Dave Malowski

"As coaches, we have the privilege and responsibility of shaping the next generation of youth players. It’s a task that becomes infinitely more rewarding when we prioritize fun, joy, and playfulness." transformingbball.com/refram…

BLOG - 'The ‘Unknown Damage?’ caused from the sideline' Every weekend all over the world millions of parents, children and coaches set off for their weekly sporting ritual ‘Match Day’. Many will follow the same process each week and will never question their routine or behaviour. Many of these parents and coaches are well intentioned, trying to support their child and their team through match situations totally unaware of the damage they may be doing by overly involving themselves before and after but crucially during the game itself. parentsinsport.co.uk/2017/10…

“As a parent, there’s an element of freedom you have to give to a kid you want to become a real player. You have to be willing to cut them loose.” “Raise a Player, Not a Puppet" >> buff.ly/3IOb53A ~ via @CoachTDaugherty

Everyone should read this... The High Shoulders Theory (a visual thread)

The Three-Phase Timeout Regulate first. Instruct second. The order is what makes the instruction stick. 1. Emotional Reset ~15 seconds Before anything tactical: eye contact, slow your own breathing, calm body language. Acknowledge the emotion without amplifying the panic. Players flooded with adrenaline can’t process coverages. “I see the intensity out there, that’s good. We’re still in this game.” 2. Cognitive Reframe ~20 seconds Shift focus to what’s controllable. Connect the pressure to something they’ve already mastered. This rebuilds confidence and gives the brain a concrete task. “Remember what we worked on Thursday, tight closeouts on shooters. Let’s execute that for four possessions.” 3. Tactical Clarity ~20 seconds Only now do you deliver the specific adjustment. A regulated player can absorb it. The same words in Phase 1 would be gone before they hit the court. “Switch on ball screens. Pack the paint, make them shoot.” Why it works: emotion gates cognition. Bring players to baseline, and the tactical point actually lands.

$10,000 a year for swimming. $20K for hockey. $30,000 for gymnastics + hoops. Youth sports are bleeding families dry and it's only getting worse. @StevePoliti with an incredible look at the dire, predatory atmosphere permeating today's youth landscape. nj.com/sports/2026/05/the-sh…

Congratulations to BU Sports Wall of Famer Rick DeGagne on being recognized with the Ted Earley Memorial Award - the @CanadaCboc's highest honour. DeGagne was a member of the Bobcats' first-ever GPAC championship team that earned a silver medal at nationals in 1980.

Transactional vs. Transformational Coaching… Dan Hurley shared a story about asking Geno Auriemma for advice after a rough start last season. Geno didn’t mince words: “Listen, if the only gratification and the only part of coaching that excites you is winning the national championship, then you’ve lost your way, buddy! Where’s the joy in the things that you’ve always been about as a coach before you went on the championship run, like relationships with your players, like helping people get better, like making your team the best it can be. Be a coach, man. This is when you really need to be a leader. This team isn’t as good as last year’s, so what the hell are you going to do about it? Are you going home? Are you going to let this thing unravel?” That’s the tension every coach feels: Transactional vs. Transformational. Transactional coaching is outcome-obsessed. It’s about the wins, the losses, the trophies. The problem? When results don’t come, your purpose crumbles with them. Transformational coaching is different. It’s about people. It’s about growth. It’s about building something that lasts, whether the scoreboard agrees with you or not. And this is why mentorship matters so much in coaching. Left on our own, it’s easy to drift into a transactional mode without even realizing it. A trusted mentor can pull us back to center and remind us why we started coaching in the first place. To build relationships. To develop players as people. To make teams the best they can be. Wins matter. But they’re not the why. The why is impact. The why is growth. The why is leaving your players better than you found them. The process is the prize. Stay grounded. Stay on the path. Always remember your why.

Say it louder for all to hear 📢 Youth sports should focus on enjoyment of sport and development of all kids. That’s not the case in most sports here either. Sport specialization too early, invite-only teams as young as 5-6 years old, coaches and board members with agendas..

Fans, parents, maybe even your assistants won't necessarily understand this, but as the head coach, your highest loyalty lies with the team. "You disappoint people. It comes with the territory... Your loyalty is to each of your players, but your ultimate loyalty is to the team."

Yes. We have a hard rule for our parents—no yelling instruction. They have zero idea what we’ve talked about in the huddle. If they can’t comply, they have to leave the gym. If they don’t, their child sits until the parent leaves. (We never have issues)

As a basketball coach, what’s one thing that you could take from the way Cignetti coaches his Indiana football team and apply it to your team?

Thoughts on Team Canada at World Juniors: There's been a lot of discourse today about Canada's performance after bowing out to Czechia again. I've read a lot about roster construction, team toughness, how players were used during the tournament, and other things related to the team's inability to get the job done. These things may have been an issue, but reality is the problem runs way deeper. Here is the biggest thing that people aren't talking about: Canada has WAY fewer youth boys playing hockey than it did a decade ago. Looking at Hockey Canada registration and membership data, it's mind-boggling to see the numbers. And the numbers in the biggest provinces (Ontario and Quebec) are especially egregious. So why is this happening? Hockey is Canada's sport. It shouldn't be like this. It's what we hear every day from families all over North America: Costs are too high. It's professionalized at too young of an age. The stress of the youth hockey experience is too much for kids and families. Community programs have been replaced by for-profit entities leading to higher costs and more pressure. Development has been replaced by super teams and rogue/outlaw leagues outside of Hockey Canada even before kids are 8 years old. At the older ages, hockey academies have become what families believe is the only way their kids will make it - shelling out INSANE amounts of money to send their kids to do so. Ontario just got rid of residency rules which will only lead to less accountability and more club-hopping than there already was in the nation's craziest and biggest youth hockey market. The reason why Canada was the hockey superpower for so long is because it was part of the fabric of the country. There was such a pride and passion for the game and what the game meant to the flag. There was such a sense of playing the game for something bigger than yourself. Now rather than playing for the love of the game, hockey in Canada is like a job for many of these kids in the environment they're being put in. It's less about pride and passion and more about the path to making it. When in all honesty, it's the pride and passion for the game that is the biggest consistency in the kids that do end up making it. If Canada wants to restore its hockey dominance, it better take a long look in the mirror at the grassroots and what is going on in youth hockey. If you have tens of thousands of fewer boys playing the game, you should probably look at that first. The bigger your pool of athletes, the more elite athletes you can develop. "As many as possible, for as long as possible, in the best environment possible". That has to be the guiding principle. There's a lot of great people in Canada doing incredible things for the game, but the system itself is fundamentally broken. If Hockey Canada is serious about getting back to the top, it has to start at the bottom.

Coaches: there is not a book in the world that will have a greater impact on your ability to drive improvement in your athletes than The Coach’s Guide to Teaching by @Doug_Lemov. Not the easiest read in the world (word of advice: treat it almost like a textbook), but A++ stuff

An important message for parents. Negativity at home always finds its way to the locker room. Parents have the power to help build a positive culture…or poison it.

If a child begins playing travel soccer at 5 years old, by the ripe old age of 15 they’ve already had a 10-year career. Think about that. Ten years of practices, games, tournaments, travel, uniforms, cleats, shin guards, team photos, emotional highs and lows, wins, losses, and lessons learned. When you frame it like that, no wonder so many young athletes feel pressure, fatigue, or even burnout by the time they hit their mid-teens. ericasuter.com/what-youth-so…

Transactional vs. Transformational Coaching Dan Hurley shared a story about asking Geno Auriemma for advice after a rough start last season. Geno didn’t mince words: “Listen, if the only gratification and the only part of coaching that excites you is winning the national championship, then you’ve lost your way, buddy! Where’s the joy in the things that you’ve always been about as a coach before you went on the championship run, like relationships with your players, like helping people get better, like making your team the best it can be. Be a coach, man. This is when you really need to be a leader. This team isn’t as good as last year’s, so what the hell are you going to do about it? Are you going home? Are you going to let this thing unravel?” That’s the tension every coach feels: Transactional vs. Transformational. Transactional coaching is outcome-obsessed. It’s about the wins, the losses, the trophies. The problem? When results don’t come, your purpose crumbles with them. Transformational coaching is different. It’s about people. It’s about growth. It’s about building something that lasts whether the scoreboard agrees with you or not. And this is why mentorship matters so much in coaching. Left on our own, it’s easy to drift into a transactional mode without even realizing it. A trusted mentor can pull us back to center, and remind us why we started coaching in the first place. To build relationships. To develop players as people. To make teams the best they can be. Wins matter. But they’re not the why. The why is impact. The why is growth. The why is leaving your players better than you found them. The process is the prize. Stay grounded. Stay on the path. Always remember your why.

I don’t know why the response to a missed shot is a physical (unrelated) punishment. Players get frustrated, fear failure, learn to hate running, and don’t get better at layups by running. The response should be more teaching, more competition, more reps, more solutions!