Mental keys to athletic improvement and achievement

Dream big. Starting quarterback. All-state. College scholarship. Academic All-American. Professional career. Encourage your student-athletes to set big goals that might be a bit intimidating.

Here are seven rules for success and achievement that any coach can teach their student-athletes. 

A Coach’s Influence: Using undistracted time with athletes

Coaches are among the only humans left who get teenagers each day for two hours of technology-free interaction. As such, this presents coaches with an unbelievable opportunity to capture the hearts and minds of their players in a way that no other adult can.

Getting principal, superintendent support against combative sports parents

To combat this problem and provide proactive communication and education for all parents, many athletic administrators host preseason parent meetings. These are invaluable, but don’t stop there. You need to do everything you can to effectively reach the parents of your athletes.

How heat acclimatization guidelines have made a difference

In 2009, the National Athletic Trainers’ Association and Korey Stringer Institute spearheaded a task force that developed the Preseason Heat-Acclimatization Guidelines for Secondary School Athletics. David Csillan, a NATA member who co-chaired the report with Douglas J. Casa of KSI, said these guidelines were vital.

Keeping locker rooms free of diseases and infections

A look at policy standards to combat MRSA, viruses in schools. The majority of coaches and athletes understand why they need to be cautious about locker room diseases and infections, but not all schools have policies to help keep them safe.