Without question the most controversial subject in sports today is concussion risk and awareness.  This is particularly true for youth sports.  Lots of information is already in the mainstream regarding the effects of concussions, its direct sports related causes, and the preventive measures that are already in use and in development.  For readers who are physical educators or coaches I imagine that you are already very familiar with this topic and knowledgeable about the effects and causes of sports related concussions.  My commentary here will focus on my experiences and current opinions regarding the measures we are now seeing in sports.

Over my fifty plus years in sports, from my playing days and throughout my coaching and administrative years, I’ve witnessed concussions in several sports. As a high school basketball player I saw one of my teammates get undercut while rebounding and hitting the back of his head on the floor with a such huge boom that the packed crowd went deathly silent. When I was young basketball coach, one of my players collided with another player while going for a loose ball.  Our player was immediately knocked out and suffered a short burst of convulsions while on the floor.  As a soccer coach I witnessed the worst concussion incident in my entire career.  One of our players, while going up into the air to head a ball backwards, collided heads with an opposing player trying to head the ball forward.  Our player immediately went to the ground and began convulsing. It was a most horrible site indeed, but happily the player recovered nicely.

I coached football for more than twenty years and we likely had players receive concussions, but I really can’t recall one of our players experiencing a serious concussion.  I strongly believe that the reason for this is that we taught both tackling and blocking with the shoulder and strongly urged players to keep their head up when tackling or making any kind of contact with opponents.

Expertise in coaching can be achieved by acquiring specific knowledge related to a particular sport (Côté & Gilbert, 2009). To be an effective coach, one must match his or her expertise within the context of the learning environment, focusing on learner outcomes (Boardley, Kavussanu, & Ring, 2008). Coaches that have achieved this level of effectiveness are often referred to as master teachers. Key characteristics have been demonstrated by master teachers in the context of sport coaching, such as the ability to teach the learner, to provide tactical instruction, and a desire to pursue personal mastery (Gallimore, Gilbert, & Nater, 2014).

During the 2016 National Coaching Conference in Seattle, WA, a panel of five experts in their respected fields shared insight on pursuing mastery as a coach. Based on their role on the panel (educator, ethicist, athletic administrator, researcher, and coach), each panel member shared 1) strategies for coaches to grow personally and professionally, 2) self-assessment methods to evaluate their progress in pursuing mastery, and 3) insight on what coaches can do to maintain a level of expertise?

The panel members included Dr. Steve Jefferies (Educator), Dr. Sharon Stoll (Ethicist), Erin O’Connell (Athletic Administrator), Dr. Wade Gilbert (Researcher), and Swen Nater (Coach). Dr. Pete Van Mullem (Lewis-Clark State College) and Sean Dahlin (Ohio State University) facilitated the panel session.

For the past five years beginning in May of 2011, I’ve been writing a series on Psychological Skills Training for pelinks4u.org (now pheamerica). I’ve shared ideas about how to train athletes and coaches to be mentally tough.

This past fall I took a sabbatical from my university teaching job and worked full-time with our school’s athletic coaches and athletes. In trying to assist coaches and athletes improve their mental toughness I applied a lot of what I’d written. In this essay I’m going to share some of the lessons I learned.

Lessons Learned