This article can be found at the Coaches Toolbox, a great resource for coaches of all sports

Living with a 99% Effort

I got this list from entrepreneur and business author Harvey Mackay’s book “Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty.” (If you click on the name of the book, you can see a portion of the book from Amazon) In the book, he gives credit to Armond Bouchie for using this list in his job application portfolio.

If we had to live with 99% effort, we would have:

 

One hour of unsafe drinking water every month,

Two unsafe plane landings per day at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport,

16,000 pieces of lost mail every hour,

22 checks deducted from the wrong bank account every week,

500 incorrect surgical operations every week,

12 babies given to the wrong parents every day,

20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions each year, and

800,000 credit cards with incorrect information.

A 100% effort makes sense.

 

This next portion of the post contains some of my takeaways from Texas A&M Women’s Assistant Bob Starkey’s Coaching Blog Hoop Thoughts Blog

HOW DO YOU MEASURE ON THE “GRIT” SCALE?

Mitch Cole

Some educational researchers have defined GRIT as “passion and perseverance to achieve long term goals”. When struggles come, do you get more DEJECTED or more DETERMINED?

Studies have shown that the attribute of GRIT, is one of the most powerful indicators of success. The most GRITTY people usually succeed on and off the playing field or court.

Teams can become selfish during good times and turn on each other during tough times. Teams that stay together can resist the temptation to be selfish, can withstand tough times, and even conquer insurmountable odds.

Most people can appreciate a team or athletes that refuse to give up no matter what the circumstance. Resilience is the ability to bounce back from difficulty and in some cases, be better than before. This can happen when the other team goes on a run and things look most bleak, or even within a season. Teams that “Fight” and show tremendous Resilience over and over again have the best chance for sustained success.

When winners get knocked down, they get up, champions get up a little faster.

“Being relentless means constantly working for that result, not just when drama is on the line. Clutch is about the last minute. Relentless is about every minute.” -Tim Grover From “Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable”

U of Penn Duckworth Lab study found that “grit” (passion & perseverance for long-term goals) is best predictor of success. “Grit is unrelated w/ talent.”

The Duckworth Lab focuses on two traits that predict success in life: grit and self-control. Grit is the tendency to sustain interest in and effort toward very long-term goals. Self-control is the voluntary regulation of behavioral, emotional, and attentional impulses in the presence of momentarily gratifying temptations or diversions. On average, individuals who are gritty are more self-controlled, but the correlation between these two traits is not perfect: some individuals are paragons of grit but not self-control, and some exceptionally well-regulated individuals are not especially gritty. While we haven’t fully worked out how these two traits are related, it seems that an important distinction has to do with timescale: As Galton suggested, the inclination to pursue especially challenging aims over months, years, and even decades is distinct from the capacity to resist “the hourly temptations,” pursuits which bring momentary pleasure but are immediately regretted.

In terms of Big Five personality, grit and self-control both load on the conscientiousness factor, which also encompasses dependability, punctuality, and orderliness, among other facets.

Some educators typically prefer the umbrella term “social and emotional learning,” whereas many other educators, as well as philosophers and positive psychologists, embrace the moral connotations of “character” and “virtue.” So, grit and self-control are facets of Big Five conscientiousness, but are also conceptualized as dimensions of human character, social and emotional competency, and non-cognitive human capital.

That Extra Effort

For another angle on the importance of a 100% effort, click on the image below for a very inspirational video:

think you are really going to like this video that shows us that there is not a lot of physical difference between top performers and also rans. The big difference is in their mental strength and persistence! Click on the icon to see the video. You will need scroll to the bottom of the page after you click.

By Dawn Redd-Kelly

I think personality assessment should be a must for every team. Why? Because I think the cause of most conflict is expecting others to act like you do. I’d written before about the DiSC assessment I use, focusing on your team’s interactions with one another. Now I want to talk about coach-player interaction. Even though most people are a mixture of more than one letter type, see if you can find your top one or two personality types here. I believe it will help you as you work with your student-athletes.

The 4 DiSC personality types and how they impact your coaching style

D’s are dominant and like to be in charge. I’d hazard a guess that a lot of coaches are D’s. On the positive side, D’s enjoy solving problems and trust their ability to produce results. At their best, D’s can mobilize teams to solve a problem or achieve a goal. That sounds awesome right? As Newton said though, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. D’s can be blunt to the point of being rude and may make rash and reckless decisions. At their worst, D’s can be bullies, loud mouths, and tyrants.

What to do: Understand that not everyone thinks as quickly as you do…give them time to mull things over. D’s could do well to build bridges and relationships rather than expecting people to comply just because they say so. I mean, your team will comply because you’re the boss. But if you want your team to play for you and not in spite of you, D’s should see the value of cooperation.

I’s are influential and the life of the party. These are your extroverted folks who love to be around people. I’s are charming, optimistic, and outgoing…those we’d call a “people person”. At their best, I’s can be inspirational and communicate a vision or goal in a manner that motivates others to work toward it. I’s see the best in others and help them to believe in their abilities. Sounds like an awesome coach, huh? On the other side of the coin, I’s dislike details and can seem scattered. I’s can sometimes lack follow-through, rarely finishing what they begin…they overpromise and underdeliver.

What to do: Understand that you can get folks super fired up with your words…so that means that you’ve got to deliver on those promises. You don’t want to have a group of ten freshmen who you told would be starters…and your sport only starts five! I’s should try to listen more and talk less.

S’s are the steady Eddy’s out there. S’s are loyal, friendly, and supportive…they are team players. At their best, S’s can calm tensions and stabilize unsettled situations. S’s work hard to create stable and harmonious environments. Does this sound like you, Coach? Well, on the flip side, S’s are too hard on themselves and take criticism other their work very personally. Creatures of habit, S’s enjoy their daily routines and are resistant to change.

What to do: Understand that flexibility is the name of the game. It’s great that S’s will have a routine and a to-do list prepared for each day…you’ve just got to be prepared for things to go sideways every now and then. One of your players might get sick (on the day where she’s a big part of your practice plan!) or it may rain when you were planning on taking your team outside. S’s can have their beloved plans…just be willing to adjust it.

C’s are conscientious and careful. If you’re a C, you like to be right and are a stickler for details. You have very high standards for yourself…and those around you. Where I’s are outgoing and boisterous, C’s are quiet, reserved, and business-like. C’s are fair and objective and will always maintain high standards, even when asked to compromise. That’s pretty good, right? At their worst, C’s can get bogged down in details…some would call them a nit picker. C’s prefer to work alone and need to analyze all available options before making a decision.

What to do: C’s should understand that some decisions have a timeline and need quick action. Your assistants understand that you’ve charted stats for all practices during the season and the numbers say that you’ve got the right lineup out there. But right now it’s not working and you’ve got to make a change. C’s are cautious by nature, so you should surround yourself with folks who are more adventurous.

Each season, we try to create team chemistry among our athletes and help them to get to know one another, but it’s just as important that the coach knows their personality type…and how it’ll interact with each player.

source

 

Are you tired of walking into practice and seeing lackluster effort from your players?  Have you had it with trying to get your female athletes to care about the team as much as you do??

Click here to find out more about Coach Dawn’s eBook: Motivating Female Athletes

Comes with a FREE PowerPoint presentation called Guarantee Your Success: Using John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success To Increase Your Team’s Cohesion.

This article was provided by Coaches Network

Nearly every athletics program—whether it a college or high school program—hopes to create a lasting culture of winning and success. Regardless of the size of the school or the level of competition, coaches are searching for ways to foster sustainable growth on their teams. Most coaches look to assert their own methods and philosophies when it comes to developing a team culture, but for Hope College’s Head Volleyball Coach Becky Schmidt it’s all about striking a balance with the players.  And Coach Schmidt’s system is one for high school coaches to emulate.

Schmidt’s 12-season coaching record at Hope is 326-79, with her total collegiate record being 364-112, ranking her among the nation’s elite
volleyball coaches. In 2014 she guided the Flying Dutch to their first national championship with a 6-0 run during the NCAA Division III Tournament. She continued to build on that success this past year with a 24-6 overall record during the regular season.

The success that Schmidt has sustained at Hope is a prime case study for developing a positive team culture. Through years of experimenting with different approaches, Schmidt has kept an open mind and has found the coaching style that works best for her team.

“Too often coaches think that it’s all or nothing, it’s this one way or the highway,” she says. “But I really believe the coaches that are providing the most positive cultures are those that are aware of the balance that they need to strike in the multiple ways that their program operates.”

Talking to players and asking them for suggestions is the primary tool that Schmidt has used to improve Hope’s volleyball program. “I would recommend having a clear vision of what you want to see from your team but also talking to them and asking them what they want to see from their experience as well,” she says.

Opening this line of communication with the student-athletes has helped Schmidt take the steps to improve in multiple areas. One thing that has changed over the years is the way she runs her practices. “As a coach you’ve got to balance being focused on a specific drill and also having a good time and enjoying the experience,” she says. “So the drill can’t be so hard that it become frustrating and cant be so easy that the athlete becomes bored.”

This has led Schmidt to change her coaching style over the years. Whereas she used to include dozens of different drills for each skill, now she has her players work on only a handful of drills that replicate in-game situations. Players are also given a chance to redeem themselves after making mistakes during certain drills. “The focus there is on not making the same mistake twice,” says Schmidt. “So there’s a technique piece of it but there’s also an attitude or a mindset piece.”

Fostering positive relationships with the student-athletes has helped Schmidt maintain the strong team culture that she has developed. There has to be fairness from you and trust from the players,” she says. “You can’t treat one player in a way that’s not fair for the rest of the team but I think every team is going to understand that players are different, what gets one person to be able to excel might be very different for someone else.”

Developing respect and trust from players is essential for any coach looking for long-term success. Schmidt recommends that coaches share their vision with the team while also collecting feedback from players so that everyone understands each other. It may not happen over night, but these methods will certainly help to foster the growth of a positive team culture.

“By talking to the student-athletes and showing a little bit of vulnerability they’re going to learn to trust you more,” she says. “When they see that you actually care about their perspectives and what their experience is like then you get a few allies on a team and you’re much closer to getting to a tipping where that culture then really starts to shift.”