Book Review: Coaching Gen Z with Betsy Butterick’s Strategies
Betsy Butterick’s new book, Kids These Days- Effective Strategies for Coaching Gen Z and Beyond, is a fantastic resource that I recommend adding to every coach’s toolbox. Butterick combines research and her own experience as a communication specialist and executive coach for college athletic departments, coaches, and athletes into practical tools coaches can implement immediately […]
How Sports Build Leadership: Four Coaching Strategies to Empower Young Athletes
Learning to lead is one of the greatest gifts my experience playing youth sports has given me. From an early age, I recognized myself as a leader and understood how my energy and demeanor could influence a group. I knew what it felt like to stand on the mound, take a deep breath, and throw […]
Emotional Safety in Sports: What I Learned from the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport
This week, I attended a virtual training session for coaches hosted by the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport (CHJS). Their philosophy is simple but powerful: sports can be a vehicle for healing. Their workshops help coaches understand the science behind emotional regulation and how to create safe, inclusive environments where children can truly […]
Three Coaching Tools to Strengthen Team Community
I recently spoke at Generation Thrive and The Golden State Foundation’s Coaches Unplugged to coaches across multiple sports and generations about how creating community within the team leads to a positive team culture. For me, a positive team culture is when a coach values building relationships with their players and investing in their growth as […]
A New Chapter for the WCA Leadership Academy: Developing Coaching Philosophies
This weekend, I debuted a new curriculum for the Women’s Coaching Alliance Leadership Academy. Up to this point, our Leadership Academy had focused on preparing first-time coaches with the tools they needed to be successful during their first WCA season. Our Rookie Coach Leadership Academy was all about building their confidence and helping them find […]
Leadership Starts with Play: A Session with the San Bruno 10U
This week, I led a team-building session for the San Bruno 10U softball tournament team focused on leadership and confidence. I love teaching through play and interactive activities, and this session was full of both. At the end, I asked the players to share their highlights and these two leadership games stood out as team […]
Coaching the Whole Athlete: Seeing the Person Beyond the Player
Growing up playing softball, I developed a pitching persona that I fully embodied on the field. Claire the Pitcher with the Sunglasses was fierce, aggressive on the mound, super competitive, the loudest voice on the field, and always pitching in sunglasses, day or night. She was different from me, Claire, the good student who loved […]
Tools for Partnering With Parents: A Coach’s Guide
Lately, I’ve been hearing more and more that parent interactions are one of the biggest pain points for coaches. It’s concerning to think that some, especially younger coaches, are leaving the profession because they dread dealing with parents. I understand this challenge; as a young coach, I also struggled to stay on the same page […]
My Valkyries Summer
Dear Golden State Valkyries, Thank you for filling my summer with so much joy. There is nothing more powerful, more inspiring, than watching an extraordinary group of women come together to make history. From the very first game, I felt it, the sense of belonging, of community, that comes with being a Valkyries fan. It’s […]
How Trashketball Helps First-Time Coaches Learn to Lead
At a recent WCA Leadership Academy, I decided to teach a nonsensical sport to our coaches as a way to model best coaching practices. That’s how Trashketball was born. At past Academies, I focused on teaching coaches sport-specific skills in the games they were preparing to coach. The coaches often said playing the sport was […]