Five Reads for Friday January 8th

This weeks five reads include a number of reflections on the past as well as some looks forward.

Lets just start with a reflection on 2015 from my friend and mentor Vern Gambetta. I attended Vern's yearly GAIN seminar and from that seminar have gained many other friends and coaching mentors around the country and around the world in sports. Although they are principled people with strong beliefs, there is often disagreement in this group in a pursuit of best practice. Coaching (and teaching I would add) is a craft that can only be understood and improved by DOING IT. Here is Vern's end of 2015 beginning of 2016 manifesto on that topic The Journey Continues -- Functional Path Training

The big news throughout the educational internet this week is that more play may help young children learn. My only thought was "what is old has become new again." It doesn't take a particularly progressive teacher to realize that cooping up young children in classrooms for long periods of time without movement is a recipe for disaster. Even the Ancient Greeks seemed to figure out the connection between brain and movement better than my generation of educational wizards. Here is a link More Playtime! Mind Shift

I believe there is a strong connection between musicians and athletes because they both have performance involved in what they do. The Bulletproof Musician has provided their 10 most impactful lessons of the year. Most have something to do with athletics performance as well as musical.
The 10 Most Impactful Things I Learned This Year -- The Bulletproof Musician

Seth Godin's blog is filled with amazingly good advice. I have a nephew who will graduate from college this year and am sending him this post. I think most kids coming out of college get very poor advice about what's next. But this is great stuff I wish I knew when I was in college.
No Direction Home -- Seth Godin

The podcast has a bad word in the title. But the bad word is also a cultural phenomenon. We have so much of this in coaching (and education in general) that I have to post the link as the podcast is a inspiring examination of what makes us drawn to BS and why us coaches need to continually work on our craft.
Episode 26 Magness and Marcus Podcast -- On BS -- Our Rant Against Crazy Ideas, Gurus, and Other BS in Coaching

Have a great weekend!