… they devised a tool to fix that, built on a simple two-part frame that describes the mental state you want to avoid, and the one you want to be in. They call it Red Head/Blue Head.

Red Head is the negative state, when you are heated, overwhelmed, and tense (H.O.T., in the parlance). Your emotional engine is smoking, your perceptions are slow, the game feels too fast, and your decision making is rushed.

Blue Head, on the other hand, is the precise opposite: the cool, controlled, pattern-seeing state, when you retain your awareness and your decision-making power, when you stay flexible and deliver top performance.

The key is doing three things:

• 1) seek to stay in Blue Head as your default setting
• 2) sense cues when you are entering Red-Head mode
• 3) use a physical or mental trigger to get yourself back into Blue Head.

On the All-Blacks, each player is encouraged to devise personal triggers to make the transition. One player stamps his feet into the grass, to ground himself. Another uses mental imagery, picturing himself from the highest seat in the stadium, to help put the moment in perspective. Whatever  tool you use doesn’t matter — what matters is realizing you’re in the wrong emotional zone, and finding ways to cool yourself off and get back in a high-performing head space.

I think this is an idea that applies to a lot more than just sports. The notion that you can build yourself an emotional thermostat that senses when it’s overheating, and cools itself down when needed, is powerfully useful.

via A Mental Trick from the World’s Best Team « The Talent Code.

The word “drill” is a signal that:

• There is one correct way to do something, and only one way
• This group values machine-like repetition above all else

Now, there are moments when that kind of signal is perfectly appropriate. But the ethos of “drilling” has been applied to a far wider range of activities, like soccer players learning to control the ball, or math students solving algebraic equations, or musicians working on improvisational skills — situations where you are seeking to create creativity, energy, and innovation.

So what word is better? I think the answer is “challenge.”

I know, it seems like a tiny change. And yet, there are differences between the two terms that are worth appreciating.

The word “challenge” is a signal that:

• This is social, fun, and gamelike. It’s connective. (After all, it’s not called the “Ice-Bucket Drill,”is it?)
• Difficulty is expected; mindfulness is required; innovation is embraced
• This group values challenging obstacles, competing, and creating

One of my favorite examples is the Bonner Challenge, invented by Matt Bonner, reserve forward for the NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. Continue reading →

This reveals the deeper truth behind his great catch: it was no accident:

Watch how Beckham  keeps one hand at his side, as if  pinned by a defender; how he controls the nose of the ball with his index finger; how his eyes follow the ball into his palm. We normally think of this kind of catch as a feat of athleticism. This shows that it’s really a feat of preparation. This is a very particular kind of preparation, systematically pre-creating the most difficult situations. You might call it High-Leverage Practice, because it shows how focusing relentlessly on pre-creating pressure conditions can set a performer apart from their peers.

• via The Talent Code: “Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. Here’s How.”

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• 7 & 8th grade basketball schedule 2015
• U-12 Co-Ed l6th grade basketball schedule 2015
• U-10 Co-Ed Basketball coming soon!

Codella is an expert at Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a contemporary martial art that he used during a 20-year career with the New York Police Department. Graying but still broad-shouldered and fit, he now runs Codella Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy on Staten Island.

“Like most people who got involved in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I saw the early UFC fights,” Codella told me. In those fights, which infamously took place in a cage, he watched a slight young Brazilian named Royce Gracie contort himself in all sorts of weird positions to win an essentially no-holds-barred competition. Amazingly, the men he beat dwarfed him in size and strength. Codella, himself only 5’7″, figured he could incorporate the same holds that this Brazilian used in a cage to subdue much larger men on the street.

Continue reading →

August 30, 2014 Version

September 12, 2012 Version

Players are assigned Smart Practice Teams at the beginning of Quarter. They stay with their teams to help ea other learn Individual skills, Team Skills, and Game skills.

More skilled players coach other players to improve the team. Skills are developed by smart practice, grit, and good coaching–talent is secondary.

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The more time children spend in structured, parent-guided activities, the worse their ability to work productively towards self-directed goals.

The author’s sons enjoying summertime in their younger years.

Most schools across the nation have marked the end of another academic year, and it’s time for summer. Time for kids to bolt for the schoolhouse doors for two long months of play, to explore their neighborhoods and discover the mysteries, treasures, and dramas they have to offer. This childhood idyll will hold true for some children, but for many kids, the coming of summer signals little more than a seasonal shift from one set of scheduled, adult-supervised lessons and activities to another.

Unscheduled, unsupervised, playtime is one of the most valuable educational opportunities we give our children. Continue reading →