O’Neil Blake, Former College Football Athlete - Useful Coaching Tips for Any Sport

O’Neil Blake is an accomplished athlete who has played football for most of his life. He is committed to working hard, and improving himself as a player in order to help out his team. He is currently playing for an international team called the Graz Giants from Austria, and he enjoys the experiences and the opportunities that come with international play. He is also a healthcare administration professional who recently received his Masters of Business Administration degree in Healthcare Administration from Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. He is dedicated to his future, and to being the best he can be. 

In order to achieve success in any sport, you need to have a good coach to help you develop your skills both on and off the field or court. A coach can be just as beneficial to a student as a good teacher, and they have lessons to teach that will help you develop as a person as well as a player. Here are some useful coaching tips for those looking to help athletes achieve their true potentials. 

If you want to be a successful coach, you have to be able to identify your athletes’ strengths and weaknesses. This will help you put them into the right positions, and get them to start honing their skills more specifically. If you have an athlete who is seemingly good at a variety of positions, develop their endurance so that you can play them on both sides of the ball, or even longer than you would a normal player on the team. Typically, most athletes will show a talent in a specific position. 

Successful coaches will also be mentors for their athletes, not just a teacher in regards to sports. Unfortunately, a lot of the players we watch in collegiate sports are there because they have access to an athletic scholarship, not because they are able to pay for a higher-level education. Many college athletes and even professional athletes need mentors to help them achieve their goals and grow outside of their chosen sport. You never know when injury might occur, and you need to be able to achieve success off the field as well as on it. 

Standup for your team as a coach. Coaches are viewed as leaders by their teams, and it’s important you take your role as leader seriously. Standup for your team when you feel an injustice has been done, and treat your players fairly both on and off the field or court. This will help motivate your players to reach their full potential, and it will inspire them to be leaders as well. 

O'Neil Blake Football is a football player who has experience with both good and bad coaching staffs. A good coaching or coaching staff can make all the difference in a player’s career, and their life.

O’Neil Blake, Former College Football Player - Useful Tips for Managing a Successful Business

O’Neil Blake is a hard working individual who understands the importance of achieving success not just in football, but professionally as well. Recently, he graduated with a Master’s of Business Administration degree in Healthcare Administration from Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina. He also received his undergraduate degree from the same university in sociology in 2014. Throughout his time in school, he was able to play college football, and was a standout athlete on the field. He currently plays for the Graz Giants in Austria, and is grateful for the experiences playing on an international stage has awarded him.

However, O’Neil Blake understands that there is more to life than football, which is why he chose a college with a great educational program regarding healthcare administration. He hopes to enhance his career after football through his undergraduate and graduate degrees, and he understands a great deal about business management and administration. Here are some useful managerial tips for success.

In order to be a successful manager in the business world, you need to lead your employees with compassion and understanding. If an employee who rarely makes a mistake comes to you with an issue, don’t get overly upset; simply learn how the issue arose, what the options are in regards to eliminating the issue, and how everyone involved can learn from the experience. This will make you more approachable to your employees as a whole, and help you catch issues more quickly.

In addition to leading with compassion, make sure you show an active interest in the lives of your employees. Taking an interest in the lives of your employees outside of the work place shows them that you care; this will go a long way in terms of the overall motivation to work their hardest. It doesn’t take long to get to know the people who work for you, and you don’t have to commit to anything outside of the office. Just take the time to talk causally and cordially to each of your employees during breaks, or before or after work.

Finally, make sure your employees feel trusted. No one wants to work for a leader or manager who they know doesn’t trust them. This will kill motivation around the office, and it will also prove to slow productivity as you consistently micromanage the daily responsibilities of your team. Show that you trust your employees by giving them the necessary space to complete their work, but make yourself available for questions or concerns throughout the day.

​O’Neil Blake understands that after football, he will be a successful leader in the healthcare industry. With his Master’s degree in the field, he will be able to rise fast through the industry, and use his leadership skills to become a successful manager. He is dedicated to his future.

O'Neil Blake - Tips For New Football Coaches

Since he started working as a Football Graduate Assistant for Lenoir-Rhyne University, O'Neil Blake has been able to develop a deeper understanding of the role that coaches play in developing young prospects and ensuring they can perform in competitive games. If you are new to coaching, you should try to keep all of the following in mind to ensure you offer your best to your players.

Learn The Rules
While you should have a good understanding of the rules of the game from your playing days, coaches have an increased responsibility to learn all of the ins and outs of football so that they can provide guidance to their teams on what they can and can’t do. In particular, it is crucial that you spend time researching any changes to the rules so that you can relay them to your team.

Get Feedback
The feedback that you receive from your team and your fellow coaches will prove vital to your development, so make sure to listen to anybody who is willing to talk to you about your work. Being able to critique yourself based on this feedback will offer you the tools that you need to make improvements that benefit the team.

Have Fun
While you should always take your training sessions seriously, O'Neil Blake Football notes that most football players got into the game because they enjoy it. As such, don’t be afraid to have a little bit of fun, when the situation calls for it, as this will reinforce your passion for the game and boost the morale of your team.

O'Neil Blake, Football Graduate Assistant - An Explanation of the Skills That Project Managers Need

In addition to being a standout college football player, O'Neil Blake also developed a range of business skills while studying at Lenoir-Rhyne University, particularly during the course of studying for his Masters of Business Administration at the college. This has equipped him with the skills that he needs to be an effective project manager when required, with the below all being essential to success in the role.

Communication

Good project managers understand that they need to be able to communicate clearly and effectively to people at all levels of their companies. When speaking to team members, they must be able to relay instructions plainly and concisely, while also providing reasonable explanations for why certain tasks need to be completed. In speaking to upper management, they must be capable of translating the efforts of their teams into deliverables to improve corporate buy-in on their projects.

Organization

Project managers need to be capable of organizing their own time effectively, while also managing the time of their team members. They should be able to break down their project goals so that they create achievable milestones that take their teams’ skills and availability into account.

Leadership

O'Neil Blake developed his leadership skills while playing football and continues to improve them in everything that he does. Project managers need to be able to take authority and provide guidance to their teams in an effort to ensure that their projects are seen through to fruition. In doing so, they must understand the needs of their team members and how to provide effective feedback on their efforts.
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O'Neil Blake, Former Collegiate Football Player - How To Get Healthcare Administration Experience

After completing his undergraduate studies at Lenoir-Rhyne University, where he graduated with Magna Cum Laude honors in Sociology in addition to being a collegiate football standout, O'Neil Blake attended graduate school at the same institution, graduating with his Masters of Business Administration, with a concentration on Healthcare Administration, in May 2016. He is now focused on obtaining the experience that he needs to carve out a career in the healthcare administration industry. The following pointers should prove useful to any former students who are looking to do the same.

Know Your Discipline

Healthcare administration is a vast field, so it is important to understand the specific role that you wish to work in before you start searching for employment opportunities. Failure to do so could lead to a lack of focus in your efforts and may also result in you starting down a career path that you find unsatisfying. You should have considered you desired area when selecting your educational courses, so make sure that your efforts are focused entirely on gaining experience in that area, starting with your collegiate studies.

Investigate Internships

Many graduates make the mistake of disregarding the value of internships, often because they pay less than full-time positions, assuming they even pay at all. However, they can prove to be invaluable when it comes to developing experience within your chosen area of healthcare administration, in addition to potentially providing opportunities for full-time employment at the facility where you intern. Upon landing an internship, make it a point to work as hard as possible by demonstrating enthusiasm for every task you are given and asking questions of those with more experience than you to discover what else you can do to further your career.

Consider Additional Courses

While your formal education will prove invaluable as you search for roles within the industry, you should not assume that what you already know is going to be enough. Healthcare as a general industry is constantly evolving, so it is a good idea to demonstrate that you have a desire to keep learning and developing your own skills. Furthermore, by enrolling in additional courses you can learn more about the discipline that you hope to work in. You will find that there are many seminars and courses available, many of which are completely free of charge.

Be Proactive

O'Neil Blake Football, who is a former collegiate football player, recognizes the value of showing initiative in order to further your career. Instead of just waiting for opportunities to come your way, try being a little proactive by contacting institutions that you believe could provide you with valuable experience. Even if they have nothing available for you at the time of calling, you will place yourself on their radars should a position come up.

O'Neil Blake, Former Collegiate Football Player - Habits of Successful Personal Trainers

In his role as a Football Graduate Assistant at Lenoir-Rhyne University, O'Neil Blake is able to use his experiences in playing the game to offer guidance to younger players who need to adjust to college life. In addition to providing advice on how to balance their educations with their athletic careers, Blake also helps many students with their personal fitness, providing training and coaching services when required. In order to do this, he has needed to develop a number of habits over the years that make him ideally suited to the role, including all of the below.

Be A Role Model

If you don’t practice what you preach, it is very unlikely that the people you are coaching will follow your instructions. Remember that developing respect amongst those you train is crucial to your efforts, so don’t ask your students to do things that you are not capable of doing yourself. Furthermore, any advice that you provide in terms of nutrition or healthy living habits should be advice that you follow yourself, especially when working with younger people who are looking for role models to provide them with guidance.

Know The People You Work With

It is important that personal trainers understand the specific needs of each of their clients, as this allows them to create tailored fitness programs that help them to make gains in the areas that they need to, while also taking into account any obstacles that their clients need to be able to overcome. Those who fail in the industry tend to approach it with the mindset that they can knock together a few different workouts without really putting much thought into it.

Get Educated

As a personal fitness trainer, you need to be an authoritative source of information that your clients can trust. If you are unable to demonstrate your knowledge of the industry whenever it is needed, you will quickly start to lose the trust of the people you are working with. As such, you need to endeavor to update your knowledge base whenever you can, while also being capable of explaining why you are placing your clients in certain fitness plans and what they will be able to achieve should they follow your instructions.

Learn To Listen

As a former college football player who now provides the benefit of his expertise to current students, O'Neil Blake Football recognizes that there are many different things that a personal trainer must do to connect with clients. Understand the value of listening to the people that you work with, rather than dictating to them. This will allow you to gain a better understanding of their goals in life, while also putting you in a better position to help them through personal issues that might affect their training.
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O’Neil Blake Football - Career in Healthcare Administration

O’Neil Blake Football played football for three seasons on the Lenoir-Rhyne University football team. Originally from Jamaica, he moved to the United States in the summer of 2007 and attended Osceola High School in Kissimmee, Florida. He started playing football while he was in high school and received a football scholarship to attend Glennville State College in West Virginia. After spending two years at Glennville State College, he decided to move to a school that offered better education and had a great football program. His search led him to the Lenoir-Rhyne University in Hickory, North Carolina.

He graduated with a degree in Sociology and enrolled in the university’s master’s program. He is currently studying to receive his Master of Business Administration with an emphasis on healthcare administration. His desire to enter the healthcare administration sector is because of the various job opportunities that are available within the sector. With an MBA in healthcare administration, Blake expects to work in a variety of leadership roles such as a hospital administration, Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive Officer, among others.

The healthcare administration sector is one of the largest industry in the U.S. and also the second largest employer, providing over 11 million jobs in the U.S. alone. In the last five years, the healthcare administration sector has created more jobs than any other industry in the private sector. O’Neil Blake worked his way through university making sure he maintained good grades while playing football on the university team. He is expected to graduate in May 2016.
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