janeallen

Did we win?

Published May 11, 2013 | By janeallen

Just last week I experienced something that I’m not sure I’ve ever experienced. My tennis team was playing a match, and, despite already winning the match in singles, after our doubles play we all seemed to feel as if we had lost the match. (We ended up winning the match 6-3.) The energy of the team was minimal; there were few smiles to go around, and the entire mood of our postgame chat was similar to one after a loss. Even when I called my parents to tell them about our game, my mom’s first reaction was along the lines of “oh no, you lost.”

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Why do we lack confidence?

Published April 27, 2013 | By janeallen

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As a female coach and former competitive athlete, I find that I myself have struggled with being confident at various points in time. The sad thing is that I see the same issue with the majority of my student-athletes as well. I also would wager that many of you out there have had deal with this same issue several times in your career as well.

Why is it that we frequently second-guess ourselves? How come we don’t have 100% confidence in our skills and abilities? These are just two of the questions I ask both myself and my athletes when insecurities come lurking. It was not until a little while ago when a friend of mine posted a quote on her Facebook page that I really began to understand just why we have these questions and doubts. This was the quote:

“The reason we struggle with insecurity is because we’re comparing our behind the scenes to everyone else’s highlight reel.” - Steve Furtik

After reading this quote, I had one of those “aha moments.” This reason may be exactly why we sometimes don’t think that we measure up to others. When you really think about it…how can we? After all, we rarely see what happens behind the scenes in terms of observing what other coaches and athletes do to prepare for competition. Instead, we compare ourselves to the final product that is put in front of us. Also, outside of our immediate competition and peers, we don’t always see or hear about how people in bigger schools or professional settings get there. What we also don’t know is that the people in these positions often feel the exact same way.

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Thoughts…

Published March 16, 2013 | By janeallen

Each day at the end of tennis practice, I have one of the girls give a thought of the day. While I’d love to take the credit for coming up with this idea, I have to give credit to one of the coaches I worked with in college. Just like it did in college, ending practice this way is great. This time together allows the team to end on an encouraging note, and it gives them something to think about for the rest of the evening and at practice the next day.

Here are a few of my favorite quotes thus far this season.

1. “The only place that success comes before work is in the dictionary.” – Vince Lombardi

While the vast majority of us love Vince Lombardi and his quotes, I especially enjoy this one due to the fact that it plainly states that work is necessary. How many times as coaches have we reminded our athletes that they must put in the extra time and energy to be better than their opponents? Thankfully, this quote really resonated with my team. They seemed energized and excited about this quote, and they left looking forward to practice the next day.

2. “Instead of telling yourself why you can’t, tell yourself why you CAN.” – Unknown

This quote matches my first rule for any team I coach or any class I teach. I do not let the word “can’t” be a part of their vocabulary if they are around me. (Unless, they are saying, “I can’t get enough of tennis!”) I firmly believe that the first step to being a smarter, stronger, and better athlete is to eliminate negativity and self-doubt from your vocabulary. If you believe in yourself and are confident that you will do well, you will. Also, in sports such as tennis where the mental aspect is so important, if the girls remember this quote and make it a mantra of theirs – we will surely see success.

3. “Winning isn’t everything, but wanting to win is.” – Vince Lombardi

Again, this is another good quote by Coach Lombardi. This quote is great for my team to keep in mind as we are finally in a true rebuilding year. For those of us coaches who have experienced seasons such as these, it’s hard to deny the fact that entering into seasons such as these is difficult. This being said, this quote certainly helps to keep things in perspective. As coaches we need to remind our athletes that while it’s nice to win, winning isn’t everything. What is important, however, is to be driven to win in a way that motivates the athlete to work hard in practice, focus on the tasks or situations presented to them, and always give 110%.

I hope you’ve enjoyed these quotes, and I encourage you to have your athletes come up with ones for the rest of your team as well. And…who knows? The quotes your athletes find may not only motivate the rest of your team, but they may also indicate to you that they are listening to what you’ve been saying daily in practice.

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A Journey of Discovery

Published March 2, 2013 | By janeallen

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Today is the second day of “Wellness Weekend” at our school. Instead of the usual promotional approach supplemented by an assortment of brochures and posters featuring various health topics, we’ve focused our presentations toward helping our students learn to be more confident and to love themselves as they are. This approach is apparent from a coach’s perspective; confidence builds playing ability and knowing one’s strengths, or limitations, enables better play.

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Roundtable Talk

Published February 16, 2013 | By janeallen

The location of many of our discussions.

It’s no secret that I love my job and the school where I work. (If you’ve read any of my past blogs, you have noticed this trend.) I also love that there are eight women who work in our athletic department as coaches. While I’m unsure of what is typical at other schools, I dare to say that we’re quite unique. I also know that we are extremely fortunate to have this wonderful built in community of strong female coaches.

What’s so great is that while we are all different, we are all on the same page. We expect a great deal of athletes not only as members of our teams, but also as students. Also, we are focused on developing the young ladies that we coach. We are determined to help them succeed not only on the court/field/floor, but we also want to ensure that our athletes learn the skills that will make them successful in life. Additionally, each of us is determined to support one another and our respective teams as much as possible.

This support that we have for one another doesn’t just stop at attending each other’s games/events. We also spend quite a bit of time sitting around the lunch or dinner table (another perk of boarding school) having informal roundtable talks. During these talks we discuss our teams, our successes, the areas in which we are struggling, and so much more. We also spend time talking through various situations in order to help brainstorm ways in which to deal with them. For instance, our Assistant Director of Riding was having trouble getting some of her riders to “find their competitive spirit,” so she asked our Varsity basketball coach for suggestions. Our dance teacher also has worked with our volleyball team to find ways to increase their flexibility and body control. I, as a field hockey coach and athletic trainer, have also gotten in this sharing in ways such as helping our dance teacher to develop alternative plans for classes. So…as you can see, these sessions not only help to us deal with solutions creatively, but they also help us to learn from others and better ourselves.

Having this group of women is so valuable. I encourage you to build this kind of community with other women who coach various sports and levels, whether within your school or with other coaches in your area. Even if you have to establish an online community, it is worth the effort. After all, an exchange of ideas/strategies only makes us better coaches. Also, it doesn’t matter if you are the mentor or the recipient of another’s experience, it helps to know that you’re not alone in your struggles and frustrations, and it’s always more fun to celebrate your victories and successes with good friends who know the path it’s taken to get to that point.

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Don’t Count Us Out!

Published February 2, 2013 | By janeallen

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While it may not be the case for everyone, I’m fairly certain that at some point in your coaching career, you have experienced looking ahead at your schedule and felt that your team was on a collision course for an uphill battle. While hopefully more of these types of games mean that your team is going up against a solid team that will require you to play your absolute best to win, sometimes this is not the case. Sometimes, games like this mean you just hope to play your best, execute you game plan, and come out with everyone healthy and with a good perspective on the game.

As a coach, when heading into such a game, we spend lots of time working on strategies that will prepare us for the things that they may throw out against us (i.e. presses, up tempo plays, steals and fast breaks, etc.). I also work to stress the importance of focusing on the things we can control (i.e. how we react to things thrown at us, how we make sure to make good passes/decisions, etc.), and realizing that those things out of our control are exactly that…out of our control. While it may be hard to tell your athletes that you can win this game when the odds are definitely not in your favor, especially when you’re dealing with younger players whose self-doubt can rear its ugly head in a big way, you cannot give them an inkling of an idea that they may fail. Instead, communicate with them your expectations as always…you will play hard; you will have a good attitude; you will fight until the last buzzer; and, you will keep your head up at the end of the game despite what it says on the scoreboard.

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Venus and “the Three Ds”

Published January 19, 2013 | By janeallen

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Since the Australian Open just began this week, I thought it was a good time to talk about Venus Williams. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was fortunate enough to meet Venus when she came to the school where I work back in November. During the two days she spent on campus with us, we were able to get to know her and understand a bit more about her. (Let me tell you…she’s a great person! She’s down to earth, gracious, humble, and caring.) And yes…I’ll admit, while I respected her before I met her, this respect and admiration has grown greatly.

During her public address on the first night of her visit, Venus talked about “the three Ds.” (She even admits that she stole these three words from her sister Serena; thereby, giving our students yet another reason to see her as a “person” and not just the superstar athlete that she is.) According to Venus, discipline, determination, and dedication are three things that you must keep in mind in order to be successful. Upon the completion of her address, these words remained one of the many things that stood out to me as both an athlete and a coach.

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Did we win?

Why do we lack confidence?

Thoughts…

A Journey of Discovery

Roundtable Talk

Don’t Count Us Out!

Venus and “the Three Ds”

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