Articles

Bruce’s short pieces — 131 articles, one topic at a time.

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Coaches 10 Things To Improve Your Team This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching, from their booklet Turning Around Athletic Programs, gives leaders ten actions to… Included in membership → Coaches 10 Thoughts On Character Building This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons #1 collection, gathers ten thoughts on character building drawn from recent… Included in membership → Coaches 101 Positive Athletic Traditions This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Leadership collection, introduces the book "101 Positive Athletic Traditions: Team Building… Included in membership → Coaches 15 Traits Of Natural Leaders This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, subtitled "Find Them – Hire Them – Train Them – Empower Them," argues that the best team cultures do… Free for 7 days → Parents 21 Rules Of This House This article from Proactive Coaching, written by guest author Gregg Harris, presents a list of 21 household rules for families. The rules cover obedience,… Included in membership → Coaches 28 Success Rate This article by Bruce E. Brown and Mike Morgan of Proactive Coaching LLC, an excerpt from the booklet Youth Coaching, Four Keys to Successful Season,… Included in membership → Coaches 3 Things To Eliminate This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching, from the Intentional Coaching collection, addresses the power of words for coaches,… Included in membership → Coaches 4 Kinds Of Cheering This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching describes the four kinds of cheering he has observed as a spectator at high school sporting events:… Included in membership → Coaches 5 Reasons Kids Lose Their Love Of Sport This article from Proactive Coaching is an excerpt from the booklet Youth Coaching, Four Keys to Successful Season. It identifies the five factors besides… Free for 7 days → Parents 5 Things Athletes Would Like Their Parents To Know And Do This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching LLC, from the Parents and Coaches Working Together collection, is drawn from the presentation "The… Included in membership → Coaches 7 Ways To Help Develop Role Players This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching explains that the best teams are made up of multiple roles and offers seven ways… Included in membership → Coaches 8 Actions That Make a Championship Culture Change Successful This list is for coaches, ADs, teachers, and business leaders who have gone through the Captains and Coaches Workshop (whether in person or with the DVD).… Included in membership → Parents A Parent's Wish This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the "Parents and Coaches Working Together" collection, is a letter written in the voice of… Included in membership → Parents A Senior Athlete This article from Proactive Coaching, shared by Bruce E. Brown and written by Times reader Frank Workman, imagines a letter a senior high-school athlete… Included in membership → Coaches A Thematic Approach to Teaching Character Athletics offer the best opportunity in a young person's life to learn honesty, positive discipline, good work habits, confidence, teamwork, and… Included in membership → Coaches A Unique Team Covenant This article by Bruce E. Brown describes a team that chose gratitude as one of its core covenants during a leadership retreat. It explains what core… Included in membership → Coaches AIM When Looking for Leaders When Looking for Leaders: What You See in Natural Leaders Included in membership → Parents Are You A Pushover This article from Proactive Coaching, written by Tim Driver, addresses parents who may be pushovers with their children. Drawing on more than 20 years of… Included in membership → Coaches At Risk Athletes This article from Proactive Coaching, written by Tim Driver, addresses dealing effectively with at-risk personalities in your environment, whether you are… Included in membership → Coaches Athlete and Coaching Stages Description: "Yahoo, this is going to be so fun! I get to teach these kids all I know, they are going to love me, I am going to love them, we are going to… Included in membership → Coaches Athlete Questions This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching provides coaches with specific questions to ask their athletes throughout the year as a way to… Included in membership → Coaches Athletics School Climate And Promoting A Psychology Of Success This article from Proactive Coaching, written by guest writer John Shindler, a professor at CSULA and former player of Bruce Brown's, explains how… Included in membership → Coaches Avoiding Leadership Voids This article from Proactive Coaching by Rob Miller, from the Leadership collection, addresses what coaches can do when team leaders get little or no… Included in membership → Coaches Be The Coach You Would Have Liked To Play For This article by Bruce E. Brown, from the Proactive Coaching Intentional Coaching collection, challenges coaches to become the kind of coach they would… Included in membership → Parents Be The Parent Who Is Part Of Their Good Athletic Memories This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Parents and Coaches Working Together collection, gives sports parents practical guidance on… Included in membership → Parents Black Belt Mom This article from Proactive Coaching, written by guest contributor Teri Helms and included in the Parents and Coaches Working Together collection, offers… Included in membership → Coaches Boys, Guys and Men Boys become men by standing close to a man and having a man walk with them in the transitional stages of their life. Included in membership → Parents Building A Culture In Your Family This article from Proactive Coaching, introduced by Bruce E. Brown, was written by his late friend and colleague Tim Driver. It applies the Proactive… Included in membership → Parents Building Confidence in Athletes This article by Bruce E. Brown helps parents recognize where their child sits on the confidence spectrum and understand their role in building it. It… Included in membership → Coaches Can You Really Change A Culture This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching, titled "The Difference Team Covenants Make – Building a Team in an Individual Sport,"… Included in membership → Athletes Captains ABCA - Seven Ways to Lead Your Team Captains: Seven Ways to Lead Your Team Included in membership → Coaches Captains And Coaches Workshops Turning Point Of Our Season This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching shares feedback from the Captains and Coaches Workshop, a half day workshop designed to get coaches… Included in membership → Athletes Captains Loyalty This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, adapted from the booklet Captains – 7 Ways to Lead Your Team, covers leadership concept #5 for team… Included in membership → Coaches Celebrate Small Successes This article by Bruce E. Brown explains that celebrating small successes does not mean being satisfied – it means recognizing progress and movement in the… Included in membership → Coaches Coach Interview This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Leadership collection, is an athletic department assessment tool for coaches interviewing… Included in membership → Coaches Coaching Your Own Child This article by Bruce E. Brown is an excerpt from the Proactive Coaching booklet "Youth Coaching: 4 Keys to a Successful Season." With an estimated 80% of… Included in membership → Athletes Compete This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons #2 collection, is drawn from the Proactive Coaching booklet "Compete –… Included in membership → Coaches Confrontation This article from Proactive Coaching, written by Tim Driver and included in the Leadership collection, addresses what to do when people refuse to buy in… Included in membership → Coaches Core Covenant Interview Questions This article by Bruce E. Brown, from the Proactive Coaching Leadership collection, provides a set of interview questions built around core covenants and… Included in membership → Parents Do Competitive Sports Competitive Parents This article from Proactive Coaching, from the Parents and Coaches Working Together collection, examines how youth sports have become more intense and… Included in membership → Athletes Endurance This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons collection, explores endurance as a character trait required to achieve almost… Included in membership → Coaches Ethics in Action The theme is "Ethics in Action" — application, not just theory. When people are on a list applying for a job, or in competition with others for… Included in membership → Parents Excellence Not Perfection This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching shares the story of a father helping his perfectionist daughter learn to strive for excellence… Included in membership → Parents Father's Day Message This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, titled "A Father's Promise," presents a Father's Day message on parenting an athlete. It shares… Included in membership → Coaches Field Marshall This article from Proactive Coaching, from the Leadership collection, was written by Tim Driver, a former student of Bruce E. Brown who became a coaching… Included in membership → Coaches Finish What You Start This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller, from the Proactive Coaching Life Lessons #1 collection, makes the case that finishing what you start is one… Included in membership → Coaches Five Common Traits for Successful Youth Coaching Coaching is not a natural way of earning a living — not many people can do it; your victories and losses are too clear-cut. (Exercise: in groups of 4–5,… Included in membership → Coaches Followers Creed This article from Proactive Coaching, part of its Coaching for Significance materials, shares The Followers Creed, a piece of unknown authorship. It lists… Included in membership → Coaches Game Coaching This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching LLC, an excerpt from the booklet "Youth Coaching, 4 Keys to a Successful Season," offers general… Included in membership → Coaches Game Coaching Thoughts This article by Bruce E. Brown is an excerpt from the Proactive Coaching booklet "Youth Coaching: 4 Keys to a Successful Season." It presents general… Included in membership → Coaches Greet Your Players This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from his Motivational Strategies for Coaches series, urges coaches to take time at the start of… Included in membership → Coaches Growth Stages of Coaching This note describes the stages a coach moves through over a career. The goal is to shorten the first two stages, reach significance, and stay away from… Included in membership → Coaches Integrity Justice And Honor This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, subtitled "Live and Lead with Honor," explores integrity as a choice of behaviors displayed in… Included in membership → Coaches Job Career Or Calling This article by Bruce E. Brown, from the Proactive Coaching Intentional Coaching #2 collection, challenges coaches to be the coach they would have liked… Included in membership → Coaches Job Openings This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching presents a satirical job posting for a high school basketball coach to illustrate the demands,… Included in membership → Coaches Key Phrases Life Lessons This article by Bruce E. Brown collects the key phrases from Proactive Coaching's Life Lessons presentation, delivered to athletes and coaches together.… Included in membership → Coaches Lessons Of The Legends This article from Proactive Coaching, written by John McCarthy and included in the Intentional Coaching #2 collection, shares lessons drawn from an… Included in membership → Coaches Look Within And Find A Way This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Leadership collection, shares a two-step approach to handling challenges that a wise person… Included in membership → Athletes Loyalty This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons #2 collection, presents the championship principle of loyalty, with excerpts… Included in membership → Coaches Loyalty Story Of Old Man And His Dog This article from Proactive Coaching tells the story of an old man and his dog walking a country road after death, used as a lesson on loyalty. The man… Included in membership → Athletes Mental Toughness This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching presents the championship principle of mental toughness, drawing on excerpts from Compete – 13 Traits… Included in membership → Coaches Mentor Coaches This article by Bruce E. Brown, from the Proactive Coaching Intentional Coaching collection, makes the case for intentional mentoring programs for… Included in membership → Coaches Missing Dad This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, written shortly after the death of his 96-year-old father, reflects on the blessing of a lifelong… Included in membership → Athletes Motivation This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons #2 collection, is part of the Championship Principles series and focuses on… Included in membership → Coaches Motivation for Business Teams Motivation — Business Teams Included in membership → Coaches No Excuses This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, taken from the booklet "Turning Around Athletic Programs," argues that eliminating excuses is a… Included in membership → Coaches No Good Way To Cut Players This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching addresses one of the worst responsibilities of coaching: cutting players. Drawing on decades of… Included in membership → Coaches No Refs Now What This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching tells the story of a college volleyball match between Wayland Baptist University and… Included in membership → Coaches One Small Change This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching encourages coaches and Athletic Directors, whose schedules often take them away from their own… Included in membership → Athletes Opponents This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching is part of the Championship Principles series and addresses the principle of opponents under the… Included in membership → Parents Over Involved Stressed Parent This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching LLC, from the Parents and Coaches Working Together collection, illustrates how over involved,… Included in membership → Parents Parent's Role Additions Asking permission before you give advice — how parents earn the right to be heard by their grown athlete. Included in membership → Parents Parents And Confidence This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the "Parents and Coaches Working Together" collection, is an excerpt from the booklet… Included in membership → Parents Parents Confidence Builder Raising a Confident Athlete (Parents) Included in membership → Parents Parents Role In Athletics This article by Bruce E. Brown, from the Proactive Coaching "Parents and Coaches Working Together" collection, is the first in a series on the parent's… Included in membership → Parents Parents Role In Athletics 2 This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, excerpted from the booklet and DVD "The Parent's Role in Athletics," examines the parent's role in… Included in membership → Parents Partnering With Officials Athletes And Parents This article from Proactive Coaching, written by Mike Morgan of Proactive Coaching LLC, discusses the vital role officials play as "Guardians of the… Included in membership → Coaches Planning and Coaching – Coach as a Professional This article by Bruce E. Brown is an excerpt from the Proactive Coaching booklet "Youth Coaching: 4 Keys to a Successful Season." It argues that a coach's… Included in membership → Coaches Planning For A Parent Meeting This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, an excerpt from the booklet Youth Coaching, 4 Keys to a Successful Season, explains how coaches… Included in membership → Coaches Playing With Confidence (To Coaches) For 35 years, one of my main goals was to try to instill confidence in every player. Most young children start out feeling confident, but as they age,… Included in membership → Coaches Preparing for a Tough Conversation with an Angry Parent Preparing for an Angry Parent Included in membership → Athletes Pride This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching LLC, from the Life Lessons collection, explores the championship principle of pride, titled "Shared… Included in membership → Coaches Program Is In Trouble Assessment This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, an excerpt from the booklet Turning Around Athletic Programs, is an assessment describing Level 3… Included in membership → Coaches Protecting Yourself From Problem Parents Coaches - Protecting Yourself From Problem Parents Included in membership → Athletes Purpose This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons collection, presents the Championship Principle of Purpose under the title… Included in membership → Coaches Questions For The Essence Of Coaching This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Intentional Coaching collection, is a reflection tool subtitled "The Power of Your Words."… Included in membership → Coaches Recruiting Red Flags This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching LLC explains how the most successful coaches look beyond talent when recruiting athletes. It details… Included in membership → Athletes Risks This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons collection, presents the Championship Standard of Risks under the title "Let… Included in membership → Coaches Role Of Coach This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Intentional Coaching #2 collection, is an excerpt from the booklet Youth Coaching, 4 Keys… Included in membership → Athletes Scenarios For Captains This article by Bruce E. Brown, from the Proactive Coaching Leadership collection, presents a set of common scenarios that team captains should be… Included in membership → Coaches Selecting Captains This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Leadership collection, answers one of the most frequent questions from Captains and Coaches… Included in membership → Coaches Servant Leadership This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, excerpted from his books "Teaching Character Through Sport" and "The Seven Essentials of Great… Included in membership → Athletes Service This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching LLC presents the championship principle of service. It shares Swen Nater's story about 92-year-old… Included in membership → Coaches Seven Essentials of Great Teams Seven Essentials of Great Teams (Business) Free for 7 days → Parents Seven Tips for a Successful Year in Sports Seven Things You Can Do to Help Your Athlete Have a Successful Educational Experience in Athletics This School Year Included in membership → Coaches Sharing Leadership This article from Proactive Coaching, written by guest contributor Nancy O'Neil, Director of Athletics/Wellness/Activities at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional… Included in membership → Coaches Sportsmanship This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons collection, explains how coaches can teach sportsmanship using the same… Included in membership → Coaches Stages of Coaching Stages of Coaching: Critical Points in Coaching Development Included in membership → Athletes Stand Strong This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Leadership collection, shares an extended passage from author Joseph Marshall III in which… Included in membership → Coaches Strong Program Assessment This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, taken from the booklet "Turning Around Athletic Programs," presents an assessment checklist for… Included in membership → Coaches Surviving A Tough Loss This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching addresses how coaches can recover from devastating losses. Prompted by an email from a young Colorado… Included in membership → Coaches Take The Job Or Not This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching offers warning signs for young coaches deciding whether to accept a head coaching position. It… Included in membership → Coaches Talent This article from Proactive Coaching, written by Tim Driver of Proactive Coaching LLC, examines how our culture handles talent. It identifies two cultural… Included in membership → Coaches Teaching Character Courage Teaching Character Through Athletics (Using Themes) Included in membership → Coaches Team Covenants Bracket 2 A word bank for identifying a team's core covenants. Teams use it to brainstorm and then narrow down (for example, from 10–12 values down to 8, 4, 3, 2,… Included in membership → Coaches Team Crisis Management Team Crisis Management (Proactive Coaching) Included in membership → Coaches Team Stages Team Stages (Captains and Coaches Workshop) Included in membership → Coaches Team Stages Captains And Coaches Workshop This article by Bruce E. Brown presents the "Team Stages" section of Proactive Coaching's four-hour Captains and Coaches Workshop. It describes the five… Included in membership → Athletes Teamwork This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons collection, presents the Championship Principle of Teamwork under Kipling's… Included in membership → Coaches Teamwork - The Seven Essentials of Great Teams (Business) Teamwork — Business — The Seven Essentials of Great Teams Included in membership → Coaches Ten Traits of Successful Programs For over 20 years of traveling and working with teams and coaches, one of the biggest benefits is witnessing greatness when you are around it. One thing… Included in membership → Coaches The 7 Essentials Of Great Teams Part 1 This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, drawn from The Seven Essentials of Great Teams, Proactive Leadership – Empowering Team Leaders, and… Included in membership → Coaches The Coach This article from Proactive Coaching is a tribute piece reflecting on the true role of a coach. It argues that while any team can lose, a coach never… Included in membership → Coaches The Difference A Team Leader Can Make This article by Bruce E. Brown, from the Proactive Coaching Leadership collection, shares a letter from Josie Price, a senior soccer captain at… Included in membership → Coaches The Last Kid On Your Bench This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching celebrates the least talented players on a team – those who practice hard, make other… Included in membership → Coaches The Multi Sport Athlete This article from Proactive Coaching, written by guest writer Stephanie Hauser, Athletic Director at Stevens Point Area High School in Wisconsin, examines… Included in membership → Coaches The Power of Your Words - Additional Questions This article by Bruce E. Brown is a companion piece to his presentation "The Power of Your Words," which examines how the language coaches use shapes… Included in membership → Coaches There Was This Coach There Was This Coach: 6 Motivational Concepts for Great Coaches Included in membership → Coaches Traditions 101 Positive Athletic Traditions: Building Team Legacies, Eliminating Hazing Included in membership → Coaches Transitioning Athletes What the HS coach owes the feeder coach, and what the feeder coach owes the HS coach. Included in membership → Coaches Trust Assessment From The Impact of Trust booklet and presentation. Included in membership → Coaches Trust Climbing This article from Proactive Coaching is a letter written to Bruce E. Brown by Jason Camp, a mountain climber who attended one of Bruce's presentations at… Included in membership → Coaches Turning Your Program Around This article from Proactive Coaching, written by Rob Miller and included in the Leadership collection, tells the story of how the McPherson High School… Included in membership → Coaches Vision This article by Bruce E. Brown of Proactive Coaching, from the Life Lessons #1 collection, presents the championship principle of vision under the title… Included in membership → Coaches Welcoming New Team Members This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching builds on the five predictable stages teams go through and focuses on a key leadership… Included in membership → Coaches What Drives Your Team - Proactive Leadership What Drives Teams – Proactive Leadership Included in membership → Coaches Whatever It Takes This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller of Proactive Coaching LLC cautions leaders about telling athletes to "do whatever it takes to win." It… Included in membership → Coaches When Good Coaches Get Attacked This article by Bruce Brown, Mike Morgan and Randy Bates of Proactive Coaching, from the Intentional Coaching collection, examines how upset parents… Included in membership → Coaches Who Is In Your Team Picture This article by Bruce E. Brown, from the Proactive Coaching Intentional Coaching collection, reflects on looking back at old team pictures and realizing… Included in membership → Athletes Work This article by Bruce E. Brown, from the Proactive Coaching Life Lessons collection, presents "Work" as a championship principle. It explains that work… Included in membership → Coaches Work With The Living This article by Bruce E. Brown and Rob Miller, from the Proactive Coaching Leadership collection, explains how leaders trying to change or improve a team… Included in membership →

Every article above is part of Bruce’s knowledge — ask him about any of them. All are included in membership.