Australia and the World Past and Present

Some little reflections on coaching sports teams.

1. Know that teams can accomplish much more than an individual. One person will have a lots of problems if they seek to get everything done by themselves. Teams of people can be stronger. The more people you have, the more resources you have. Everyone has different talents and strengths. Even the most talented individual will have times when they are sick. No human being is firing at one hundred percent one hundred percent of the time. What are you going to do when key people can’t step up? If you have a team of people that look out for each other, you will have options.

2. In training or in a game, only focus on 1 thing. Consider this; if you have a one hour training session each week and focus on improving just one aspect of the team’s performance, this equates to 52 themes a year. There are many opportunities here for the team’s development and performance. It is not something to be sneezed at.

Let’s say that you are the coach of basketball team. You will have four quarters a game. For each quarter pep talk or huddle, only focus on one thing – the most important thing to help the team move forward. This translates into 4 themes per game. 40 things over ten games. 400 things over 100 games.

Any more than this and it is overkill in my mind. There comes a point when too much information becomes self-defeating. There comes a point when there are just too many things for the players to focus on and the whole exercise becomes bogged down through complexity. Keep it simple. Simple things are often easy to put into practice and sustain. They are quick to put into effect. An overarching game plan can be fine-tuned a thousand different ways in real time by the players but detailed and inflexible plans can not.

3. Positivity over negativity. Ask yourself whether you would rather receive encouragement or a terse comment that you are not good enough? There is a popular perception that a coach or leader should point out all the existing flaws, tell people that they are under-performing and tell them to ‘shape up’. Build people up. Stand with them. If people feel valued by the team, they will fight for the team. See the best in people and tell them something that they are doing well.

4. Cooperation over competition. Some environments and teams have an extremely competitive culture. But they are often competing with people inside the group as much as those outside. Your teammates should not be your enemy. You should help each other. You should pull each other up and forward. When one falls down you should rally around them and support them to get back up. Everyone should feel valued. Everyone should be feel to made that they belong. Team culture is real and little acts of support can make a massive difference in performance. A happy, cohesive team in any field or endeavour will be a force to be reckoned with. Division within the team will drive you down.