Entering into my 20th year of coaching (that's 40 seasons!), I'm still amazed at the process of team building. At the core, it's what coaching is all about ... anyone can do the "X's and 0's", but can you pull a group of disparate individuals and make them a team? Can you get folks who are naturally on their own page and put them on the same one? Can you get soloists to sing in unison?
These are the yearly questions I face and they are a yearly challenge.
But the more I coach the more I realize the job of making a team from individuals doesn't rest on me alone. Sure, I'll work hard toward the goal. I'll do what I can to pull and prod and push the scattered cattle into a herd. But here's the catch. The cattle have minds of their own. And sometimes despite my best efforts, we run the risk that by the season's end, it just may not be.
So this is for you. You, the runner, the teammate. What will YOU do to make this a better team this season? What will you bring to the group that helps smooth the rough spots, paint over the cracks, patch the wounds and repair the hurt feelings? Will you be someone that makes others on the team WANT to come to practice, or will your attitudes, words and actions make others think twice about showing up?
High School girls have a tendency to be "drama queens." They're good at talking behind others' backs, running in cliques and exagerrating the faults of others. Such drama is poison to a team. I have NEVER -- EVER! -- seen a team infected by drama or led by drama queens, succeed. It's a guarantee to fail. Drama makes everyone miserable, including those who dish it.
Guys are prone to be cut-throat. They like "one-upping" their teammates and are married to the pecking order. "That freshman isn't going to beat me!" some say. Where girls talk behind others' backs, guys will just stab them in the back. They can and do take lessons on clique building from the girls.
So here we go ... King XC's 11th season is dawning. If you're reading this, you are probably going to be one of the members of the team.
And it's going to be YOUR team. What will you make it? What contributions will you bring that will lift us up or tear us down? Will you work diligently, daily, to make our team more of a unit, or will you be one of those heads of cattle that is head strong, willing to see things only your way, and in the process you'll go your own way thank-you-very-much. (And while you're at it, you'll convince a couple of others to go with you).
Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest coaches of any sport once said, "Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a civilization work." True words.
But the opposite is true too, when "Individual commitment to individual effort, that's what destroys a team ..." and it's THAT that is the yearly risk and challenge of throwing a bunch of individuals together and calling them a team.
You can call them a team, or any other title you want, but what makes them a team is the consistent individual willingess to sacrifice one self for the good of the others.
Are you willing to do that this season? Are you willing to swallow your pride, your ego, your comfort zone; to blend your passions and desires with others' which might not be like yours, for the betterment of our team?
If you are, then I promise you this 11th season of KXC will be like none other. If you aren't I promise you a miserable season ... for yourself and for everyone around you.
It's your team, what will you make it?
These are the yearly questions I face and they are a yearly challenge.
But the more I coach the more I realize the job of making a team from individuals doesn't rest on me alone. Sure, I'll work hard toward the goal. I'll do what I can to pull and prod and push the scattered cattle into a herd. But here's the catch. The cattle have minds of their own. And sometimes despite my best efforts, we run the risk that by the season's end, it just may not be.
So this is for you. You, the runner, the teammate. What will YOU do to make this a better team this season? What will you bring to the group that helps smooth the rough spots, paint over the cracks, patch the wounds and repair the hurt feelings? Will you be someone that makes others on the team WANT to come to practice, or will your attitudes, words and actions make others think twice about showing up?
High School girls have a tendency to be "drama queens." They're good at talking behind others' backs, running in cliques and exagerrating the faults of others. Such drama is poison to a team. I have NEVER -- EVER! -- seen a team infected by drama or led by drama queens, succeed. It's a guarantee to fail. Drama makes everyone miserable, including those who dish it.
Guys are prone to be cut-throat. They like "one-upping" their teammates and are married to the pecking order. "That freshman isn't going to beat me!" some say. Where girls talk behind others' backs, guys will just stab them in the back. They can and do take lessons on clique building from the girls.
So here we go ... King XC's 11th season is dawning. If you're reading this, you are probably going to be one of the members of the team.
And it's going to be YOUR team. What will you make it? What contributions will you bring that will lift us up or tear us down? Will you work diligently, daily, to make our team more of a unit, or will you be one of those heads of cattle that is head strong, willing to see things only your way, and in the process you'll go your own way thank-you-very-much. (And while you're at it, you'll convince a couple of others to go with you).
Vince Lombardi, one of the greatest coaches of any sport once said, "Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a civilization work." True words.
But the opposite is true too, when "Individual commitment to individual effort, that's what destroys a team ..." and it's THAT that is the yearly risk and challenge of throwing a bunch of individuals together and calling them a team.
You can call them a team, or any other title you want, but what makes them a team is the consistent individual willingess to sacrifice one self for the good of the others.
Are you willing to do that this season? Are you willing to swallow your pride, your ego, your comfort zone; to blend your passions and desires with others' which might not be like yours, for the betterment of our team?
If you are, then I promise you this 11th season of KXC will be like none other. If you aren't I promise you a miserable season ... for yourself and for everyone around you.
It's your team, what will you make it?
That's a pretty epic blog coach. The words are so true.
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