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Showing posts from 2011

Coaching and Sport in Society

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Thank you for your responses to the previous blog. As a result, I am in the process of creating support systems to better address abuses of power and childhood assaults. I will keep you posted on this progress. Themes evolved from your emails and blog responses. Below please find some of these topics addressed. 1. Who's coaching your kids? Many readers want to know how to identify a predator who may also be a coach, teacher, scout leader, or anyone in a position where he or she has regular access to children. There is no look or specific demeanor, but predators tend to violate respectful and standard interpersonal boundaries. They invade others' physical, emotional, and verbal space with inappropriate conduct often masked as concern, teasing, or playing. Predators put themselves in positions where they are surrounded by unattended children. Predators tend to spend an inordinate amount of their free time with children and have limited interactions with people in their own

Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely

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Author's Note: Joe Paterno was fired as Penn State's football coach on Wednesday November 9, 2011. Joe Paterno died Sunday January 22, 2012. He was eighty five years old and lived, for most of his life, like a king. My mother received her early death sentence, melanoma in her lymph system, when she was 35. She died when she was 44. I was seventeen. Since then, I've respected the dead and their families, and focus on their contributions and accomplishments when they pass. Thus, I off lined this blog when I learned Joe Paterno died. It's critical of him and his avoidance response when knowing his former prized assistant, Jerry Sandusky, was seen sodomizing a young boy in the Penn State Football Complex showers. I worked with Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky as a graduate assistant football coach. I am also a survivor of early childhood assault outside of my home. Multitudes of great football players like Franco Harris, Lydell Mitchell, Jack Ham, Curt Wa

The Black Box - Untapped Potential

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Have you ever discovered a new talent by accident? Yesterday I heard eight high potential technical employees who are being groomed for management positions present their educational and work histories in preparation for speaking to high school students. A common theme connected their stories. Most had no mentor to guide them early in life. They made uninformed decisions leading to unfulfilled jobs before finding an employer who directed, and celebrated, their talents and drive. When given the opportunity, the speakers excelled. They learned they could solve technical problems. They learned they had high personal standards for achievement. They learned they had the capacity to influence others in very positive ways. Others recognized these talent and these speakers were chosen for very selective management development programs. Recent Gallop research states everyone is born with a talent he or she can demonstrate with more proficiency than at least 10,000 people. A good educat

Friendship

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Happy Fourth of July 2011! Independence Day this year made me reflect on the freedom, and value, of friendship. "Make new friends, but keep the old; one's silver and the others are gold." These are the words to a song learned at Central Avenue Elementary school in 1971, the year my thirty five year old mom received her early death sentence; melanoma in her lymph system. I was in 3rd grade. My mom encouraged me to build lasting friendships. She had a very loving heart and I sensed the compassion she had for my young friends. It made it natural for me to like them. Perhaps she encouraged me to make friends because she anticipated our family might, like others who experience the death of a young parent, implode after her death, leaving me and my siblings and our family on separate islands. Friends can't replace family, but good friends can fill the lost family void. "A person someone is fond of and knows well", according to Webster's Dictionary, is

Transcending Moments

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Easter celebrates Christ's transcendence from death to life. Transcendence, in the form of redemption, forgiveness, talents, resolve, healing, miracles, charity, hope, and faith forms the cornerstone of Christian belief. Regardless of one's faith, the world offers unexpected events. Major media tends to focus on disasters, but nature offers daily reminders of hope and transcendence. Looking out the window and seeing the green return after this ice filled winter is one. An amazing moment caught on film involved an Alaskan lead sled dog. It was chained and eating when a polar bear approached. The dog's owner's heart sank as he anticipated his favorite dog's demise. Instead, he saw both animals strike a play pose and grabbed his camera. After 20 minutes, the bear hugged his new friend and lumbered off. Granted, if the bear was hungry, the result may have differed. Bear Arms! Bear Muzzle! Bear Nuzzle! Bear Hug! Bear Down! Transcending, unexpected, events like th

Who's Your Pick?

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"The Character is Higher than the Intellect." - Vince Lombardi The Vince Lombardi Trophy will be awarded to tomorrow's Superbowl victor. He is the sport's greatest coach. In his early life, he contemplated being a priest and then an attorney. His football writings, actions, and talks are sprinkled with indirect references to Christianity as when he tells his team they "will pursue, with every ounce of effort in their bodies, pure perfection, knowing full well perfection is not achievable in this life, but in the afterlife. But, we will pursued it with dogged determination." Players responded to his goodness. On the field he was beyond driven, but did nothing out of malice or deceit. His passion was to improve his players, and to build or expose their character. They trusted him and responded. Fourteen Green Bay players he inherited from his predecessor became either All Pro or Hall of Fame caliber. The year before Vince arrived, the Packers recorded