Team Building - Does your team have Values?
By Craig Lansing
I believe if I ask a group of parents, from the same youth sports team, about Team Core Values most would give you a blank stare. Now if I rephrased the question to what is your family values many of the same individuals would be able to give me a much more specific list relating to honesty, ethics or mannerisms that are important to them. I think all of us, as parents, have created a list of rules for our kids to abide by. These rules keep our children within the guidelines of what we would consider acceptable behaviors or manners. SO does your sports team have values?
I always tell my parents and players that "Sports are just life lessons wrapped in a game" because at the end of the day that is what they will be able to use long after the sports part has ended.
At the beginning of the soccer season we did a couple of classroom sessions to figure out what our Team Core Values are. Here are the top responses from the players themselves:
WORK AT BECOMING EXCELLENT
No matter how they worded it or the many different ways they said the same thing all answers led to 'becoming better'. The VALUE I interpreted from this was 'don't settle for where you are at but strive to always be excellent'. This does not only relate to sports achievements as many might assume but more related to doing their best as a player and person. In life we should not ever stop learning, growing as a person or striving to be better. On a sports team it should be the same no matter if you are a player, parent or even coach. This is the basis of the BetterThanThis philosophy that this site is built around.
ACCEPT EACH OTHER AS DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE TEAM
All of the my players are unique in their own ways and have things that make them special. They may come from different neighborhoods, communities, schools, incomes, religious beliefs, hobbies and social groups but when they take the field they become a wonderful melting pot of individuals. None of my players (or their coach) are perfect but we can bring what we are good at into the team. These differences, in turn, makes us all stronger. The VALUE to me is 'be inclusive of others, enjoy their talents and include them as a necessary part of social group'. You don't have to have the same hobbies, be in the same social groups or go to the same schools but when you understand that as a team you are stronger then two individuals you learn how both career and personal relationships work.
BECOME LEADERS
On a team, players will take different roles on in support of the team as a whole. Sports teams give children a great opportunity to work on becoming leaders. As a coach I must not just teach soccer skills but leadership skills and give them the opportunity to develop these skills. Players will take a role of organizing pre-game warm-ups, assisting in setting up training's or communicators on the field. It teaches them the defining lines between being bossy, pushy or a leader. It allows them to show others how they will react to success and failure as it relates to personal character. Some players will become leaders on the team and later on leaders in life.
CELEBRATE VICTORY AND SUPPORT EACH OTHER IN DEFEAT
As teammates you will have up's and down's throughout the season, season to season and outside of soccer that effect you as a player. All teams will win games and lose games over a season but there are life lessons in how we deal with each. Are you the person who just sees success as a W or can you also see the success that comes with improvement even when its a loss? As a coach I often learn much more in our failures as a team then in the victories. I design training plans around what we can do better or improvements we can make from the last game. Are you a player who is a humble winner or boasts to disgrace your opponent or tries to make yourself feel bigger? We all enjoy winning but how we handle the winning is important in forming who we become and how others judge you. Can you be a good sport both in your wins and your losses? Life will hand you both and learning how to deal with each is at the core of what type of person you will become.
HAVE FUN AND DON'T TAKE THINGS TO SERIOUS
Kids get into sports because they are fun and that's what keeps them playing. My players all said they want to HAVE FUN so lets not take the fun away from it. If it stops being fun do you think they will still want to play it? Sports can be fun, challenging and social all in one if you find the right team. Stop taking youth sports so serious and start enjoying the journey as it all ends pretty quickly. As my youngest son goes through his soccer seasons I hope more then anything he looks back and remembers how much FUN he had and not how many trophies he won. I am still having FUN with him every weekend - win or lose.