WYC 007 Youth Football – Damien Wong-Ken – Life as a Vapor

What does it take to be a winning youth coach? Listen in as Coach Damien Wong-Ken shares coaching stories and discusses his journey to becoming a successful youth coach. Damien was born in Kingston, Jamaica – then moved to Calgary and grew up in Calgary, Canada. He is married and father of a 14 year-old girl and 10 year-old son. Damien is a chef –see him at bluemountainkitchen.com, and does wardrobe design for artists – check it out at aimwide.com. He has coached high school football and most recently been a head coach of flag football in Franklin, Tennessee. Listen Now: Listen in ITunes: Itunes link Listen in Stitcher: Stitcher link   Coaching/Leadership Quote ▪   ‘Life as a Vapor - Life Is Short. Eternity Is Long. Live Like It’ - John Piper click to tweet! Coaching your own Kid ▪   Damien found that it worked much better to have an assistant take care of any disciplining of his son My ‘Cringe’ Moment ▪   If you have a non-confrontational style – it can be tough to deal with some of the challenging parents. A key is to establish your team rules and expectations up front Coaching AH-HA Moment HUGE IDEA: The Random Points Game- Kids love to have fun and play games – and even though the points don’t mean anything – the kids will go nuts trying to earn points Teaching Children ▪   It might take longer to teach a younger child through discipline – but as long as you are consistent and immediately welcome them back after disciplining them – they can still be taught to do things the right way Best Stolen Idea ▪   Good sportsmanship – learned from the first coach he coached under – Darin Clark. They actually made banners for the opposing team as well as their own Coaching Resources ▪   Best resource is: Other coaches! Don’t be shy about sharing ideas with other coaches Discipline ▪   Damien uses typical parent techniques for discipline – timeouts – kids have to sit out their favorite drills/games Reward, Recognition ▪   At the end of each game – he gives out 3 trophies – and the last one is the MVP – and this goes to whoever is the best teammate ▪   To Encourage improving year-to-year – Damien keeps track of stats for each kid for the year – then gives them cards (like Topps cards) at the end of the season – great motivator for them to improve themselves Teambuilding ▪   Send an email with details around specific accomplishments for each kid – then ask the parents to read the email to their child Inspiring Story ▪   With a tough child – Damien consistently showed him he would be a man in his life who would not beat him down emotionally, physically, or verbally – but still discipline him.   He earned the MVP trophy for a game towards the end of the season- and the other players rejoiced with him.  The One that Got Away ▪   Damien coached against a guy that was teaching his kids to play dirty – and things got very heated – they spoke afterwards and did not come to any agreement, Damien out-executed him and beat him, but it was not fun playing against this style of coach Coaching/Leadership Motivation ▪   Book: ‘Life as a Vapor’ by John Piper –whatever we do in each moment impacts eternity Parting Advice ▪  Be patient – breathe deep and often – take 20 seconds to think through tough situations Interview Links ▪   HUDL Damien’s businesses: Chef – bluemountainkitchen.com Wardrobe design for artists – aimwide.com Ready to be an Awesome Youth Coach? Sign up for our free weekly newsletter @ WinningYouthCoaching Newsletter