Coaches' Clinic: A team effort
for healthier athletes
To succeed, today’s youth athletic coaches need to understand much more than sports technique and game time strategy.
“Players often come to me with questions about health issues, injuries or nutrition,” says Mike Rinier, head varsity coach of the Conestoga Valley girls lacrosse team. “When they do, I like to be able to offer some practical suggestions; to have all of the right information and steer them in the right direction.”
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Conestoga Valley girls lacrosse coach Mike Rinier
has attended every Coaches' Clinic to improve his
coaching skills and offer practical suggestions
when athletes come to him for advice. |
Mike is able to give them valuable advice on many issues that concern young athletes thanks in part to his participation in the free Coaches’ Clinic sponsored by the Lancaster General Orthopedic Center.
“They touch on so many relevant, real world issues,” he says. “The programs and speakers are phenomenal, and they present things in interesting, easy-to-follow terms. I’ve learned a lot, and it has increased my knowledge as a coach.”
“Our local coaches are molding young athletes,” says Stacey Youcis, Assistant Vice President of Musculoskeletal & Surgical Services at Lancaster General. “We want to do anything that we can to provide them with useful information that will help them to avoid injuries, treat injuries and successfully recover from injuries as well as support young athletes as a mentor and role model.”
Each Coaches’ Clinic covers a variety of topics, such as:
- Training and conditioning strategies
- Injury prevention and treatment
- Dealing with difficult behaviors
- Nutrition
- Consequences of performance enhancing products
“We want to help our coaches train and develop more well-rounded and positively focused people not just develop better athletic ability,” Stacey says. “So our Coaches’ Clinics focus on overall wellness and health. We offer information from experts in psychosocial issues, confidence boosting, team building – these are all important topics for coaches to get updated information about.”
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Coaches Clinic
Saturday, March 3, 2007
7:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Lancaster General Hospital
555 North Duke Street
Lancaster
Stager Conference Center
LancasterGeneral.org/CoachesClinic
544-4683 |
Mike has attended all three Coaches’ Clinics offered by Lancaster General, and plans to attend the next one scheduled for Saturday, March 3, 2007 from 7:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. in the
Stager Conference Center at
Lancaster General Hospital,
555 North Duke Street, Lancaster.
Each Coaches’ Clinic covers new topics, so there’s always something fresh for coaches to take away from the program, no matter how many times they’ve attended. Coaches also receive five hours of Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for their participation in a clinic.
Coaches’ Clinics are held twice a year, before the spring and fall sports seasons. Space is limited and seats fill quickly. For more information and to register, visit
LancasterGeneral.org/CoachesClinic or call 544-4683.
Whether you coach a high school varsity football team or a community softball league team, each program is presented to make sure you can take something useful away.
“Nutrition has been one of the biggest things for me,” Mike says. “I’ve gained a lot of insight into weight training, and about shoulder and knee injuries – how to avoid them, and what to do if there are signs of an injury. When I’m coaching, the notebook provided by the clinic is always right there with me.”
In addition, participants receive a DVD of the program provided at no cost afterward only to clinic participants gives him a valuable resource to review those topics most important to him. “It’s like going back and being right there again.”
And they survey coaches at every program for topic suggestions, so that future programs can address real issues that are on the minds of coaches.
“I will keep going, because I want to be the best coach I can be,” Mike says.
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