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What is best?
High school-aged kids are going to screw up. That’s a given. It is part of being young and stupid. You think you will not get caught, you think nobody will know or find out, and you think nobody...
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Meat & Potatoes
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about meat and potatoes. Am I that hungry? No (But that does sound good, doesn’t it, Mrs. Hays?). I’m not talking about meat and potatoes as a hearty meal, I’ve been...
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Swinging For A Better Investment
It’s almost baseball season. Doesn’t that phrase have a nice ring to it? It is music to my ears. I can almost picture the excitement of kids all across this great country as they look forward to...
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Rowing or Riding?
Which athlete are you? The one who rows the boat or the one who simply rides along? I read an interesting blog post today from Seth Godin called Along for the Ride that reminded me of this aspect of...
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Finding Their Missing Somethings
“Let me tell you something, Dorothy Gale from the Wizard of Oz was one of the great all-time leaders. She took three people that were missing something and had them look back inside themselves to find...
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Still Waters
One of the best teams we ever coached was a group of kids who were magnificent running down the rapids. Virtually unstoppable and an honest-to-goodness tour de force when the current flowed swiftly in...
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Load. Step. Swing
The title is absolutely correct;. “Load (Period) Step (Period) Swing (Period)” It’s not “Load, step, swing” or what I see way too much from young players, “loadstepswing”. A good and consistent...
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Herding Cats
Sometimes coaching high school kids feels akin to an attempt at wrangling a dozen cats out the backyard gate while avoiding a fully-functioning sprinkler head. In other words…utter chaos. But a team...
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Be Indelible
I used to confuse the word indelible with the word inedible. So when I’d see a permanent marker with “Indelible Ink” printed on it, I’d think, “No $#@!, Sherlock! Who would want to eat a Sharpie...
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The Jack-In-The-Box
The jack-in-the-box. You turn the crank slowly. Nothing happens. You turn slower and slower and slower in anticipation of the freaky clown popping out when the lid springs open. With every turn, your...
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Fully Formed
I had this recurring dream about showing up to the locker room one day and meeting the principal at the coach’s office door. No, I was not in trouble so this wasn’t the usual administrative nightmare...
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The Depths
Depth is underrated. The value of having quality people in your program is fairly obvious—you need good players to succeed. The number ones on the depth chart are important, but as a coach or leader of...
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The Youth Sports Conundrum
Sometimes I speak my sports mind. Sometimes I tell people the “truth” on sports as I see it. Sometimes this gets me in trouble. Recently, I was asked at our youth baseball association meeting if I was...
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Going Pro
I’ve had a lot of my athletes go pro. Seriously, look it up. It’s absolutely true. It’s just that none of them have gone pro playing sports. They are professionals, nonetheless. Farmers Ranchers...
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My Ball!
Football has been on my mind lately. I know what you’re thinking, “Stop the presses! Hays never thinks about sports.” The general consensus has always been, even in the days before I coached the game,...
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Slingers
I am a huge fan of Malcolm Gladwell. I just like the way he thinks and researches things. He seems to be that kind of interesting person you’d like to talk to on a train ride across the midwest. Like I...
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How In The World…?
Another DAVID AND GOLIATH post on one of my favorite football coaching memories. I learned a valuable lesson about succeeding as the underdog early in my football coaching career. I learned this from...
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The Work Necessary
The Kansas City Royals are 2015 American League Champions! The Boys in Blue are in the World Series against the New York Mets! But a weird thing happened this morning after they won the ALCS over...
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Over. Done With. Gone.
Logically, our high school football season would end either when we lost our playoff game or we failed to make the playoffs. Makes sense, right? Game over, mope around a couple of days, check in...
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Athletic Alphabet
I don’t like playing freshman on the varsity level in high school. Never have liked it, probably never will like it. It’s personal preference backed up by years of personal observation. I’ve too often...
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