Justin Shaffer

HS sports: Lifting with your team 2x/wk in the off-season doesn’t always guarantee you will win a title. It just increases your likelihood of success. But not training with your team 2x/wk in the off-season almost always guarantee that you will not win a title. It wildly decreases your chances of success.

NEW Damaging #tornado in Winthrop, Iowa from the #Dominator 3 This tornado took the roof off a Casey,s #stormchasing

@ReedTimmerUSA Give is a wave when you go by Winthrop!

💯 “Boring before brilliance.” Paul Skenes details his routine Young athletes want to constantly do something new or novel Often avoiding routine, fundamentals & what works… “Sometimes it’s what it takes in sports The boring process, the boring fundamentals.” LISTEN:

Alabama football director of performance, David Ballou What would be his biggest tip to young athletes trying to get to the next level? “A lot of people work hard… it’s the people that work hard & are able to stack nutrition & sleep & those things on top of it.” Listen up:

Every player (and parent) who thinks they are a college baseball prospect must read and let what this college coach says marinate…

Steve Nash once delivered 239 high fives, fist bumps, and pats on the back in a single game. Not by accident. Connection fuels performance.

Free advice for football coaches: 1. If you draw up an offensive play, always draw up a defense. 2. Calling plays is hard. It's easy to question after the fact. Everyone’s a great play caller on the ride home. 3. If your players are confused, it’s probably your fault and it's too complex. Don’t assume they get it. 4. Stop obsessing over titles. Be ready when your shot comes. 5. You probably aren't as good at “winging it” as you think. Preparation is key. 6. If you only talk to kids when they mess up, don’t expect them to listen when it matters. 7. Everyone wants to call plays… until it’s 3rd & 8 with the game on the line. 8. If your system only works with great players, it’s not a great system. 9. If practice isn’t organized, don’t expect Friday night to magically be. 10. Stop blaming “kids these days.” Part of coaching is just adjusting. 11. Halftime adjustments sound great… but we would tell them before halftime if we knew what to say. 12. Film doesn’t lie, but coaches sometimes do about what they see on it. Just my opinion, we don’t have to agree.

@owensiebring Wish you the best. Thanks for visiting East Buchanan football, and thanks for your coverage of all high school sports.

Friday will be my last day at KGAN. Our station is going through some transitions, and I (along with some of my colleagues) was given the option to either sign a new contract... or have March 20 be my last day. And I chose the latter. Frankly it has less to do with the change, and more to do with my current life status. I'm in a serious relationship with a wonderful women who lives in Michigan. So the next step was already going to be a relocation closer to her... this just pushed that decision forward by several months. The most difficult part of these last days is knowing how many stories I wanted to tell, but will be left unfinished. I won't get to cover the Hawkeye women's team in another NCAA tournament... I won't get to cover Quentin Nauman's final State track meet... I won't get to see the next chapter of Hawkeye football. This makes it painful to say goodbye, but it is necessary. It's been a tremendous honor over the last 4 years to cover sports in my home market. Every sports anchor dreams of doing big things in the world of broadcasting... but if you can't make it big, then working in your home market is a special honor that not a lot of people get to enjoy. I've worked for almost 9 years in this state, and I've had the pleasure of working alongside some of the greatest journalists Iowa has ever known. Calling myself a colleague of guys like Keith Murphy, Scott Saville, Brad Pautsch, Ron Steele, Chad Leistikow, Scott Dochterman, Jeff Linder, Mike Hlas... that has been an honor that I'll never forget. What's next for Owen? I have no idea. And frankly that's frightening... to be face-to-face with not knowing where my next paycheck will come from; I haven't had to deal with that in over a decade, and it terrifies me. Next week I'll be going to Kenya for a couple of weeks to visit some of the locations where my girlfriend runs a non-profit. After that, I'll likely be sticking around Iowa a little while longer before relocating to Michigan. But what I'm doing to make a living? I really don't know. I'm hoping to pick up some freelance work here or there; I have a few leads on that front, but I'm not sure what that might actually look like. I love this job, and deep down I believe this is the line of work I was built for. But it's entirely possible that this is the end of my television career, and a time for a transition to something else. Again, it's a frightening perspective, and one that I didn't think I would be facing at this stage of my life... but here we are. If anyone reading this has any connections in western Michigan, or knows of any places to pick up some freelance writing, shooting, reporting, or anything in a related field-I'd be happy to hear about it! I'll post more when my last day comes this Friday. But for now, just know that every day on this job has been a joy, and I'll miss eastern Iowa dearly.

The Parent Poison… Most parents want the best for their kids. But sometimes, without realizing it, they slowly poison the very team their child is part of. It rarely starts with something dramatic. It starts small. A comment in the car ride home. “Why didn’t the coach play you more?” A comparison. “You’re better than that kid.” A quiet complaint at the dinner table. “That coach doesn’t know what he’s doing.” Kids hear everything. And when they hear it, something changes. Doubt creeps in. Blame grows. Trust fades. The mindset shifts from team first to me first. What begins in the living room eventually shows up in the locker room. You see it in body language. You hear it in conversations. You feel it in the culture. Instead of unity, there are whispers. Instead of accountability, there are excuses. Instead of growth, there is resentment. Great teams cannot survive that environment. Because the best teams are built on three things: Trust. Sacrifice. Shared purpose. When players start believing the problem is everyone else, those things disappear. Parents play a powerful role in a team’s culture whether they realize it or not. The healthiest teams have parents who: Support the program. Encourage resilience. Teach their kids to handle adversity. They remind their children: Work harder. Be a great teammate. Control what you can control. They don’t feed excuses. They build character. And here’s the truth most people miss: A parent’s influence extends far beyond their own child. It affects the locker room. It affects the culture. It affects the entire team. Great teams require unity, not whispers of criticism. So the challenge for parents is simple. Be the adult in the room. Guard your words. Model respect. Support the team. Because what starts at home always finds its way onto the court, the field, or the locker room. And the best parents don’t poison the culture. They protect it.

Got his feet wet with wrestling and found the podium with an 8th place finish in his first year at state.

Happy birthday back on Feb 13th!

Incredibly thankful to those guys out there that opened up and have shared everything with me over the years. You know who you are, and I’m forever grateful. It’s never taken for granted.

🛑 6 Things I Learned as a Young OL Coach...that i wish I knew back then. 👇🏻

The Midwest will be the undisputed champion if Indiana wins tonight

"If you keep your nose down in life and keep working, anything is possible." - Curt Cignetti