In my last column I spoke about team/character building and how it brings a team closer together and builds trust amongst them as a group. What also brings a team together is when players know that their coach cares about them as much as an individual as he does of them as a player. Taking the time to understand a little bit about your players will definitely go a long way towards earning their trust. If your players don’t trust you or feel that you don’t have their best interests at heart, the chances of them wanting to compete hard every practice and game for you is about as big as mother nature dropping 10 feet of snow on Nashville in one day – highly unlikely.
Different coaches have different methods; some are closer to their players than others. I tend to be rather hard on my players in terms of demanding a very high work ethic in everything they do during practices and games, but I would like to think that they know that I care about them . It isn’t always just the big things you do for them like having a 100 percent fun practice or rewarding them for playing well as a team that mean a lot to your players. More often than not it’s the little things like a call to wish them happy birthday or congratulations on winning an award at school, a pizza night after practice one day or even simply an acknowledgement of how well you think they are playing. Again, everything is relative to the level you coach, of course, but take for instance the high school hockey team that I coach. I took the time one day to go and have lunch with my players at their school. I think more than a few of them thought I was joking when I told them that I would, but there I was, feeling very out of place sitting amongst a bunch of teenagers in the Father Ryan cafeteria. It did a lot for me to see their environment and where they spend the vast majority of their time learning – and socializing! As much as they tried, they could not get me to try one of the schools so called delicacies – frito chili cheese pie – GROSS!!!!
Getting to know your players – especially your leaders (captains, seniors, veterans etc…) as much as you are able to is also very key. What has worked for me in the past is to establish a leadership group of four or five players that become somewhat of a “voice” for the team or a sounding board between the coaching staff and the rest of the players. Bounce ideas off them and see how they feel about different things. Let them digest these ideas and run them by team members to see what they all think or what the general consensus might be. Now don’t get me wrong, you should obviously not ever let the inmates run the asylum or make every decision you need to make a democracy. What you should do is give them a sense of ownership in their team and a feeling that you do actually care what they think!
Make no mistake about it though coaches, be sure that you are always sincere when it comes to getting to know your players — they can sniff out a phony from miles away so you had better be sure that you mean what you say and do and that you are always consistent in your approach towards them. Afterall, what did I say earlier about 10 feet of snow falling in Nashville? |
