A few years ago, I had the privilege of meeting Vince Burke, a Doctor of Physical Therapy and Sports Conditioning Specialist. He presented me with a model of RAADAR and its application to human performance. This initiated a collaboration between New Jersey Clinical and Sport Psychology in Ridgewood, NJ and Vince Burke’s Infinity Fitness in Rochelle Park, NJ. We began discussing and elaborating on the model that lead to the creation of the RAADAR student-athlete contract. Our goal is to help all individuals begin to see the link between positive behavior and excellent performance. We strive to have these principles adopted by student-athletes, coaches and parents who are internally motivated and committed to optimizing their body and mind.
Sport participation and achievement helps a student-athlete develop leadership, determination, and cooperation. Whether we are participating for recreation in youth sports or striving for Olympic gold, one needs to maintain composure and learn to overcome adversity. With advances in media coverage and technology as well as increased competition at younger age levels, our student athletes are getting exposed to negative behavioral influences. Well documented research has demonstrated that poor behavioral modeling leads to negative behavior on and off the athletic field. There are too many distractions and negative influences impeding an athlete’s performance on and off the field.
RAADAR is a return to positive behavioral principles. Instead of focusing on ego, trash talking, and aggression, we emphasize a return to the values of respect, hard work, enjoyment of sport, teamwork, and a commitment to better oneself each day. We believe learning these values assists younger athletes in becoming successful in all life’s endeavors. We strive to elevate a team and school’s community by having all student athletes make an active comittment to RAADAR’s core values.
RAADAR has already been adopted by local sports programs, who understand the merits of adopting such a program. If you are a parent, coach, youth sports administrator, athletic director, or athlete interested in adopting the RAADAR model for your town or school program, please contact us at 201-845-8002. We can provide you with additional literature on how to “BE IN THE RAADAR ZONE”.
Please stay tuned for the RAADAR character education program. There are greater applications to the RAADAR model that extends to all domains of life.
