I had just taken over as head coach of a high school basketball program. From what I had learned prior to taking the job, there were a few talented seniors, and the varsity team had won more than they lost the year before… But the last coach had not done any off season work for […]
Category Archives: Athletic Teambuilding
The name for this fun five-ten minute ice breaker activity is taken from a commercial that everyone on your team has probably seen at least a dozen times… It’s the “Capitol One Challenge…” But you don’t have to give me credit for the idea! (so punny!) Okay – enough with the bad jokes. Here’s your easy […]
Frozen Dinner Syndrome is the result of flawed expectations.
Remember looking at the box there in the freezer aisle, and convincing yourself that it looked appetizing… even desirable?
One of the most difficult parts of any team leader’s job is to have positive and effective feedback conversations. Whether you are a coach, a sales manager, a school administrator, or a medical staff supervisor, The COIN model provides you a template for having feedback conversations that work and include 4 essential elements of […]
My daughter plays beach volleyball. So she was very excited when she learned about a week-long camp at Hermosa Beach, in California, that would be run by college coaches. And she and my wife both think this is a great opportunity for her to get better and build relationships… But it was expensive. And it […]
There is a 5 word phrase that dooms your team interactions. I have written before about how to benefit from the working with a “sandpaper person” on your team, and have also discussed the conflicts that can arise if your people are not aware of the strengths and challenges that different team personality types offer. […]
Coaches and great teammates both read books, because they know that readers are leaders. When I was a coach, I was a voracious reader. I was constantly seeking new titles that would help me to grow – whether it was from a leader in a different sport or even from a leader in a different […]
All failure is the result of vagueness. That is a powerful and memorable statement… But it means nothing if the insight is not translated into a changed behavior. There is a great deal of value in discussing and selecting core values. You can even download a very useful virtues and values activity on my resources […]
Any team you become a part of – and certainly any team you are asked to lead – will be starving for the opportunity to get to know and appreciate their teammates better. As you might have experienced, hunger can sometimes make people weak and unmotivated, or can even make them irritable and defensive… but […]
Every one of your teammates is fighting an invisible dragon. As a coach, it took me longer than I would like to admit to develop an awareness of the personal battles that each one of my players were struggling with once they left the court. Player strengths and personality types were not all I needed […]