Issues, Perspectives and Directions

“Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” (Albert Einstein)

Imagine counting your knowledge in paragraphs, your life in days and your love in I love yous…Things should be taken as they are, in their undivided fullness. We should not put much emphasis on concrete measurements, for they are rough and shallow. Instead, we should measure our knowledge in our voluntary acceptance of each other, our life in tea cups under the lashes of time, our love in breakfast meals taken with our dear ones.

Alright, I figured it out.  They easiest way to help someone succeed is believing in them until they reach their desired goals.  Growing up in Milwaukee and Waukesha I’ve come across someone interesting people.  The type of persons that believe in you but within the same school district other teachers could careless about my achievements.  That’s a part of life but as a future educator I will use my influence (power) to help every student succeed.  Can I reach each student?  Probably not but that is my goal.  Basically I will use the ”No Child Left Behind Act” but instead of lowering my standards to help them succeed I will up my ability to reach them.

I am t my laptop, in the kitchen with the deck door open. Full sun is coming in and the day is peaceful. I have been mentally sorting through quotes and philosophies. It is difficult to separate a life philosophy from a professional philosophy. Bottom line though, is that if I could not read, I would not be able to write this and sum up my thoughts. Are there oral blogs? Blogs for people to speak only? Must be. Back to reading…I can’t believe how treasured this skill is by some(expecially in toher cultures/countries) and the skill is taken for granted in the US. (My opinion). I see so many kids that struggle to learn, learn incorrectly and struggle even more to unlearn the inappropriate skills. Their parents aren’t alarmed…there is no sense of urgency. One reading program I saw a demonstration of is being used widely in prisons, where the illiteracy rate is very high. I also read an article in the Wisconsin State Reading Association journal about an eighth grader that still can not read despite all kinds of special ed help,but has fathered a child. I don’t have any answers only questions.

Philosophy of life
October 26th, 2009 by Laurie Campbell
I was startled to learn the other day that to own

a book is to be considered priveleged on a global

scale. Many in third world countries will never

own a book and possession of ONE book is a

status symbol. Add to the equation that in a third

world country to be able to actually READ that

book elevates one’s status even more. How humbling

that my job is to assist individuals in their reading

endevours.

The coach is constantly communicating ideas to the athlete which ideally will result in a variety of sport-effectiveness behaviors. The degree to which the athlete is receptive to the coaches’ ideas is often determined by a variety of factors including, previous coach-athlete relationships; the coaches reputation; the decision making style of the coach; and the credibility of the coach. A vital and mature coach-athlete relationship is based upon two-way communication, mutual trust, and respect. The effectiveness of the coach-athlete communication is sometimes threatened by the amount of administrative tasks the coach must perform as a part of his or her daily routine. Leadership is often confused with management. Management consists of planning, organizing, staffing, and recruiting, scheduling, budgeting and public relations. Coaches perform all these duties or delegate them to his staff, but they also do more. Great coaches determine the direction of the future for her players, and then allocate resources to make sure the program is run smoothly. Managers simply handle the routine, never questioning whether the routine should be done. And a coach should never be confused as a manager.

The concept of team building should not be overlooked. A team needs to be a team no matter what the sport. I coach what is considered an individual sport by most (tennis), but at the college level the team aspect is so vital. I spend a great deal of time making sure our team is a coheasive unit. I make sure the team right from the start is doing activities where they get to know each other, start trusting each other and becoming like a family. I also put a good deal of time in getting to know each player individually, so I know the best approach to coaching them. I also need to know what type of personality they have in order to know what type of things they are looking to get out of the team. By building relationships between myself and the players as well as the players with each other goes a long way. If they feel a part of a “family” they will want to go to war for them. They will sacrifice for each other. They will honestly hope each other does well. This will also ensure that the player wants to stay a part of the team, regardless of the playing time they are getting. They will end up wanting to be a part of the team if they feel they are a part of this family and they will not want to let their team mates down in any way.

Mike as far as the question of burnout, I don’t know. I think once it’s not enjoyable you need to hang it up. I’ve had different types of coaching duties. Forinstance, I was a teaching pro at a club for 9 years, then switched to the college scene once it got to be too much on my body. Coaching in general has always been exciting for me, but changing venues every now and then keeps things fresh. In my eight years at UWW, I have never come close to being burned out. I look forward to coming to work everyday. I never resent it or wish I was doing something else. I’ve never been able to say that with any other jobs. There is so much to do and many different aspects to coaching from dealing with the on court practices, matches, helping with academics, helping with players’ personal lives, recruiting, dealing with other coaches, being on the road–how can you get burned out?? I hope I never do, but if so, maybe I need to hang it up.

I feel that putting athletes in highly competitive situations on a regular basis helps them to advance to the next level quicker. Therefore I do a few things to put the tennis players here at UWW in competitive situations. First of all, I try to schedule the most difficult teams I can on a year round basis. I also like to get the team on the road in unfamiliar and tough venues as often as possible. Then when we are on the road or under tough conditions in the conference championships or the NCAA tournament it is not new and it is not intimidating. In practice, in addition to working on technique and strategy, I make sure to put match pressure on our players by doing challenge matches on a regular basis throughout the entire season. When they have to play challenge matches against their team mates they are competing for their spot in the lineup and there is not greater pressure than that. Finally, I like to get my bench players in the lineup as often as possible to make sure they are getting real match play, so they are ready to go when they are called upon. At UWW we can’t depend on recruiting 3 star athletes year after year. We depend on developing the athletes to replace graduated players, so we must prepare them. With this in mind, I get our bench players matches in our individual tournaments and when we play weaker teams so they are ready to go.

Don’t allow mistakes to define your future. Let it fuel your desire to become a better person and allow someone else to live in your dream (i.e. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) We’reliving in Dr. King’s dream right now.

when i applied to be the head JV wrestling coach at mount Horeb the application asked me about my phylosophy on winning, dicipline, and coaching. I had to think about that for a minute and then just stated writing and here is basically what i said. when it comes to winning, as a coach i beleive that you should not focus all your effort on winning. you should focus especially in high school on technique, and teaching the sport to the best of your ability. I feel that winning is a product of preperation so you should never focus on the W you should focus on the work it takes to get the W. I also belive that you should never push the Win on your athletes.
Dicipline is something that should be pushed and enforced as a coach. you should teach your athletes to have dicipline on and off the mat. I will always be an advoccate for dicipline especially after spending the time that i have in the military. i have seen what good dicipline brings out and i have seen what poor dicipline can result in. I think dicipline is another thing that can help mold athletes into good people.
and finally my thoughts on being a coach. I beleive that as a coach you are teaching about your sport, but you also have to teach your athletes about being a good student, and person. be humbled in a win and gracious in defeat, be firm and fair, and set goals that are obtainable. I feel like being a coach is like being a father to all your athletes in high school, you have to help mold them, and mentor them. have them learn from your mistakes, and guide them to become good people on and off the mat.