KidFirst Sports

𝟖𝟎-𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐍𝐨𝐭 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 I often hear commentators or pundits say that a particular coach has lost the team or dressing room. Nick Saban, the former head coach of the Miami Dolphins and Hard Rock Stadium and The University of Alabama provides some advice on how coaches can not lose their teams. 𝗦𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗻'𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗔𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 1️⃣Be a transformational and not a transactional leader. 2️⃣Use negative experiences as a teaching opportunity to help keep morale. 3️⃣Be someone that your players can emulate. 4️⃣Care about your players (for their benefit). 5️⃣Have a clear vision regarding how you will accomplish your goals. 6️⃣Develop value-based principles to help players succeed in life, not just sports. 7️⃣Focus on the process and not the outcome.

Weekend tip: Go see "The Wild Robot". ✅Story with real purpose ✅Incredible animation style ✅Inspirational score ✅Characters you love ✅Laughs and cries ❌Weird agendas ❌Lame bathroom humor https://lnkd.in/grnNx2RU

The numbers are in! 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟯 📈 • 7.86 million total participants • Texas, Cali, New York w/ the most athletes • Average parent spending $693 per kid annually • With some parents reporting over $20,000 for elite travel sports BIG market! And this NFHS data is just for the United States.

The toxic behavior from some parents and coaches at youth soccer games is completely out of hand. Players are dropping out, refs are treated with zero respect, and the joy of the game is being destroyed. It’s shameful to see adults trying to relive their own failed dreams through kids, turning what should be a positive experience into a nightmare. This selfish, abusive attitude is ruining the sport for everyone. Enough is enough—this culture needs to change. Soccer is about the players, not parents screaming from the sidelines. If we don’t fix this, we’ll lose the heart of the game altogether.

The best business model in the world is to stop doing what your customers hate. It sounds harsh, but that's where everything started for us with the Savannah Bananas. I remember vividly the day I was watching a baseball game and was bored out of my mind. I hated how long and slow the game had become and I knew there was a better way. I then remember buying concert tickets and paying an arm and a leg, not just for the ticket, but for the ticket fees, convenient fees and taxes. I hated that a $50 ticket was over $70 with all the fees. We started the Bananas with the idea that we would make baseball fun, fast and exciting and eliminate all the fees, while making the experience all-inclusive with all your hot dogs, burgers, chicken sandwiches, popcorn, water, soda and dessert for one low price. Then we kept going eliminating the friction for our fans by taking down all the advertising at our stadium in Savannah, as we believe no one comes to a game to be advertised to or sold to. Then we started Banana Ball and eliminated hitters stepping out of the box, walks, mound visits, and many of the other boring parts of the game. We kept doing friction audits on our fan experience every step of the way. When you believe in being fans first, every single thing you do has to be fans first. But we know we still have a long way to go. We had open seating for years, but as the excitement for our games grew, we knew we had to make a change to reserved seating...now all of our tour games are reserved seating to make it easier and safer for our fans. Now today, ticket scalpers are taking advantage of our demand and selling our tickets for outrageous prices. We are going to work hard to eliminate this problem as well, and it may take years, but we are going to keep fighting for our fans. We believe in long term fans over short term profits and will leave millions of dollars on the table to do so. It's never ending journey, but we've learned it's worth it 1,000% of the time.