C / V Sparklers

- To focus on the value of communication with your team, try asking your players to play without communication.  They'll quickly learn how hard it is to play without communication. - and then watch how much more they communicate afterwards.

- Use signature statements such as "practice like a champion" or "the fourth quarter is ours" to help establish and reinforce your team culture.

- Avoid the obvious criticism.  Players usually know when they've made a mistake.

- Follow the three C's: have set consequences that are applied calmly and consistently.  A coach becoming negative or getting visibly angry with players should be viewed as a sign of weakness and a lack of self-discipline.

- Turn drills into challenges.  Have players compete against each other (e.g. making the most throws), against the clock (most baskets in a certain amount of time), or against a preset standard (certain number in a row without missing).

- Youth athletes should play multiple sports to develop different muscles and figure out which sports they most enjoy.  Ask parents at the start of the season to list their children's their activities.

- We encourage parents to refrain from post-game analysis with their players on the car ride home.  But some parents can't help themselves, so fill players' emotional tanks to prepare them for that ride home.

- Create special roles for your bench players, especially if you coach in an environment where playing time is not equal.  Communitcate with these players frequently so they are ready to contribute when they enter the game.

- The next time you're officiating your own team's scrimmage, intentionally make a bad call.  Some of your players will react negatively.  Call timeout and remind everyone to respect officials, even when disagreeing with the call.

- Start practices in a way that signals to players that they are part of a team that has it's own way of doing things, it's own culture.  Develop an opening ritual that gets players moving.  A distinct opening ritual helps players make this transition from whatever has been going on in their day to practice.

- While your players are competing, try to limit your instruction.  It can be distracting.  Instead, use trigger words, one or two word phrases, to remind them of previous instruction.

- Develop a written coaching philosophy.  Write down a few things about what you value as a coach (e.g. talent development, having fun), and then write a paragrah designed to teach parents why your philiosophy is so important to their children's education.  Share this with the parents before the season.

- Before a game against a challenging opponent, tell your athletes that "Nervous is normal" and that feeling will never go away.  Being nervous shows that you care about doing well for your teammates, so it's a good thing!  As a coach, remind them that you don't expect perfection.  All you want is their best effort.

- Ask your athletes to visualize what will happen in the game, so they can become comfortable with performing in a "clutch" situation before ever taking the field.  Either as a team or individually, have them close their eyes and guide them through this visualization right before your next competition.

- Teach DIMITT (Determination Is More Important Than Talent) to athletes to reinforce the notion that they will be as good as they are determined to be.  Tell your players that, more than anything else, it is the amount of effort they are willing to put into their sport that determines how good they can become.

- You may have to search hard for a truthful, specific praise for your weakest player, but resist the temptation to offer empty, unearned praise.  You can always find something truthful and specific that is positive about what your players do.

- Help your players establish and strive for stretch goals.  Stretch goals are just beyond a player's reach but can be achieved with effort over time.  The best stretch goals are set by the player's themselves.

- Catch players doing things right.  This is harder than it sounds.  You have to get into the frame of mind to ignore the little 'wrong' things so you can reinforce players when they do the right things.

- Keep your reserve players involved by asking them to do Positive Charting (i.e., recording their teammates' positive plays), helping identify defensive shifts, etc.  In addition to preventing those players from becoming a distraction, it will help prepare them to see the game differently when they return to action.

- Before a game ask the official if they would like to speak to your team and/or your team parents.  This show of cooperation sets the expectation of how everyone should respect the officials.    

- Implement "Positive Charting" recording positive efforts and plays during practices and games.  List all your players with space to note two or three of their specific positive acts.

- Hold a Winner's Circle after each game where teammates take turns offering each other specific, truthful praise.  You speak last and make sure to recognize any players who haven't been singled out.

- To remind players that Mistakes are OK, institute a 'mistake ritual' such as the "no sweat" motion of wiping your brow.  Then when an athlete makes a mistake, control your disappointment and use your mistake ritual.

- Help your players establish and strive for 'stretch goals'.  Stretch goals are just beyond a player's reach, but can be achieved with effort over time.  The best stretch goals are set by the player themselves.

- One way to reinforce the value of effort is through an award following each practice or competition, such as a ball or a "Dirty Shirt" award for the players who hustle hardest.

- Use the 'Buddy' system.  Pair up your athletes during practice and challenge them tofill their buddy's emotional tank.  You can make it a competition, and they can keep score of how many positive things they say to each other.

- Redefine what it means to be a "winner" through a mastery approach to coaching.  Instead of focusing solely on the scoreboard, explain the ELM Tree of Mastery for Effort, Learning, and Mistakes are OK, because mistakes help us learn, but fear of mistakes makes us timid and helps us fail.

- Set "Effort Goals" such as running hard for contested balls, in addition to outcome goals.  In this way, over time, if players achieve the effort goals, they also will move toward achieving desired outcome goals, such as winning contested balls.

- Maintain a "Magic Ratio" of five truthful, specific praises for every one specific, constructive criticism.  It's called the Magic Ratio because when coaches get close to it, magical things happen with their players.

- Conduct a parent meeting as soon as possible after learning which players are on your team.  Use the meeting to explain your approach to coaching, learn what your athletes and parents want from their youth sports experiences and to set expectations for athlete and parent behavior in the coming season.