The PCA Blog

Northwestern’s Chris Collins and the Power of Positive

by David Jacobson

03.16.2017

We were going to congratulate PCA National Advisory Board Member Chris Collins on Northwestern University’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. But we were so confident that his positive coaching would lead the Wildcats beyond the first round that we decided to wait until we could congratulate him – now – on the team’s first-ever tournament win!

For an example of exactly how Chris uses the Power of Positive, watch the video below.

In order to boost the confidence of Alex Olah, whose last season with the team was 2015-2016, Collins urged him to repeat the phrase "I'm a BEAST" every time they interacted. Chris shares this story as evidence of the transformative power of coaches believing in players so that players will believe in themselves. 

David Jacobson was the Positive Coaching Alliance Senior Marketing Communications and Content Manager for over 12 years. He is a lifelong sports fan and participant, and even now enjoys playing pick-up basketball. David coached and officiated primarily baseball, softball and basketball, whether his two (now grown) children were on the teams or not.