With the World Cup winding down, a new product has landed on the market, aimed to make soccer a little bit easier for the children of the 3rd world.  Tim Jahnigen has invented a soccer ball that never goes flat, and wants to give away one million of them.  We’ve all seen images of a young Pele running through the street kicking rolled up socks into a trash can.  Decades later, the problem is less about access to soccer balls (which are often bought by aide workers), than it is about keep a ball from popping on broken glass, barbed wire, or on uneven pavement.

Now, with Jahnigen’s help, children may finally have a ball that lasts for more than 1 game.

Next time your players start complaining, whether about practice, or playing time, or the refs, remind them how lucky we all are, to play the game we love (and with easy access to the equipment to do so).  You can buy a futbol from the One World Futbol Project here.  Every ball purchased means a ball for you + a ball for a child who has likely never had one.

Davis’s ‘lack’ of coaching is well documented: he doesn’t train with the US team and lists only his mother as his official manager.  However, Davis is largely considered the ultimate student of speed skating.

Instead of a dedicated coach, Davis takes insight from dozens of people:

Davis takes advice from numerous coaches — some connected to the U.S. national team, some not — and then synthesizes their guidance and sets his own course. His coaches are more like a panel of consultants

Also, like all Athleon teams, Davis isn’t afraid to utilize technology in his training:

Davis, who watches video of himself and opponents extensively, does receive some technical and staff support from U.S. sprint coach Ryan Shimabukuro on the road and short-track coach Jae Su Chun when he trains with that team. Former Olympian Kip Carpenter, now a coach, also provides logistical support, and Fenn says he has talked to Davis regularly the last two weeks in the final tuneup for Vancouver.

Finally, Davis uses old-fashioned pen and paper daily, literally journaling everything that happens to him on the ice.  From what he worked on to how he was feeling, from his mental processes to what he ate before a good training session.  He saves EVERYTHING, so he literally has an encyclopedia of his training.

Try writing a single page every day after practice this week.  Save it on Athleon.com or in a notebook.  How did practice go?  What worked?  What didn’t?  How was your attitude, energy level, and what do you think attributed to those factors?

Like Davis, once you know what works, you can replicate it and improve upon it, leading to continual improvement and perhaps the top spot on whatever podium you’re chasing.

1.  Demand higher expectations from your players, in referencing Tony Pike, the 5th stringer whom Kelly turned into a Heisman candidate, Kelly said: “He was caught in the same malaise the University of Cincinnati program has been caught in all these years.  A collective feeling of: ‘We’re happy to be here, but that’s about it.’”  Kelly told Pike to step up or go home.  It worked.

2.  Demand higher expectations from the program: Kelly refused to build a world-class program with sub-par facilities, and worked hard for better coverage from the press as well.  While the new stadium Kelly got may be unrealistic for your program, building support within the athletic department and faculty of your school is key to any successful rebuild.

3.  Demand higher expectations from your fan base: Kelly took it upon himself to earn the support and growth of his fan base.  “I realized at the beginning that I had to be at every chicken dinner, at every bar, at every community-service event, so the city could see the passion that I had for the program,” says Kelly. “That was the way to build support for it—that and winning games.”

Demand higher expectations, of yourself, your staff, your players, and your school.