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For Coaches & Programs
The athletic director's November: eligibility grades, winter tryouts, and the three things that go wrong every year.
November is the hardest month on a high school AD's calendar: fall playoffs are still running, winter tryouts start, first-quarter grades decide who's eligible, and the same three problems show up every single year. Here's the month from the AD's chair, and the small preparations in October that make it survivable.
Christian Bentley · October 22, 2026
For Coaches & Programs
Running a practice when you have fourteen kids, one field, and seventy-five minutes.
The most common failure in youth practice isn't bad drills. It's lines. Twelve kids standing while two do something. Here's the practice structure that keeps every player moving, a planning method that takes ten minutes, and the one question to ask yourself when a drill is dying.
Christian Bentley · October 8, 2026
For Coaches & Programs
You're a great coach. Are you a business? The private-trainer checklist.
Most private trainers started because they're good with kids and good at the sport. The ones who last also solved five boring problems: getting paid on time, protecting their calendar, covering themselves legally, keeping parents informed, and knowing their real hourly rate. Here's the checklist, in the order it usually breaks.
Christian Bentley · September 28, 2026
For Coaches & Programs
The first parent meeting: the twenty minutes that decide your season.
Most coaching problems in week ten were preventable in week one. The pre-season parent meeting is where you set playing-time philosophy, communication rules, and the one sentence that prevents the parking-lot ambush. Here's the agenda that works and the three things coaches leave out.
Christian Bentley · September 14, 2026