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.