These early formed impressions are difficult to change and can negatively impact athlete development and performance.

It baffles me when I hear athletic directors say that they are not going to invest in training young coaches until they are convinced the coaches are going to stick with it.

Coaching Principles will challenge your coaches to develop a coaching philosophy and examine their motivation for coaching—the drivers for just about every decision they make as coaches.

We receive many calls from instructors and students confused about “key codes” and what they “unlock.” We explain the differences here.

As you prepare for the 2017-18 school year, I’m guessing professional development of your coaching staff is on your to-do list.

iCoachKids, an initiative to develop free resources and educational opportunities for youth coaches, has added a worldwide leader in coach education as content provider to its website. Human Kinetics has agreed to provide resources to support the Erasmus+ project, led by Leeds Beckett University (LBU) and the International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE).

While playing on a team can be cherished many years later, it can also be an unpleasant episode in an athlete’s career, and in the extreme case a nightmare that extinguishes one’s passion for sports. The quality of the teammate experience often hinges on the coach’s ability to create a team culture that nurtures positive teammate behavior across the entire program.

So, why does early specialization persist despite all the scientific evidence and position statements by leading sport organizations to the contrary?

Quality coaches understand that a successful program requires the right team climate in which every player has a chance to improve his or her skills during competitions. This requires a game plan not only for those who will get most of the playing time but especially for those who will have fewer chances to compete.

The most successful performers aren’t shackled by fear of failure or self-doubt. They embrace challenges and thrive when the pressure is on because their coaches create practices that regularly expose them to risk and failure.

The ability to bounce back from the many setbacks that coaches inevitably experience during a long season and over the course of several seasons is a sign of resilience. Resilience is about much more than enduring the rough patches in coaching; it involves handling those tough situations with resolve and reserve.

In working with US Olympic and national team coaches I have a unique opportunity to interact with some of the most successful figures in the profession. One such coach is Anson Dorrance, the winningest team sport coach in collegiate history. Last week I participated in a session with him and this is what I learned.

I frequently hear coaches lament that today’s athletes are more self-centered. This widely held belief is often attributed to growing up in what is sometimes referred to as the ‘selfie age’.

Ask any group of coaches if they think male and female athletes require different coaching approaches and you’re sure to spark a lively debate. When I ask coaches who have experience coaching males and females whether it is best to coach them differently, they overwhelmingly say “Yes!” Similarly, research with coaches confirms that this is a commonly held view.

Whether coaching, or competing as an athlete, there inevitably comes a time during the season when performance and energy levels dip.

When asked to identify a topic that I think would be most valuable for helping coaches and their athletes improve their performance, I always recommend a session on creating the right conditions for success

I have long been interested in learning how the All Blacks coaches lead the world’s most decorated sports team. In early December I was blessed with the good fortune of learning firsthand from the head coaches of the last two world cup championship teams, Sir Graham Henry (2011) and Steve Hansen (2015). All three of us were invited to speak at the national coaching conference in New Zealand.

But we all know that while such assertions are well-intended, they are also untrue. Some games do matter more.

Sport and coaching are rife with emotions. Coaches are passionate about what they do, and highly competitive by nature, as they should be. So the aim is not to suppress coaches’ emotions or they will come across as phony and lose both the trust of their athletes and their edge. The goal instead is to coach with genuine emotion–an authentic display of the feelings experienced at the time–but in a controlled way that will best help the athletes learn and perform.

Human Kinetics and Sport Safety International (SSI), leading providers of coach education to scholastic coaches, have partnered to offer online training and certification in recognizing and treating concussion, heat illness, and sudden cardiac arrest.

Coaching can be a very lonely job. This is even more evident during the season when coaches can easily become so immersed in their own work that they barely interact with coaches outside of their immediate staff.

Dr. Wade Gilbert, award-winning professor in the Department of Kinesiology at California State University, Fresno, Calif., has joined Human Kinetics as an advisor and representative of the company, specifically in the area of coach education.

Human Kinetics Coach Education consultant and representative Dr. Wade Gilbert was a keynote presenter on August 25 at the 10th annual Global Coach Conference in Vierymaki, Finland.

One of the biggest issues coaches face today is inappropriate use of social media. Ill-conceived and misguided Tweets and Instagrams have, for many coaches, become more problematic than miscues on the court and field.

Over a long season even the most disciplined competitor will be tempted to stray off course and sometimes make poor decisions or behave inappropriately. The approach of a new season is the prime time for coaches to review and update their team standards.

A great way to learn about quality coaching is to listen to coaches and athletes talk about the coaching styles they believe are most helpful for achieving success.

In the gap between one season and the next coaches need strategies that will help them both recharge and continue to improve. One of the most valuable activities for accomplishing this is writing about coaching.

During the recently concluded NBA championship series between Cleveland and Golden State, one of the most talked about stories was the interaction between Cleveland star LeBron James and his coach, David Blatt. James, on more than one occasion openly refuted coach Blatt’s coaching decisions.

What coach or athlete hasn’t dreamed of standing on the center step of the podium or hoisting a championship trophy over their head? Some of you may have just won your first championship this past season. Yet, many great coaches and athletes go their entire career without ever realizing that dream.

Challenges associated with developing well-rounded athletes are greater today than ever before. As a result, coaches often neglect their own personal and professional development. And that comes at a great cost to their careers.

Much has been written in the past week about Jordan Spieth’s record setting performance at the Master’s golf tournament. At only 21 years old, Spieth broke multiple scoring records and became the first golfer in 30 years to lead the tournament from wire to wire (first day to final day). However, it was what he did in between shots that impressed the world more so than his athletic prowess.

There’s no escaping it, the losing will come. In life they say only two things are guaranteed – death and taxes. If you coach, you can add a third guarantee – your athletes will lose, and some of those losses will be heartbreaking. And that’s not always a bad thing.

A controversial coaching issue that occurs in every sport is the issue of lopsided games. The knee-jerk reaction every time this occurs is to blame the coach of the winning team for ‘running up the score’.

The Human Kinetics Coach Education courses Coaching Principles and Sport First Aid were recently awarded level 3 accredited status by the National Council for Accreditation of Coaching Education (NCACE).

Spend enough time around competitive sport and you will undoubtedly encounter the ‘puppet-master’ coach. You know the coach, the one who is constantly hollering and gesturing at the athletes as they are trying to perform or learn a skill. ‘Puppet-master’ coaching is a form of over-coaching.

If you’re like me, you’re asking yourself “Where did the summer go?” It’s late August, fall sports have been practicing for a few weeks, classes have started, your first football game is this Friday, and your cell phone is going crazy!

Miller was also pleased to tell of a reacquaintance with a long-time friend of HK’s and one of the presenters at the Global Coaches House, Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair, Youth Sport Trust, Leicestershire, UK.

With the end of the 2013-14 school year upon us, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to serve you and the coaches under your watch throughout the year.

Added to the instructor ranks were more than 90 high school athletic directors who were trained as new instructors at the 2014 PSADA convention in Hershey.

Having coaches who are well-rounded and knowledgeable beyond simply the Xs and Os of the sport they coach is, according to Ryan Adams, athletic director, Osceola (Fla.) County School District, the main reason why his district implemented a professional development program that requires all coaches—faculty and non-faculty—to complete coaching education.

The American Sport Education Program website has been redesigned and renamed the Human Kinetics Coach Education Center

Answers to common questions regarding the transition to fifth edition Sport First Aid classroom and online courses.

As a former high school athletic director, I know from experience that summer vacations for ADs are short lived—if lived at all. But the start of a new school year is always exciting and full of new expectations as fall sports swing into action.

NCYS has partnered with leading coaching education provider Human Kinetics, Inc., (HK) to endorse HK’s American Sport Education Program (ASEP) and its coach education courses

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Ted Miller has been appointed to the new position of vice president and sports education director for Human Kinetics.

Sport is a gift, a gift that provides us all with opportunities that we might otherwise never experience.

Saint John's University (Minn.) legendary football coach John Gagliardi announced his retirement. Coach Gagliardi just completed his 70th year in the coaching profession and retires as the winningest coach in college football history.

I want to share a method of certifying coaches that we adopted while I was an athletic director in Evansville, Indiana

Special Olympics and the American Sport Education Program release new online training course for Special Olympics coaches

Carmen Gard, 16-year ASEP coaching education instructor, reflects on classroom experience

With football season right around the corner, ASEP's Go Coach Football app is making practices and game-day planning much easier for nervous youth football coaches. Go Coach Football, developed by the American Sport Education Program (ASEP), offers 33 video clips and 21 animations demonstrating dozens of skills and drills for offense, defense, and special teams, helping coaches turn potentially chaotic practices into fun.

New second editions of Coaching Youth Football: The Pop Warner Way and Coaching Youth Cheer and Dance: The Pop Warner Way are now available. Courses are available through the Pop Warner Little Scholars Coaches Education Center website found at www.PopWarnerCoaching.com.

ASEP is proud to announce the release of the fourth edition of Coaching Principles and its companion text Successful Coaching.

The newly updated and enhanced Coaching Principles course is now available!

Coaching Principles Fourth Edition Frequently Asked Questions for ASEP instructors regarding the transition to the new edition of Coaching Principles

Organized, adult-structured and ruled sport experiences offer the opportunity for far less intrinsic enjoyment for kids than the neighborhood pick-up games kids used to engage in on a daily basis.

American Sport Education Program (ASEP) courses have recently been accepted by the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) and Colorado High School Activities Association (CHSAA) as meeting coaching education requirements. ASEP courses approved by AIA are Coaching Principles, Coaching Orientation, Sport First Aid, and the advanced sport-specific courses. In Colorado, the CHSAA has approved the ASEP courses Coaching Principles and Sport First Aid as meeting two of the requirements for obtaining a Permanent Coaching Certificate.

In the January issue of ASEP Instructor, we discussed the coming-soon new-look Coaching Principles course and its accompanying Successful Coaching, Fourth Edition textbook, both available in May. We detailed the course components, course prices, and the new eBook version of the course/text. In this issue we’ll take a closer look at the updated Instructor Guide, and more specifically the table of contents and the course outline.

Everyone wants to be considered a winner. Athletes, teams, coaches, and schools that achieve a sparkling win-loss record season after season are typically perceived as such. Conversely, no one desires the dreaded experience of losing competition after competition or the ramifications of it.

ASEP’s Coaching Principles, Fourth Edition is on the way and will make its debut in summer 2012. A new edition of Successful Coaching and a new eBook format; an updated and improved course curriculum; and new course components are all part of the updated and improved Coaching Principles.

The American Sport Education Program (ASEP) is pleased to announce the upcoming release of Coaching Principles 4th Edition, slated to release summer 2012.

ASEP Successful Coaching Webinar Series presents "Bullying, Cyberbullying, and Social Networking," a free webinar featuring Dr. Dorothy Espelage of the University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign. The webinar will be held Thursday, February 2, at 1:00 pm ET.

Not all coaching education programs are created equal. The American Sport Education Program (ASEP) provides more choices for in-depth content, course delivery, and customization than any other program.

Thank you for the role you play in providing scholastic and youth sport athletes the opportunity to be active while also helping develop physical, social, and life skills in a fun environment through sports.

With the holiday season upon us, I thought this would be a great time to rekindle the ASEP Instructor e-newsletter!

Since the launch of the new Pop Warner Little Scholars online coaching education courses in August, more than 2,000 Pop Warner affiliated football and cheer and dance coaches have earned their certificate of course completion.

How can you get the most out of the time that you have committed to coaching?

There’s a lot more to officiating than just knowing the rules. Communication, decision making, and conflict resolution are just some of the skills that officials need in addition to what’s found in the rules book.

Webinar sheds light on growing problem of steroid and APED use in high school student athletes.

The revenue base for school athletic programs is shrinking as costs are rising. Something must be done.

Go Coach Basketball, the new iPhone app from the American Sport Education Program (ASEP), offers 38 video clips and 9 animations demonstrating dozens of skills and drills, providing valuable guidance on developing season and practice plans for ages 6 to 14.

At the scholastic level evaluations from coaches taking our Coaching Principles classroom course have reinforced the interaction among coaches as the primary advantage of classroom delivery that cannot be replicated in an online environment. With that in mind, ASEP has re-committed itself to classroom education and is working with several states to revitalize their instructor networks.

Pop Warner Little Scholars, Inc., the nation’s largest and oldest youth football, cheer and dance organization, announces a multi-year partnership with American Sport Education Program (ASEP). ASEP will be named an official online coaching education provider of Pop Warner, and Pop Warner will be named an official youth football and cheer partner of ASEP.

Participation in soccer continues to grow, with the number of players exceeding 17 million in the United States alone. This growth has created a greater demand for youth coaches than ever before.

Written in conjunction with renowned collegiate volleyball coach and long-time USA Volleyball board member Cecile Reynaud, Coaching Volleyball Technical and Tactical Skills is the source coaches can turn to for teaching players ages 14 and older the essential skills of volleyball that lead to improved performance on match day.

"Leagues that try to teach parents ethics and good sportsmanship are wasting their time until they deal with the real problem, and that is dialing back on our win-at-all-costs sports culture."

Guam National Olympic Committee enlists help of ASEP ahead of 2011 Pacific Games

The country's premier youth football organization, American Youth Football (AYF), has partnered with leading coaching education provider American Sport Education Program (ASEP) to offer online training and certification for AYF's nearly 90,000 football coaches.

You’ve volunteered to be a youth sport coach, now what do you do? This webinar will assist first-time and inexperienced coaches with dealing with the challenges and enjoying the rewards of being a youth sport coach.

Dr. Leslie Bonci, sport nutritionist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and consultant to many professional sports teams, will provide valuable insights and tips on keeping athletes hydrated to maximize performance and avoid heat-related illnesses as well as offer guidance on athletes' nutritional needs.

Are high profile coaches intent on making a mockery of the claim that coaches’ foremost concern is the proper development of their athletes?

New Coaching Youth Gymnastics text provides a resource for coaches and parents of athletes ages 6 to 14

Recent entries in the ASEP Successful Coaching Webinar Series are available for viewing. Topics include college recruitment, sickle cell trait guidelines, parent issues in youth sports, concussion management, nutrient timing, and heat illness prevention and treatment.

Teaching key baseball skills and structuring effective practices is now as easy as accessing an iPhone, iTouch, or iPad with the new Go Coach Baseball app.

Make plans now to participate in the next installment in the ASEP Successful Coaching Webinar Series “NCAA/NAIA Eligibility: What You and Your Athletes Need to Know about the Recruiting Process.”

Montana State University head football coach Rob Ash, content expert on the American Sport Education Program’s (ASEP) textbook and online course Coaching Football Technical and Tactical Skills, has been elected president of the American Football Coaches Association for 2011.

Now, as specialization has made multisport participation the exception, the annual schedule revolves around one sport’s preseason, in-season, postseason, and club season. What was once labeled the “off-season” is anything but that for athletes nowadays.

PONY Baseball in Hawaii has adopted the American Sport Education Program’s (ASEP) PONY Coaching Youth Baseball online course as the organization’s official training course.

Thumbing through pages and pages of rules to find the nugget you're looking for is a thing of the past with the 2011 Babe Ruth League Baseball and Softball Rules and Regulations electronic rules books.

CEO of Horrow Sports Ventures becomes advocate for American Sport Education Program and executive editor of new Sport Business Insider series

Jim Schmutz facilitates "The Impact of Concussions on High School and Youth Sport Athletes A Call to Action: How Can We Improve Concussion Prevention and Methods for Concussion Management?" at December 3 session.

The LA84 Foundation and Southern California Municipal Athletic Federation (SCMAF) have partnered with leading coaching education provider American Sport Education Program (ASEP) to offer a customized online training and certification program to SCMAF basketball coaches with the release of the online course, LA84 Foundation’s Art of Coaching Youth Basketball.

A new course from the American Sport Education Program (ASEP) and the Illinois High School Association (IHSA), IHSA Officiating Principles, satisfies the IHSA clinic requirement for officials. By taking this online course, officials are one step closer to becoming an active IHSA official.

Bringing together faculty and non-faculty, veteran and new coaches alike for a pre-season or pre-school-year meeting to review coaching philosophies, policies and procedures; explain general dos and don’ts; provide training for those coaches who need certification; and address and discuss points of emphasis for the coming season and year will go a long way toward ensuring everyone is in compliance and on the same page.

“Sickle Cell Trait Guidelines – What You Need to Know to Protect Your Athletes” is scheduled for Wednesday, December 8, 1:00 to 2:00 pm ET. University of Oklahoma athletic trainer Scott Anderson will conduct the webinar.

Few schools in the United States can afford the costs of a full array of extracurricular activities without additional sources of funding. Booster groups help counter a good portion of the deficit at many schools, but parents of high school athletes or the athletes themselves are often asked to chip in as well.

Rarely does a day pass that an incident or article pertaining to head injury in sports does not surface. But only recently has concern about this problem reached critical mass.

Ask any youth sport coach today “What’s your biggest challenge?” and among the top three most likely responses is “parents.”

ASEP Webinar featuring Dr. Micky Collins now available for viewing

Join us Tuesday, October 12, 1:00 to 2:00 pm eastern time, for the next entry in the ASEP Successful Coaching Webinar Series “Concussion Management, Recognition, and Treatment.”

Leadership is essential in any successful organization, and in team sports it takes on special significance. Unlike in the animal kingdom, however, the best leaders aren’t simply the dominant alpha male or female. It’s a bit more complicated than that.

The anticipation of the upcoming fall sports season is heightened by media coverage of the teams and speculation as to how they might fare in conference competition and even state and national rankings. Coaches and athletic programs can use this opportunity to project a positive image of teams, individuals, and the entire organization if they approach the media in a proper manner.

The American Sport Education Program (ASEP) online course Coaching Orientation recently was awarded Level 3 accreditation by the National Council for Accreditation of Coaching Education (NCACE).

To help defray the cost of the course, funding provided by the LA84 Foundation is underwriting a large portion of the course price for the first 250 coaches who purchase it.

The next entry in the ASEP Successful Coaching Webinar Series, "Nutrient Timing for Peak Performance," conducted Wednesday, September 15, is now available for viewing.

The American Sport Education Program (ASEP) conducted a free Webinar, Combating Heat-Related Illnesses, on Wednesday, August 11.

While student-athletes catch a break and enjoy some down time over the summer, there is no off-season for coaches and administrators.

Like you, ASEP devotes considerable thought and effort to improve coaching and circumstances in which coaches coach. But we’re simply building on the strong foundation established by others. More than 30 years ago, a foursome of scholars, researchers, and practitioners in the emerging fields of sport and exercise science and sport medicine set their sights on educating coaches.

Casey O’Neill, assistant athletic director and head coach of lacrosse at Gonzaga College High School in Washington, D.C., gets it.

ASEP Executive Director Jim Schmutz tesifies before House Education and Labor Committee on concussions in high school sports

The following is a transcript of Jim's testimony before the House Committee on Education and Labor Thursday morning regarding the impact of concussions on high school athletes.

To help support and foster additional growth for our instructor networks, Human Kinetics created the new Instructor Development Department.

Under the direction of Gerry Schwille, President and Coaching Education Committee Chairman for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Directors Association (PSADA), 29 ASEP Coaching Principles instructors were trained during the association's annual meeting in March.

ASEP instructors provide the best coaching education experience

With each sport comes inherent risks. Running, sliding, pitching, hitting, blocking, tackling, kicking, stunting...no question kids are at risk, at practice and in the game.

On March 29, I received an e-mail from Dr. Herb Appenzeller who was Athletic Director when I attended Guilford College, informing me that Coach Jack Jensen had died.

The role sport can play in curbing the trend.

ASEP partners with Michigan State University and its Institute for the Study of Youth Sports to offer CEUs to faculty-coaches.

The USA Team Handball Coaching Education and Certification Program (USATH-CECP) has teamed with the American Sport Education Program (ASEP) to provide online training opportunities for USATH coaches through the ASEP Coaches Education Program.

We sadly chuckle at the notion that the person cutting our hair has more extensive, required training than the people coaching our youth and high school athletes.

Through the sponsorship of the LA84 Foundation, 3,000 coaches per year over the next five years will have the opportunity to take the LA84 Foundation's Art of Coaching for SCMAF Coaches online course at no cost. Participation is highly recommended by LA84 Foundation and SCMAF.

USA Rugby and its Coach Development Program (CDP) have partnered with leading coaching education provider American Sport Education Program (ASEP) to offer online continuing education opportunities for coaches.

Good sportsmanship doesn't just happen; it takes a concerted effort. It starts by talking about it; not just on the field, but at the preseason parents meeting, in the locker room after the game, during the car ride home, in the classroom, while watching SportsCenter.

ASEP course offers coaches new options for CPR/AED certification; registration deadlines approaching for Chicago-area trainings

As summer sports wind down and the fall season approaches, it’s a good time to reflect on coaching performance and how one measures success. Coaches should evaluate their efforts in several key areas, while program administrators should assess how effectively their coaches fulfill the priorities agreed upon and established collaboratively in the preseason. The best place for the coach to start is to gauge how well the coaching efforts adhered to the philosophy and season plan emphasized in the preseason team orientation meeting conducted before practices got underway.

Standing in the aisle on the team bus, Louisiana State University head baseball coach Paul Mainieri addressed his players just prior to game one of the men's College World Series final against the University of Texas on Monday night and said, "When you play to the best of your ability nobody can beat you. Let's go out there and have some fun...enjoy the experience and let 'er rip."

Last month I closed my monthly article with this question: How can we educate more coaches? A number of you responded that mandated coaching education was the best if not the only solution.

The vast majority of today's coaches are motivated to do well, serve their athletes as best as possible, and do so in a manner that is consistent with the prevailing rules and principles of their organization. And those coaches are ready - even eager - to learn more so that they can do just that.

Yet few sport organizations require coach education/certification. And where it is required, the requirement is rarely all-inclusive.

One third of the school districts in Florida have had their coaching education programs approved by the Florida Department of Education (DOE) by using the American Sport Education Program Bronze Level course curriculum as a primary component of their programs.

Procedures for and frequently asked questions regarding the ASEP Sport First Aid Fourth Edition course

The American Sport Education Program (ASEP) in conjunction with the American Safety and Health Institute (ASHI) introduce CPR/AED for Coaches, a new course in the ASEP Professional Coaches Education Program's Bronze Level.

In January of this year, the Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) board of directors voted to require that all members of a school’s athletic coaching staff who do not hold a valid teaching certificate must successfully complete an approved coaching education program. That program is ASEP.