Mike Cooper- Ottawa
1. If there is a pre season open gym make sure you are there. Be the first to arrive and last to leave. Show the coach you are willing to put in the time.
2. Make sure you are in the best shape you can be when practice starts. Do some extra conditioning on your own.
3. Make sure your grades are good enough that a coach doesn't have to worry about you being eligible.
4. Year long weight room! Make sure you are physically able to compete at the highest level. If you don't have a place to go, do push-ups, pull ups, crunches and jump rope. All things you can do at home with no cost.
5. Make sure you have a team first attitude. If you are on the edge of being cut with a couple of other players, a coach will keep the player with the best attitude.
Mark Massey- Clinton
1- Try to clear your schedule, but if that’s impossible alert coaches to any conflicts i.e. family wedding, etc. That was especially important with volleyball playing on Saturdays. Quit your job or get hours scheduled that don’t come even close to conflicting with your season. It doesn’t work to come up and tell a coach that you have to leave every Tuesday and Thursday to work.
2- Come in with an attitude to embrace, not only physical, but mental challenges. It’s the cliché if it were easy, everybody would do it.
3- Be prepared to accept your role on the team, and communicate with the coach concerning your role. In the communication with your coach, identify what areas you and your coach think are important for you to work on.
4- Take care of yourself physically…get proper rest, stay hydrated.
5- Remind yourself of physical & mental behaviors that the coach values or doesn’t value. Act accordingly.
6- Perhaps remind your parents that the participation on the team and in the activity is going to be your experience, and not theirs. Their experience should hopefully be as a supportive parent and fan of the entire team.
7- Please don’t overreact to an early season disappointment: “I had a terrible practice. I’m never going to play!”
“I didn’t get to start in the first tournament. I’ll be on the bench all year.”
Things have a way of working out be patient and keep working hard.
Tim Engebretson- United
1. Last season successful or not, is over. Don't hang on to last year's accomplishments or frustrations. It is a completely new season. Develop your own story for this season.
2.Hopefully you completed all of our season goal sheets that we worked on at the end of last season. Now that we are looking at those goal sheets we hope they are team oriented and not too focused on individual goals. Everything we do from this point forward should be focused on making our team better.
3. No matter what you did or didn't do in the offseason. This is a new season. You have a clean slate. Make the most of it.
4. Understand and work on developing your role. Every single person in this program is important. Know and respect your role as well as all of your teammates' roles
5. Wins, championships, individual accolades are all great. However, the relationships and bonds you have a chance to build can last a lifetime. We feel that is more important than anything else.
Thom Sigel- Rock Island
My experiences as a coach working with players seems to have been so much of working with them on a daily basis and working together with all players to reach our goals. So I found it took some thought to come up with a list of 5 pieces of advice I would share before a season starts, but here is what I have come up with:
1. Coaches will probably relate to this, but it also makes it easier on players to start their season off on a good note - GET YOUR PHYSICAL AND PAPERWORK DONE EARLY so you are ready to start practice on day 1.
2. Understand how special your team is. Do your part to create a tight-knit environment of having an inner circle that can block out the distractions and outside advice. In addition, make sure you are not a part of creating any cliques in your locker room.
3. Along the same lines as #2, don't get sucked into social media pitfalls. You need to understand that even as a high school athlete, in our society now, you can be in the spotlight with people taking shots at you even though they have no right (or qualification) to do so. Also, you can not post things that will harm you or your program's reputation. If need be, delete your accounts or stay off them.
4. Stay consistent and keep focus on the next game and the goals for the team. There will be good games and bad, so the leadership on the team must make sure the team doesn't get overconfident, and is also able to handle diversity after bad games.
5. Keep in mind the special experience you have playing high school athletics. So in addition to being coachable, being a good teammate, competing to the best of your ability, and showing good character, make sure you ENJOY the experience.
Jeff Parsons- Wethersfield
1) Attitude is Everything. It doesn't matter if you are up or down 50. How do you respond when it's easy and how do you respond during adversity.
2) Be an All-Star in your role regardless what your role is.
3) Be a great Teammate. Be the player everyone wants to play along side.
4) Hard work wins. I have never met a player that said I wish I would have not worked as hard to be successful.
5)Coach-ability. Coaches love players that listen and enjoy getting better through the teaching of the game.
Bob Anderson- Williamsfield HS
Bob is retired as boys basketball coach at Williamsfield. At a school of only 89 students, in 45 years, his teams won 732 games along with numerous tourney and conference championships. His 1997 team made it to the Elite 8.
Greg Bennett- Lewistown
Greg coached many sports at Lewistown. He had teams go to State in girls basketball and football. He is in the Illinois Football HOF as well as being in the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame. He is know for his commitment as a coach and his high energy level.
Kathy Bresnahan- Iowa City West
Kathy coached volleyball at Iowa City West from 1987-2000 and 2005-2013. Her teams made 7 State apprearances and won the State Championship in 2010 and 2011. She wrote a book, “The Miracle Season” about the 2011 season, which was made into a movie. She was National COY in 2011, State COY 2010, 2011. She is in both the Iowa Volleyball HOF and UW-Platteville HOF.
Mike Cooper- Ottawa HS
Mike is the retired Athletic Director at Ottawa HS. He was varsity girls basketball coach for 22 years, as well as sophomore football coach for many years. He was inducted in the the IBCA HOF.
Tim Engebretson- United HS
He was varsity head football coach for many years at United HS. He also has coached basketball at different levels. His 2005 team won the Illinois State Title, and Tim is in the Illinois Football Coaches' HOF as well as the United HOF.
Greg King- Sterling HS
In his head coaching career at Sterling, his football teams went 78-28, and had 10 straight play-off appearances and 5 conference titles. In addition to his success as a football coach, he was inducted in the Illinois Athletic Director's Association HOF.
Diane Lichtenberg- Bettendorf HS
Diane coached volleyball at Bettendorf for 34 years. During that time, her teams had only one losing season while winning two State championships. She has been selected to both the National Coaches HOF and to the Iowa Volleyball HOF.
Jeff Parsons- Wethersfeild, Fulton
Jeff was a highly successful baseball and basketball coach at Kewanee Wethersfield. He was inducted into the IBCA HOF. Presently he is the Athletic Director at Fulton
Mark Massey- Clinton HS
Mark was the head volleyball coach at Clinton for 38 years. His teams won 818 games, and twice took second in State. He is in the Iowa Volleyball HOF and Clinton HS HOF.
Thom Sigel- Rock Falls/Rock Island HS
Thom coached basketball for 32 years. His teams won 502 games, and he has the distinction of winning the State Title at both Rock Falls and Rock Island. Thom is in the IBCA HOF.
Mike Tracey- Alleman, UTHS, Moline HS
Mike coached football at Alleman, UT, and Moline for over 20 years. He is considered the premier football coach in WB6 history. His teams won 140 games, and twice finished second in State. Mike is in the Alleman HS HOF and the Illinois Football HOF. He was also selected Illinois AD of the Year. I
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