Sports Mastery

TWELVE DISCIPLINE OF THE MIND 1. Right Hearing 2. Strength & Courage 3. Right Judgement 4. Love & Affection 5. Power of Expression 6. Imagination 7. Understanding 8. Will Power 9. The Discipline of Order 10. Praise 11. Enthusiasm 12. Detachment "Talent without discipline is like an octopus on roller skates. There's plenty of movement, but you never know if it's going to be forward, backwards, or sideways." Discipline brings stability and structure into a student athletes' life. It teaches a young person to be responsible and respectful. The observance of well-defined rules is the basis of society. If there were no discipline, athletes would coach themselves and make mistakes without putting the consideration of others first and foremost. Discipline promotes good behavior to make better teams, organizations, and society. The ability for an individual to have self-restraint allows them to behave in a consistently stringent and controlled manner.  "Mental toughness is many things and rather difficult to

Mike Judy is going into his 13th season at Smyrna (DE), 6th as head coach. Judy has amassed a 42-12 record, winning 3 state championships in 5 years. Prior to Smyrna, Coach Judy served as Offensive Coordinator at Gar-Field HS (VA) and Hargrave Military Academy (VA) Post-Graduate Team. Judy has served as strength and conditioning coordinator at each of the schools, and worked one season in Major League Baseball as a Strength & Conditioning Coach with the Philadelphia Phillies Minor League teams. A graduate of Wesley College (DE), with a B.S. Exercise Science, Judy served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater under former head coach Mike Drass. Mike was a 4 year starter at offensive line, 2x team captain, and was an all-conference, all-region, and all-American selection. In this conversation, Coach Judy shares insightful and reflective wisdom on the college football recruiting process. Below you’ll find bullet points that reflect our discussion. 1) visit/photo ops– just because you put on the uni doesn’

Mike Judy is going into his 13th season at Smyrna (DE), 6th as head coach. Judy has amassed a 42-12 record, winning 3 state championships in 5 years. Prior to Smyrna, Coach Judy served as Offensive Coordinator at Gar-Field HS (VA) and Hargrave Military Academy (VA) Post-Graduate Team. Judy has served as strength and conditioning coordinator at each of the schools, and worked one season in Major League Baseball as a Strength & Conditioning Coach with the Philadelphia Phillies Minor League teams. A graduate of Wesley College (DE), with a B.S. Exercise Science, Judy served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater under former head coach Mike Drass. Mike was a 4 year starter at offensive line, 2x team captain, and was an all-conference, all-region, and all-American selection. In this conversation, Coach Judy shares insightful and reflective wisdom on the college football recruiting process. Below you’ll find bullet points that reflect our discussion. 1) visit/photo ops- just because you put on the uni doesn’

Michael Judy, M.Ed. Mike Judy is going into his 13th season at Smyrna (DE), 6th as head coach. Judy has amassed a 42-12 record, winning 3 state championships in 5 years.  Prior to Smyrna, Coach Judy served as Offensive Coordinator at Gar-Field HS (VA) and Hargrave Military Academy (VA) Post-Graduate Team. Judy has served as strength and conditioning coordinator at each of the schools, and worked one season in Major League Baseball as a Strength & Conditioning Coach with the Philadelphia Phillies Minor League teams.  A graduate of Wesley College (DE), with a B.S. Exercise Science, Judy served as a graduate assistant at his alma mater under former head coach Mike Drass. Mike was a 4 year starter at offensive line, 2x team captain, and was an all-conference, all-region, and all-American selection.  In this conversation, Coach Judy shares insightful and reflective wisdom on the college football recruiting process. Below you'll find bullet points that reflect our discussion. 1) visit/photo ops- just because y

PERSEVERANCE….IS IT REALLY THE KEY TO SUCCESS? PERSEVERANCE IS THE HARD WORK YOU DO AFTER YOU GET TIRED OF DOING THE HARD WORK YOU ALREADY DID. How you do anything is how you do everything. Perseverance is a steady persistence in a course of action-trying again and again. It is the inner machine that keeps you going. I’ve realized that I have to be committed in all I do to have success and not give up, no matter the circumstances. There were times I felt like shutting down this podcast. I felt drained, discouraged and thought it made no sense to continue. Can you relate to this? Ask yourself this question which will determine if perseverance is the key to success for you: “If you give up, who will fight for you?”  You may be lacking perseverance as a coach, maybe you are as a student-athlete, struggling as a sports parent, or as an individual trying to overcome a specific challenge. Sometimes it takes very little to bring you to the point of giving up when you are not seeing the result you expected. Man

EMILY PAPPAS, M.S. EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY WHY is there a disparity of women in the weight room compared to men? It all derives from how women have been viewed in sport since the early 1900s. Why females view lifting as a guy thing stems from years and years of misinformation and cultivation of societal norms that are currently inhibiting our female athletes success. Emily brings to light these common myths: 1. Q angle, Hormones, and Injury risks ( Alluding it is due to a "structural deficiency" perpetuates a culture that assumes females are less fit for sport. When in fact SOME females have wider hips, some do not. ACL injuries were considered an epidemic 10 years after females were allowed to engage in sport under the NCAA umbrella....yet those females were not pushed to the weight room like men. Rather than explaining this epidemic as a structural or hormonal default, we need to consider the overall systemic strength of our female athletes). 2. Lifting makes you bulky: this statement is not only incorrect but

The Coaches, The Athletes, The Parents, The Referees... How Can We Do All Four Respectfully? With the rising concerns about player safety, the research indicates that 7-on-7 football is not a fad but instead has staying power as the next generation of the sport. With national tournaments, like Pylon, Players of the Future, Adidas, Under Armor, and Left Coast Elite:the verdict is clear. 7v7 Football is here to stay.  Love it or hate, 7v7 Football brings some of the brightest kids together to compete against one another during the off season. It allows young athletes to gain recruiting exposure through platforms like Twitter and Instagram. In this episode, we discuss cleaning up the culture and attitudes that surround the competitions such: Me first attitudes by athletes Verbally bashing referees Blatant disrespect Entitled parents & athletes The debate will no doubt continue over the staying power of 7-on-7 football. Nevertheless, it's an excellent supplement to traditional 11-on-11 football when the pro

Jason Brown, the coach of the Independence Community College featured on season three of Netflix's "Last Chance U," recently resigned from the position. Brown's resignation comes on the heels of his text message to a player, in which he said the following: "I am your new Hitler." The player Brown sent the text to Alexandros Alexiou, a German native. In an exchange with Alexiou, Brown told the freshman he had 17 disciplinary points out of the 25 you're allowed before getting kicked off the team. "410pm on field u German f---," Brown texted Alexiou in an exchange Alexiou posted on social media. "u have 17 points toward your 25 points ... u got an extra point for not hanging the lion poster as instructed I'm your new Hitler figure out your life." To all my fans, supporters, both past and present players, and coaches, please read the following letter that I have posted and please respect my decision. Much love to you all, W.I.N. FOREVER! Once a Pirate always a Pirate! #DREAMU pic.twitter.com/M88TcQKvDQ — Coach

Thomas Stallworth is in his first season as the Giants’ assistant strength and conditioning coach. He shares his thoughts on: 1. What would you tell a young athlete (high school), with NFL aspirations how to approach the strength training process? 2. What aspects, outside of football do you think a young athlete should try and master as they work toward an NFL career? 3. What are your top 3 pieces of advice for the strength coach wanting to work at the NFL level? What is the major difference between collegiate strength & conditioning and NFL? 4. How do you approach leadership as a S & C Coach at the NFL level? Stallworth came to the Giants from Western Kentucky University, where he spent the 2017 season as the football program’s head strength and conditioning coach.  Prior to his stint at WKU, Stallworth spent one season as the head strength and conditioning coach at Fresno State University. Prior to Fresno State, Stallworth spent time at Texas Tech University after a season at North Carolina State.

Performing Under Pressure tackles the greatest obstacle to personal success, whether in a sales presentation, at home, on the golf course, interviewing for a job, or performing onstage at Carnegie Hall. Despite sports mythology, no one rises to the occasion under pressure and does better than they do in practice. The reality is pressure makes us do worse and sometimes leads us to fail utterly. But there are things we can do to diminish its effects on our performance. Performing Under Pressure draws on research from more than 12,000 people, and features the latest research from neuroscience and from the frontline experiences of Fortune 500 employees and managers, Navy SEALS, Olympic and other elite athletes, and others. It offers 22 specific strategies each of us can use to reduce pressure in our personal and professional lives and allow us to excel better in whatever we do. Whether you’re a corporate manager, a basketball player, or a student preparing for the SAT, Performing Under Pressure will help you do

The word “leadership” gets thrown around a lot. Recruiters, parents, and coaches rant about leadership and how the Student-Athlete needs to be a leader. What many do not understand, is that leadership is something that must be learned and developed. Yes, leadership is incredibly important in a Student-Athlete, but it is not something that happens overnight. Dr. Benjamin Wax is a strategic leadership specialist with the John Maxwell Team and winner of several powerlifting and bodybuilding titles. Dr. Wax understands the proven principles that create a great leader who is exemplified through their words and actions. Dr. Wax’s academic background includes a Ph.D. from the University of Mississippi and Masters from Mississippi State University. He has conducted extensive research studies, published numerous scholarly works and spoken at numerous regional and national events. Listen and learn why leadership is so closely linked with influence. You’ll also discover the immense impactof leadership, the levels of l

ADETOLA OGUNLEWE is a sports performance coach and sports attorney who helps young athletes navigate the world of sports by understanding the mental and physical issues stalling their growth and productivity. Find him at www.athletemaestro.com or listen to his podcast, Athlete Maestro, on iTunes and other platforms. In this wonderful conversation, we discussed: The sports business in Nigeria The Nigerian education system Sports academies Overcoming an ACL injury Getting a law degree    

How To Overcome Adversity #2   Travis Daugherty explains in his book, THE LENS that the ability to overcome adversity is a hidden talent. He further explains that the ability to overcome adversity can be taught, developed, and cultivated in a student-athlete. Listen in as we supply the sports parent with answers to help their student-athlete overcome adversity. Below are 5 ways to help you get through adverse situations in sport or life. 1. Have the right mindset
Your thoughts are essential; they frame the triumphs or tragedies of your life. Getting past adversity requires a change in your belief about challenges. It is not what happens to you, but how you respond to it that is important here. 2. Stop making excuses
Excuses are the lies we tell ourselves when we’re too afraid of the future. Whatever you tell your mind will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you don’t achieve your dreams, it will be because you made the decision to be detained by excuses.   3. Have faith
It takes more energy to live a life

Most young athletes want things fast and easy – D1 scholarship, turning pro, going to the olympics. Boredom is their great enemy and fear. Whatever success they may have is short lived, it slips through their hands as fast as it comes in. You, on the other hand, want to outlast your rivals. You are building the foundation for something that can continue to expand. To make this happen, you will have to find the right coach, mentor, and support group. You must learn early on to endure the hours of practice and drudgery, knowing that in the end all of that time will translate into a higher pleasure – mastery of a craft and of yourself. Your goal is to reach the ultimate skill level – an intuitive feel for what must come next. If you are able to overcome your anxieties and forge a fearless attitude towards life, something strange and remarkable will occur — that margin of control over circumstance increases. At its utmost point, we can even create the circumstances themselves, which is the source of the tremendo

After listening to this episode, you’ll understand that same lesson, how to eliminate this fear and how to help youR Student-Athlete grow in the process. RJ Hodges is a best-selling author, speaker, coach and empowerment entrepreneur who’s list of titles include: Mission Unstoppable, You Can’t Practice At The Game, The Art of Mastering You Volume One and an audio book series called Winner Status. RJ reminds us that fear, life-balance, self-confidence, organization, and planning, weave a delicate web among the lives of the successful Student-Athletes. To make it work you’ll need to learn how to take control of your life so that your life doesn’t control you. This calls for strategies, appreciation, and understanding. Want to be able to help your Student-Athlete get rid of their anger and emotional mood swings? Have them listen to this episode with you. Their expanding mind can overcome fear, increase confidence and improve prioritization. Lastly, I want every parent, coach, and Student-Athlete to read the foll

To help you stay focused and manage a complicated schedule, here are some tips for organizing your time as a student-athlete. 1. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize. Whether or not you want to go pro or to the Olympics, academics should be your No. 1 priority in college.  2. Prioritize What's Important.  3. Study Wisely.  4.Don't Be Afraid to Ask for Help.  Set Goals: Everything has to start with this process.. Set goals for what you want to achieve in your sport and in school. Many people skip this step, and just progress toward vague goals (“get better in my sport”) or accept the default goals in front of them (“graduate high school or college”). Anything exceptional that has ever been done didn’t just happen; it started out as a dream. Plan: In order to accomplish your goals you have to zoom in a little closer and decide what specific steps you have to take. This could be deciding how many times you are going to lift weights a week, or how many professors you want to have a strong relationship with by the end o

Trust the Process has become a catchphrase in sports. You hear it all the time. But WTF does it really mean? It supposedly means sticking to a long-term plan even in the face of short-term adversity or bad outcomes. We looked at the absurdity of using the phrase with young people in such a micro-wave culture. If it's such a  well-grounded methodology, why are so many young athletes and people in general failing and quitting when it comes to accomplishing their goals. Stay tuned as we intend to provide some solutions.

In this episode, I had a magnificent conversation with Sugey Gomez, MA Sport Psychology. Sugey (Sue-hay) is currently working on her Doctorate in  Sport Psychology. She's also a practicing certified holistic health coach. Sugey shares her thoughts on: ​Thoughts > Feelings > Behavior 1. The idea that one’s thoughts directly influence ones feelings, which then impact ones behavior/reactions. In other words, misguided or inappropriate thinking usually leads to negative feelings and poor performance, just as good thinking enables feelings and good performance. 2. Mental skills being life skills too. 3. Importance of self-awareness. Awareness, the first step to making change. Definition: noticing or creating recognition about areas such as what is going on in one’s body and mind, as well as what is going on around you. For example, as a mental skills coach/practitioners (my job as I am training as a sport psychology student), is to help clients first become aware of what they are experiencing, and then make po

A REFLECTION ON TRAINING CULTURE, LEADERSHIP, AND AFFIRMATIONS It is a widely held belief in the sports world that the team culture can have a big impact on how a team functions and performs. How team members, think, feel, behave, and perform are all influenced by the environment in which they train, practice, and compete. Developing a healthy team culture is as important in the sports world as it is in the corporate world. Understanding this,  what a team culture is and why it is of essential value.   A culture is the expression of a team’s values, attitudes, and goals about sports, competition, and relationships. It determines whether, for example, the team’s focus is on fun, improvement, or winning or whether it promotes individual accomplishment or team success. A team culture is so important because it directly influences many areas that affect team functioning and performance: The culture establishes norms of acceptable behavior on a team, either explicitly or implicitly conveying to members what is

Join us for a conversation with two Division 1 basketball athletes. This episode features Jazz Johnson and Tre'shawn Thurman. Both are outstanding student-athletes for University of Nevada-Reno. Jazz is a transfer from University of Portland. Tre'shawn transferred from Nebraska-Omaha. Last Friday, No. 6 Nevada captured the Continental Tire Las Vegas Holiday Invitation after defeating UMass (4-3) 110-87 at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Tre'Shawn Thurman were was named to the all-tournament team. He scored a Nevada career-high 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Teammate Caleb Martin was named tournament MVP. In this episode, both athletes articulated a tremendous amount of insight, knowledge, and wisdom gained from past experiences. They are the epitome of leadership and high character. Stay tuned as they share valuable information for the young student-athlete and sports parent. 1. Have the right mindset: 
Your thoughts are essential; they frame the triumphs or tragedies of your life. Getting past advers