Phillip Nagle is Still Pedaling After 2,000 Miles & 1 Crash!

Phillip Nagle is now 2,000 miles into his 8,000 mile quest to raise $48K for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. Yesterday was particularly treacherous not only from being chased by 20 different dogs while trying to climb mountains in Tennessee, but the final dog ran out and front of him, causing him to wreck. He is okay, but he has what cyclists call, “road rash.” It is a condition where the asphalt takes of a layer of your skin. It is totally uncomfortable and painful, but Phil bandaged his wounds, and got back on the bike again.

It is DAY 17, and 25% of the journey is over. Phil is only about a day behind, but they had planned for 1 day of contingency. If Phil completes this ride, he will set a new world record and will be entered into the Guinness Book of World Records. Today he is headed for the Carolina’s.

Phil is using One Call Now phone notification to send updates during the course of his journey. To hear Phil’s updates online or to be added to the phone notification list, go to http://go48in48.com/onecall.

Phillip is also posting pictures on flickr

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Day 5 – Phillip Nagle Still Pedaling on his Mission to Raise $48K for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Some people think he is crazy for attempting to ride so many miles in 48 days. I even had a friend bet me a pair of Speedplay bike pedals that he wouldn’t make it. But I am a believer: He’s going to make it. I know it. I hope you will be a believer too.

At the end of the day on July 23rd, Phil was 550 miles into his 8,000 mile journey to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Today he is headed for the beautiful state of Vermont. Being a flatlander from Ohio, Phil went above what his training had prepared him for and conquered the hills in the Allegany National forest in New York. “My legs are a little sore,” he admitted humbly. (I wonder how he is going to feel when he hits the Rockies!) I have to confess that I wish that I was riding with him: A ride like this comes once in a lifetime if we’re lucky. And to ride for such a mission makes it even more special.

Phil is using One Call Now phone notification to send updates during the course of his journey. To hear this online updates, go to http://go48in48.com/onecall. If you would like to be added to the One Call Now calling list to hear Phil’s updates by phone, please email your phone number to Christina.brownlee@onecallnow.com

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Coaching Tips: What’s the Best Way to Communicate with Parents?

It’s Going to be a Great Season
Whether this is your first year or your twenty-first, we applaud and thank you for the time and effort you spend guiding the development of young players. Their spirit, enthusiasm, sportsmanship and athletic abilities are in your hands. After participating in a number of coaching education courses over the years, I’ve noticed that coaches continue to ask, “What’s the best way to communicate with parents?” Meanwhile, parents are wondering exactly how they can best relate to and support the coach! Answering these questions is the purpose of this guide. This booklet is targeted at youth sports coaches. Although written from a soccer coach’s perspective and for soccer coach Certification Seminars, this booklet is appropriate for all youth sports and activities. We will cover different options, tools and methods coaches can use when communicating with parents and players. Effective coaching means going above and beyond the basics of coaching the game and building players’ skills; it means communicating with parents, encouraging players and building a strong sense of team and family for a successful season. We have pulled together several simple things you can do to keep your group in the loop and eliminate the frustrating hassles of communications.

THE COACH’S JOB
Do What You Do Well; Delegate the Rest
Many coaches want to train the players, coach the game and leave the rest to someone else. This may be the ideal, but it is not realistic. Responsibilities for a great season include player selection, parent meetings, scheduling, finding a place to train, securing the game field, locating/scheduling officials, getting results to the proper authority, identifying how the team will play, and more. Certainly, your best bet is to delegate responsibilities whenever appropriate. Coaches must learn that they are not always the best individuals to do all of the tasks. Experienced (and happy) coaches identify what they do not want to do, or are not best at doing, and find someone who can and will perform those tasks.

About the Good Call Authors
Edited by George Perry, NSCAA Senior National Staff Coach, and Winner of Berticelli Coaching Award and Leib Lurie, former Venture Crew Leader and Pack Master, BSA

Read more by downloading the One Call Now GOOD CALL Coaches Handbook.

One Call Now is a market leading automated phone and text messaging service serving business, government, schools, religious, and sports organizations. Learn more at One Call Now.

11 Tips for Church, Parish, and Temple Administrators

Here are some friendly ideas that will help you become more effective in your role as administrator for your congregation.

1. Keep a regular office schedule so vendors and church members can reach you.

2. When buying new office or meeting room equipment, be sure to budget at least 20% a year for maintenance and replacement costs.

3. Pay attention to the parking lot. Church members who have trouble parking are less likely to attend. Convenient parking increases attendance and collections.

4. The best way to get people to attend a meeting or religious study class is to offer food. Coffee, juice, donuts and muffins before a class will nearly always boost attendance dramatically.

5. Keep your communications to the congregation short and sweet – get to the point, be factual, be positive.

6. Be pro-active. Look for problems to fix while they are still small and manageable. Nagging problems only grow worse.

7. Ask for help every week, and get volunteers to help with the church facilities and activities. Don’t suffer in silence. Get help. Others will enjoy helping you.

8. Set time aside to communicate with your clergy individually. Make sure they know you are supporting them and find out what they need.

9. Be humble and admit errors and oversights on your part with candor and humor. Everyone makes and forgives mistakes.

10. Enjoy your work and treat everyone to a smile. You’ll get a lot more support with a smile, and your congregation will be the better for it.

11. Use an affordable and reliable service like the One Call Now automated phone-messaging service to reach your congregation, study groups, choir, or youth group. You can create a phone number list in advance for each group, including home, work, and cell numbers. When it’s time to call, record your message from a script, select the list or lists to use, and let the automated service place all your calls.

About the Authors
Phillip Elmore, Director of Business Development for One Call Now’s Religious Market and Christina Brownlee, Marketing Director for One Call Now™,

One Call Now has calling plans for large churches, voice broadcasting service plans for congregational churches, and group calling plans for synagogues and chabads.

One Call Now is a market leading automated phone and text messaging service serving business, government, schools, religious, and sports organizations. Learn more at One Call Now.

Protecting the Sports Team Coach and Manager by Bruce Brownlee

Sports clubs and school systems nationwide are cautiously guarding their sports programs from the stigma that results from accusations of improper conduct between a sports team coaches and team managers and players.   Here’s a short list of tips you can use to guard your reputation.

On the Field or at the Gym

1. “Keep the ball in front of you” and “move your feet faster” both sound OK.
2. If you aren’t coaching another team, pack up and get going once the parents and players are gone.
3. If a parent fails to pick up a player on time after practice, have another coach, team manager, parent, or administrator stay with you until the parent arrives.
4. In case of severe weather, put players into a safe structure, or worst case, into passenger cars as a last resort.  No matter how bad the weather, do not sit in a passenger car or building alone with an individual player.  Split up the team so there are several players in each car waiting with parents and coaches.

Protecting the Travel Team Coach On the Road

1. If your club or school can provide an ATC or trainer, take them with you.
2. The parents home and cell phone numbers should be included, as well as the player’s social security number and medical insurance policy numbers and claims verification phone numbers.
3. While traveling or while at the hotel for a basketball, soccer, or softball tournament, never go into a room or other private space alone with a player for any reason.
4. It’s OK to tape an ankle, treat a wound, apply an ice bag, check a knee, or provide Pepto Bismol in this way.
5. Each player already has friends and parents, and trying to be either of these, or trying to be “one of the guys” undermines your effectiveness as a coach.

Safe Communications Before Practices and Games

1. If you get such a contact, just follow up with the parents, not the player, in person or by phone.
2. Well-intentioned attempts at humor are misunderstood, and emails are often seen in a different light when forwarded to persons outside the team who are not familiar with the context.
3. If you must send emails, never send emails to players unless you copy their parents on each and every email.
4. Archive the emails to a file archive later to retain them forever without clogging up your mail client.
5. Messages are forwarded, especially those with unflattering comments, criticism, and inappropriate attempts at humor.
6. Mail server administrators can reconstruct a complete second-by-second record of every conversation you have, by IM, by Twitter, or by email.
7. This ensures that every family gets the same, correct message, and this avoids the chance that you’d be talking to a young child and hoping that the correct message later reaches the parents.

Using an Automated Sports Team Calling Service

Sports team calling services let you set up a team call tree list on a one-time basis, and then use the list to send out a recorded phone message every time you need to call the team. 

One Call Now’s automated phone messaging service for teams is a great tool that lets your reach out to all your parents and players to keep them informed and participating, without the risk of getting the message wrong.  With One Call Now, you can include both home and cell phone telephone numbers for your team.

You can use the affordable and reliable One Call Now automated phone-messaging service to reach your individual team, or use One Call Nowcalling service for travel teams.   One Call Now also has an excellent One Call Now phone message plan for sports clubs and leagues.

About the Author

Bruce Brownlee is an experienced soccer coach who publishes Soccer Coaching Notes and who guest blogs for One Call Now™, a market leading automated phone and text messaging service serving business, government, schools, religious, and sports organizations.  Learn more at One Call Now.