Israel Saria
All-star athletes tend to get a free ride in our society. Just perform well and almost any
behavior- showing up late for team meetings, not
feeling the need to practice like the rest of the
team and blundering personally off the field- with
little or no repercussions.
Meeting with team players in our society.
As a coach how you manage the different
personalities on your team, especially those of
your more gifted and talented, will greatly impact
your success as a team. It begins by having
ground rules that apply to everyone and secondly
through developing relationships. First, rules
and expectations apply to everyone.
There are no special treatments or favors for the
all-stars. Practice times and consequences for
not being there or showing up late are the same
for everyone. If one of the consequences is
sitting the bench or not starting the next match,
then it’s the same for everyone, even if it is
your all-star. Remember winning is playing the
right way with the right attitude.
Hard work, giving 100%, having the right attitude
are values you expect from everyone. Perhaps even
more so from your all-stars, but we’ll get into
that next time. Create the environment that no
matter how good you are you are not above the
rules and expectations of the team. One thing I
have found helpful in establishing this is by
having the team with the coaching staff layout the
ground rules, expectations and consequences
together at the beginning of the year. Once
they’ve been established have everyone sign them
and then distribute that to the players,
assistants and parents.
Following this process creates ownership of the
expectations and consequences, a level playing
field, clarity, and direction for your team.
You’ll discover that when everyone’s playing by
the same rules team chemistry and team play as
well as parent’s support will improve immensely.
Warmly
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