In the early 1970s, University of Washington sport psychology professors Ron Smith and Frank Smoll began to study the leadership behavior of coaches. This scientific inquiry led to important findings and practical suggestions for coaching educators.
In the early 1970s, University of Washington sport psychology professors Ron Smith and Frank Smoll began to study the leadership behavior of coaches. This scientific inquiry led to important findings and practical suggestions for coaching educators.
Based on their findings and the work of other sport psychology scholars, coaching education programs in the 1980s began to emphasize a positive approach. Utilizing this approach, coaches were taught mainly to use positive reinforcement when coaching athletes.
Building upon this influential sport psychology research, Jim Thompson started the Positive Coaching Alliance at Stanford University in the late 1990s.
Over the past three decades, the Positive Coaching Alliance has taken a lead role in training sport coaches throughout the United States.
In Northeast Ohio, an individual who has embraced a positive approach to coaching and is highly involved in training coaches nationally is NDCL Lions Girls Lacrosse Coach Pamela Malone.
In fact, since 2016, Malone has been a national coach trainer for the Positive Coaching Alliance.
Malone, who is the second winningest girls soccer coach in OHSAA history, won two OHSAA state championships as the head coach of the Chagrin Falls Tigers Girls Soccer Team.
After 35 years as a teacher and coach at Chagrin Falls, Malone retired.
However, Malone’s retirement from coaching did not last long as she returned to the sidelines this past Fall as the Head Coach of the NDCL Lions Girls Soccer Team.
Implementing a positive coaching philosophy, Malone immediately changed the culture and performance of her team.
To change the culture, Malone emphasized the importance of the team believing that they could be successful.
In order to instill this confidence, the Lions would yell “Believe” as they would break from team huddles.
After finishing 5th in their conference in 2023, Malone led the 2024 Lions Girls Soccer Team to a North Coast Conference Title in her first year.
Shortly after the soccer season ended, it was announced by the NDCL athletic department that Malone would also take over the Lions Girls Lacrosse program. Malone had previously coached the Chagrin Falls Tigers Girls Lacrosse Team where she was their first varsity coach.
As the 2025 girls lacrosse season has begun, Malone has emphasized the positive things that she has observed from her team during practice and competition.
She noted that the team has been doing a great job of focusing on things that they can control such as effort, intensity, and being coachable.
“They’re hard workers, they’re gritty, they’re very, very, coachable,” said Coach Malone. “They’re receptive to almost everything that the coaching staff puts out there and they’re really fun to work with.”
On March 25, the Lions traveled to Parma to take on the Padua Franciscan Bruins.
In getting their first victory of the season against the Bruins, the Lions brought much positive energy and effort to the field.
Senior team captain Ava Abounader said that the positive philosophy espoused by the new coaching staff was a key aspect in helping the Lions obtain their first victory of the season.
“I really think our new coaching staff and like you mentioned our new philosophy really helped uplift the team (against the Bruins),” said Abounader.
Added senior captain Grace Hinkel, “In the first half, I feel like we were very fired up, and everyone was in such a good mood and happy to be there and I think that let us bring it through to all four quarters. We never lost momentum.”
Leading the Lions offensively in their victory over the Bruins were Hinkel (5 goals), Maggie Kane (4), Abounader (3), Macey Beers (1), Marianne McGuigan (1), and Catherine Melin (1).
Later in the week, the Lions lost to the Olmsted Falls Bulldogs March 28, 16-7. Hinkel and Abounader led the Lions with 2 goals each, while Beers, Kane and Melin each had one goal.
Although the Lions lost to the Bulldogs, Coach Malone provided a positive post-game message.
“(Coach said), just keep our heads high and we need to keep pushing throughout the whole game,” Hinkel said
As the Lions begin to prepare for their next game, Coach Malone helps her athletes learn from mistakes made in competition by using a positive approach to overcoming adversity.
“We call it the ELM tree of mastery, and it’s ‘Effort Learning Mistakes are okay,” Malone said. “Mistakes mean that we’re learning. Mistakes mean that there is growth happening. If we play in our comfort zone nobody grows.”
A few mistakes which Coach Malone observed against the Bulldogs included the need to more effectively take care of the ball and to better handle adversity.
“We started playing not to get scored upon instead of taking care of the ball and making our plays in the arc,” Malone said.
The coach continued: “We have some work to do not only with taking care of the ball, but also, when we get behind, how do we come back mentally, and that’s huge.”
By developing a positive environment and teaching her athletes how to positively overcome mistakes, it is clear that Malone’s players are “trusting the process” of improvement.
