We have choices when we develop people, whether it is kids, soccer players, team members, employees, or anyone. We can give them the goals and the tools and guide their process or we can tell them how to complete the job. One of these is development and growth, the other is obedience to a system.
If we stick to formulas and what has been done before we will only see the results we have seen before. If we allow room for creativity, accept mistakes, and learn from the moments that didn’t go well we will create an environment of growth, and that is how success becomes part of the DNA.
This week we’ll look at the traits of the successful empire builders, and the traits of the less successful. It may sound obvious, but the biggest key to success – whether you are coaching a High School team or one of the biggest clubs in the world, know your people.
I have learned that being a youth soccer coach is much, much more than coaching soccer. Life is a series of moments and decisions, make them count, make the next moment better than this one.
This week we have looked at the importance of having a healthy attitude towards winning, and that winning should be the result we are working towards if we are competing. There are a number of reasons we may play a sport: health and fitness, social meetings, fun, the feeling of being on a team, injury…
A desire to win is a great thing. However, we need to make sure our drive is to internal and improves us, and not external for the trophies. if we allow our need to win trophies take over, it isn’t long before an asterisk is placed next to our name and spoken alongside names like Tonya Harding, Lance Armstrong, the Deflatriots, and Diego Maradona.
As the team over at Keep It On The Deck said, the problem isn’t with wanting to win, the problem is with the attitude some people have towards it. Winning is the outcome of development and the coaches who put the most into developing will be the ones who get the best results.
I once had a boss who would use the phrase “Hope is not a plan” (this is the same person who would also say “Perception is reality” so there’s your point of reference). My boss was wrong, hope is a plan (and perception is not reality). OK, it’s not the whole plan, but any plan…
In the last post we looked at the idea of how positive thinking can be a negative. It seems counter-intuitive to think of positive thinking being something that could hinder our success, but in this article we’ll look at the trap people can get into if they believe positive thinking alone will change their world,…
The sun shines and the rain falls on the righteous and the evil alike. Life happens to us all, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Positive psychology isn’t the belief that positive thinking brings positive results. Positive psychology is the belief that there is a point and purpose to our actions, we can grow in skill, and we can make our world a better place. Positive psychology is a fuel for action, not spaceology.
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A coach should be judged on their long-term performance, not just results. Manchester United recently won the U18 title, but their U23 team was relegated. There are many U23 players on loan at other teams or even in the Manchester United first team. When the U18s are the best, and the U23s are developed and playing at higher levels, this is what success in coaching looks like.
Focus on the things you want to see. If you tell your penalty taker to “not miss” what are they thinking of? Keep your sight on the target you want to hit, and act accordingly. Focus on what you want to see, not what you want to stop.
#youthsport #soccer #coaching #behaviour #goals #performance #development #rewards #reinforcement #winning
What are your goals? Is your focus simply to win games? Are you looking for immediate success or long-term success? What will players say in the years to come? We won some trophies? Is that the goal, or would you rather they remember you for the lessons you taught them about winning, losing, hard work, dedication, team work, and the groundwork that goes into winning?
Coaches will make mistakes. It will always happen but we can limit the ongoing impact of those mistakes and it is better to lose a few games while developing players than win games without growth or integrity, which we will talk about later in this series.
The third and final approach we will look at this week comes from down under. We looked at Iceland‘s island mentality of never leaving the 18 yard box, and then Switzerland who aren’t really that much of an underdog but quietly go about their business. Today we’ll look at Australia. Australia opened their World Cup…