One of my favorite things to do is to coach football! Here are some early leassons learned from this season.

“In the absence of feedback, people will fill in the blanks with a negative. They will assume you don’t care about them or don’t like them.”
~ Pat Summit

I LOVE Football!

First, I want to say that I LOVE football!

It really helped me as a struggling teen, and even as an adult, football plays a beneficial part in my life.

For the past 4 years, I’ve helped coach football in some capacity. Several years before that I also spent 4 years coaching at the high school level.

It’s thanks to football that my wife and I got into foster parenting and part of the reason I got into education. And now, as a life coach, football has a heavy influence on how I teach and coach parents and their teens.

This year, I wanted to take a minute and share some powerful lessons that I’ve learned so far from this season.

Lessons I’ve Learned So Far that You Can Use with You and Your Teen!

Feedback is important!

This is the first year that I’ve coached with this set of coaches.

One of the things that I’ve noticed that sets the best coaches apart from the others is their ability to give consistent feedback!

The coaches who are most respected give consistent feedback. Do something wrong, they’re going to calmly let you know. Do something right, they’re going to calmly let you know. The best coaches give players feedback, for example coaching on how to block better, then they wait and watch for you to do it right so they can give you feedback in the form of praise.

Recently in talking with my son, he told me that he didn’t like certain coaches. When I asked him “Why?” he explained that he didn’t think that they liked him. Again, I asked my favorite coaching question, “Why?” To which he answered, “I don’t think they like anyone. They never tell us anything. They never talk to us.”

How can you consistently offer feedback? What feedback would you like to offer?

For me it’s teaching my teen, it’s praising his efforts, and it’s letting him know that everything is just right.

You are responsible for your culture!

I love the team that I am coaching with, and I am grateful for the opportunity. I want to be clear about that!

I also want to share some of the lessons that I’ve noticed and some things that you might be able to apply in your home.

This lesson has become glaringly obvious lately.

You are responsible for your culture.

Recently I overheard some coaches complaining about players being late. The funny thing was, this group of coaches is consistently late themselves. They are responsible for the culture that they are complaining about. Not only do they tolerate players being late, but they also model that behavior by being late themselves.

Being responsible for your culture is both a blessing and a curse. We can see the negative impact in the example above.

This is also a blessing because if you want to change your culture, it starts with YOU.

Be the change that you want to see.

How are you responsible for the culture in your home, both the good and the bad?

How can you take responsibility for your culture? Where would you like to start BEing different?

For me in my home, it’s positioning myself as the hero by avoiding my tendency to complain and blame. It’s creating a culture of responsibility and BEing the hero of our own stories.

Excitement is contagious!

It’s been fun to coach with these coaches. One of the new coaches is my son’s favorite coach. When I asked him, “Why?”, he said, because he’s always happy and excited. This coach is one big buff, athletic-looking, dude! When he gets excited, it’s a little scary because he’s so massive, but EVERYONE around him gets excited.

What if you got excited every time you saw your teen? What if that was one of your new ways of BEing? What impact would that have on you and your teen’s life?

For me, it’s celebrating my teen’s victories and successes. It’s being excited to see him and spend time with him.

Call to ACTION!

My BETA Impact Parenting Program is now live, and the doors are closed . . .

. . . BUT . . .

. . . If you want to take your parenting to the next level, you can still join the Firmly Founded Parent.

Now that my Impact Parenting Program is up and running, we’re going to be revamping and improving the Firmly Founded Parent, and I want you to join us to make it the best monthly parenting membership EVER!

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