View From The Dugout

A College Coach's Perspective

Brian Tompkins is the Head Coach of Men's Soccer at Yale University in New Haven, CT. See full bio

October 29, 2009

Beware Of Lefties - Teaching Fear Through Baseball

There are good reasons why a kid should not run with scissors, or touch a hot stove, or cross the street without looking, or talk to strangers, or eat without washing their hands but unmeasured parental fear is not something that we want them to inherit either.

June 9, 2009

Awesome Is As Awesome Does

Encouraging successful athletes to think highly of themselves and their bona fide achievements is one thing but to allow or even encourage youngsters of limited ability who haven't accomplished anything to adopt a swaggering mindset is troubling because their perspective is not based in quantifiable reality. Read More

May 14, 2009

The Feelgood Paradox - Can Camaraderie And Competitiveness Coexist?

In most athletic teams camaraderie is a desirable quality; it can foster a sense of security and belonging; it can boost an individual's confidence while creating synergistic well-being within the team and it promotes cooperation. Read More

March 19, 2009

Basketball Insanity - Two Weeks On The Brink

There are few annual sporting events that capture the imagination of the American public more completely than the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Take a cross section of any community in the country and one can find fans wrapped up in basketball insanity regardless of age, gender or socio-economic status. Even in a crammed menu of televised sports that ranges from the Super Bowl to the Summer Olympics, the NCAA tournament is viewed with a unique and special reverence. But why? What is so special about the NCAA tournament? Read More

March 2, 2009

Sport As A Vehicle - To Have And Have Not In Argentina

I recently had the good fortune to spend a week on a soccer trip to Buenos Aires, Argentina as a staff coach with the United States Youth Soccer Olympic Development Program and to experience the exhilaration that comes with seeing the sights of a beautiful city for the first time. I was also confronted with some eye-opening comparative realities about the stark cultural differences in what participation in sports can mean to kids in different parts of the world. Read More

January 27, 2009

Competitive Sense vs. Common Sense

Where does competitive sense end and common sense take over? That is a question that coaches must navigate on a regular, even daily, basis when pushing athletes to get the best out of themselves. Some recent incidents illustrate that if coaches and administrators are faulty in their judgment it can have unintended but nevertheless far-reaching and even catastrophic consequences. Read More

December 14, 2008

Schadenfreude - Relishing The Fall Of O.J.

OJ Simpson is going to prison. In the minds of many it is a long-overdue assignment for a man that somehow managed to elude incarceration after overwhelming evidence suggested that he was responsible for the awful murders of his ex-wife and her friend back in the 1990's. Read More

November 1, 2008

Sit On The Bench? I Don't Think So!

"I want it all and I want it now." Those lyrics have been featured in a recent television credit card commercial but were actually written with some rebellious prescience in the late 1980's by the rock group Queen. Read More

September 1, 2008

The Would-Be Veterinarian

Youthful dreams, inspired by successful people, often miss the point. Read More

August 13, 2008

No Winners - The Lament Of A Packers Fan

Thoughts on the handling of Brett Favre's departure from Green Bay Read More

Sport and Competition Basics

From schoolyard chants to Super Bowl championships, playful competition finds its way into nearly all aspects of culture. Fighting to win draws on cooperation, concentration, coordination, and creativity--things worth striving for in their own right. That's why sports are more than just fun and games.

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