Three Enemies to Team Success

I used a powerpoint presentation at our first team meeting and almost every season the first slide had this statement on it; "Its not about you."

1. SELFISHNESS: Easy to define. Difficult to prevent. One of the great

challenges you will face as a coach. The advertising world thrives on the

concept of " its all about YOU!" We talked about using social media

to promote ourselves. We talked about using drugs, staying out late,

poor grades, being a behavioral problem in school, etc. etc. etc. There

are many other examples you can use that reflect SELFISHNESS. As a

coach this is a constant concern and challenge to create a team culture

over a me culture.

2. REFUSAL TO ACCEPT YOUR ROLE: You need to accept the role you have been

asked to play. You may also need the character to accept if your role

changes. This can be a point of conflict between, you as a coach and the

player, especially if the player is a senior. We met with each of the players

during player evaluations in the spring and gave them an idea as to

where we saw them in terms of the role for the next season. They then had

the choice to accept the role we saw for them, work as hard as they could

in the off season to possibly change the role or even decide they no longer

wanted to be part of the team. We then met again after the first week o

two of practice with those seniors who we believed would not see the floor

until the game had been decided. Explained their role and again gave

them options. Remain on the team and accept their role, be part of the

team in another capacity (manage, statistician, film crew, assistant

coach at some level, etc.), or drop out. I wanted to find a way to keep

seniors involved because I felt a sense of loyalty to them since many of

those seniors had been involved with the program for years. I tried to find

something meaningful for them to contribute to the team. EVERY ROLE IS

IMPORTANT. IF IT CONTRIBUTES TO THE TEAM EFFORT.

3. POOR DEFENSE: This is not just about execution. This is more about having

the desire to play defense because it will benefit the team. Some players

don't see this as a selfish act but if you have 4 players on the floor giving

a great effort on defense and a fifth is not! That sure looks like selfishness

to me. It always troubled me to see some players sprint in offensive

transition yet jog back in defensive transition. In successful programs,

their is team pride in getting stops on defense. In successful programs

being scored on is taken personal because there is a team attitude and

culture concerning how they play defense.

WHAT HAPPENED?

Why, how, or when, it happened I am not exactly certain of. It seems to me

players, and often their parents, attitude about participation in

competitive sport has changed. At one time a player was thrilled to have

a uniform and his/her name on the roster. Then, over time, it became

essential that the participant get into every game. Now it seems the

player must play a significant number of "meaningful" minutes and play

a significant role while playing those minutes. Role definition is no longer

viewed by some (primarily players/parents) as being the sole

responsibility of the coach. Learning to be part of a team. Accepting a

possible changing role on that team is not sometimes viewed anymore as

being an important experience and a useful life lesson. The me culture has

replaced the we culture. Possible the greatest challenge you will face as a

coach is to win the battle to maintain a team attitude on your squad over a

me first culture.

Sometimes we think the world revolves around us.

This has become another "sport" in our culture.

The blame game or as Pastor Rick Warren calls it the "be lame" game is

alive and thriving in our society. It is good for me to go on some sites and read the responses of the fans after "their" team loses. I never knew you could own a team? Very predictable are the majority of the responses: "Well we were out coached." "I don't understand why he/she substitutes the way they do?" "Why didn't he/she call a timeout when the game was on the line?" On and on it goes. In a school district I resigned from, and never looked back, I was told by a reliable source that one of the school board members (and of course I had his son on the team) had said that the talent level at the school was the same every year the only thing that was different was the coaching! Now remember, ignorance is the only exact science. At least some of the people in the stands, are there to judge you, and afix the blame to the officials, players/coaches. Evidently, for some reason, we feel

better if we can assign the blame for outcomes we have little to no control

over but do not want to be held responsible for ourselves.

Why do I address this topic? Because many of us as coaches are deep down inside people pleasers. I was and it negatively impacted my mental health.

If you think, or even want everyone to approve of you and your actions as a

coach, you are irrational. In my belief system, there has been only one perfect person to have every existed and if you have the same belief system you know how that turned out! Somehow you have to deal with the false belief that everyone is going to like you and you will escape criticism. You

are human and you will make mistakes. Just like you tell your players, admit them, learn from them, and move on from them.

Coaching can be a lonely adventure.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, social media has empowered some degree of boldness in our critics. It is much easier and less confrontational to simply send an email, or text to voice your displeasure with the coach of your local team. One of the best high school coaches I know told me a story of receiving a text from an angry parent on his way home from the second game of the season. Of course it was related to playing time. I am not trying to defend the coach but we in the coaching profession must realize we are in a much more critical environment than ever before. My regret is I did not have a "thicker skin". It caused me lack of sleep and took away some of the joy of doing something I loved to do. Every year a significant number of people resign their coaching positions. Yes, there are a wide variety of reasons for why a person resigns from his coaching position but I have no doubt many feel it isn't worth dealing with critical people. Good coaches give up a great deal of time and attention to their family and friends to coach. It is stressful and demanding. The truth be known many of the critics enjoy the safety of being in the stands and not actually having to do the job of a coach. Second guessers are seldom wrong!