Registration for the August 2022 Conference is now open and can be accessed here.
The CGP Conference is the brainchild of several Athletic Directors from across Europe. This collective thinking has transitioned into an alliance of five schools who are committed to supporting the creation of a recurring coaches conference aimed at international school coaches. The following five schools have made a commitment to support the conference and act as hosts in a rotation schedule:
Sport Coach America is excited to announce the release of a new resource for coaches, coach developers, and sport researchers. Coaching Through Life Changes is a series of reflection questions designed to assist sport coaches when faced with a professional or personal life transition, such as a new supervisor or the birth of a child. The reflection questions are organized into two sections: Professional and Personal. Coaching Through Life Changes was developed by members of the Sport Coach America Coach Leadership Team and the Coach Development Team, with assistance from coaches, coach developers, and sport researchers. This free resource is available on the SCA website (www.sportcoachamerica.org) and as a downloadable PDF.
Sports have played a huge part in my life for as long as I can remember. I grew up with a father who coached football, basketball, and track for 44 years. I probably had a ball in my hand at the age of 2. I competed in different sports in high school and then played football throughout my college career. I have coached different sports at the high school and collegiate levels for the past 26 years as an assistant and head coach. I have coached men’s and women’s teams in football, basketball, and track and field. It is unbelievable how much athletes have changed over that period of time.
One huge change is that young kids suddenly became programmed to only participate in ‘organized’ sports. Very seldom do they just play outside for fun anymore. Seeing kids outside playing tag, catching in the sandlot, 3 on 3 at the tennis courts, 3 flies up, etc. is rare today. These games taught kids creativity, leadership, teamwork, and sportsmanship. These unorganized games developed kids physically and mentally. Kids developed competitiveness, balance, and body control. They learned how to adapt and handle defeat. There was no crying over a loss because one would get teased right off the field. Kids learned to pick themselves up and try again.
Female Coaches – from left, Sam Lewis (University of Idaho), Charlee Linton (formerly Washington State, now at the University of Utah), Michaela Freeby (Willamette University), and Emma Wren (Adams State University)
I was born 22 years after Title IX passed in 1972. I always had the opportunity to play, and I grew up in an area that supported and encouraged everyone to move. I played soccer growing up, but I never noticed or observed any differences between the resources allocated to my team versus my brother’s team. Besides soccer, I did summer swim league, cross country, and track and field, which meant I was practicing at the same time with the boys or even running with the boys. I was also a very talented young runner; the local news celebrated my success starting in middle school through high school.
Despite the efforts of Title IX, I did not understand the ongoing gender equity issues in sport until I became a collegiate cross country and track coach. For the last five years as part of the University of Idaho’s cross country and track staff, I have always been one of the only female coaches at a cross country or track meet. I initially really enjoyed being one of the only female coaches at meets. I felt like I was a part of the selective “boys club”, I somehow earned entry into the coaching world dominated by men that apparently very few women were invited to join. Despite the sense of pride I felt being in the “boys club”, I did not understand why more women were not coaching. If I had entered the coaching world, why couldn’t other women too.
I (Dan) have been a literacy teacher and endurance coach (cross country, nordic skiing, and track and field) for over a decade, and a lifelong student and endurance athlete most of my life. Teaching and coaching, beyond raising my family, has been one of the absolute highlights of my life. From inspiring kids to read and developing their confidence as writers, to helping people become lifelong runners, skiers, and active people fills me with a sense of pride.
In the early part of my career, I viewed these roles as separate entities in which knowledge would be gained by studying my craft in these specific areas. In fact, these professional roles have informed my philosophy of teaching and coaching in ways that are truly remarkable and supported by what I would describe as parallel research. Over the years I have observed that the following realities apply to both my teaching of literacy and coaching of endurance athletes:
CoachUp! will take a multi-faceted approach to deepen SEL coaching practices across the state. The evidence-based training will be offered both virtually and in person, ensuring that coaches at member schools are receiving foundational SEL principles and strategies through multiple avenues. The training will be piloted with a representative sample of coaches at the outset of the project, refined, then extended to the remainder of the coaches in the state by 2023.
Coach Rick Unruh with the Broncs after the ’83 State Championship game.
The sun broke through the late autumn clouds as we followed our captains off the field, gravel crunching beneath our shoes. As always, the five-minute walk was a time to process. I prioritized possible defensive adjustments. It was halftime of our 1997 Montana state championship football game, and we were down 20 – 7 against the highest-scoring team in the state. Though we had played well enough to stay in the game, three turnovers in our own territory had cost us. Nearing the locker room, Tim, the head coach, bumped my elbow and nodded towards four young men (later we learned, former opponent players) walking alongside our captains. One of the young men said, “So you’re number one in the state? Sure, doesn’t look like it.” To which another added, “That’s hard to believe! Sure, as hell won’t be much of second half.”
Our three captains kept walking without saying a word, we looked at one another, having a good idea of what was going through their minds—stay focused, trust the process, fix the mistakes, and play the second half. Turnovers aside, our offense had rushed for 130 yards. And our defense had played well, shutting down the opponent’s running game and pressuring their quarterback, perhaps the best passer in the state that year. He had thrown for nearly 200 yards and made a handful of spectacular plays, by avoiding pressure and scrambling to find an open receiver. We watched our captains confidently walk into the locker room.
By the fall of ‘97, Tim and I had coached together for 21 years. In those years our football teams had been in the Montana state football playoffs 14 times. Though we appreciated the challenges of coaching in playoff games, our greatest satisfaction came from the days and hours we spent coaching 60-70 high-school boys throughout the season, including the constant challenge of making ourselves better coaches who could identify and apply adjustments that would improve our program.
