Ark Valley News - Dale presents valuable advice

Dale presents valuable advice
Last Updated: August 13, 2015

Last week our coaches, parents and student-athletes had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Greg Dale speak at Valley Center High School. Dr. Dale, PhD., is the director of Sports Psychology and Leadership programs for Duke athletics.

Thanks to the assistance of the Valley Center Recreation Commission, The Ark Valley News and the Valley Center High School Booster Club, I was able to invite Dr. Dale to come and speak to our coaches, athletes and parents on topics that he felt were the most imperative in athletics today.

He spent three hours with our coaches from all levels, K-12. He challenged our coaches to think about their philosophies and beliefs. He shared ideas on motivating athletes and discussed how athletes attain confidence.

The student-athlete session focused on the mental approach to the game, providing our student-athletes ideas on how to develop their mental toughness and focus. The student and coach sessions had great attendance.

Unfortunately, the least attended session was the parent session. I wanted to take time to highlight Dr. Dale's most important messages:

1. Most parents have their hearts in the right place. However, we sometimes lose perspective. If we want our kids to learn sportsmanship, we must model it. Ask yourself if you are modeling sportsmanship in the way you interact with officials during youth and high school sports.

2. Before competition we should only say "Have fun" rather than provide them with instruction or goals that you have set for them. To help, avoid using verbs and instead try to use positive adjectives.

3. After competition, provide unconditional love and support and avoid making them talk to you when they don't perform well. Be their parent, not their coach.

4. Only 2 percent of Valley Center athletes will earn a full-ride Division 1 scholarship. Therefore, be careful in viewing your child as a commodity that you are investing your time and money in to get a full ride.

I heard some real positive feedback from all groups. One parent approached me asking to attend the student session just because she enjoyed the message she received at the parent session.

Some of the comments that the coaches shared included: "The presentation shared a ton of great dialogue between coaches," "Dr. Dale's message on being a positive and motivating coach is conducive for me as an educator, not just a coach," "I wish we could have a speaker like this every two or four years."

Students shared that they enjoyed the interactive approach and that his message was beneficial to any sport or athlete.

I want to thank everyone who attended the sessions last week. I hope that we can continue to provide these great opportunities to our student athletes, coaches and parents in the future. To ensure that we can, I encourage everyone to get involved with organizations like Valley Center Recreation Commission and the Booster Club. These organizations are imperative to the continual development of successful K-12 athletic programs.

— Ron Barry, athletic director, Valley Center High School