Wise Words for Coaches New (and Old)
September 13, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Every fall brings a new beginning for those who live by the high school calendar. And among those experiencing a new start are first-year high school coaches eager to begin their careers in educational athletics.
But what knowledge do they bring into their first coaching jobs? Most if not all played at the high school level, and many played at the college level as well. Some have served as assistants or coached youth teams. But high school coaching comes with its own set of challenges requiring an advanced set of skills – skills that are passed on annually as part of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Coaches Advancement Program.
To assist in giving some of our new coaches a running start, we tapped into the knowledge of three of our Coaches Advancement Program instructors for advice they give those just starting out:
Jean LaClair began this fall 12th in MHSAA volleyball history with 861 wins since becoming a varsity head coach in 1987. She’s coached at Midland Dow, Pinconning and currently Bronson, where she’s also the athletic director and an assistant principal. She’s also served as an MHSAA official and contributed to the Women in Sports Leadership porgram.
Ken Semelsberger is a recent inductee into the Michigan High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame and spent 33 years at Port Huron High School as a coach and athletic administrator. He also coached football at Detroit Servite and has led teams in basketball, softball and baseball. Semelsberger returned to the Port Huron sideline four seasons ago as the varsity’s line coach.
Penny Allen-Cook currently is an athletic consultant and in her fourth season coaching the Freeland varsity volleyball team. She also coached volleyball at Alma College, and is a former assistant commissioner of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. She served as an assistant athletic director at Alma College and director of compliance at Saginaw Valley State University.
All were asked the following questions during separate interviews. But not surprisingly, some of their answers were similar – especially those that emphasized dealing with parental pressures and why they as coaches continue to return to the sideline every year.
Many of their answers also segued well into each other, so we’ve blended them for one longer conversation filled with wisdom beneficial to new and veteran coaches alike.
What do you tell those who are interested in becoming high school coaches?
Semelsberger: “Basically, it’s one of the most fulfilling things you’ll ever do. And it’s also one of the hardest things you’ll ever do. I try to explain that it’s not just about going to practice and coaching kids today. That’s the easy part. It’s also preparing for practice, (gaining) the knowledge of what to do in certain situations from the game itself all the way to training procedures, injury procedures and liability issues. That’s all part of the coaching realm.”
LaClair: “My biggest concern with young coaches is them getting driven out by parents really early. You’ve got to have thick skin, and you’ve got to have great relationships with parents. You can’t be afraid to talk to parents.”
Allen-Cook: “Certainly to coach is an extremely rewarding thing to do. But you can’t get into it for the money. You get into it for the things that last for a lifetime. My first year I started coaching was back in 1986, and I’ve kept in touch with those kids. (Coaching) can’t be for money or wins and losses, but the differences you make in lives.”
Semelsberger: “Probably not until after the first year do you realize all that’s entailed in coaching. (Coaches) say, ‘Once I really got into and do it, after the first time, it was a lot more than I thought.’ They say, 'What can you tell me to help me?'”
How do you encourage coaches who have become frustrated with the profession?
Allen-Cook: “It’s easier to get discouraged nowadays more than it used to be, and a common thing that discourages is the parent involvement is at a different level than it ever was 20 years ago. The key is to remember, and it’s hard for young coaches who aren't parents, but you tell them to step back and imagine what it feels like if you were the parent.”
LaClair: “I do try to get all young coaches a mentor, someone to talk with. We all get frustrated; we all have to vent, and we need the right person to talk it through with and come up with alternative ways (of dealing with situations).”
Semelsberger: “The one thing I tell them is to remember that what’s most important out there is how they influence athletes. I want to see them doing positive things with our athletes, stressing grades and sportsmanship. I hired a hockey coach once, and I told him to clean up the program. I don’t care if you win; I want our grades to be good, community involvement, and the wins and losses will come. If you stay with it, hang in there, it will come.”
Allen-Cook: “If they approach things the right way, in as few years as four or five, if they stick it out, they’ll learn the positives outweigh the negatives. I’m always encouraging them to stick it out a few more years until they can figure out their true philosophy, why they want to coach.”
What specific situations do you tell new coaches to prepare for, and how?
LaClair: “For me as a coach, the parent/athlete meeting is mandatory. If a parent comes to me with a question during the year, I say, ‘Do you remember the parent/athlete meeting? We discussed that.’ It sets the tone and tells parents how proactive you are as a person, how organized and prepared you are.”
Semelsberger: “When you’re not coaching, when you’re sitting in the stands, the parents are friendly. But once you’re on the sideline, now you’re the coach, and that changes the dynamic of the relationship dramatically. I explain to (coaches) that my philosophy is I’m dealing with parents’ most precious item. You want to treat each one of those children like you’d want your kids to be treated. You don’t have to play everyone all the time, but treat (athletes) with respect, talk to them and let them know what’s going on, why a kid isn't playing, so the kid has an idea what’s going on.”
Allen-Cook: “One of the best defenses is to be a student of whatever the game is they’re coaching so they can be seen as an expert all the time. Show it by going to clinics, reading up on things, and coming to practice with a true plan of what you’re doing every day. Parents are less likely to question if you know what you’re doing and they can see you’re a true student of the game and come every day prepared.”
LaClair: “Time management is critical. Especially for me, you need to have good practice plans, well thought out in advance so kids aren't standing around at all.”
Semelsberger: “Sometimes I tell (coaches) about reporters if the sport has a lot of reporters; always be positive, don’t be negative. ... (Also) I make sure they understand and follow the rules. Academics are the most important thing, so make sure every kid is eligible. And I tell them the most important people are secretaries and custodians. Get them on your side, and they’ll do anything for you.”
What advice do you offer coaches who also are balancing teaching or other jobs at the school?
LaClair: “Just over half of my (teachers are coaches), and that’s great. You can build a different type of relationship.”
Semelsberger: “Their number one job is being a teacher, and that’s always been the number one job. They can’t let the fact they coach take away from that. Classes are number one, and coaching comes after that.”
LaClair: “You have to think days and weeks ahead. I tell coaches who are also teachers that the weekends and a lot of Sundays are going to be for making lesson plans for the week, practice plans for the week. Then all they have to do is tweak them. Have a good plan and all you have to do is tweak, and you don’t have to do that for two hours on a Thursday night.”
Allen-Cook: “It’s a neat experience to be able to teach in other realms (like athletics). Unfortunately there are less and less teacher coaches.”
What keeps you coming back to coaching?
LaClair: “The kids. A lot of people think social media is an evil beast, and it can be. But what I love about it is I've been coaching a long time and I can keep up with former athletes all over the country, see baby pictures, things I wouldn't be able to do without social media.”
Allen-Cook: “I think once you’re a coach, you’re always a coach. It’s tough to get out of your blood. I enjoy the interaction with the young people. I’m an independent contractor now (Allen-Cook also has taught) so I have little interaction with student athletes anymore. It feels rewarding that in some way I’m having a positive impact.”
Semelsberger: “The kids, the athletes, just to watch them develop as human beings. We work hard with on our athletes being leaders in the (school) building; the first day of school our senior and junior football players were helping out the freshmen. If a kid was scared or something, trying to get where they needed to go, we had jerseys on and they knew if they saw a kid with a jersey on they could ask for help. To see those kids take on those roles ... I love watching the ninth graders come in as scared little kids and watch them leave as confident seniors going on to college or work or whatever they’ll do.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Penny Allen-Cook (second from left, back row) and her Freeland volleyball team celebrate last season's Class B District championship. (Click to see more from High School Sports Scene.) (Below) Bronson volleyball coach Jean LaClair speaks with some her players during one of her more than 1,000 games as a varsity head coach. (Photo courtesy of the Sturgis Journal.)
Task Force Building Multi-Sport Message
November 11, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Walled Lake Western’s Cody White draws his perspective on high school sports from a background that, while perhaps not unique, has to be close.
The Warriors senior is one of the top college football prospects in Michigan, a Big Ten-caliber player who has committed to continue his career at Michigan State University after he graduates in the spring.
Our state has a handful of athletes like that every year, of course. But White also is the son of former NFL player and Detroit Lions executive Sheldon White – and has followed his father’s Dayton, Ohio, footsteps in playing three sports during his high school career.
White plays football, basketball during the winter and baseball in the spring, in addition to travel basketball and baseball during the summer. He has played these same sports throughout high school. His freshman year he also competed in track & field, along with baseball. As of May – when White and his multi-sport experience were featured on Second Half – he hadn’t ruled out returning to track & field, in addition to baseball, as a senior.
“I couldn’t see myself not competing in those sports,” White said at the time. “I love them so much. I want to finish my senior year playing all three.”
It’s White’s experience, and the benefits enjoyed by so many who have shunned the recent trend toward specialization, that is driving the MHSAA’s Multi-Sport Task Force as it aims to promote the value of a varied sports experience through high school, even for athletes considered “elite” in a sport they’ll go on to play at higher levels.
The Multi-Sport Task Force met for the third time Oct. 27 and includes coaches, administrators and teachers with diverse experiences in athletics at schools large and small; urban, suburban and rural and in both the interscholastic and club settings.
The idea of moving away from specialization and back toward playing multiple sports has gained steam in recent years with pronouncements of how doing so paid off for nationally-recognized stars like professional golfer Jordan Spieth, baseball Hall of Famer John Smoltz and a number of members of the U.S. women’s soccer national team who played multiple sports through high school.
The MHSAA’s task force is working to develop that message, package it in the most digestible formats, and deliver it to the key decision-makers to benefit athletes at the age where the message can have the heaviest impact on their sports careers and growth into physically fit adults.
“This is a fundamental topic in school sports,” MHSAA Executive Director Jack Roberts told the task force during its most recent meeting. “This is something we’ll be talking about five and 10 years from now.”
The task force is charged with a series of goals that will be discussed below and are still in development. But there’s no doubt coaches will play a significant part in promoting and carrying out this important mission.
“Growing up was a little different (for me) than the usual kid. Going to Lions games and just being around football all the time. I think I love the game more because I was around it so much. But I think playing three sports helped me, too. The twisting of your hips in baseball, when you swing the bat, you’re using different muscles. And all the jumping you do in basketball. You have to move in tight spaces. With football, you’re with the football guys. By doing all three you meet different people.” – Cody White, “Western’s White Enjoys ‘Special’ Career” – May 4, 2016
What we’ve learned
The task force’s first meeting in April included discussions with Dr. Tony Moreno of Eastern Michigan University, a frequent Coaches Advancement Program instructor, and Dr. Brooke Lemmon of the MSU Sports Medicine Clinic. Among points from their focus on medical issues that result from specialization:
• Specialization has chronic, long-term affects; young people who do not learn physical literacy – how to solve movement problems – are less likely to be physically active and, hence, less likely to be physically fit. This is becoming an expensive health issue for society.
• The loss of physical education from schools is the root of these problems and has led to the creation of “privatized PE” for those who can afford a club sports experience. Physical education in schools, done correctly, can create a relatively noncompetitive environment that increases student interest in becoming physically active.
• More time spent in one activity will lead to more injuries, especially of the chronic nature. The number of hours per week a child spends on one sport activity shouldn’t exceed that child’s age (8 hours per week for an 8-year-old, for example).
Dr. Dan Gould, the director of the MSU Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, talked to the task force during its second meeting about how children perceive sports – and the need to adjust parents’ expectations for their kids’ success. He explained how kids can lose their identity focusing on just one sport, and also the importance of free play – the games kids make up themselves while playing in a structure-free environment.
Bob Mancini of USA Hockey visited with the task force most recently, explaining how his was the first governing body to tell athletes it wanted them to play their sport – but in order to do so well, play other sports also. USA Hockey’s American Development Model was launched in 2009 to in part promote multi-sport participation – and is growing hockey in the process, with increased participation seen at youth levels over the last three years.
“It’s just really fun to do different things. We don’t have a lot of the numbers, but we have the people who are willing to put in the hard work, even if it’s not their best sport. Each season is only three to four months at the most. So it keeps things exciting.”— 2016 Bronson graduate Kelsey Robinson, a defensive specialist in volleyball, former cross country runner, guard in basketball and a third baseman and centerfielder in softball, “Multi-Sport Experience ‘Special’ for Bronson” – February 2, 2016
Questions & Answers
The task force will meet again Feb. 8, and in the meantime there are a number of questions – and answers – to be considered.
The group has pinpointed a series of goals:
1. Partner with groups promoting diverse physical activity.
2. Encourage those promoting more and better physical education.
3. Prepare tools for administrators for use in interviewing prospective coaches, conducting meetings with their coaching staffs and encouraging them to “walk the talk” of balanced participation.
4. Assist in the explanation of the multi-sport experience to parents through a variety of media, including a guidebook and video explaining its benefits.
Carrying out these aspirations comes with plenty to discuss.
Who most needs to hear the message of multi-sport participation? It’s most likely junior high and middle school parents, or even those of elementary students just starting to experience organized athletics.
What do these parents and children most need to know? Parents are stakeholders in their children’s athletic ventures. The challenge is convincing them our way is best for their kids’ futures, from a health and development standpoint.
Who should deliver this message? Celebrities obviously carry clout when they talk about how their multi-sport experiences led them to become successful adults. But there also could be a strong emotional tug from current student-athletes who tell their stories.
How can coaches and athletic directors help spread the word? The MHSAA, with input from the task force, will develop tools to help. But the options are many: could it come in video form, eye-catching graphics for use at coaches meetings, or live interaction at regional summits?
We are looking for ideas, both for getting out the message and incentivizing taking part in the multi-sport experience. Schools already are doing great things to promote multi-sport participation, and we’d love to hear about what's working.
To that vein, we’ll close with a final success story from this fall about a team that benefited from a lineup of multi-sport athletes:
Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett on Oct. 15 ended an eight-year championship run by Ann Arbor Greenhills at Lower Peninsula Division 4 Boys Tennis Finals. Knights coach Matt Sobieralski relied on a roster filled with multi-sport athletes, including No. 1 singles player T.J. Dulac, who also ran cross country this fall.
Only one player on the Liggett roster plays only tennis, and Sobieralski says his players’ multi-sport participation served them well.
“It makes you tough, mentally tough and strong. And they’re competitive. That’s important. I think tennis, a lot of times, is 80 percent mental and 20 percent ability. You win a lot of matches with guts and just hanging in there. I always say a good player can win even when they’re not playing their best, because they’ll try something different and they keep fighting. That’s the team I’ve got. I’m really proud of their fight.” – Matt Sobieralski, “Liggett Ends Greenhills’ 8-Year Reign” – October 16, 2016
PHOTOS: (Top) Walled Lake Western's Cody White runs ahead of a group of Lowell defenders during last season's Division 2 Semifinals. (Middle) Bronson (right) goes for a kill during last season's Class C Semifinal against Traverse City St. Francis. (Top photo courtesy of Walled Lake Western athletic department.)