Another reason I love Chicago. Local, organic restaurants abound. I’m so proud to call Chicago my hometown (except for the dreaded winters).
We had a recruit in Oxford today and it got me on the road to Chicago a little later than anticipated. I decided to stay out near the airport to save the budget (I didn’t stay with family as they retired to the south and we can only bother friends to stay with them so many times) and looked up new local and organic restaurants in the area. I found on Yelp a place about 20 minutes away. I typically wouldn’t rave about a restaurant, especially on my volleyball blog, but it’s Chicago and this place to eat was perfect. Continue Reading
If you’ve ever coached a volleyball team, you just might have had a few players cry. Hopefully, they are tears of joy after a tremendous victory, but most of the time the tears seem trivial to a coach. Some cry while playing on the court (even during a point!), some on the bench, a few in practice, on the bus, at a team meal, in your office, etc. It happens at times least expected, and often times it seems when things are going well for the team. How can a player be crying when we are on this winning streak?!?! Continue Reading
I love this picture of Olympic Silver Medalist, April Ross, getting interviewed at a coffee shop BECAUSE April Ross chooses a healthy smoothie over a sugar laden coffee…and YOU SHOULD TOO!
Workouts are only 1/3rd of a healthy lifestyle. The other 2/3rds are proper nutrition and a solid night’s sleep. Workouts breakdown muscle. Nutrition feeds the muscle. Sleep repairs the muscle. It’s a vicious cycle
Replenishing your body with proper nutrients within 30 minutes of your workout is essential. Regular or Chocolate Milk is a great post workout fuel, but I understand you may want to enjoy something more refreshing in the warm summer months. Try a smoothie! Smoothies are another great post workout source. Following are 47 different types of smoothies. Find one that will entertain your pallet, grab a blender, mix in the ingredients, and enjoy!
This is a delicious favorite I discovered quite by accident as I sat staring at my “boring” vanilla protein powder and wanting something sweet. This mimics peanut brittle only in taste. It won’t send your blood sugar soaring and it’s a fun way to get in some healthy unsaturated fat.
Add all ingredients to blender, blend, and serve. I like to add the peanut butter in last so it stays a little chunky, just like the peanut brittle it is replacing.
The Hulk
Ingredients
2 scoops vanilla whey protein
1/2 tbsp sugar-free pistachio pudding mix
1 mint leaf or a few drops peppermint extract (optional)
Add all ingredients to blender, blend, and pour into cup. This tastes great without the mint so don’t worry if you don’t have it around. The shake is a light green even without the food coloring but if you want it green (like The Hulk!), you’ll need a few drops.
Oatmeal Meal Replacement Shake
This is a homemade meal replacement that contains all the nutrition of a hearty bowl of oatmeal. It’s got complex carbs, protein, and a little good fat to extend its contribution to your energy stores. If you expect the rest of the day to be hectic, why not double it up and take half of the shake to work to ensure you don’t skip a meal just because you’ll be stuck in a meeting.
Ingredients
1 cup dry measure oatmeal, cooked in water and cooled
Super healthy shake that tastes pretty damn good – the flax seed oil helps the nutrients digest gradually so you get a steady supply of protein, I always put some honey in, cause it’s healthier than sugar, and after a workout it will feed your body’s need for simple sugar.
The spirulina definitely changes the color and flavor of this shake a lot! So if you can’t get used to the taste simply leave it out. The shake provides carbs, protein and plenty of vitamins/minerals, so you can easily use it as a meal replacement.
Start off by crushing the ice in the blender and then gradually add the fruit and enough water to get it smooth. Finish off with the two scoops of whey and enough Splenda to make it sweet.
This recipe includes cottage cheese – the king of all cheap, easy, high BV protein sources! Don’t worry, you can’t taste it and the blender eliminates the texture.
Blend together and chill. Makes 3 two-cup servings.
Guzzle for an awesome post-workout shake. The high-glycemic-value carbs spike insulin to deliver protein to your muscles. Add dry oats for more complex carbs, and add more cottage cheese to boost the protein! Add more milk if the mix is too thick.
I know, I know. One minute you think you’ve figure out this new generation of kids and the next, you feel you’re on a learning curve again. I get to spend a lot of time with university students these days and I’m amazed at one thing. The world they live in has produced a generational mindset—a shared paradigm—if you will. Continue Reading
What I enjoy most about my blog are the people I have met from around the world. A great example is Jodie Allen, the owner/photographer of Fresh Art Photography that took these “VolleyBaby” pics. I was searching for a ”sleeping baby volleyball” image online for my most recent post on TheArtofCoachingVolleyball.com and ran across one of the following pics. I looked up the photographer to ask for permission to use the picture and learned of a little story behind the pics. Continue Reading
The now philanthropic Bill Gates starts this TED talk by saying, “Everyone needs a coach.” In Bill’s riveting speech about teachers, he provides information on why the United States is performing so poorly in all education subjects in comparison with the rest of the world. Shanghai, China ranks #1 in the world in Reading, Science and Math. Part of the reason Shanghai is #1 is because younger teachers get the opportunity to watch master teachers. Continue Reading
Saw this great post by Vernon Gambetta, a coach of elite athletes of almost 40 years:
We talk a lot about having our athletes get out of their comfort zones to move forward and progress. How about us? As coaches we all have our comfort zones. Some of us are good in certain areas. Some of us can prepare an athlete for a league or a district meet and then are out of our element when we have to prepare for a state of national competition. In short we all have our comfort zones. Step back and do an honest evaluation of where you are as a coach. What are you comfortable with? Where are you uncomfortable? Is where you are comfortable holding you and most importantly your athletes back? I know I am pushing myself to get out of my comfort zone in certain areas. After 44 years of coaching it is tougher to do but I know it must be done. It may mean little things, but a succession of little things could make a big difference. What are you going to do today to get out of your comfort zone to help make your athletes better?
I hear the same things from Karch Kiraly in a Q&A session:
“Learning is an uncomfortable process and we have to take some time everyday being uncomfortable and pushing ourselves at the edge of our ability level.”
What do you do after you land the job and actually arrive on campus? Hold your breath and hang on for the ride.
Is it the journey or the destination? I sometimes ponder this question when recruiting players. Is it simply their goal to earn a college scholarship and be satisfied with that achievement or does that player truly want to succeed on the collegiate level? I have found that some high school players have reached their goal of getting to college and are almost distraught when they realize getting to college was the easy part, excelling in college will take a lot of hard work.
When you finally land that new assistant coach job, is it about the journey or the destination? For me, it’s always been about the journey. I’ve often referred to the Chinese proverb, “The journey is the reward” throughout my blog.
What’s the first month like on a new job? Awesome, overwhelming, crazy, time consuming, flattering, humbling, and all that I could have imagined and more. Here’s is what to expect, at least from my perspective… Continue Reading