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There was a time when 18-year-old boys and girls joined a college athletic team and left four years later as 22-year-old men and women, confident, trained, and effective team members. Coaches had time to focus on long-term development, looking at the big picture rather than short-term gains. Coaches helped individuals identify their strengths and weaknesses, set goals, and worked to help them improve, enabling them to reach their potential. The successful coach had a basic philosophical understanding of the place of sport in the student’s life. Good coaches understood that their athletes were also students and that achievement in the classroom was paramount to success.

Coaching is a critical component in shaping teams, developing talent, and leading athletes to success. While women’s basketball has experienced remarkable growth and recognition in recent years, one of the driving forces behind this evolution has been the level of leadership among coaches. These women not only excel in developing their teams’ technical skills, but also serve as mentors and powerful role models for the next generation of athletes.

March Madness starts in two weeks and we’ll be watching a lot of basketball. I’ve been watching basketball for over 75 years, starting with my All American father when I was just a boy. Later, I followed my brother who was the point guard on a great high school team. With all this legacy, I thought I would be good at basketball as well, but that was not to be. I could run, jump, and shoot, but when I got on the court with nine other guys, I felt like I was in the middle of Hwy 91 without a car. Not so for many of the players we will see in the coming weeks. I continue to be amazed by the skill of today’s players, their ball handling and speed is truly amazing.

Good morning!Interstate driving isn’t what it used to be. There was a time when the next Dunkin’ Donuts past Richmond wasn’t until Jacksonville, when Jesus and country music dominated the airwaves and brake lights were the first warning of trouble ahead.

Good morning!At first glance it appeared that UMass had done right by Noah Lee — giving him $10,000 for his feat after Odds On Promotions refused to cough up the loot — but then came the rest of the story.

Good morning!They’ll be flying through the air with snow on their skis at Harris Hill in Brattleboro this weekend. The forecast calls for the proverbial kitchen sink, and to better inform you how it will affect the ski jumping your humble servant called the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association in Park City, Utah. 

It’s NGWSD season!National Girls and Women in Sport Day is celebrated annually to honor the achievements of women and girls in sports, raise awareness about the importance of gender equality in athletics, and encourage more participation in sports at all levels.

It’s Saturday morning and you’ve just come down on the side of your ankle while playing in the neighborhood basketball game. The pain is immediate as you limp to the sideline. “Get some ice,” someone yells. You lie down, put your leg up on a chair and wait for the ice. Upon arrival you wrap the ice tightly around the ankle. You have just satisfied the age-old rule of RICE, the recommended treatment for acute injuries for 46 years. RICE stands for rest, ice, compression, and elevation, all factors designed to reduce blood flow as well as inflammation. RICE was first proposed by Harvard physician Gabe Mirkin in his 1978 text “The Sports Medicine Book.”

(Editor’s note: This is the first installment of a new monthly column that will run in print on the second Monday of each month)

Good morning!In 2016 the late Garry Brown published a collection of his favorite columns — Garry Brown’s Greatest Hits — that appeared in the Springfield Republican. The book is a compendium of local and regional information about bygone days, from Eddie Shore’s Springfield Indians to Nun’s Day at Fenway Park.

Christmas is over and here we are, a week beyond New Year’s Day. That’s right folks, we’ve made it through and enjoyed another season of merry and bright, the ball has finally dropped propelling us into another New Year followed by a period of resolutions thrust upon us again — which is traditional, right?

Last month I wrote about the benefits of unsupervised play, that children who play outdoors with other children learn not only physical skills but how to get along with other children, how to play fair, to be creative, to learn how to get up when...

Good morning!UMass athletic director Ryan Bamford has released a four-page memo to season ticket holders titled “A Vision for UMass Football” that promises a phoenix will rise from the ashes of a broken program.The 2,666-word document reads at times...

Good morning!Sports betting ads are ubiquitous on media platforms from radio to television to podcasts. Online betting companies pay good money for the airtime and nobody wants to kill the golden goose. Consequently it took a British periodical to...

As I take pen in hand, the holiday season is totally upon us, and family traditions of celebrating and spending time together are key components to making it all so special. These traditions hold the same importance for Massachusetts outdoors people,...

Good morning!The Boston University hockey team arrived in their peppermint stick jerseys on Wednesday and worked the Cole mine in front of 4,649 fans at the Mullins Center. Cole Hutson, an 18-year-old defenseman from Chicago, scored two goals and...

Good morning!Last week in this space UMass money man John Kennedy defended embattled athletic director Ryan Bamford, who I blamed for the football team’s terrible record (18-82) since he was hired.Kennedy’s comments didn’t go over well on social...

Every year when whitetail deer season approaches, I’m again reminded of a story that was one of my best hunts ever. It culminated in a better understanding of the purest essence of deer hunting, rather than the emotion of any success or failure we...

There was a vacant lot on the corner of 10th Street and Avenue H. I learned to play there, meeting up daily with other children in the neighborhood after school. There is something irreplaceable about unsupervised play; many lessons are learned. We...

Good morning!On a sunny day at McGuirk Alumni Stadium, a dark cloud hung over the UMass bench. Finish strong or you’re gone, the staff had been told, and the team was hanging on for dear life against heavily favored Liberty.The visitors had chartered...

A few weeks back a reader of the Recorder, we’ll call her Joanne, sent me an email commenting on a recent On the Ridge column. In the content of the email, she asked, “would you include a hunting calendar in your columns? It will help all the...