with Mark Gola
Most Recent Posts:
Treatment of Officials – A Rehabilitation Process
If you’ve been involved with sports, you are familiar with this scenario. It is minutes before game-time, the teams are ready to play, but the officials are nowhere to be found. Coaches are on their cell phones and pacing, while parents and athletes keep looking out toward the parking lot. Suddenly, the officials appear and there’s a lift in spirits and...
Top 5 Classic Sports Moments in TV Sitcoms
Myles Garrett slammed quarterback Mason Rudolph over the head with his own helmet. The Houston Astros are under investigation for stealing signs with surveillance equipment. Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford has deleted his social media accounts due to receiving death threats after the Nittany Lions’ loss at Minnesota. Those are just a few headlines...
A coaching call tried in the courtroom
There are a lot of quality coaches walking around who are not coaching scholastic sports. It’s hard to blame them. On November 12, 2019, a verdict was delivered in a case involving a teen-aged athlete and junior varsity coach from Bound Brook High School in NJ. Here is a quick summary of the case. A player hit a ball...
When is my kid ready to play travel sports?
When my daughter was six, a man approached me following her rec soccer game. He had a form and asked if she was registered for travel soccer. I said, “No,” and indicated that I didn’t feel she was ready. He followed up with, “I just watched her play and she’s ready. If she doesn’t start now, it’s going to be too late.” And my response was, “Too late for...
Sports Talk with Purpose
For more than 25 years, I’ve been given writing assignments. In this space, I’m going to assign myself topics that I feel will be interesting and informative to readers. We’ll see how it goes. SP3rts Talk will discuss issues in athletics that are relevant to athletes, coaches, parents, and fans. Professional sports, collegiate athletics, scholastic and...
Mark Gola is an author, former collegiate coach and athlete. He played Division I baseball at Rider University and was an assistant coach at Rider and Princeton University. Mark was an Assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications at The College of New Jersey for nine years and worked full time at the Dave Gallagher Baseball Academy for six years. He has also coached high school soccer and baseball.