Top Coach for Sports Communication

Golf is an incredibly popular sport and is played on all rungs of the corporate ladder. In fact, many business people will emphatically state that they could not do business without the involvement of golf, citing it as the best and most convivial way to network and nurture relationships with customers and contacts.

Because so many business executives have a passion for golf, it is likely that you are going to need to incorporate it into your marketing campaign in some way; the question is: how?

You could hold regular golf hospitality events. However, these are generally high-budget and most companies cannot afford to run too many of them during the course of the year. The other problem with outdoor business events such as golf tournaments is that their success is dependent on the weather, which is notorious as being a let-down.

Another idea is branded golf gifts. Many companies opt to present their important customers and contacts with token gestures from the array of promotional products available such as personalised putter covers, logo golf balls and markers. However, this way of showing a gesture of appreciation for months or even years of valuable business is hardly unique and therefore doesn’t offer an effective way of standing out above your competitors.

A powerful way to make an impression amongst business contacts is to combine hospitality with exclusive gift-giving. One way to do this is to utilise an indoor or virtual golf competition.

There is a huge selection of golf training aids out there and whilst they are aimed at serious and professional players, they can also make excellent corporate indoor golf competitions!

Providing you choose a golf training product that can be used safely in an indoor environment; is easy to set up and use and provides a scoring system to allow a competition to take place; there you have your weatherproof, indoor golf tournament! And more than this, it also acts as a high-end executive gift for your golf-loving clientele that don’t have time to get out on the course and would appreciate the chance to practice in the confines of their own office!

Indoor golf tournaments are ideal for:

Client entertainment without the worry of bad weather Charity and fundraising events Staff team building exercises Employee leaving parties Adding a touch of fun to annual meetings Attracting attention at trade shows or local events Drawing attention at new branch openings and product launches

Golf practice aids make excellent, highly appreciated gifts for:
Valued customers and business contacts to show appreciation for loyalty or to celebrate a special occasion such as an award win Staff achievement awards or service anniversaries Golf is perhaps the most business-related sport! Make the most of your customer’s love for it by incorporating it into your marketing and customer relationship campaigns!

We recently interviewed a successful youth sports coach about one of his biggest challenges. He told us how to help parents understand what to say to young athletes during the trip home after a game.

Coach Brian Gardner of St. Louis, Missouri has coached ice hockey for 10 years. He even led one team of 11 to 12-year-olds to a national championship.

Some of Gardner’s players’ parents drive for as long as 1.5 hours to get their kids to the ice rink. “That’s a long time for parents to be alone with their kids after a game,” says Gardner. “Especially if they spend that time talking about the players’ performance, ” Garner continues.

“A lot of times, parents think more about their kids’ success than the whole team, ” says Gardner. The result is that they give too much instruction, which can undo Coach Gardner’s lessons and coaching system.

“At the least harmful level, the parents second guess some of the systems we put in place, such as a power play system. They say, ‘You should do this, not what Coach says,’ ” Gardner relates.

On a more harmful level, parents tell their kids that they played badly. Out of frustration, parents sometimes even suggest to kids they should consider giving up the sport.

Coach Gardner suggests that this behavior, while well-meaning, is counter-productive to his efforts and not helpful for the players.

So, what exactly is good communication with a young athlete after a game? (As sports parents who have made lots of mistakes, we know this isn’t an easy question.)

First of all, it’s critical to support the coach, as we discuss in our new youth sports workbook/CD program. You’ll only confuse your child by disagreeing with the coach or offering counterproductive coaching.

Second, you need to encourage your child as often as possible. Even if your athlete’s team lost, you can find something positive to say about his or her attitude, effort or about two or three positive plays. As a sports parent, your goal is to build your child’s confidence -not tear it down.