Player Development

Whoa whoa whoa! I wasn't ready to hear that feedback from Coach. What went wrong during tryouts, and what do I need to do to fix it before next time?

Keyword for today is discipline! We're learning a lot of new stuff, and we have to be able to incorporate it into game-speed drills right away. How do we do that? 

Make sure you check out my video recap of tryout day! (with video clips of the tryout!)

Kai Laird, sport psychologist at The Performance Pursuit 🧠, shares tips  on building mental toughness, including using Cognitive Therapy to  change your self-talk 📢 and motivation 👍, and using self care to  maintain both body and mind.

🔗 Connect with The Performance Pursuit: https://theperformancepursuitconsulting.com/ 

💚 More Mental Health Awareness Month content: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfIGiHjyHAWRydr0cUvJ7dariuo23nJ_k

At least five NCAA athletes have died by suicide in the past few months!  

Athletic Trainer Jamie Field shares her story with anxiety and cancer, and how that has guided her work with middle school and professional  athletes who struggle with mental health. 

Athlete mental health is serious; this conversation is vital if you are an athlete, a coach, a trainer, or a parent!

College athletes are ⏫more likely to suffer from mental illness, and ⏬less likely to seek help. Use these three steps to support organizational change, resilience, and athlete mental health! Together, we can empower athletes to perform and be better.

Athletes coping with injury: instagram.com/sidelined_usa 

Teams looking to support athlete mental health: instagram.com/honeathletics/

Sound credit: Bensound.com

Ken Burke, host of the Competing for Christ Podcast, talks about the role of Christian athletes as they participate in sport. How do they handle tough questions in sport such as transgender athletes, or issues of race? Explore how Christians, as athletes and fans, find their identity beyond sports.

What's the difference between CrossFit and Strength Training? And which  one is right for me? As Charis searched for the fitness program that was  best for her, she struggled with body image, and finally unlocked the  secret to overcoming her shame. Explore with us the pros and cons of  CrossFit and Strength Training.

Chapters 00:00 

Intro 01:13 CrossFit Games 

03:04 Equipment 

05:52 Programming 

10:58 Pros and Cons 

15:46 Journey to CrossFit 

19:37 Mental Health and CrossFit 

23:05 Conquering Shame Through Community 

26:25 Function over Shape 

28:42 Bottom Line: Which to Choose?

Naomi Osaka was recently heckled at the Indian Wells Tournament, ending with her crying and losing the match. Is heckling just something pro athletes should be ready for as part of the game? 

They might look intimidating, but resistance bands might be some of the most accessible and scalable tools in your home gym. Check out whether they are right for your program and training!

I had the privilege of guest writing a blog post for Hone Athletics on how coaches can support athlete mental health and create a culture of open communication on their team. Drawing on my time as an athlete at Covenant College, my training as a counselor, and the interviews I've done with the coaches and players from that pipeline, I found three particular lessons that support a culture of open communication on a team. The first that we'll talk about today is letting life be a part of sport.

We'll focus on what I heard and saw modeled by Coach Kyle Taylor, who was the head coach during my time at Covenant. He is now the head coach at Salt Lake Community College. 

Blog link: https://blog.honeathletics.com/culture-of-communication

Interview with Coach Taylor: https://gest135.wixsite.com/playerdevelopment/post/kyle-taylor-shaping-lives

Originally published October 2021.

Kyrie Irving still has not gotten vaccinated as of this writing. How do so many narratives get spun out of this one decision by one player to not get vaccinated against COVID-19? A lot of it isn't even about basketball, but how our culture always creeps in to our consumption of sports. That's why we need to check our relationship with sports.

Charis struggled with body image; now her body does amazing things on a daily basis. She was intimidated by CrossFit; now she's a coach and gym owner. She faced tragedy and upheaval in her family; she continues to thrive and grow. What's her secret?

What do we learn from Enes Kanter Freedom's interview with Tucker Carlson? This dialogue has everything! Some flavors of nationalism, some sprinkling of white supremacy, even some dynamics that women in sports face on a daily basis. Originally published on Youtube December 2021.

How do pro sports reflect the values of our culture? Athletes are held  in such high regard, and are looked up to as role models whether they ask for it or not. 

Why are athletes and sports so untouchable as a  cultural force? 

This is another conversation about how money has shaped how we look at sports and at athletes, and how young people are influenced by this set of priorities.  What is our relationship with sports as a culture?

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Samu Maxwell is a teacher in Williamsburg, VA. He focuses his educational efforts on middle and high school aged students, and teaches ethics, history, and English.

His goal in teaching is to support students in connecting their academic work to change the world around them. He wants students to find meaning in whatever they dedicate themselves to.

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Music Credit: Bensound.com, DM Galaxy

The whole process of changing the 87-year old nickname of the Washington Football Franchise has been debated for many years. Some of the arguments have been for tradition and celebrating Native American culture. Do those arguments hold up? Have we done enough to support justice in sports with this name change?

Music: DM Galaxy and Bensound.com