Adversity Is A Gift

Every single one of us will face adversity. How you handle adversity is vital if you want to be the best at whatever it is you are trying to do. A giant key to success is how you respond when things don't go your way. The most successful people in the world, regardless of industry, know that adversity is a major part of life. They understand that adversity is not only a major part of life, but adversity is necessary for success. 

When faced with adversity you have two choices: You can take the easy way out and quit, or you can look at adversity for what it is-- adversity is a gift. About 80% of you just gasped and said with a boatload of sarcasm, "yeah right, adversity is a gift." But that's because most people don't want to face adversity. They want to be as comfortable as possible. They simply want to always take the path of least resistance, and that easy path leads to nothing worthwhile. Mediocre people see adversity as a hindrance. The truly elite see adversity as an opportunity. 

If you are going to be the very best at whatever it is you are trying to do, you need to embrace adversity. You need to welcome adversity into your life, as adversity does five key things for you: 

1. Adversity Stretches You

Adversity is going to get you out of your comfort zone. You can't improve and grow if you are comfortable. When you are uncomfortable you are going to push yourself beyond what you think you can do. Adversity works like the weight room. When you lift weights, you get stronger when you lift heavier weights. The more adversity you face, the more you will grow. 

2. Adversity Humbles You

Sometimes we need a humbling experience. When we get humbled we find ourselves looking in the mirror and doing some self reflection. This is very important if we want to be elite. Being humbled opens you heart and mind to learning and growing. The key when you are humbled is not losing belief in yourself and your team or organization. 

3. Adversity Forces You to Adapt

When you face adversity you have to be willing to adapt and change. You have to find a new way to do things. Adversity forces you to find solutions to problems that sometimes you don't fully understand. You may have lost a patent to a product, or a key player may have gotten injured. This is when you get to be creative and find an innovative way to get the job done. 

4. Adversity Brings People Together

Adversity forces people to come together as a unit. It doesn't matter if we are looking at a family facing adversity, a team facing adversity, or a fortune 500 company facing adversity. When you face adversity together your team bond will strengthen. There is something very special about having to push through a very difficult task as a group. You will form a much stronger bond when you face adversity together. 

5. Adversity Requires You To Push Through

This is very important in our question for greatness. If we truly want to be the best we can be, we must learn to push through seemingly insurmountable adversity. Too many people are coddled, and they never have to fight through anything. Pushing through makes the result that much more worth it. If you are a parent, make sure you don't make things easy for your child. You want them to have adversity before they leave your house as adults. 

Thank about that. When you win at something that is easy, it is meaningless. When you have to work really hard to accomplish something, it becomes much more fulfilling. If you only do easy things, you will only get mediocre results. If you have to fight through adversity, every accomplishment will be worth so much more. 

Most people are happy being average and below average. Understand that if you want to be elite, you will face resistance. There will be many people who will not understand why you embrace adversity. There will be people who will encourage you to give up. These people are not your friends. They are not your trusted advisors. These are people who don't care anything about you. Don't let people steal your dreams just because they gave up on theirs. 

Make sure you fight to embrace adversity and overcome the obstacles life throws at you. Remember, you are not a victim unless you choose to be! Everyone in the world faces things that test them. The difference is, successful people push through the adversity and fight until the finish. 

Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith

Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy. 

Preparation Resources

As you prepare for the upcoming season, I wanted to make available our game planning resources for you! These helped us to have one of the most explosive offenses at every level I have coached. Coaches from some of the top high school programs in the country use these documents to prepare. Coaches at more than a dozen BCS programs have also downloaded these documents to help them in their preparation.

Here is a link to my offensive game planning documents: https://sellfy.com/p/AndN/

It includes everything from a scouting report template, to practice plans, to a two-sided color call sheet, and more! Each of the nine documents are fully editable and customizable! Order today and start preparing for your first game right now!

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/ These are what we used to post 6 shutouts when I was a defensive coordinator.

And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! https://sellfy.com/p/tJwz/

 Last year I got hooked up with CoachTube, and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points! 

https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint

All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points. 

The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season. 

My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts. 

https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint

If you want to learn more about installing RPO's, I wrote a book called Installing Explosive RPO Concepts Into Any Offense. I wrote it for iBooks, which includes cut-ups to reinforce the application of these concepts. In the book I give you a systematic process for installing 2nd and 3rd level RPO's. Coaches at all level of football tell me this is a game changer! The book can be found for iBooks here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959

The iBooks version can be viewed on any iPhone, Mac, or iPad. It is a game changer in book technology! This book will give you everything you need to build RPO's into your offense!

If you don't have an apple device, you can order the paperback version! It is available on Amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1520447485

Follow me @coachvint on Twitter and Instagram! I am also working on two new book projects, as well as a podcast. If there is anything I can do, please let me know. 

Let Me Help Your Organization

Over the last 20 years I have traveled throughout the country speaking to teams and organizations. I have worked with some of the top high school and college programs in the nation, and have also spoken to business leaders and leaders in the classroom as well. If can help your organization build an elite culture while increasing the footprint of the impact you are having. If there is a need, please reach out to me and I will tailor a program to fit your needs. 

I hope you found something in this post you can use with your program! Good luck in your quest to be elite! 

3 Keys to Being A Champion

Winning is not something that happens easily for any program. Regardless of how much talent you have, it is very difficult to step out on the field and be a consistent winner. There are three keys-- three things you need to build a championship program.

1. Talent
2. Championship Mentality
3. Unconditional Love

Talent

Everyone agrees that talent is key to winning a championship. But talent is just a starting point. Talent is important, but what is more important is maximizing the talent you have. If you have a group of talented athletes but you don't develop them mentally and physically, you will underachieve. Too many coaches blame a lack of success on not having enough talent, and too many coaches who have a lot of talent don't work to develop that talent to the play at elite levels. 

The one key factor, regardless of the talent on your roster, is to coach players to be their best. Are you coaching to the level of the talent on your roster, or are you coaching to make the most out of the talent on your roster? Our job as coaches is to make the very best out of what we have. 

The weight room is a great equalizer. A great strength, speed, and conditioning program can help to develop the players you have. There is no substitute for strength, and no excuse for a lack of it. 

Building a program goes far beyond talent. 

Championship Mentality

A championship mentality does not just happen. It is something that must be developed on a daily basis. Everything you do either builds a championship mentality, or destroys a championship mentality. Building this mentality is a process, and it is a process that takes time. There is no such thing as waking up one day and all of a sudden you are mentally tough and focused.

The process starts with your expectations. Your expectations will give you a focal point for your standards. Bill Walsh said you have to act like a champion before you can be a champion. Your standards then drive your accountability. This is simply what you will allow and what you won't allow. What you permit is what you promote. If you permit people to be late, you are promoting lateness. If you allow people to loaf in practice, you are giving everyone permission to loaf. 

When you hold people accountable to your standards and meeting high expectations, you are setting them up for success. When you allow them to perform below your standards you are setting them up for failure. Here is the key: you do not know when success will show on the scoreboard. But building success in the details of your process will lead to success on the scoreboard.

Accountability is something you must constantly be striving for. Accountability is not easy, because it requires difficult conversations. No one wants to hear that they are not doing something right or doing something well. No one wants to face consequences. But it is through these difficult conversations and consequences that success is developed. 

The first thing you must do is define what you want your mentality to look like. Then you must train your people on how to live with that mentality. Our definition for mental toughness is simple.

Mental toughness is the ability to face adversity and failure with a positive attitude, and without a loss of enthusiasm, effort, and faith in the process. 

You must teach mental toughness as part of your championship mentality. When things get difficult, you have a choice. You can blame, complain, and make excuses. Or you can stick to the process and fight for a solution. It is very easy to blame others. It is very easy to complain about how things aren't fair. It is easy to make excuses about why you aren't performing. Those are things that mediocre people are very good at. Mediocre teams are some of the best at justifying why they are mediocre. 

Championship teams and organizations are willing to persevere through adversity. When things are not going their way they focus on doing things right. They don't blame others. They don't make excuses. They simply get better. A few years back we had a corner who was matched up with a big time receiver. The receiver ran by him on a vertical. Our corner came to the sideline and didn't make excuses. His position coach told him he was so worried about getting beat that he didn't move his feet. He walked through his speed turn on the sideline. The next possession the receiver tried to run by him, but the corner did the little things right with his feet, played the ball, and knocked the pass away. He found a way. 

You can't wait to teach championship mentality during the season. You have to build your mentality from January through July. Every single day you are either building a championship mentality, or you're not. The weight room allows you to instill high standards, and hold athletes to those standards. Your speed and conditioning program allow you to push your athletes beyond what they think they can do. 

A championship mentality doesn't guarantee you will win a championship, but it gives you an opportunity to play at the highest level possible. 

Unconditional Love 

Unconditional love is what bonds everything and everyone together. Many young people today never experience unconditional love. They don’t know how it feels to have someone love them without conditions. Unconditional love means we love you as much on your worst day as we do on your best day. We don’t love you because you are a good player, and don’t stop loving you when you get in trouble. 

It is important to understand that unconditional love means we are going to hold you accountable. Because we love you we are going to make sure you are accountable to meeting our standard. This is where a lot of coaches fail. They don’t hold players accountable for not meeting the standard. Or, you won’t hold them fully accountable. This often happens with really good players, and I would guess we have all been there. We have to hold them accountable if we are going to be our best as a team, and if we truly care about the player. It hurts to hold someone accountable, I get it. But it hurts the kid more when we enable them. 

Taking this a step further, everything you do as a coach is going to impact your athletes far beyond the football field. What skills are you giving them that will help them be more successful in life? Are you teaching them values they can use to be better leaders? Are you teaching them about accountability? Are you teaching them how to persevere? Regardless of your record on the field, the impact you make on their lives off the field is what will be lasting. No one can remember who won the third game of the season three years ago. But everyone will remember the impact you had on their lives as their coach. 

Never sacrifice winning for making a positive impact. If you win games but enable kids, you did not do your job as a coach. If you won’t hold your best players accountable, you will do two things. First, you will make the kid think the rules don’t apply to him, and second, you will begin to erode your culture. 

Sometimes a kid has to fail to learn a lesson. Sometimes they have to face a consequence that is painful. David Diaz, who I worked for at Columbus High School, was a master at accountability. It didn't matter if you were the running back with 30 offers, or you were the 3rd string guard who rarely played. You were going to be held accountable. Every single guy was held to a high standard, and there is a reason so many guys who played for him went on to be successful. 

Does talent matter? We all know it does. But there are plenty of talented teams that don't do very well, and many less talented teams that exceed expectations. You can't always control the level of talent you have in your program. But you can control your development of that talent. You can control how you develop the mentality of your team. You can control the love you have for your players, and the love they have for each other. 

I would challenge every single coach reading this to coach to make an impact. People always ask how the team is going to be. My good friend, Blake Sandford, used to say, "I will let you know in 20 years." The hard work we put in with our players will show when they are grown men and face adversity. Did we give them the tools they need to be great fathers and husbands? Did we set high standards and hold them accountable? Did we get them to see the greatness they have inside? Were we able to help them bring that greatness out? 

Don't measure yourself as a coach solely by the scoreboard. Your value as a coach goes far beyond what you teach on the field. No player will thank you in 10 years for teaching them how to double team block, or to run a slant route. They will, however, remember the lessons you taught and the values you helped to instill in them. 

Preparation Resources

As you prepare for the upcoming season, I wanted to make available our game planning resources for you! These helped us to have one of the most explosive offenses at every level I have coached. Coaches from some of the top high school programs in the country use these documents to prepare. Coaches at more than a dozen BCS programs have also downloaded these documents to help them in their preparation.

Here is a link to my offensive game planning documents: https://sellfy.com/p/AndN/

It includes everything from a scouting report template, to practice plans, to a two-sided color call sheet, and more! Each of the nine documents are fully editable and customizable! Order today and start preparing for your first game right now!

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/ These are what we used to post 6 shutouts when I was a defensive coordinator.

And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! https://sellfy.com/p/tJwz/

 Last year I got hooked up with CoachTube, and put together three courses for offensive football coaches. I put together two courses on RPO's, and a course on Building An Elite System of Communication. All of these courses will help you to score more points! 

https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint

All three of these courses are detailed, with everything you need to be more explosive and to score more points. 

The course on communication gives you a detailed approach to your gameday communication. I give you a system and a process to improve the quality of conversations, leading to improved play calling on game day. This course has received outstanding reviews from coaches at all level of football. A coach with multiple state titles told me this course helped them to be much more efficient and explosive this season. 

My two RPO courses take you through a systematic process of installing RPO's into your offensive system. RPO's put the defense in conflict, forcing them to defend all 53 yards of width and all 6 skill players every single play. I not only give you a system, but I teach you the methods to develop your own RPO concepts. 

https://coachtube.com/users/coachvint

If you want to learn more about installing RPO's, I wrote a book called Installing Explosive RPO Concepts Into Any Offense. I wrote it for iBooks, which includes cut-ups to reinforce the application of these concepts. In the book I give you a systematic process for installing 2nd and 3rd level RPO's. Coaches at all level of football tell me this is a game changer! The book can be found for iBooks here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959

The iBooks version can be viewed on any iPhone, Mac, or iPad. It is a game changer in book technology! This book will give you everything you need to build RPO's into your offense!

If you don't have an apple device, you can order the paperback version! It is available on Amazon!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/1520447485

Over the last several months, I have stepped out of my comfort zone and wrote a new book about faith and purpose. The book is available as a paperback on Amazon, and as an eBook for the Kindle App. The cool thing about the Kindle app is that you can read the book on any device. I invite you to read it, and discover the power you receive when you make a decision to walk with the Lord. Here is a link to the book: Finding Faith

Since publishing the book, I have received numerous texts, calls, and emails, from people who are going through similar trials and tribulations. They were feeling many of the same things I was feeling. The found comfort in the book. They also found they had a desire to change and to live better. They wanted more joy. 

Follow me @coachvint on Twitter! 

I hope you found something in this post you can use with your program! Good luck with your program.  

Building Champions Through Mental Toughness

The winter, spring, and summer is a great time of year for football coaches and players. This is the time of year when you have the opportunity to begin anew. This is when you can build the mental toughness your team lacked in the fall. This is the time when you can change, enhance, or grow the culture of your program. By the time August rolls around your culture will have been built. What you do between now and then to build the culture you desire is completely under your control.

There is no magic pill for building mental toughness. There is no quick fix. Building mental toughness and creating a culture that embraces the pillars of success is a process. It is also a choice. You choose to build mental toughness. You choose to build a culture. I do not buy the argument that "this group just wasn't mentally tough." What did you do to develop their mental toughness? Like anything, you teach mental toughness with intent.

Mental Toughness won't build itself. It takes a lot time and effort, as well as complete buy-in from your coaching staff. If one member of your staff fails to hold your athletes to your standard, you will lose trust from your athletes.

You must first clearly define MENTAL TOUGHNESS...

Mental Toughness is the ability to face adversity, failure, and negative events,  without a loss of effort, attitude, and enthusiasm. 

Building Mental Toughness is composed o four key components:
1. Clear Definition of Mental Toughness
2. Setting Clearly Defined Standards of Performance
3. Accountability: Reminders and Rewards
4. Exceeding Self-Imposed Limitations

Standard of Performance
Your standard of performance is the level to which you expect your athletes to perform. These must be clearly defined, and you need standards of performance for every aspect of your program. Your athletes must know what is acceptable and what isn't. Don't just tell them to get to parallel when you squat. Demonstrate parallel to them, then have them get to parallel with no weight on the bar. Don't add weight until they can meet the standard without weight.

Once you set your standards, then you must hold your athletes accountable. This is a HUGE part of building mental toughness. It might mean you do the same drill or exercise 30 times. You do it until they meet the standard. You cannot let them do less than the standard. If they all are suppose to count each rep, then hold them accountable. If they don't do it, you have a reminder exercises. You then reteach and have them perform the exercise again.

One example of this is when our athletes are suppose to clap during a drill. If they don't clap, we stop the drill and give them a reminder. We then reteach our standard and repeat the drill. If it is done appropriately, we move on. The reminder does not have to be long, grueling or painful. It needs to be short and quick, allowing the group to get back to the task at hand.

Learning to Work Through Adversity and Discomfort
This is perhaps the most important aspect of building mental toughness. Most athletes will use about 50% of their capacity. However, they think they are at 100%. They believe they are at their peak level of performance and the tank is empty. This is the point when most athletes will shut it down. This is the most important point in the process of building mental toughness. Great competitors are able to push themselves to use 100% of their capacity.

A great exercise to teach mental toughness is ab work. Put your athletes on their back with their hands under their ups or at their side. Have them straighten their legs and extend them out, lifting their heels six inches off the ground. Have them hold this position for just ten seconds. This will be easy for them to do. Then, have them hold it and don't tell them how long. After about 15 seconds they will begin to twist and turn. They may even moan and grown. Some will let their feet hit the ground, taking pressure off their mid section. This is the point at which you begin training mental toughness.

Explain to them the expectation and standard is that everyone will keep their legs straight and their heels at 6 inches. If they bend their knees or put their feet down, the clock will stop. Tell them no negative noise is allowed. What is allowed is positive encouragement to the man next to you. You tell them the clock will start at 30 seconds. Have a coach with a timer and have them start the time when everyone has their heels at 6 inches in the appropriate posture. When someone loses posture or drops their feet, the clock stops.

The first time we did this guys gave up very quickly. Depending on the state of your program this could take an entire day. While this is going on, coaches need to be encouraging the athletes. Remind them they can do more than they think they can. Tell them you believe in them, and they have to be willing to trust themselves to get through this.

Over the course of the spring you increase the amount of time they must be able to hold the 6 inch position. Constantly reinforce the exercise is about being able to push through. Another variation is to have an athlete who loses the position stand up. The first time you do it you will have several standing. Repeat the exercise and tell them the goal is to have no one standing. For every player standing, you have a reminder exercise. But the kicker is, you have the guys that completed it properly to the reminder. This conditions them that when they make a mistake, it affects everyone.

Forty 40's
Another great exercise is called forty 40's. We did this back about 15 years ago as a rite of passage for our guys. We told them they were going to run 40 perfect 40's. We wanted them to learn to keep the same posture and focus with the 40th rep as they did with the first rep. We wanted them to have the same attitude and effort when they were dog tired as they did when we began. The key for this exercise was the fact that the rep only counts if it is perfect. We defined perfect as perfect stance, perfect start, perfect effort, fast finish. If they didn't meet our standard, the rep did not count.

The first time we did this it took us nearly 90 Reps to get forty perfect reps. It was a real test of mental toughness, but what our guys learned was they were capable of so much more than they initially thought.

The first time we did this we actually did it on a hill we named "San Juan Hill." It was a steep incline that was about 25 yards to climb. We had them sprint up that hill for what seemed like hours. None of them thought they could do it. We knew they could, and we constantly reminded them.

Self-Imposed Limitations
This is all part of getting them to push through their self-imposed limitations. Most athletes mentally limit themselves before they begin. Heck, many coaches do the same thing. We start this negative talk and pretty soon we have talked ourselves out of something special because it might be a little bit tough.

Reminders and Rewards
Reminders and Rewards are simply how you give immediate feedback on whether the standards are being met. If the standard is being met, you provide a reward to you athletes. If they don't meet the standard of performance, you have a reminder. Your reminders should start small and progress. Updowns are a great reminder. They are also a great way to teach mental toughness.

1. Set clearly defined expectations and standards of performance
2. Give Immediate Feedback
3. Immediate Rewards and Reminders
4. Reinforce Positive Behaviors
5. Continually Reinforce Your Standards

Hold Them To The Standard
The danger here is letting things go. If you let a kid deviate from the standard without correction, you might as well eliminate the standard. The reason is that kids will then think some standards don't matter. They will pick and choose what standards are important to meet. Clearly explain to them the importance of everyone meeting every standard. Then, coach them on the details. Do not let anything go. If they don't do it right, correct them. This is hard to do. It often means you don't get through as much as you would like each day. However, by holding them accountable in the weight room in January, the more accountable they will be in November.

Building Confidence
As your athletes learn to increase their capacity, they will grow in confidence. They will begin to believe in themselves and their teammates. Our role as coaches is to continually remind them of the greatness they have inside, and that we are merely trying to pull that greatness out. The exercises themselves will break them down mentally. We have to make sure we are constantly reinforce that they can do it. We have to reinforce that have more in the tank than what they think they have. Keep telling them you believe in them. This will help to build that confidence that will certainly carry over to in-season competition.

Recap
Before your players can win on the field, they must win in the weight room, in the mat room, and on the track. Mental Toughness is not built during the season. It is built in the winter, spring, and summer. It is built by doing things others aren't willing to do. It is built with intent. You won't ever "happen" to have mental toughness. You have total control over how well you develop mental toughness in your athletes.

A few months back I published a couple of iBooks that can help your program with X's and O's. The first is on Installing RPO's into any offense. Here is a link to the iBooks version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959. The ibooks version includes explanations, diagrams, and video clips on multiple RPO Concepts. It will give you a simple process for implementing them into your offense. 

If you don't have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can order the Amazon version for the Kindle. It has everything except the embedded video. You can order it here: http://www.amazon.com/Installing-Explosive-Concepts-Into-Offense-ebook/dp/B01B12YSCG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I also wrote a book on Tempo. It will greatly help you build a multiple tempo system with simple communication that will allow your kids to play with confidence. It also had over an hour of video clips! You can order the ibooks version here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1075902270.

Order the Amazon Kindle version here:

http://www.amazon.com/Using-Multiple-Tempos-Create-Explosive-ebook/dp/B01ATOL46A/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

Coach Vint has authored several books and instructional DVD's with Coaches Choice. His book 101 Pistol Option Plays is actually available now as a 2 volume interactive ibook for the iPad! It is similar to a traditional book, but it contains several hours of video as well!
Order Part 1 Here: 101 Pistol Option Plays Part 1- Traditional Option Concepts
Order Part 2 Here: 101 Pistol Option Plays Part 2- Spread Concepts

One of the keys to our success was tremendous preparation!The key to  preparation was our outstanding group of documents we used for all three phases. If you are looking for fully editable and customizable documents that you can tailor to your program, I have made mine available. 

Here is a link to my offensive game planning documents: https://sellfy.com/p/AndN/

It includes everything from a scouting report template, to practice plans, to a two-sided color call sheet, and more! Each of the nine documents are fully editable and customizable! Order today for under $15 and download them tonight!

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/

And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! https://sellfy.com/p/tJwz/

Why We Must Teach Character and Leadership

When I first started coaching I was all about feeding my own competitive spirit. I wanted to win because that's all I had really done. Every team I had been a part of had been very successful in the win column. My first coaching job was with a losing program that had no history of winning. The mentality was that of a downtrodden group that had no hope. While we won some games and changed the culture, we didn't do as well as we probably could have done.

My next job was at Christopher Columbus High School, a large, inner-city school in the Bronx, New York. I was hired by one of the greatest developers of character in coaching today, David Diaz. When Coach Diaz was hired, the program was in the midst of a 27 game losing streak. Participation was way down, and the players didn't believe they could win. As a coaching staff we were all very fiery, demanding, and enthusiastic, and that translated into some success. We had the first winning season in school history our first year, and in the second year went to the playoffs. We thought we had begun building a strong foundation for significant success.

We are at a point where we felt like we were ready to get over the hump and win a playoff game. We had taken a program that had never had a winning season to the playoffs. We had a talented group coming back. Everything seemed to be lined up for us to have a big year. Then we ran into a buzz saw. Our kids were making some very poor decisions off the field. We had to suspend several players and lost others to grades. It was one of the most disappointing seasons of my coaching career. We were mentally weak on and off the field.

After the season we were complaining about how we had a lack of leadership. It was about this time we met Dennis Parker at a clinic and he talked about implementing character education into a football program. We talked with him for an hour after his talk and decided this is what was missing. This turned out to be the most important clinic talk of my coaching career.

We made a decision that we were going to teach character and leadership with intent. We were going to be as intentional in teaching character as we were in teaching our guys how to squat. Too often we think the sport itself teaches character. If this were true, every kid that played football would demonstrate high character. Sports don't teach character, coaches do.

That was an important epiphany we went through. What are we teaching? Are we teaching them to act a certain way? We are, but it may not be what we intend to teach. If we wanted to develop a culture of high character, high energy, mental toughness, everything we had to do had to build this culture.

Too often we think that character and leadership just happen. We say things like, "this group just weren't very good leaders." Or, "this senior class didn't know how to lead." This is when a good self-evaluation is needed. These are the questions we need to ask:

1. What did we do to develop positive leaders in our program?
2. How much time did we spend focused on teaching character with intent?
3. What might we have done that was detrimental to the leadership and character of this group?
4. Where can we find time to improve the leadership and teach character lessons with this group?

The biggest hindrance for us was the worry about what we would have to give up to take time to teach character and leadership? How much time in the weight room would we give up? How much film time would we give up? Where would we make up the practice time?

After talking with Dennis Parker and D.W. Rutledge, we made a decision that we wouldn't have to give anything up. With stronger leaders and a better foundation of character, our workouts would be better and more efficient. We would have higher intensity and better focus. While we would use some of our time to teach leadership and character, this use of time was actually an investment. We would get a return far greater than what we put in.

It was early February when Coach Diaz made the decision that we were going to go "all in" on teaching character. We took one week where we went into the classroom, focusing on character. On Fridays we had our seniors to be go through  leadership development program. After the first week we spent 20 minutes a day, three days a week before workouts in the classroom. One of the reasons this was successful is that each of our coaches bought in to what we were doing and sold it passionately to our kids.

One of the first things we did in the classroom was had our athletes fill out a sheet that gave us some information on them that was deeper than simply who they are. We wanted to know who they lived with, what their home life was like, what their dreams were, and what their goals were. We wanted to learn about their hopes and dreams and fears. We wanted them to understand that we loved them unconditionally because of who they were, not because of what they did.

Up until this point we had coached in a very transactional way. We told them what do do and expected them to do it. If they didn't we expressed disappointment. Often we had conflict and there was a genuine mistrust. They began to fear screwing up because they would face our wrath. Because they feared screwing up, they began to taking any risks at all. They wouldn't try to break personal records in the weight room. They wouldn't try to make a difficult play on the field. They sometimes would freeze under pressure. How did we respond? We yelled at them more. And then we wondered by they weren't improving their performance.

Character education and leadership development changed all this. Instead of a transactional form of coaching, we began a transformational form of coaching. Not only did our players begin to change, we began to change as coaches. Instead of yelling at our players and berating them, we began to coach them through mistakes and remind them of how they can do it better. This doesn't mean we didn't yell. The difference was the purpose of our yelling. Our purpose was to uplift and build them up!

Part of our leadership component involved empowering our players to take ownership of the successes an challenges we faced. We wanted them to know it was their deal and all about them. Instead of us setting the goals, we had the players set team goals. We had them set our goals for the winter and spring, goals for the summer, and goals for the season. We had them come up with a framework of expectations. It was amazing to watch them blossom through this process.

The Results
The results were outstanding! They began to think about the man next to them and the good of the team when they made a decision. Their decisions began to improve both on and off the field. Our players began to walk a little bit taller.  Their grades improved and they began to show excitement for their future. When we first arrived most of our players were taking summer school to get eligible. After implementing a character education program we rarely lost a kid to eligibility.

Perhaps the biggest thing that happened was the trust that was built. They began to trust that we really cared about them as more than athletes. We cared about them in life. We cared about what happened to them when we weren't around them. Our relationships with our players improved and we built bonds that will never be broken. And the relationships they built with each other were strengthened. They began to care about each other and truly became a family.

Did we win more games? Yes we did. We enjoyed a very good six year run of sustained success. We won playoff games for the first time in school history. Our kids were much better at handling adversity. They learned to push themselves to new limits. They developed a solid mental toughness that powered them through challenges they faced. Most importantly, they learned it isn't about them. It is bigger than them. Everything they do and every choice they make will impact others.

Teaching character and leadership will help you leave a lasting legacy. Everything we do as coaches will have an impact on our kids. That impact can be positive, or it can be negative. By teaching character and leadership we can greatly increase the chances that our student-athletes will have a very positive, life-changing experience in our program.

My experience at Christopher Columbus High School gave me tremendous appreciation for the value of teaching character and leadership. While I was a coordinator at the college level we emphasized character and leadership with our student-athletes.

I was blessed to get hired by Kent Jackson when I moved to Texas, one of the best men in the coaching business. We teach character with intent at Seminole High School. We invested a lot of time during two a days introducing our players to the concept of our character and leadership component. We use each day teach character and life lessons with our players.

At some point the good lord will present a head coaching opportunity,  and you can be sure that character education and leadership development will be paramount to our program. It is our duty and responsibility as coaches to develop our players into great leaders with a strong moral compass.

The R.E.A.L Man Program
There are several character programs that are out there. One program I really like is called The R.E.A.L Man Program by Coach Frank DiCocco. It is simple to implement and all the materials are ready for use. I have used this with my athletes and in my classes. This program is being used by several high schools and colleges throughout the US. You can find more information clicking here: The Real Man Program

The Texas High School Coaches Association also has several resources available with their Game Changer Program. I highly recommend these resources as well! Game Changer Coaches

A few months back I published a couple of iBooks that can help your program with X's and O's. The first is on Installing RPO's into any offense. Here is a link to the iBooks version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959. The ibooks version includes explanations, diagrams, and video clips on multiple RPO Concepts. It will give you a simple process for implementing them into your offense.

If you don't have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can order the Amazon version for the Kindle. It has everything except the embedded video. You can order it here: http://www.amazon.com/Installing-Explosive-Concepts-Into-Offense-ebook/dp/B01B12YSCG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I also wrote a book on Tempo. It will greatly help you build a multiple tempo system with simple communication that will allow your kids to play with confidence. It also had over an hour of video clips! You can order the ibooks version here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1075902270.

Order the Amazon Kindle version here:

http://www.amazon.com/Using-Multiple-Tempos-Create-Explosive-ebook/dp/B01ATOL46A/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

If you are looking for information on the Pistol Offense, I have written two books on the pistol offense with Coaches Choice. If you are interested in learning more about those, click this link: https://coacheschoice.com/m-63-james-vint.aspx

One of the keys to our success was tremendous preparation!The key to  preparation was our outstanding group of documents we used for all three phases. If you are looking for fully editable and customizable documents that you can tailor to your program, I have made mine available. 

Here is a link to my offensive game planning documents: https://sellfy.com/p/AndN/

It includes everything from a scouting report template, to practice plans, to a two-sided color call sheet, and more! Each of the nine documents are fully editable and customizable! Order today for under $15 and download them tonight!

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/

And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! https://sellfy.com/p/tJwz/

Champions Train Mentally and Physically

If you believe you can, then you have a shot. If you believe you can’t, then you won’t. Too often, we fill ourselves with negative thoughts. We justify why we can’t do something. We tell ourselves we are tired, too sore, too old, too young, too stupid, too smart, too tall, too short, too skinny, too slow, etc, etc, etc. We are defeated before we have even had a chance to begin.

The first person we have to overcome, before we can every think about beating an opponent, is ourselves. We have to be able to mentally tell ourselves we can accomplish what we set out to do. We then have to feed our confidence with positive words. We have to continually reinforce to ourselves that we have the ability. 

During my 19 years in coaching I have had opportunities to be a part of turning programs around. My first coordinator job was at a school that lost 27 straight games and was shutout 6 times the year before we got there. The principal told me we can't win their, and tried to talk me out of accepting the job offer! My first task was not teaching an offense. That was the least of our concerns. Like many losing programs, the kids were beat down after years of failure. Our first priority was teaching our kids to believe they were capable of more than they thought possible. Our job was to build a championship culture.

The change in mindset was not overnight. It also was not by accident. It was a process of continual improvement. We dedicated time to training the mind as well as the body, and we did so with intent. We developed specific activities, both individually and as a group, that allowed our athletes to experience success. 

One important aspect was building in a four week boot camp that ran from the first week in January through the first week in February. We started off in the classroom for the first three days. It was in the classroom that we set very clear expectations, and defined things in a very detailed manner. We used a variety of avenues to provide our players with character and leadership lessons. We spent time each day talking to them about focus and mindset. We defined adversity and mental toughness. We asked them to create an identity. We had them come up with a list of qualities of a championship program. We then had them develop a set of standards of performance. Then, we helped them meet the standards they set.

After we set our standards of performance, we began our mental and physical toughness activities. We focused on holding our athletes accountable to our standards while coaching them on the details. Our goal was always to have a "perfect" day. From arriving on time to how we stand to how we move to how we transition from station to station, accountability was key. We also introduced stress into their environment. We can't simulate the stress they will face on Friday Night, but we can put them into stressful situations with tremendous adversity. 

While our boot camp only went 20 days, the culture we built grew throughout the winter, spring, and summer. The weight room and track were very important for our cultural transformation. We set up the situation each day and clearly laid out the expectations. We talked about focusing on the process and the details. Our players began to learn that if you take care of the process, the outcome will be more favorable. 

The key is that everything had to build confidence. As their confidence grew, we began to stretch them physically and mentally. We didn't ask them to climb Mt. Everest day one. We created situations where they were able to string small victories together. As they gained confidence, we begin to put them in situations that stretched their limits farther and farther. We reached a point where they became comfortable being uncomfortable. They began to embrace rather than fear their shirts being drenched in sweat. That sweat became a badge of honor. They felt empowered!

When you empower young people and it becomes their deal, they will work harder. They will push through more adversity than what they thought possible. They take ownership, and once they take ownership, you have something special. 

The results spoke for themselves. We enjoyed tremendous success. We won 6 games our first year, scoring over 50 points three times. We went to the playoffs for the first time in school history our second year. The next year we won the first playoff game in school history. Each year we continued to improve. We became a consistent championship contender every single year. 

The important thing to understand is that beliefs and values can be taught. You are not at the mercy of your circumstances. There are so many things which we have complete control. We realized early on that we could control how we developed leadership. We could control how much we empowered our players. We could control the process of building a championship culture and mentality. We control whether we make the most of our ability!

If you want to change your program, take time to train your athletes mentally. Tie your strength and conditioning program into a character education and leadership program. Give your players ownership and watch them excel in ways you never thought possible!

A few months back I published a couple of iBooks that can help your program with X's and O's. The first is on Installing RPO's into any offense. Here is a link to the iBooks version: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1078061959. The ibooks version includes explanations, diagrams, and video clips on multiple RPO Concepts. It will give you a simple process for implementing them into your offense. 

If you don't have an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, you can order the Amazon version for the Kindle. It has everything except the embedded video. You can order it here: http://www.amazon.com/Installing-Explosive-Concepts-Into-Offense-ebook/dp/B01B12YSCG/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

I also wrote a book on Tempo. It will greatly help you build a multiple tempo system with simple communication that will allow your kids to play with confidence. It also had over an hour of video clips! You can order the ibooks version here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1075902270.

Order the Amazon Kindle version here:

http://www.amazon.com/Using-Multiple-Tempos-Create-Explosive-ebook/dp/B01ATOL46A/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8

One of the keys to our success was tremendous preparation!The key to  preparation was our outstanding group of documents we used for all three phases. If you are looking for fully editable and customizable documents that you can tailor to your program, I have made mine available. 

Here is a link to my offensive game planning documents: https://sellfy.com/p/AndN/

It includes everything from a scouting report template, to practice plans, to a two-sided color call sheet, and more! Each of the nine documents are fully editable and customizable! Order today for under $15 and download them tonight!

Here is a link to the defensive game planning documents. It includes 12 fully editable and customizable documents. https://sellfy.com/p/AY1u/

And finally, I put together a special teams resource. This has everything you need, included drill tape, practice tape, and game footage. It includes teaching presentations and scouting forms just for special teams! https://sellfy.com/p/tJwz/