Attitude Reflects Leadership.......Captain!

One of my favorite movie quotes of all time, and how true it is. So much of a team's personality relies on the leadership of the captains. The leaders on a team set the tempo and in most cases are responsible for the team's attitude. (As a side note I must also mention that it is the coaches responsibility to hold the captains accountable.) Captains, along with other leaders on the team, are watched closely by their peers. If they are working hard and enthusiastic the team usually follows suit. If they are complaining and just going through the motions, once again the team will follow suit.

Coaches must find a way to get the captains to buy into their system. Captains must have the drive, desire, commitment, confidence, and perseverance to lead their teammates for an entire season. Captains have a tough job. They have the delicate task of being the go-between of the players and coaches. They have to relay the pulse of the team to the coaches, keep teammates on task, and sometimes have hard conversations with their teammates, all while continuing to develop themselves as a player. Being a captain is definitely not a role that all players can handle.

Coaches must have a true understanding of the difficulties of being a captain/ leader. The coaches need to continually build up their captains, feeding the leaders the energy they need, so that they can pass it on to the rest of the team. So often coaches name captains and never take the time to talk to them throughout the season. This puts an extraordinary amount of pressure on the captains often causing them to shut down and become ineffective.

Attitude truly does reflect leadership: attitude of team reflects leadership of the captains, attitude of the captains reflects leadership of the coaches.

Be a Leader.......huh?

In athletics, especially high school athletics, coaches will often tell their players to, "Be a leader!" I have been there, wanting certain players to step up and take control of the team. I have been the frustrated coach wondering why the best players don't seem to care as much as "I" think they should. After many years of coaching, and many years of making mistakes, I realized that I had the expectation of certain players being leaders, but never explained what that entails nor did I prepare those players for leadership.

Turns out that most of the players that coaches tell to "Be a leader," really want to be leaders, but have no idea how to do it. So much time is placed in preparing athletes physically for games. Drilling their bodies over and over to make plays. Where we often fall short is preparing athletes mentally. If you want leaders on your team, you have to train leaders!

The first thing coaches have to do is find the athletes who already exude leadership qualities: respect of both coaches and players, vocal, committed, confident, just to name a few. In high school athletics we sometimes have to find leaders who compliment each other. That way the athletes can help each other develop the areas they are weak in.

There is no magic formula in training kids to be leaders, but there are many good resources to help coaches develop a plan that best suits their needs. There are many coaches who are very good at developing leaders and team unity, but the really good coaches are always looking for ways to improve their methods. I will have posts in the future discussing different ideas for leadership training, as well as Team Building ideas. If you have any, feel free to post them.

And so it Begins...

In an effort to share ideas and thoughts on different aspects of athletics, I have decided to start a blog. Although physical ability is of great importance, I am choosing to focus more on the mental aspect.

The importance of attitude, leadership, and mental preparation is both a benefit to the individual player and the team as a whole. Many dedicated athletes spend time conditioning their body, but the mindset and attitude of an athlete can be the difference between failure and success. The hope is that this forum will be a place where those who want an edge will be able to receive it.

In an effort to put self aside and put team first, athletes will learn how to best fill their role, whatever that might be. Hope this blog provides helpful ideas and information on your journey to becoming the best you can be.


If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams