FSU COACH Blog

Eager and Earnest

“Much of sport is a Sisyphean effort of pushing the boulder of competition as far up the hill of resistance and adversity as one can go, only to see it fall back down the hill to be pushed again another day, regardless of whether one becomes a champion or not. It may be that the eagerness to push and the earnestness with which one pushes is what truly makes one a winner.”

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Understanding Imagery: What it is & How to use it

Welcome to Mental Moments with Dr. Megan! This new section will share quick information and tips for various mental performance topics and issues each month. To get us started, two FSU sport psychology students break down the importance of emotion regulation and how you can better manage your emotions to maintain composure during competition.

Dr. Megan Buning, CMPC, is a faculty member within FSU COACH and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology.

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What Coaches Can Do To Foster Team Cohesion

Welcome to Mental Moments with Dr. Megan! This new section will share quick information and tips for various mental performance topics and issues each month. This month, two FSU sport psychology students discuss elements of team cohesion and how you can help foster a productive & healthy environment.

Dr. Megan Buning, CMPC, is a faculty member within FSU COACH and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology.

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The Importance of Fundraising

“One of the biggest surprises for me when I started coaching in the public school system was realizing I would have to be a fundraiser. I wasn’t anticipating that. I knew about booster clubs and fundraising, but I thought it was only for extras, like fancy warm-ups or additional equipment. However, we had to raise money for essentials, like buses to take us to races. I'm not a teacher, but the other coach is, and if we miss a day of school for a race, the athletic budget has to cover the cost of a substitute teacher. We also fundraise for things I assumed the school district would cover, but they don't. Fundraising can be a challenge and, at times, frustrating. If you're thinking about coaching in the public school system, know that fundraising will be a big part of your job. It certainly caught me by surprise.”

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Managing Emotions

Welcome to Mental Moments with Dr. Megan! This new section will share quick information and tips for various mental performance topics and issues each month. To get us started, two FSU sport psychology students break down the importance of emotion regulation and how you can better manage your emotions to maintain composure during competition.

Dr. Megan Buning, CMPC, is a faculty member within FSU COACH and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology.

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Have a Critic in Your Life

“Our greatest hope of self-correction lies in ensuring we are not operating in a hall of mirrors in which all we see are distorted reflections of our desires and convictions. We need a few trusted naysayers in our lives, critics willing to puncture our protective bubble of self-justifications and yank us back to reality if we veer too far off. This is especially important for people in positions of power.”

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The Realities of Coaching

“Coaches are burned out. Burnout is real and comes a lot more quickly when you’re not being paid well or are overworked; you feel that so much is being asked of you and time is being taken away from your personal and family life. At the end of the day, coaches may be seeing a nickel an hour if they’re lucky. It truly is a labor of love.

Do the head coaches need a salary different from supplemental because of the risk they’re taking on because of the number of students in their program? If there was a way to find a way with integrity to pay coaches more on a salary basis, I think that would be supported, but how would you do it? Other states do it. Alabama is doing it. Texas is doing it. But then, how do you do that with quality and equity? Because that might be happening with just the head football coach. But does the women’s swim coach receive the same benefits in those states? I don’t have the answer to that.”

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Motivational Climates

Welcome to Mental Moments with Dr. Megan! This new section will share quick information and tips for various mental performance topics and issues each month. To get us started, two FSU sport psychology students break down the importance of emotion regulation and how you can better manage your emotions to maintain composure during competition.

Dr. Megan Buning, CMPC, is a faculty member within FSU COACH and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology.

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In Games People Play

“People who claim to be neutral soon show which side of neutral they are on.”

In Games People Play
by Eric Berne

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Hot Take: Confidence is Overrated!

Welcome to Mental Moments with Dr. Megan! This new section will share quick information and tips for various mental performance topics and issues each month. To get us started, two FSU sport psychology students break down the importance of emotion regulation and how you can better manage your emotions to maintain composure during competition.

Dr. Megan Buning, CMPC, is a faculty member within FSU COACH and a Certified Mental Performance Consultant through the Association of Applied Sport Psychology.

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FSU COACH and TLH Reckoning Announce Partnership, Sponsorship

FSU COACH and TLH Reckoning announce new plans for collaboration and growth.

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Maintaining Composure

Welcome to Mental Moments with Dr. Megan! This new section will share quick information and tips for various mental performance topics and issues each month.

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Jack of All Trades

“As a coach, you have to be pretty knowledgeable about a whole lot of things.”

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Excerpt taken from Reflections on the Coaching Life

"If your athletes trust you, guess what…! You can now push them as hard as you want."

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Deliberate Practice and Deliberate Rest

I recently read of a study in which head coaches of professional soccer teams were at risk of being fired. The authors of this study measured the physical output of players during practice.

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Early Sport Specialization and Long-Term Throwing Arm Health in Baseball Players

Learn if specialization in baseball affects Kerlan-Jobe Orthopedic Clinic (KJOC) shoulder and elbow scores based on the grade the participant started showing high specialization.

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Starts on the Practice Field

Legendary soccer coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, recognizes the importance of practice in preparing his players.

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The Commandments of Skill Development

Learn more about the best practices for helping players develop new skills.

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Value of Humor

As coaches we need to find the humor in things. It’s okay to laugh at ourselves and with others in our group, for the right reasons, of course.

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Data Analytics

Data analytics are here to stay and continue to become more and more complex. But coaches, managers, and owners should never forget that quality coaching remains an integral part of success.

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An Investigation Into Voluntary Occupational Turnover of Sport Employees Using the Transtheoretical Model of Change

Learn more about why collegiate swimming coaches voluntarily leave their job for a new profession.

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Friends or Enemies

I watch a lot of sport and a lot of different sports, I’ve often seen players who may later that day compete against each other hanging out and joking etc. I’ve never understood that.

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Finding Originality in Others

Wherever you gain your learning, keep seeking the originality of others and apply it to your own profession and craft.

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You're A Role Model

"One message that I repeat constantly to my players and coaches is that we are all role models. Every human being is a role model."

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