As I'm sure everyone who has ever sent their son or daughter to Spring Training knows, I believe in the importance of positive motivation as an essential ingredient to effective coaching every bit as much as I believe in the value of teaching correct mechanical fundamentals.

You also probably know that I don't follow football at all, but as the College Football National Championship game approached, I read one article that turned me into an instant Duck fan. Here it is: http://www.wsj.com/articles/oregon-college-footballs-kinder-gentler-team-1420663969

While it saddens me that a coaching staff who chooses NOT to yell at its players as a valid method of teaching and motivating is "newsworthy" because of how rare it is, I am thrilled to see positive coaching creeping its way into the most "yelly" of sports, and at the highest levels of the game.

I wrote a blog about my experiences in college with a coach who yelled and attempted to motivate through exclusively negative methods. Hint: it didn't work...we didn't win and he got fired. That blog is archived on this site.

If you're coaching this year (or even just plan on attending every one of your son's games this season as a fan in the stands), I would really encourage you to be positive as your default tone. A great resource - besides attending Spring Training programs of course - is the Positive Coaching Alliance (www.PositiveCoach.org). The PCA is a national non-profit organization with a veritable "who's who" of the world's most successful coaches serving as board members whose sole mission is promoting the concepts of positive coaching throughout all levels of the game.

And lastly, as the football season winds down, that can only mean one thing...pitchers and catchers report really soon!!!!

See you on the field
Dan