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when building a league, program or team culture start with why

6/3/2023

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Every organization on the planet, including sport teams, leagues and programs, operates on three levels – what they do, how they do it and why they do it.  The fundamental mistake made by leaders of many of those teams and programs is they start their recruiting of players and they build the foundation of their teams on what they do, i.e., winning games and championships and how they do it, i.e., their allegedly superior process to teach fundamentals and mechanics to develop players.

And yet, every truly great leader since the beginning of time has always inspired their followers by starting with the why, i.e., the purpose, cause or belief that defines why the program exists in the first place.  Great leaders, by their words and actions, create a clear vision of a world that is so different and amazing that the followers want to commit their hard work to help build it.  The leader just serves as a compass to get there.

The reason the why is so powerful is that when you connect to it, the response is visceral, i.e., it connects to the emotional part of the brain that controls behavior not language.  The follower cannot explain it, but they are certain it defines who they are.

Fundamentally, what great leaders do is offer a vision of a better place and one where the followers feel safe. These two factors cause the followers to believe the leader has their best interest in mind.  The reward for the leader and the program is hard work, loyalty, love innovation, ideas, progress, cooperation and trust.

Why does your league, program or team exist?

Every sport team, program and league promises the possibility of wins and championships because they have great coaches who use sound methodology and the latest technology to develop great players and a winning approach.  And yet, only one team can end the season with a win.  Experienced coaches know that for many reasons a great team and, sometimes even the best team, does not always win.  Most of the players on those teams will not play the sport in college or professionally. 

Experienced coaches also know that the communication of appreciation they receive from their players ten years after their time in the program is done almost never talk about the wins and championships; they only thank them for how the program and coaching made them a better person.
 
So when the season is done, what defines your team, your program and your players?  What defines who they are and have become that they can use for the rest of their lives?  What lessons within the game for beyond the game have they learned that will inspire them to promote your program, to teach others what you have taught them to work tirelessly to help the less fortunate, and to make the world a better place? 

Here are some ways you can properly develop a why, a purpose, to your program:

1) Start with a paradigm shift in why you coach; a mission not simply to win games and championships, but for deeper reasons for the long-term benefit of your players as people of high integrity and character;
2) Set goals for the season generally and for every practice during the season that proactively teach the players to be better sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, spouses, students, employees and leaders.
3) Use quotations, role plays and guest speakers to proactively design life lessons about self-care, character, integrity, and caring for others into every training and practice session.
4) Have your players play games in your sport with children and people with disabilities;
5) Have your players voluntarily serve other organizations at your school and in your community with no expectation of a monetary return.

When you do these things, your program will not only easily recruit high-quality people that will win games and championships, those people will gratefully work now and in the future to develop and inspire Champions for Life. 
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how to coach life lessons within the game for beyond the game

6/1/2023

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Coaches must be sure the culture of their program is grounded on the mentorship of student-athletes to be not only great competitors, but people of high character and integrity.  Coaches are mentors when they are master teachers and are role models in everything they say and do. They have had a “successful” season when they have built the self-esteem and self-confidence of their players so that individually and as a team they have achieved things they did not think were possible.
 
When their players not only know how to do these things, but can also teach others how to do them, coaches achieve the ultimate goal of Coaching Champions for Life.
 
Coaches of Champions for Life must find practical ways to develop players not just as competitors, but to use the sport proactively to teach them life lessons. I call this the process of holistic coaching.
 
Specifically, coaches must teach players that the value of a person’s life is the impact he or she has had on other people. The purpose of life is to be successful and significant. To be “successful”  means to: (a) determine the gifts God gave you; (b) which of them you are so passionate about you want to spend 8 – 10 hours a day doing; and (c) developing them to be better than anyone else you know into marketable skills, not just a hobby. 
To be “significant” means we use our gifts to help and serve others particularly the less fortunate and to make the world a better place.  The goal is not to be just a person of success, but rather to be a person of value, i.e., significant.

A team has two goals every day: (1) could we have defeated out toughest competition today? And (2) did our conduct inspire those who observed us to be better in their lives?   

The first step in the process is a critical one – the coaches and the program must strictly adhere to the philosophy that, “We coach people, not sports; it is the quality of the person, not the player that is the most significant outcome.”
 
The reason this is mandatory is coaches must learn to change how they see the members of their team (and frankly, the way they see their coaches too). Most coaches look at the members of their team and see players, i.e., members of a team that, if developed properly, can help them win games and championships. What they fail to realize is that to develop the player to be the best they can be, they must first develop the athlete. And before they can develop the athlete to be the best they can be, they must relate to, connect with and validate the person.
 
Sometimes this paradigm shift in thinking is a tough sell when coaches are being evaluated by an Athletic Director and/or by parents solely on wins and losses.   As any experienced CCFL Coach will attest, communications from past players thanking them for being their coach universally have one thing in common; they almost never discuss wins and losses; they only describe the impact the coach has had on the player’s life.
 
As a practical matter then, the first step is to begin all preparations, for the season, for the week and for each practice session, by planning how coaches are going to teach life lessons to their players. This planning is done well in advance of the season and then continues each week and each practice session once the season begins. Specifically, within the strict confines of time, regulations and resources of their program, how will they teach them to be better sons, daughters, siblings, students, business and community leaders while simultaneously developing them as athletes, players and teammates to win games?
 
When goal-setting for the season, a coach should use the same process-oriented methodology to teach life lessons as the coach would use to teach the mechanics of their sport. For example, if the ultimate goal is to mentor the person to be a better son or daughter, a coach should not just tell the person they should be respectful and appreciative of their parents.
 
At the youth level, the coach should actually require such things as having the player go immediately after practice to their parents and thank them for bringing them to practice and for supporting them in their sport. The coach could require the player to volunteer to do at least one thing to help the parent prepare dinner for the family each night. The player could also be required to do such things as read with or help a sibling do homework for ½ hour each night. The coach should notify the parents that these are requirements imposed by the coach and the coach should follow up on whether the player actually is doing them. The list is endless, but you get the idea.
 
In my experience, words are very powerful. I have always discussed inspirational quotes as a designed part of each practice or training session with my athletes. I even wrote a book for use by coaches for this purpose – Takeaway Quotes for Coaching Champions for Life.
 
At the start of and during each practice or training session, I use quotes relating to the sport that we discuss as a team to raise the Sport IQ of the players. I also assign homework to assist in this process. For example, I assign each player to research a current All-Star or a Hall of Fame player that played their position and ask them to learn what made that player a great player and a great person (or not).
 
At the end of a training session, I discuss a quote that is a life lesson to mentor the player(s) how to be a better person of high moral character and integrity. However, some of these life lessons need to be role played during practice occasionally, e.g., weekly, so the players learn how to handle these issues in a real-world way.
 
Yes, it takes time, so you need to prepare these role paying scenarios prior to the season and to delegate some of them to your assistant coaches too. And believe it or not, it is becoming very common for coaches in many sports to start their practices in the classroom where these role playing activities are easy to do. Although some of them might have more effect on the field.

​Having guest speakers come to practice to talk about how playing the sport prepared them to be a better person later in life is also very powerful.
 
During practice, the commitment to teach life lessons must be at the tip of a coach’s mind constantly. Every coach in the program must be constantly looking for opportunities to relate what is happening in the sport to something in the players’ lives - how can I relate what we are learning about our sport to the players so they will be better people, siblings, sons, daughters, spouses, students, employees, and community leaders? Remember, always see the players first as people with lives you are preparing to be successful beyond your program and next as athletes, i.e., student-athletes, and the teaching life lessons mindset will become second nature over time.
 
The sport and life lessons that can be taught and role played are not a mystery – they have been the same from the beginning of time. They include:
 
  1. Sport – injuries, bad weather, poor playing conditions, bad calls by officials, disputes about playing time, ineligibility of players by grades or conduct, bad language, bad attitudes, “helicopter” or unruly parents, disrespect from other teams, etc.

  2. 
Self – attitude, work ethic, leadership, adversity, self-confidence, self-pity, self-esteem, self-advocacy, self-awareness, self-image, self-control, character, integrity, spirituality, prayer, academics and careers;

   3. Relationships – peer pressure, bullying, envy, the media, positive affirmations to teammates;

  4. Temptations – smoking, drugs, alcohol and sex. 

At the start of your season, a coach should anonymously survey the team, coaches and players, to learn what they think are the positives, negatives, securities and insecurities in their lives. (“Never assume mental or emotional stability from athletic ability!” Many self-inflicted tragedies occur from this erroneous assumption!) These responses will be a guide as to what are the timeliest issues to be discussed.
 
One more tip regarding teaching life lessons; use team-building activities to illustrate them! My favorite ones to teach life lessons are those that involve service to others with no expectation of monetary return such as:
            Miracle League – youth with disabilities
            Children’s Hospitals
            Community Work Projects
            Gather Used BB Gear for Disadvantaged Youth – ABCA “Turn Two for
                Youth”
            Volunteer at Elementary Schools
            Host a “Parents Night Out” with players as babysitters
            Canned Food Drives
            Raise Awareness Campaigns
            Clean up a city park or a local youth league’s baseball field
            Help to promote and work at a school event
            Read/discuss as a team “Chop Wood, Carry Water” by Joshua Medcalf
 
Also, if you want cheerleaders, band and drill team members to attend and support your games like they do other sporting events at your school, try attending their competitions as a sign of school spirit and reciprocity. You will find they will appreciate it very much!
 
When we do these things we coach champions, Champions for Life.

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    Author

    Adam Sarancik is the owner of Elevate Sports Academy which mentors student-athletes in physical conditioning, nutrition, career and college counseling, and sport skills.  He has spent most of his adult life coaching youth ages 8-22 in baseball, soccer, and basketball.  He is a favorite speaker at and director of coaches' and players' clinics. 

    In baseball, Adam’s teams have consistently won championships at every youth league and high school level.  In administration, he has served as league founder, board member and coaches’ and players’ clinic director many times in his 40+ year coaching career.
    ​
    Adam is a frequently published contributor to the ABCA publication Inside Pitch, Collegiate Baseball News, and the Coaches Insider, Coach Deck and Sports Engine websites.  He is also a favorite guest on national podcasts for coaching sports. 
    ​
    Adam is known for his comprehensive and innovative practice plans and for consistently developing championship teams and players who excel at the next level. 

    He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from San Diego State University, his J.D. degree from the University of San Diego School of Law and his Masters of Arts in Teaching from Western Oregon University.


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