Blog - On One Hand Business... On the Other Hand Sports

Just in Time for the National League Playoffs

October 2, 2014November 2, 2014 horvath Leave a comment

Back in the day, baseball was a glorious sport. There were no steroids, symmetrical ball parks, humidors, juiced up baseballs, or outlandish salaries. Baseball was fun. It was the national sport and the best times of the year were Opening Day and the World Series.

This makes the find of a newsreel by the Library of Congress that much more wonderful. The footage shows the Washington Senators defeating the New York Giants in the 1924 World Series (Mike Mashon wrote about the preservation process of the film in a blog for the Library of Congress.)

The newsreel headline was “Senators win World Series – 40,000 frantic fans see American Leaguers take 12-inning deciding game 4 to 3.” Walter Johnson was the winning pitcher.

It is an appropriate find, given the Washington Nationals are scheduled to meet up in the first round of the 2014 National League playoffs with the San Francisco Giants.

Play ball!

Watch and Learn – Kids Will Teach You How to Coach

September 30, 2014November 2, 2014 horvath Leave a comment

Think back to your daughter’s first coloring project. Most likely she was about three years old. Before she began, it was necessary to give her a few simple procedural tips:
• The crayons are for coloring, they are not to be broken or eaten.
• Draw on the paper, not the desk, or the wall.
• Draw pretty, have fun!
The rest is history. She began drawing and most parents couldn’t wait to post her scribbled masterpiece on the refrigerator.

As time passed, your daughter took on the challenge of coloring her favorite princess in the coloring book. She would select a purple, green, or teal crayon to color the princess’ hair and a red or green crayon for her jacket or dress. The fact that there has never been a princess with hair or a dress that color was irrelevant to her. She chose those colors because she liked them or thought they were pretty.

Most likely the coloring extended beyond the outline of the princess and might be described as coloring in zones. Despite the flaws, it was an improvement over the scribbled masterpiece that it replaced on the front of the fridge.

With more practice, most of the coloring for the princess’ hair and dress were within the outline and the colors she selected more closely resembled those seen in the real world. By the time she was ten, she had “mastered” the use of crayons for coloring a princess.

At no point in the process did your daughter have a coloring trainer, coloring psychologist, or coloring dietician to help her improve her skills. Over the past seven years she developed her skills by practicing and receiving simple guidance and encouragement from her peers, parents, and teachers. The process was gradual, it was fun, and it gave her a sense of accomplishment. As a result, drawing and art will be a passion that she will share with others.

The learning process demonstrated by your daughter to color princesses is the same process she and other young kids use when they learn to play a sport. This process is outlined below as it applies to a junior learning to play tennis.
• Equipment – She can build a strong foundation if she has equipment designed for juniors – shorter racquets, low compression balls, and a smaller court.
• Safety and etiquette tips – Racquets are to be used for hitting the ball, not her sister, the ground, or the net post. Temper tantrums are not appropriate.
• Guidelines – It is overwhelming to play tennis for the first time, for the first year, and for the first seven years. Technical guidelines should be broken down into manageable bites.
• Realistic expectations – It took her seven years to draw a beautiful princess. It will take her longer to be a great tennis player. She is more likely to watch Wimbledon than to play there.
• Encouragement – Parents should provide “specific” encouragement even when the outcome isn’t pretty. For example, Instead of saying, “Good Job” say “You moved well to your forehand.”
• Performance – Praise her effort. Her number one priority is to manage her performance. The outcome (the scoreboard) is not her top priority. When the dust settles after a match, ask her if she had fun and tried her hardest.
• Learning – Provide an environment where she can learn from her mistakes. She will likely learn more from her errors than she will learn from you trying to keep her from making mistakes. For example, players may not always call out the score until they have experienced the tough lesson of losing a match because they lost track of who was winning.
• Comfort zone – As she improves, present greater challenges. Help her learn to function out of her comfort zone. For example, once she has become proficient at hitting forehands in the court, have her hit forehands cross court. Initially, that is a threatening task.
• Keep it fun! – Play during a cool part of the day and include her friends. Continue to present challenges as a way of giving her a chance to improve and feel good about getting better. That is fun!
• Celebrate – As she masters new challenges, celebrate! Just as you put her art masterpieces on the fridge, make room to display ribbons and medals.
• Patience – It takes time. It took awhile for her to choose the right color of crayon for the princess’ hair, it will take awhile for her to hit a spin serve, crosscourt backhand and become a proficient tennis player.
The process of learning to play tennis is not much different than learning how to color your favorite princess.

Watch and learn! It’s amazing how much a coach can learn by watching his daughter color princesses.

Relentless Competitors

September 24, 2014November 1, 2014 horvath Leave a comment

Are you looking for a way to motivate your athletes to be more competitive?

Jeff Janssen has written a series of books about leadership, team building, coaching, and competitiveness. His book Develop Relentless Competitors Drillbook provides coaches with drills, concepts, activities, and stories to help them raise their athletes’ levels of competitiveness. Examples are provided in the following paragraphs.

Concepts

Carolina Basketball’s Awards Board

In a nutshell Coach Roy Williams tracks statistics in 37 categories such as charges taken, box outs, and deflections. The categories also include turnovers, the quality of the screens, and the passes that would have been assists if the shot had not been missed. Ratios are established to measure the relationship between positive and negative plays.

These statistics did not focus on winning; rather they focused on the process of winning. Data was published shortly after each game which allowed played to have immediate feedback. As well, this allowed the coaches to recognize the players on a regular basis for their accomplishments in each of these key categories.

One of the important benefits of the awards board was that it helped players see the broader scope of the game. As well, the data provided athletes with the ability to objectively see what they needed to do to improve. The data was particularly helpful in determining the players who started and sat on the bench.

Activities

Competitiveness Continuum Discussion

Janssen has developed a continuum where players can rate themselves on the following scale of competitiveness:
• Scared
• Wimpy
• Passive
• Indifferent
• Assertive
• Aggressive
• Fierce
After rating themselves players can learn steps they can take to transition from being a scared competitor to a fierce competitor.

In addition, Janssen takes it a step further and suggests that coaches have their players evaluate their teammates on this continuum as a tool for helping them bring out the competitiveness in their teammates. Most likely, that exercise should be implemented with discretion.

Stories

The Bike Story

Stories are a great tool for helping people learn lessons they can apply to sports and life.

A young boy in Kentucky wanted a bike, but he realized his parents couldn’t afford to buy him one. He found a job at a local grocery store to earn money to buy a second-hand used bike. The boy rode it from dawn to dusk, but it was stolen after he had owned it for only a week. A few years later this young boy got involved in the sport of boxing. As a form of self-motivation, he would look at his opponent and imagine that his opponent was the person who stole his bike. This tactic seemed to work. As it turned out, Cassius Clay (Muhammed Ali), became one of the best heavyweight boxers of all-time.

Drills

You the Man

This drill is an effective way to help volleyball players learn to focus on passing and terminating the ball. The coach designates a terminator for both teams. The only time they earn a point is when that person ends the point. Each team must focus on getting good passes so their setter can effectively set the designated terminator. Teams are trying to make it difficult for their opponents to get good passes. As well, they may utilize special defenses, such as double or triple blocks, to prevent the opponents from terminating. Varying scoring systems can be used.

Even though coaches and players have a variety of tools and techniques for encouraging their teammates to get fired up, they will find Janssen’s book to be a quick read that may provide them with some new ideas for becoming relentless competitors.

Bill Scanlon – American Tennis Doesn’t Have to Suck

September 18, 2014November 13, 2016 horvath Leave a comment

The following editorial was written by Bill Scanlon. It was posted on various websites prior to the firing of Patrick McEnroe.

Scanlon’s sentiment is that American tennis doesn’t need to suck. He stated that if you agree, please repost, send this to at least three people via email, and join AdvantageUSATennis.com (it’s free!).

Scanlon won the NCAA Singles Championships as a freshman at Trinity. Afterwards he turned professional and played on the ATP tour for 13 years. At one point he was a top ten player and reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open.

If I Wanted to Keep American Tennis Down

By Bill Scanlon

Last year, my partner and I formed Advantage USA Tennis, a non-profit to help support and promote American tennis. Just for fun, we imagined what we might do if our goal was, instead, to keep American tennis in the dumps.

Here are some of our crazy and entertaining ideas. Obviously, no one would ever actually do them, but just imagine….

First, we’d formally establish a “system” and make sure that every player has to learn the exact same way. That way, if faced with polar opposites like Sampras and Agassi, we could guarantee that one or the other will be shut down.

Next, centralize all the training into one location. Make sure that the players are only exposed to one teaching philosophy and a very few teachers.

At the junior level, we’d reduce the number of national tournaments. There are too damn many opportunities for kids to get excited about tennis. We need most of them to be discouraged and moving on to other sports.

Unfortunately, some players will still show promise. We’d identify these potential champions (threats) early – offer financial incentives to get them into our system. Get them to leave whatever environment has helped them develop thus far. They must relocate to the central training center and conform to the system.

Once we have the players in the system:

Remove the parents. Their love and passionate support could nurture and motivate, potentially causing a player to believe that he could become a champion. Strong parental (or family) influence must not be allowed, as it could result in a future Connors, Agassi, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, McEnroe, Chang, Bryan Brothers, Williams Sisters, Evert, Sharapova, Graf, Hingis, Seles, Jaeger, Pierce, etc.

Also, remove any coach (or major influence) who has had previous success with the player. Strong, loyal, one-on-one bonds could result in a future Borg, Vilas, Federer, Sampras, Lendl, Becker, Edberg, Roddick, Navratilova, Austin, Davenport, etc.

Coaches should be assigned, shared, and changed often. Allow no personal bonding, continuity, or individual loyalty because these could encourage and motivate the players. It could also build confidence and unacceptable levels of self-esteem. Ideally, a coach should be assigned to a male and female player simultaneously, on separate tours.

Coaches (especially former top-ten players) should be required to teach conformity by the system. Allowing their personal experience and individual knowledge could lead to unacceptable progress.

Finally, once the system has achieved the goal (American tennis sucks), it’s time to build an even bigger central training center and an even bigger system to perpetuate the problem.

American Women – More Fizzle than Sizzle at U.S. Open

September 8, 2014November 13, 2016 horvath Leave a comment

With the exception of Serena Williams, there was more fizzle than sizzle on the courts for the American women at the 2014 U.S. Open.

The pre-match publicity set high expectations for the American women. Unfortunately, they didn’t live up to the hype.

The best news was that twelve of the seventeen women advanced past the first round and Serena captured her 18th Grand Slam.

First round losers included Taylor Townsend, Lauren Davis, Alison Riske, Grace Min, and Danielle Collins.

The second round reduced the number of American women from twelve to four.

The losers included Vania King, Coco Vandeweghe, Shelby Rogers, Madison Keys, Christina McHale, C.C. Bellis, Sloane Stephens, and Madison Brengle. The losses by Keys and Stephens were particularly painful.

Varvara Lepchenko, Nicole Gibbs, and Venus Williams bowed out in the third round, with 2-1 records.

There were some bright spots. Overall, the American women won 21 matches and lost 16. (Serena Williams won seven of those matches).

Despite first round loses, Americans Taylor Townsend and Donald Young teamed up to reach the semifinals of the Mixed Doubles. Unfortunately, success in professional tennis is usually measured in Grand Slam singles wins and trophies.

C.C. Bellis charmed spectators with her tennis and innocence. Time will tell if she turns out to be a rising star or the next Melanie Oudin.

The 2014 U.S. Open was a test of not only the player’s tennis skills, but their physical strength and fitness level. Eugenie Bouchard and Peng Shuai can attest to that. Much of the event was played under the WTA Tour’s extreme heat rules, which presented an extra challenge to players in all brackets.

What is in store for the American women when the Williams sisters retire? At the moment the answer is simple. There is heir apparent among the younger American women.

Congratulations to Serena Williams on another great Grand Slam performance.

American Juniors Have Strong Showing at 2014 U.S. Open

September 6, 2014November 13, 2016 horvath Leave a comment

The combination of a home court advantage and solid play propelled the American juniors to a strong showing at the 2014 U.S. Open. It also helped that the boys had 17 entrants and the girls 19 in the 64 player draws.

For the boys, seven players advanced out of the first round. The following ten players lost their only match: Dennis Uspensky, Logan Smith, Walker Duncan, Aron Hitzik, Sameer Kumar, Deton Baughman, Tommy Paul, Michael Mmoh, Eduardo Nava, and John McNally.

Only two of the remaining seven players dropped their second round matches: Reilly Opelka, and Alex Rybakov.

In the third round, three players exited the tournament with 2-1 records: Taylor Harry-Fritz, Henrik Wiersholm, and Jared Donaldson.

Stefan Kozlov was ousted in the fourth round (quarterfinals) with a 3-1 record. Frances Tiafoe was defeated in the semifinals with a 4-1 record.

Overall, the group won 15 matches and lost 17. Although none of the players advanced to the finals, they had one player in the semis, two in the quarters, and five in the round of sixteen.

The results for the girls were similar.

Nine players advanced out of the first round with ten players dropping their only match: Katrine Steffenson, Ingrid Neel, Sofia Kenin, Claire Lu, Brooke Austin, Jessica Ho, Madison Bourguignon, Dasha Ivanova, Kylie McKenzie, and Ena Shibahara.

Five of the remaining nine players were defeated in the second round with 1-1 records: C.C. Bellis, Michaela Gordon, Francesca Delorenzo, Kelly Chen, and Usue Maitane Arconada.

Only one of the remaining four players exited in the third round: Raveena Kingsley. She had a 2-1 record.

In the fourth round (quarterfinals), Tornado Alicia Black was defeated. She won three matches before losing.

Katerina Stewart and Carolyn Dolehide were ousted in the semifinals. Both were 4-1.

Overall, the group won 18 matches and lost 19. Despite the fact that none of the players advanced to the finals, two players were in the semifinals, three were in the quarterfinals, and four were in the round of sixteen.

Does this strong showing bode well for American tennis in the future?

These American juniors are some of the top players in the world. A majority of them will test their skills on the pro tour and some will end up in the top 100. That is the good news.

The most recent group of juniors to enter the pro ranks (Sloane Stephens, Madison Keys, Alison Riske, et. al.) are demonstrating how difficult it is to become an elite player. The current group of juniors are likely to face even greater challenges.

If anything, the 2014 U.S. Open demonstrated how tough it is for young players to become an elite player and continue to play at that level.

Chicago Cubs, ’69 Mets, USTA Player Development

August 31, 2014November 13, 2016 horvath Leave a comment

What do the Chicago Cubs, 1969 New York Mets, and USTA Player Development have in common? They are the laughing stock of professional sports.

The performance of the American men at Wimbledon was embarrassing. The men won five matches and lost ten. Nobody advanced past the third round.

On the stage of the U.S. Open, the greatest Grand Slam for American players, the performance of the American men was even worse than Wimbledon. They won five matches and lost twelve. Even worse, they lost nine of the matches 3-0, i.e. the American men were not competitive.

First round losers included Marcos Giron, Bradley Klahn, Donald Young, Wayne Odesnik, Jack Sock, Steve Johnson, Noah Rubin, Ryan Harrison, and Jared Donaldson.

Tim Smyczek was 1-1, winning his first round match before being thumped by Roberto Bautista Agut in the second round.

Both Sam Querrey and John Isner won two matches before bowing out in the third round. Querrey was destroyed by Novak Djokovic while Isner lost in four sets to veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber.

The combined record of the American men at the U.S. Open was 5 and 12.

The American men are excellent players; however, none of them are elite players and they never will be. It is clear the player development programs of other countries have aspirations for greatness that far exceed those of the USTA Player Development program.

At best, the USTA Player Development program has developed sparring partners for the world’s elite players. Hopefully, the leadership of the USTA has taken notice and will make changes. The U.S. Open would be a lot more fun to watch, if American players were strong enough to compete in the second week of the tournament.

USTA Player Development Not Producing Elite Players

August 25, 2014November 13, 2016 horvath Leave a comment

The USTA Player Development program has never been effective, but in 2014 it continues to reach new lows. Prior to the U.S. Open there are only two men ranked in the top 50 and 6 men ranked in the top 100.

Going into the 2014 U.S. Open there are 27 countries with men ranked in the top 50 according to the ATP rankings. There are three countries with more than two ranked men:

Spain – 10 players
France – 6 players
Czechoslovakia 3 players.

The following countries each have two players ranked in the top 50:

Switzerland – 3rd and 4th
Argentina – 13th and 26th
Canada – 6th and 46th
Croatia – 27th and 30th
Germany – 25th and 35th
USA – 15th and 47th
Italy – 17th and 49th

John Isner and Donald Young are the top ranked Americans.

The following countries each have one player ranked in the top 50:

Serbia – 1st
Bulgaria – 8th
Great Britain – 9th
Japan – 11th
Latvia – 12th
Rhodesia/South Africa – 20th
Ukraine – 22nd
Russia – 23rd
Columbia – 32nd
Taipei/Taiwan – 34th
Portugal – 38th
Uruguay – 40th
Australia – 41st
Poland – 43rd
Uzbekistan 44th
Austria – 45th
Kazakhstan – 50th

Only six American men are ranked in the top 100. In addition to Isner and Querrey, the other top 100 Americans are:

Steve Johnson – 51st
Jack Sock – 55th
Sam Querrey – 57th
Tim Smyzcek – 90th

Thanks to the USTA Player Development Program, the state of American professional tennis has never been worse.

USTA Player Development Program – Quantity not Quality

August 19, 2014November 13, 2016 horvath Leave a comment

As the U.S. Open approaches, the USTA press corps will be out in force to brag about the great crop of young American women produced by the USTA Player Development program.

Unfortunately for the Americans and the USTA, other countries are producing players who can actually win in the Grand Slams. To date, the USTA Player Development program has produced a contingency of players who will be eliminated by the third round. Quantity will be the mantra for the young American women in the 2014 U.S. Open, not quality.

The August 18th WTA rankings show the USA is at the top of the leader board for the greatest number of players in the top 50. There are 22 countries with players ranked in the top 50:

USA – 8
Czech Republic – 5
Italy – 4
Russia – 4
China – 3
Germany – 3
Serbia -3

The following countries each have two players ranked in the top 50:

Australia
France
Kazakhstan
Slovakia
Spain

The following countries each have one player ranked in the top 50:

Belgium
Canada
Denmark
Estonia
Japan
Kazakhstan
Poland
Romania
Ukraine
United Kingdom

A closer look at the rankings shows that Serena Williams is at the top of the list. Her sister Venus is ranked 20th. Sloane Stephens is ranked 22nd and Madison Keys is 28th.

The remaining four American women are far from being world-beaters. They are ranked between 39th and 48th and include Coco Vandeweghe, Christina McHale, Alison Riske, and Lauren Davis.

The Americans other than the Williams sisters are 19 to 24 years old. Contemporaries of this group include Halep, Kvitova, Bouchard, Wozniacki, Krunic, Cornet, and Bencic. Elite players who are slightly older include Radwanska, Cibulkova, and Azarenka. None of the young Americans have demonstrated the ability to compete against these players with success.

Most of the top 50 American women are young. Time will tell if they will mature and improve or if they continue to be cannon fodder for the world’s elite players.

Secondary School Sports Programs Have Become Less Relevant

August 13, 2014September 8, 2014 horvath Leave a comment

Over the past 25 years many secondary school sports programs have become less relevant than non-profit or for-profit club programs. Many years ago, they did not have competition and were supplemented by seasonal activities provided by city recreation departments, country clubs, YMCAs, schools, and other local entities.

As the population increased and participation in sports became more popular, club sports entered the scene. They became a viable competitor because they satisfied unmet demands and they marketed their programs effectively. In addition, school programs changed in ways that made them less appealing. These changes were a result of funding issues, societal demands, and the quality of coaches.

Funding – Many school districts have reduced funding for sports programs or they have not been able to increase funding at levels necessary to maintain quality programs. The impact of insufficient funding has been exacerbated by increased expenses in most categories. Some of the areas where funding issues have become a problem include:

Increased athletic fees paid by students.
Decreased program offerings or inability to expand to include popular sports.
Reduced funding or inadequate increases for facility maintenance.
Reduced funding or inadequate increases for equipment.
Reduced budgets or inadequate increases to cover travel expenses.
Reduced salaries or inadequate increases to cover salaries for coaches.
Inadequate funding to maintain previous levels of competition, i.e. it may be necessary to have shorter seasons or fewer competitions.

Any of these factors may decrease the appeal, accessibility, safety, or the perceived value of secondary sports programs.

Societal Issues – The appeal of secondary school programs has been impacted by the following:

Many school programs have developed no-cut policies. In most cases, these policies increase the number of participants, but do not include an increase in facilities or the number of coaches.
As well, equal playing time has become a standard policy for schools. While there is merit to equal playing time, some parents and athletes prefer club programs where playing time is based on ability not attendance.
Parents enroll their children in club programs to increase their chances of being successful in school programs. This is important for parents who want their children to succeed or for those who live vicariously through their children. In many sports, it has become necessary to play club sports to be a star on their school teams.
Other parents view sports as a means for helping fund their children’s college education. In some sports, success on a secondary school team is not as valuable as success in club programs. To that point, the perception has developed that participation in club sports is a requirement if a player wants to play on their high school or college teams.

These factors may increase the appeal of club sports as parents help their children gain a competitive advantage over other athletes.

Coaching – The following factors relate to the quality of coaching in school programs:

Most school coaches have good intentions, but many are not qualified to coach. Many lack meaningful certification, personal skills, or knowledge of the sport they are coaching. In many cases, they are the only person in the school willing to take on the responsibility of being a coach. In other cases, they choose to coach to ensure their son/daughter gets “adequate” coaching and/or playing time.
Coaching is a thankless job, particularly given increased expectations of coaches in school programs. A local coach anonymously said, “High school parents are golden if their kids have a coach who knows something about the sport, is organized, and is a teacher in the school who can keep track of the kids during the day.”
Some school programs are more worried about the paperwork associated with hiring part-time coaches than they are the needs of the athletes. Quality coaches often don’t want to deal with secondary school bureaucracies.
In some instances, parents don’t feel it is possible to have a say in how their children are coached in school programs. For them it may be important to feel they can influence the children’s coach. They may feel this is easier to accomplish in a club program.
Unfortunately, many school programs have had the misfortune of having had a coach who has violated the trust of the students. Such situations always draw attention in the media and give all secondary school coaches a bad reputation.
In some sports, the club season is four to six months long while many school programs last six to 12 weeks. As well school programs may have limitations on the amount of contact time a coach may have with the athletes.
In many cases, coaches in club programs have a strong network for helping their athletes secure college athletic scholarships.

Unfortunately, in many parts of the county it has become more difficult to find quality coaches for high school programs.

Which is better – school or club ? This discussion is not an indictment of school sports programs, rather it illustrates how school sports have changed over time. Club programs face similar issues regarding program costs, the quality of coaching, and dealing with the needs of the athletes.

Most importantly, both provide different types of opportunities for adolescent athletes. In a perfect world, the focus of both types of programs should be on providing young athletes with a pathway for growth as athletes and individuals.