Today, I am posting some resources to use as handouts or presentations for your athletes.

The bullet points in the post are taken from Ryan Renquist’s “The Notebook of Champions” Building Success One Victory at a Time (Eighth Edition) for his team at Walsh High School in Walsh, Colorado.

I have also included a download link at the bottom of this post if you are interested in seeing his entire notebook.

Perhaps these thoughts will give you some inspiration to modify these and make them your own for your team.

What Do I Want in an Athlete?

I want a player who is willing to make a commitment to being as good as he can be each time that he plays.

I want a player who is willing and ready to do what has to be done to make a positive contribution in the most difficult of games.

I want a player who competes in each game as though there is nothing he will ever do that will be more important.

I want a player who more than anything, wants our team to be the very best that it can be.

Is this too much for me to demand of you?

Is this too much for you to demand of yourself?

One of the most important benefits of sport’s participation is the relationships that are formed. Players make lifelong relationships with their teammates, coaches, managers, fans, opponents, and everyone who helps manage the games (maintenance crews, scorekeepers, bus drivers, athletic directors, principals, superintendents, and even the referees). In today’s technological world, networking is very important. Through sports participation, athletes have a far greater network than those who do not participate.

“Good talent with bad attitude equals bad talent,” Bill Walsh

Attitude is a little thing that makes a BIG difference.

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind,” William James

“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” Abraham Lincoln

“Nothing is worth more than this day,” Goethe

“Your life is either a celebration or a chore. The choice is yours.” Unknown

“If you’re a positive person, you’re an automatic motivator. You can get people to do things they don’t think they’re capable of.” Cotton Fitzsimmons

“If you want your life to be a magnificent story, then begin by realizing that you are the author and every day you have the opportunity to write a new page.” Mark Houlahan

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong attitude.” President Thomas Jefferson

The average American will meet 10,000 people in their lifetime. If we each change the lives of 10 people, and they change the lives of 10 people, and they all change the lives of 10 people, and so on, in 5 generations, the 30 people in our family will have changed the lives of 300,000 people. Lives can be changed anywhere, and by anyone. Admiral William H. McRaven, Commander, Navy SEAL.

Many years ago, a large American shoe manufacturer sent two sales reps out to different parts of the Australian outback to see if they could drum up some business among the aborigines. Some time later, the company received telegrams from both agents. The first one said, “No business here…natives don’t wear shoes.” The second one said, “Great opportunity here…natives don’t wear shoes!”

The Wolf Inside Submitted By: Cullen Hair, 2012

An old man is telling his grandson about a fight that is going on inside himself. He said it is between two wolves.

One wolf is evil: anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego…

The other wolf is good: joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith…

The grandson thought about it for a minute, and asked his grandfather, “Which wolf wins?”

The old man simply replies, “The one I feed.”

A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of others. He does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent. In the end, leaders are much like EAGLES… they don’t flock, you find them one at a time.
“What you do; how you do it; and who you associate with on a daily basis will determine your image and your impact!” Kevin Eastman
Leadership is like gravity. You know it’s there, you know it exists, but how do you define it?
“Surprisingly for some, research conducted by the Leadership Research Institute has shown that in times of crisis, people gravitate toward the person of highest character, not necessarily the person who is in charge or even the person they believe to be the most competent. Rather, people will tend to build a relationship with and follow the person they view as the most trustworthy, who cares the most, and who is willing to always do the right thing.” Tony Dungy

“Instead of asking, how can I lead my company, my team, or my family to a higher level of success? We should be asking ourselves, how do others around me flourish as a result of my leadership?” Tony Dungy

Attitude

By: Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize
the impact of ATTITUDE, on life.
ATTITUDE, to me, is more
important than facts.
It is more important than the past,
than education, than money, than
circumstances, than failures, than
successes, than what other people
think or say or do.
It is more important than
appearance, giftedness or skill.
It will make or break a
company… a church… a home.
The remarkable think is we have a
choice every day regarding the
ATTITUDE we will embrace for that day.
We cannot change our past… we
cannot change the fact that people
will act in a certain way.
We can not change the inevitable.
The only thing we can do is play
on the one string we have, and that
is our ATTITUDE…
I am convinced that life is 10%
what happens to me and 90% how
I react to it.
And so it is with you…
We are in charge of our
ATTITUDES.

Humility:

Ultimately, it’s the humble superstar that most guys seem to admire and want to emulate. Humility is a quality worth desiring.

If we are really humble, after a game you won’t be able to tell whether we’ve won or lost. Or whether people are saying nice things about us or criticizing us. A truly humble person is constantly deflecting praise to their teammates and recognizing others for their efforts.

Many of our losses are designed to humble us and shape us into the people we want to be. We have to let those times do their work on us.

Chuck Tanner, the manager for the 1979 world champion Pittsburgh Pirates, said, “You have to play everyday like it’s Opening Day.” In baseball, it is easy to get excited about opening day. The stands are packed. The locker room is filled with optimism about the upcoming season. We have to capture that Opening Day Enthusiasm and release it before every practice and every game.

THE GOLDEN EAGLE

A man found an eagle’s egg and put it in the nest of a backyard hen. The eaglet hatched with the brood of chicks and grew up with them.

All his life the eagle did what the backyard chickens did, thinking he was a backyard chicken. He scratched the earth for worms and insects. He clucked and cackled. And he would thrash his wings and fly a few feet into the air.

Years passed and the eagle grew very old. One day he saw a magnificent bird far above him in the cloudless sky. It glided in graceful majesty among the powerful wind currents, with scarcely a beat of its strong golden wings.

The old eagle looked up in awe, “Who’s that?” he asked.

“That’s the eagle, the king of the birds,” said his neighbor. “He belongs to the sky. We belong to the earth–we’re chickens.”

So the eagle lived and died a chicken, for that’s what he thought he was.

Click this link to download the entire Notebook of Champions

Covenants for Teams and Coaches

Scott Rosberg – 2015

Last week I wrote about “Intentionally Creating Your Culture.” (Click here for a link to that post) In that post I talked about the concept of “Core Covenants” that Proactive Coaching’s Bruce Brown discusses in his booklet “First Steps to Successful Teams” – www.proactivecoaching.info. Today I am going to talk in a little more detail about covenants. Core Covenants could also be called “Guiding Principles” or “Team Standards” or “Program Values” or any other moniker that indicates a similar concept. The reason why we like “Core Covenants” is because “covenant” is a stronger, word. As I said last week, a covenant is a binding agreement where action is visible. There is a similar concept here to a promise. However, promises come more from the world of distrust, so people feel the need to say something along the lines of “I promise that I will fulfill this obligation.” But covenants are based on trust. For instance, when two people get married, they enter into a covenant with one another. The sacred wedding vow is a covenant.

The biggest key to a covenant, though, is the second part of the definition – you can see it in action. Covenants are only as strong as the actions associated with them. When teams establish covenants, if they are merely making statements about what they want to be known for, but they are not willing to follow through and “live” those covenants through their actions, it is worse than not having covenants at all. Teams without covenants (standards) are certainly a problem; but teams that claim they have standards but do not live by those standards are hypocritical, and they are living a lie.

Establishing covenants and then living by those covenants can be one of the most important things that any team does, for it sets a tone for the season. It says, “This is who we are. This is what we stand for. Because of that, this is what you will see from us.” When all members of a team buy in to the covenants that have been established, it is an extremely powerful force in helping a team become all that it is capable of becoming. In essence, team members are saying, “I commit to living my life the way that we as a team have decided we need to live in order to be the best we can be.”

There are all kinds of things that can make up a team’s covenants. However, we believe that the best covenants are behavior covenants. While certain physical and mental skills and traits are important and have their place on teams, when it comes to establishing your team’s standards, it is best if you focus on behavioral characteristics that every member of the team can uphold and live in their daily actions. The beauty of these kinds of covenants is that they are a choice that every team member can choose to live by. They require no specific physical skill, no highly developed mental capacity to perform them. They just require that players make the choice to commit to them.

For example, if a team decides to adopt “Work Habits” as a covenant, they are saying that “we will work extremely hard all the time.” Many teams that adopt this covenant will often use the phrase “100%-100% of the time” as an “action statement” about work habits. They are saying, “To be on this team, you must give 100% effort, 100% of the time.” This is where the second part of the definition for a covenant comes into play – you can see it in action. Team members are saying that “if you watch us, you will see our team giving maximum effort at all times.” They will often then give some specific examples – going full speed on all sprints, not just on the first couple; touching all lines on all sprints; pushing oneself and one’s teammates as hard as possible in practice and in the weight room; diving for loose balls; and many more.

This concept of Work Habits is a choice. Every player, from the best player on the team to the player who gets the least amount of playing time, can make the choice to work his hardest at all times. The beauty of the concept is this – when your best players physically are also the best workers and best teammates, you have a chance to have a great team because the maximum potential and capability of your best can be realized. Unfortunately, too often we find the best players on teams don’t fall into the best worker and best teammate class. These teams rarely, if ever, achieve all that they could because the players with the most physical talents hold back, and so the team does not achieve its potential.

When it comes to establishing and then living your covenants, choose to create behavior covenants for your team that everyone can commit to. Then work on them throughout the year to keep them in the forefront of everyone’s mind. You will be amazed to see how hard your players will work to become the best they are capable of becoming when they have a direction in which to go that they have total control over.

For an in-depth look at instilling covenants in your programs to create an outstanding team culture, check out Proactive Coaching’s DVD Captains & Coaches’ Workshop, or better yet, have one of us out to do a Captains & Coaches’ Workshop for your teams. For more information go to www.proactivecoaching.info.

Do you have covenants for your team? If so, what are they? If not, what would you like your team to be known for? Leave a comment or go to my website – www.coachwithcharacter.com – and leave a comment below this same post.

About the Author of this Article

Scott Rosberg has been a coach (basketball, soccer, & football) at the high school level for 30 years, an English teacher for 18 years, and an athletic director for 12 years. He has published seven booklets on coaching and youth/school athletics, two books of inspirational messages and quotes for graduates, and a newsletter for athletic directors and coaches. He also speaks to schools, teams, and businesses on a variety of team-building, leadership, and coaching topics. Scott has a blog and a variety of other materials about coaching and athletic topics on his website – www.coachwithcharacter.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

Scott is also a member of the Proactive Coaching speaking team. Proactive Coaching is dedicated to helping organizations create character and education-based team cultures, while providing a blueprint for team leadership. They help develop confident, tough-minded, fearless competitors and train coaches and leaders for excellence and significance. Proactive Coaching can be found on the web at www.proactivecoaching.info. Also, you can join the 200,000+ people who have “Liked” Proactive Coaching’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/proactivecoach. Scott can also be reached through Proactive Coaching at [email protected].

You don’t have to win a championship to be a champion. I believe that the daily striving to improve and get the most of their abilities as individuals and as a team is one of the most important life lessons that is taught by competitive athletics.  I also believe that setting high expectations (standards) is key to that process.

I would define championship standards as those performance guidelines that you set as a coaching staff, or together as a team for your athletes.

By Alan Stein, Hardwood Hustle Blog (re-posted with permission)

Coach K doesn’t really believe in rules and he isn’t much for setting goals.

Huh? What?

Coach K believes in standards.

Powerful distinction.

Rules confine people and put them in a box. Goals are often out of our direct control.

Standards are an effective way to hold people accountable to the process necessary to achieve success.

I recently received a very thoughtful (and completely unsolicited) email from Matt Schweinberg, Matt shared his program’s Iron Standards.

The four areas that NCHS focuses on are humility, listening, serving and working. These four key areas help foster leadership on the team.

BE HUMBLE

• Realize you still have a lot to learn.
• Recognize you can learn from anyone.
• Be part of something bigger than yourself.
• Team goals should be placed ahead of personal goals.
• Show empathy towards others.
• Put others’ needs ahead of your own.

Everyone leaves a legacy; what will your legacy be?

LISTEN

• Listen to what others expect.
• Listen to what others need.
• Listen to the correct people.
• Listen to develop trust with others.
• Be quick to listen and slow to speak.
• What you say should have value & purpose.

Are you listening to what others have to teach you?

SERVE OTHERS

• Make the right decisions for the right reasons.
• Contribute positively any way you can.
• Make those around you better.
• Take initiative – look for what needs to be done & do it.
• Build up others.
• Help others to reach their goals.

Are others better off because you are here?

WORK HARD

• Work hard to determine level of success.
• Work hard academically.
• Work hard athletically.
• Work hard at your relationships.
• Work hard when no one is looking.
• Recognize the greatest out work everyone.

Do others respect the work you do on & off the court?

What standards do you have in your program?

Article #2 11 Championship Killers

Also by Alan Stein

Legendary Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells once said, ‘In order to win, you have to figure out what makes you lose.’

That is a powerful concept.

So before you can win a championship, you need to figure out what will prevent that from happening.

Here are 11 Championship Killers:

1. Entitlement: Players don’t feel they need to earn a championship. They think it will happen automatically based on tradition or last year’s success.
2. Arrogance: Similar to entitlement, players don’t think losing is even possible. They lack respect for their opponent and for the game itself.
3. Selfishness: Players think ‘me’ and not ‘we.’ They are more concerned with individual stats than with winning.
4. Complacency: Players think ‘good enough’ is good enough. It isn’t.
5. Lack of Confidence: Too much confidence (see #2) is a major problem. But so is a lack of confidence. You have to believe you can win it all.
6. Lack of Effort: This one better be obvious.
7. Lack of Trust: Players need to trust coaches. Coaches need to trust players. Lack of trust on either side will create dysfunction and dissention and cause the entire ball of yarn to unwind.
8. Lack of Conditioning: It is a long season. If players run out of gas mid-way through, they can’t finish the race!
9. Lack of Commitment: Winning a championship requires commitment on and off the court. Staying up late on your computer the night before a game or getting in academic trouble shows a severe lack of commitment.
10. Lack of Leadership: Coaches can’t be the only leaders on the team. Period.
11. Lack of Role Acceptance:  To win a championship, everyone on the team must know, accept and take pride in their role.

Alan Stein

Hardwood Hustle Blog
http://www.About.me/AlanStein

 

Intentionally Create Your Culture

Scott Rosberg

Have you ever been part of a great team? What made it that way? Was there a special bond among teammates? Was it a place of high energy and strong trust? Did you win a lot? For most of us who have been on some great teams in our lives, the answer to those questions is usually a resounding “Yes!” Often the next question is, “Why don’t all teams end up being great?” It can’t be only about winning because not all great teams win all the time. Of all the questions listed above, the concept of winning a lot is not necessarily at the top of the list when it comes to memories of being on a great team. Many people will look back on some of the teams they considered as being great and realize that they didn’t win a championship or even win a lot of games. Some of the greatest teams in the true concept of a “great team” were teams that did not win a lot of games.

So, if winning a lot of contests is not the only pre-requisite for a team being great, why don’t “great teams” happen more often? I believe everything starts with the leadership. In sports, that person is the coach. That may seem like a lot of pressure to put on one person, especially given the fact that when we are talking about youth/school teams, we are talking about the skill levels, mental capacities, behaviors, mood swings, etc. of children and teenagers. How can we put all the blame/praise on the coach when there are so many variables in any given team situation?

It all starts with the coach because if the coach is intentional about trying to create a great team culture and experience for the kids, the chances are much greater that it will end up that way. Coaches who are intentional about what they want to see happen have more success at seeing their goals come true. That does not mean that it is a guarantee, but they certainly create a situation that is much more apt to come true if they are intentional about it.

Unfortunately, most teams in the world happen by accident. The culture and the experience is left to chance. There is no vision, no plan, no roadmap for getting to wherever they are seeking to get. They wander through the season hoping that it will be a good experience. They let the ups and downs and the ebb and flow of the season dictate whether or not the experience is a positive one. Oh sure, many coaches (and team leaders and team members) will talk about wanting to win whatever championship is the ultimate for their team and set that as their goal. However, goals like that create a focus on a result – a result that has many variables that could create that result or keep it from happening. Focusing only on results creates a lot more pressure. While it is at least giving them a direction to go, focusing on a result means that there is only one way to succeed – achieve that one result.

The better method is to focus on creating the culture that you would like to have in your program. Focus on your team’s standards, your guiding principles. Bruce Brown of Proactive Coaching calls these a team’s “Core Covenants.” In his booklet and presentation, “First Steps to Successful Teams” – www.proactivecoaching.info – Coach Brown says a covenant is “a binding agreement where action is physically visible. This takes the agreement beyond words to an actual vision of performance. It says, ‘This is what we believe, so therefore, this is what you will see.’” The best covenants are focused on behavioral characteristics. When a team sets up covenants for behavior within the program, they are creating the culture that they seek. By focusing on behavioral characteristics, these teams are zeroing in on things they have control over – not results and outcomes that have all kinds of variables that influence them. For example, if a team establishes “Team-First Attitude” as a covenant, everyone on that team can make the choice to be committed to being a great teammate. There is no pre-requisite skill, training, education, physical attribute, etc. necessary to be able to display a team-first attitude. Every single person in the program can have a team-first attitude. The same goes for work ethic, teachable spirit, discipline, mental toughness, integrity, and any other behavioral characteristic one can think of. Every player in a program can commit and live every single one of those kinds of characteristics with nothing more than acting and behaving in the proper way.

If a coach is intentional about establishing covenants, s/he creates a much more favorable chance of having them be lived in her or his program. But it takes work. Developing covenants with the leadership of the team, explaining them to the entire team, taking time to discuss them and work on them throughout the year, and doing all that they can to live the covenants must be intentionally and purposefully developed by the coach. It is a process, and the process takes time and effort. But if a great team is the goal, there is no clearer, better, more consistent and predictable way to achieve it than to work through this process with determination and purpose. Coaches who do this in an intentional fashion create a team environment of success and excellence.

One major by-product of intentionally focusing on creating this type of culture is that these teams also have a much better chance of creating scoreboard success, too. And they are on their way to intentionally creating the “great team” experience that everyone wants to be a part of. For an in-depth look at creating an outstanding team culture, check out Proactive Coaching’s DVD Captains & Coaches’ Workshop, or better yet, have one of us out to do a Captains & Coaches’ Workshop for your teams. For more information go to www.proactivecoaching.info.

Do you intentionally create a culture in your program? If so, I would love to hear the kinds of things you do? You can contact me through my website – www.coachwithcharacter.com or by email at [email protected]. Scott is also on Twitter @scottrosberg

About the Author of this Article

Scott Rosberg has been a coach (basketball, soccer, & football) at the high school level for 30 years, an English teacher for 18 years, and an athletic director for 12 years. He has published seven booklets on coaching and youth/school athletics, two books of inspirational messages and quotes for graduates, and a newsletter for athletic directors and coaches. He also speaks to schools, teams, and businesses on a variety of team-building, leadership, and coaching topics. Scott has a blog and a variety of other materials about coaching and athletic topics on his website – www.coachwithcharacter.com. He can be reached by email at [email protected].

Scott is also a member of the Proactive Coaching speaking team. Proactive Coaching is dedicated to helping organizations create character and education-based team cultures, while providing a blueprint for team leadership. They help develop confident, tough-minded, fearless competitors and train coaches and leaders for excellence and significance. Proactive Coaching can be found on the web at www.proactivecoaching.info. Also, you can join the 200,000+ people who have “Liked” Proactive Coaching’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/proactivecoach. Scott can also be reached through Proactive Coaching at [email protected].

This article was written by Lindsey Wilson. Lindsey is the Co-Founder of Positive Performance Mental Training Zone. She has been teaching, writing and speaking about mental training for the last 6 years.

I hope you can find a few points that you can share with your athletes that will have a positive impact on your team.

13 Ways to be More Coachable

By Lindsey Wilson

Sports are filled with mental challenges, many of which we athletes bring upon ourselves. The coach-player dynamic is only one of the multitude of difficulties we face, but at the same time it is often the most difficult to navigate. And it’s not surprising why: receiving criticism in any area of life is tough – from teachers in the classroom, from the boss on the job, or from family or friends in our personal lives – but being able to graciously receive advice and mentorship is a necessary part of growth.

Today, I want to talk about being coachable. But, first, let’s define it. Being coachable is:

• Being grateful that someone cares enough about you to push you to improve beyond where you would get on your own.
• Being vulnerable enough to know you’re not perfect.
• Being open to honest feedback (even if it hurts).
• Working to actively change bad habits.

Uncoachable athletes show certain key behaviors. It doesn’t take long for a coach to spot an uncoachable player, and very rarely can a coach make a player coachable.

How does one coach an athlete who fights back? It’s a daunting task.

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No question: We athletes can be sensitive people. Though we may look tough on the outside, we can be delicate underneath. In talking with a number of coaches, trying to sort out those characteristics of coachable versus uncoachable players, this is what we discovered about athletes in general:

• We tend to roll our eyes or take things personally that we shouldn’t.
• We can seem ungrateful even to those who help us most.
• We read into things more deeply than we should.
• We often believe everything is about us, even someone else’s bad day.

As a former collegiate athlete, I’m guilty of all of the above. While I tried my best to be coachable and to not take things personally, my attitude was (and sometimes still is) something that needed constant attention and required constant mental work.

(Becoming more coachable isn’t something that can be achieved with more drills, more reps, or multiple coach-player conferences. Those are external methods of repair that a coach can implement, but a player’s coachability is a mentality that requires diligence and attention from the athlete. In other words: coachability is up to the athlete, not the coach. The worst of it is that, most of the time, athletes don’t even KNOW they’re uncoachable! It can be a shock to find out that it isn’t the coach, it isn’t the team, it isn’t the sport, isn’t the equipment… it’s actually themselves who are making life so hard.)

But, before an athlete can start on the road to becoming more coachable, they first need to understand the benefits of having a coachable mentality. Top 5 potential benefits of being more coachable:

• More playing time (and less drill or bench time).
• Greater cohesion with team and/or coaches.
• Accelerated learning.
• Deeper and more fulfilling relationships with your coaches.
• Greater internal calm: accepting criticism for what it is (INFORMATION) instead of what it isn’t (AN ATTACK) requires a solid internal foundation.

13 ways to be more coachable

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Now that we’ve established why being coachable is critical to your development as an athlete, let’s go through the steps: 13 Ways to Become MORE Coachable:

1. Listen to what your coaches say, not how they say it. Easier said than done but, like any skill, the more you do it, the easier it becomes. Practice “mean no offense, take no offense” when both speaking AND listening to your teammates and coaches.

 

1. Trust me: It’s NOT about you. If your coach is having an ‘off’ day, don’t take it personally. You don’t know what happened to them that day. Did they get reprimanded by the athletic director? Did they lose a big recruit? Did they have a fight with their spouse? Is their son failing math? Your coach’s bad day could be a result of any of the other 99% of what is happening in their life. So, odds are, it’s not you.

 

1. Remember ‘coach’ is only one hat they wear. Many coaches have spouses, children, families, friends, and lives outside of making sure your catered dinner is ready on the road trip. While you are important to them, remember they have lives outside of you. Respect that.

 

1. They really (REALLY) want you to be your best even if it sometimes comes out sideways. They are there to help you be successful. Trust them.

 

1. Your coaches are more stressed than you can probably imagine. Give them a break if they aren’t perfect or if their tone isn’t right in line with what you’d prefer.

 

1. Always say ‘thank you’. In fact, say it more often than you think you need to. Thank your coaches for taking you on a road trip. Thank them for making you watch film (and for editing the film so it’s not as long as it could be!). Thank them for scouting your opponent late into the night. Thank them for totally committing themselves to your improvement. Thank them for holding you to a high standard. And especially thank them during those moments when you don’t feel thankful… those are times when they’re helping you most.

 

1. Always look your coaches in the eye. Don’t hold your head down. Don’t look away. You want to be treated like an adult, so BE an adult; have confidence and class and look your coach in the eye. Doing so isn’t even for them: it’s for YOU. (Yes – this time it IS about you.)

 

1. Shocker: Your coach is human, too. They aren’t perfect (and – surprise! – neither are you). Their stresses and emotions get misplaced just like yours do. They get hurt by things you do, say, and they feel pain when you disregard them or don’t appreciate them. (See #6.)

 

1. Don’t roll your eyes. It’s immature and says more about you than the person you’re offending. (See #7.)

 

1. If you really have something to say, SAY IT. I’m big on communication. Huge on it, in fact. So, if all else fails and you just don’t get what you need from your coach, be an adult and communicate that in a mature way. Whining about something constantly, or tuning out and not committing yourself to your team, is NOT a solution. In fact, it’s the exact opposite: absolutely detrimental to you, your team, and your coach’s ability to effectively train you.

 

1. Directly ask for feedback. Your coaches have a whole roster of players to look after and might not always get around to you as quickly as you’d like. Every coach would love to have one-on-one conversations or meetings every day with every player, but that’s simply not a realistic goal. Therefore, if they don’t get to you right away, go to them and ask for their thoughts and feedback.

 

1. Be prepared. Take five minutes before every practice to release from your mind the rest of your day’s activities. Remember your goals and remember why you’re practicing. Remember that your coach has put in uncountable hours to prepare drills, runs, plays, and practices for you. So, have some respect: when you’re at practice, really, truly BE at practice. Click here for our pre-practice mental routine-the BRAVR technique.

 

1. Set up a weekly check-in with your coach in a place where both of you can chat informally about your strengths and skills that need working on. This doesn’t have to take long. Just a few minutes after practice can be a huge help in keeping you on track to your goals.

So, that’s my list. And, because transforming yourself into a more coachable athlete is mental training, there are many, many more ways other than these simple 13 that you can use to improve.

Now, huddle.

Athletes, I encourage you to get together with one or more of your teammates and see what their thoughts are on this list. What would you add to it? What can you expand upon? What are some times you’ve found it REALLY hard to keep to this list? If you are a more senior athlete, have you felt frustration while mentoring a less experienced player? How did the uncoachability of that player make you feel?

And, if you’re willing, please tell me about your experiences with coachability by sharing in the comments section below.

Here’s to self-improvement through mental training!

P.S. Too many rules to remember offhand? Download and print this How to Be More Coachable out as a consistent reminder on keeping yourself coachable. Tape it in your locker, post it in the locker room, toss it in your gym bag, share it with others… whatever you need to do to grow and maintain your coachability and to steadily improve your mental skills as an athlete.