Good Enough to Compete? Really?

Back when I was involved in running the Omaha high school bowling league, I used to hear adult volunteers who were organizing teams say that they weren't sure they were going to have a team because they couldn't get enough good players.

Never mind that they had boatloads of kids try out and they had no problem putting teams together, the volunteer was worried that the collection of student athletes wouldn't be good enough to compete against more experienced and talented players. This kind of attitude in someone responsible for coaching is pretty bogus, in my opinion.

Being a part of the Varsity team is something that many student athletes dream of. Sure, you get kids that come through your program that have next to no competitive blood in them. They want to hang out with their friends and be a part of a team, but after that . . . . well, it's just not a big deal. Those students are the exception, in my experience.

Our job as coaches is to get kids to see things in themselves that maybe they don't yet see. Our job is to help them improve their skills and not worry about whether they lose a match. A coach, especially a high school coach, especially a high school bowling coach, should be putting player growth and development above winning and losing. Holding kids back from Varsity competition because they might lose some games, throws growth and development out the window, and may indicate that the coach doesn't have the skills to help his or her players develop.

With all this being said, I've seen and heard some things in the last few weeks that tell me this trend of holding kids back is alive and well in high school bowling.

This came up recently for me when I was looking at the Omaha Metro Bowling league website. I noticed a lack of Varsity teams. Not a big deal, generally, because these things do fluctuate from year to year. But then I looked at the JV standing sheet and saw boatloads of JV teams. Again, generally, this isn't a big deal, because it's great to be able to field several JV teams to give kids the opportunity to compete.

What stood out in this whole thing was how many of these schools with JV teams had no Varsity teams bowling. I looked further at the team breakdown. Check this out:

Marian has eight JV girls teams, but no Varsity girls entry.
Northwest has two JV boys teams, but no Varsity boys entry.
Central has a JV girls team, but no Varsity girls entry.
Ralston has two JV girls teams, but no Varsity girls entry.

Now, it's not like the JV and Varsity bowl on different days and times, so the schedule prohibits the school from putting a Varsity team into competition. And, remember, since bowling isn't an NSAA-sanctioned sport, the schools aren't making these decisions anyway. To Varsity or not to Varsity is a coach-driven decision.

Unfortunately, this isn't just an Omaha thing. The NHSBF faces some of this too. We currently run four classes of competition, similar to most high school sports in Nebraska. We've never had deep numbers at the Class D level, so all those teams are generally making it into the State Championships. On the surface, that's not a bad thing I suppose, but with all the other classes competing hard for a spot in the tournament, it's tough to see the lack of a challenge in Class D.

The obvious answer to me is to only have three classes of competition, or structure the classes differently, so that Class D teams earn their spot in the State Championships. The way to do this is a topic for another day. For now, one of the reasons we haven't merged Class C & D is the fear that some of the Class D schools would drop out of the program entirely. Why? Because they don't think they could compete against the Class C teams.

Just to make sure I"m clear on this, I think this situation is as bogus as what's happening with the teams I mentioned above from Omaha. Holding students back from Varsity competition, or more challenging competition, because the coach doesn't think the team can compete, is offensive to me.

Winning is great, but after spending years hearing coaches tell me they are "in this for the kids," I'm wondering if that's a true statement. Look, bowling is not football, where players who are bigger and stronger are going to be blocking and tackling a smaller and less skilled opponent. Last I checked, bowling is still a sport where you don't block or tackle the members of the other team.

Is there a gap in skill levels sometimes? Sure, but as a coach our job is to help our players get better and enjoy the sport. Teams win and teams lose, but none of that keeps a bowler from improving and enjoying our sport. Losing is tough, but it's a part of our lives. A good coach knows how to coach through losses and keep the student-athletes focused on their goals. If the only goal is winning, it's time for the coach to find a new hobby, and give a real coach an opportunity to motivate and inspire their players.

With another season completed, it's time to renew the effort to get bowling the NSAA recognition our students deserve. It's time to get this program in the hands of the schools, where the mission to give students opportunities outweighs the need for a coach to win games and tournaments.

A Return to Regular Writing

It's a new year, and one of my resolutions is to keep the bowling column updated for people who don't see a Nebraska Bowler paper.

I'll do my best to stop by the blog and see if anyone's reading, and to add some of the latest news we're working on.

We're currently looking for a person interested in helping us take high school bowling around the final turn to the finish line, NSAA recognition. Are we really that close? I think we are, although sometimes the progress we make seems to be slow and insignificant.

The schools know we're out there, and I think the administrators see the good in what bowling has to offer their student-athletes. The challenge for many of them is balancing what they know to be good about bowling with the two big issues they face daily. Money and time.

To get us to the finish line, we're hoping to attract a retired AD with enough passion for bowling to get this rock pushed the rest of the way up the hill. The thinking being that someone with knowledge, and some empathy for the demands on the athletic director's time, will be able to make the inroads we have only been able to do slowly and slightly.

If a retired AD can't be identified, we'll need to get someone with the energy and determination to work the schools on a daily basis to make the case for adding the sport we love to the NSAA's roster of activities.

Stay tuned.

The Final Exam

I'm back to writing after getting finished with the Coaching Principles text. I took the final exam last night, and I scored 97%. I was surprised and pleased with the score.

As an adult learner, I get a bit paranoid about tests. In this case, I needed to score at least a 90% to be eligible to become an instructor for ASEP. That created some additional pressure as I made my way through the 100-question exam.

The test is well written and well organized. There are 4-6 questions for each of the 20 units, with half multiple choice and half true/false. I spent about 90 minutes on the test, which might have been too long, but I wanted to make sure I understood each question and the answers I was choosing.

The next step toward becoming an instructor is ordering the teaching materials (lesson plans, text, and DVD) and then going through an orientation. Hopefully, I'll be ready to start teaching the course in November.

Share Your Stories

This will be a quick post to solicit stories on how high school bowling has been a positive experience for Nebraska high school students.

We're looking for feedback from students, parents, and/or teachers, who would like to share their story on the benefits of being involved in high school bowling.

The goal is to have some stories to share with Athletic Directors on the positive aspects of being part of a high school bowling team.

Thanks in advance for sharing your stories with us.

Follow-up to October's Column

After putting October's Nebraska Bowler column to bed, I got to thinking that I may not have made the coaching certification issue as clear as I could have. Hindsight being 20/20 and all.

So, I think I'll take another stab at it here and see if it makes more sense.

There are two types of coaches involved in high school sports in Nebraska. Those who are professional educators working for the school and those who are not. So far so good, right?

Because the educators hold a Nebraska teaching certificate, they have all the necessary requirements to be considered for a coaching spot in their schools. Certainly, an AD is going to look at the candidates knowledge of the sport too, but the teaching certificate is the main thing.

The NHSBF supports that criteria, so if you are an educator in Nebraska, you would really only need to register with the USBC's RVP program to meet our requirements.

Coaches who are not holding a valid Nebraska teaching certificate are also eligible for hire as a high school coach. There are some professional education courses to take, in addition to the ASEP courses we're requiring. This will give you a Provisional Certificate, which will allow you to coach.

The NHSBF does not require this group of coaches to take the professional education courses, but we do require two ASEP courses, Coaching Principles and Sport First Aid. These two courses, plus some type of recognized coaching class, plus the USBC RVP registration, will meet our requirements.

Personally, I think professional educators would benefit from the ASEP Coaching Principles course. We're not pushing the issue, because the NSAA isn't requiring it either. Still, nothing says a person can't exceed the minimum requirements, right?

Hopefully, this makes the whole certification requirement issue a bit clearer.

Old Habits Die Hard

I'm down to the last two units of Coaching Principles course. To say it's been a great learning experience would be an understatement.

After going through one of the latest lessons, Principles of Teaching, I can see plenty of room for improvement in my methods.

This course stresses the use of the Games Approach to teaching a sport. The Games Approach simply says that you teach your technical skills and your tactical skills in the context of a game situation.

Within that approach, you modify the game by splitting the squad into pairs or trios and have them bowl Baker matches. This keeps your athletes engaged in the practice, instead of spending a large amount of time waiting to bowl.

Now, you can teach the skill you want to work on for that practice, within the context of a game situation. Drills are good for initial teaching, but getting them into the game mode to work on their skills is going to make the practice session more enjoyable for everyone.

I've leaned on drills more in the last few years. I thought that was the best course of action to take. We still bowled games, but that was not where we spent the majority of our practice time. This is an area I would approach differently in the future.

This lesson also spends a good amount of time going over the merits of planning. I can attest to the need for this. Like most of you, I balanced coaching with a full-time job. This forced me to layout a practice plan for the year, so I knew what we needed to work on with each practice. The plan would get adjusted as needed, but without a road map to follow, practices would've been a disaster.

Teaching the tactical skills is another area of importance. Here again, I wish I had spent more time on this than I did.

The tactical skills of bowling are centered around lane play and ball selection. We're trained to teach lane play once our athletes have the technical skill down pat. While there's some merit to that approach, I can see now where we're doing the athlete a disservice by not introducing lane play sooner.

These are some thoughts that I came to as I was reading the material and going through the on-line segment for this unit. This would be a great time for you to be reflecting on these ideas as you go through this course. The time you spend on this unit will pay real dividends for your program in the upcoming season.

Requirements for Making the Team

There's been some back and forth lately about a high school bowling coach requiring that all players on the team sign up for the youth league at the host bowling center.

It's a bonus if a high school coach can also have their players participate in the host center's youth leagues. Especially if the coach is a part of the center's youth coaching staff. The decision to participate, however, belongs to the athlete, not the coach.

Much is expected of student-athletes when they wear the uniform of their school. Along with getting the athlete's best effort on the lanes, good sportsmanship and respect for the rules should also be expected.

Requiring the players to bowl in the host center's youth program during the season should not be a part of those expectations. Once NSAA recognition is achieved, this won't be allowed to happen anyway, but in the meantime, this is an unnecessary requirement to place on the student-athlete.

The bowling centers give their lineage to this program and that is appreciated. Many proprietors are also coaching, which is also much appreciated. The return on that investment may not come immediately. It may be 3-5 years down the line, depending on if the student-athlete chooses to leave town for college. If the student comes back and becomes an adult league bowler thanks to the positive experience he or she had as a high school bowler, everyone wins.

Now, it's possible that this requirement may have been made to get in a little pre-season practice without looking like a pre-season practice. Two schools in other sports have gotten themselves into a little bit of trouble with the NSAA recently over this issue, so I would advise any high school bowling coach looking to get an early start to think twice before organizing any pre-season practices. Granted, we're not an NSAA recognized sport yet, but the NHSBF rules mirror the NSAA rules just the same, so read up before thinking about putting together any informal "practice" sessions.

Part 2 is Completed

I'm making good progress through ASEP's on-line Coaching Principles course. I wrapped up Part 2, which deals with communication, motivation, and managing athlete's behavior.
It's easy to forget sometimes that there's more to coaching than being able to show student-athletes how to bowl. Obviously, one needs the knowledge to show the proper technique, but how the coach communicates this information to his or her players goes a long way toward how succesful a coach will be.

Part 2 goes into great detail on the various communication styles used by coaches, and examples of which ones are successful and others, not so much.

Do you spend so much time talking that your athletes tune you out?
Is your feedback generally positive or negative?
Are you spending more time judging your atheletes than you are instructing them?
Is your communication consistent?
Are you a chatterbox during practice and during matches, to the point that your athletes can't get a word in edgewise?
Are you expressionless during practice and matches?
Do you talk down to your athletes when discussing their technique?
Are you all over the board when it comes to reinforcing the positive or negative behavior of your athletes?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, or you aren't sure why those questions are important, you're a good candidate for taking this course. Regardless of how much time you've spent working with student-athletes.

Part 2 goes on to talk about motivating athletes, and how to help them feel like they belong on the team and how to have fun while practicing and developing their skills.

The final unit in Part 2 discusses discipline and the importance of establishing a team culture and team rules. The key here is that discipline is not the same thing as punishment. As you go through this section, you'll find that we often treat those two terms the same.

Reading through the book and answering the questions on-line, I've found that much of the first two parts of this class have universal application, so if you are in any type of management for your career, much of what you'll learn here could be adapted on your job.

I'm spending anywhere from 30-45 minutes on each unit, between reading the material in the text and going through the exercises on-line.

Tomorrow I move onto Part 3, The Principles of Teaching.

Coaching Principles

In the first column of the season, I listed out the criteria that the NHSBF wanted our coaches to meet to continue coaching.
This generated some interesting feedback, not all of which was positive. Generally, I think everyone that works with student-athletes wants to improve their coaching skills, but I also believe we have too many people who feel that because they've been coaching for 10, 15, or 20+ years, they know all they need to know about coaching.
This year, the NHSBF is requiring at least one coach from each program to complete the American Sport Education Program (ASEP) Coaching Principles course and Sport First Aid course. Both of these courses are offered on line to make it easier for our coaches to get the necessary certifications to coach.
I decided to take the courses too. I wanted to make sure I understood the time involved for someone to do this on-line, but I also want the knowledge. I've read the course text before, and found it to be most helpful when I was doing more coaching.
These days, I'm interested in teaching this course, so to do this, I need to pass the course with a grade of 90% or better.
I signed up for the on-line course last week, and today finished Part 1, Principles of Coaching. Despite having read the material before, I can see this isn't going to be a walk in the park. I've been reading two units at a time and then going on-line to review and do the lessons contained within each unit.
Each unit has a 3-5 question summary quiz to take before moving on to the next unit.

Principles of Coaching helps the coach come to grips with what their coaching philosophy is, how they would respond to different scenarios that test that philosophy, and also introduces the coach to the idea of Athletes First, Winning Second.
Everyone likes to think they would put their athletes ahead of winning, but this philosophy gets tested over and over in practice and competitive situations.

It took two days, approximately four hours, to complete Part 1. For any coach "offended" that we would ask them to take this class, Part 1 should make it clear why this ought to be a required course for all coaches, regardless of the sport they coach. I can also see application to business people who want to become leaders in their companies.

So, whine all you want about the requirement to complete this course. The bottom line here is that you'll be a better coach, which is what we're looking for, and you'll be doing your student-athletes a favor.