Teams | Coaching Coaches

Building a Better Team

GUANGZHOU, CHINA - NOVEMBER 19: Pitching coac...

It doesn’t matter if you coach little league or are a coach for a major league baseball team; you have to have the right attitude and know how to work with others to build a better team. While you may have experience in team building and relationships classes if you are a coach of a professional team, all of that can be put to use on any type of sports team no matter how small or what type it is.

For a team to function as a cohesive group, there has to be a sense of conraderie and personal relationship status. A team cannot support each other if they feel as if they are not part of the whole picture. It is important to build a spirit of comraderie and the team has to feel that each individual is as important as the other. While your sports team may have a star player, if the others do not feel as important or inferior, they won’t work as well and the entire team will suffer.

While it is basic knowledge that most everyone wants praise for their work, it is important to keep that in mind when working with children. As a coach for a professional team you may want to use praise when it is called for but with children it may be necessary to use it more often because these children are developing skills that will last a lifetime. This doesn’t mean you should coddle your team but it does mean that you need to give credit when credit is due.

Filed Under: Sports, Teams Tagged With: Baseball, Sport, Team sport

Coaching Strategies to Motivate Your Team

Image via Wikipedia

One of the biggest responsibilities of a coach is keeping your team motivated to give one hundred percent every game and every practice. Some days, this task is easy while other days keeping your team on task is nearly impossible.

Motivate your team by using praise when a team member performs well. Use phrases like “way to go” and “awesome job.” This positive reinforcement will make that team member want to perform well again and will also make team mates want to earn your praise. Recognize good work in front of the entire team at team meetings and by mentioning good work during press interviews.

Set challenging goals to further motivate your team. At the start of season, list the ultimate goal for the year, like winning championships or winning X amount of games. Keep that goal somewhere in the locker room for the team to read daily throughout the season. Set improvement goals for each player to improve performance, and goals for the team like doing better on defense or performing better in certain areas. Write all of the goals down and give reports about how well the team is doing throughout the year to keep players motivated and directed to constant improvement.

A coach must learn how to reach his team to keep the team motivated and on task. Motivation can be challenging sometimes, but with a plan of attack, motivating the team comes easier. Some strategies include writing down goals and giving positive reinformcement for a solid performance.

Filed Under: Teams Tagged With: Motivation, Reinforcement, Teams

Picking A Team Or Individual Sport

When you’re first beginning to get involved in sports, one of the first things to decide is whether you want to play a team sport, or an individual sport. As you might imagine, much of the answer to this question will stem from your own personality. Think about the types of things you like to do that aren’t related to sports. Take work projects, for example. If you find that you thrive in a team environment that requires collaboration and the support of others, you may find it simple and enjoyable to transfer those feelings onto a playing field. On other other hand, many people do their best work when they are alone. These are often the people that are said to have a “type A” personality, have huge amounts of personal motivation and do not have difficulty being productive without the urging of others.

Keep in mind that no matter if you choose to devote yourself to team sports or individual sports, you aren’t necessarily confining yourself as much as you might think. When you are competing in individual competitions, you’ll often notice that you see the same people at each competitive opportunity, especially if you are at the local and regional level. You can easily become friends with these other people who share your involvement in the sport, and use them as a source of support. And, if you pick a team-based sport, you will often be practicing and conditioning your body on your own time, hitting the gym and lifting weights, outside of just practicing with your teammates on the field. Finally, keep in mind that it’s okay to experiment with a few sports before making a commitment.

Filed Under: Sports, Teams Tagged With: Individual sport, Sport, Team sport

Joining An Intermural Sports Team

If you’re looking for something to help you stay active in your spare time, you may want to consider joining an intermural sports team. This type of team has several advantageous, but one of the most attractive benefits, particularly to people who are trying to add sports involvement to an already busy schedule is the fact that intermural sports do not require team members to travel out of state to practice or compete.

To take your interest in joining in a team to the next level, start by checking with your local gyms to see if they offer any intermural teams that are of interest. If that doesn’t produce any satisfying results, also check with the Parks and Recreation Department in your area, and finally, if you have any college campuses in your area, see if they offer anything you’re interested in. Although the latter option sometimes requires you to be a student of the university in order to compete, this is not always the case, so don’t be afraid to ask so you’re clear on all the rules before you sign up.

Once you’ve found a great intermural team, you can ask your friends and coworkers if they’re interested in playing along with you. If you’re part of a big office staff, you might even be able to form an entire team that is only made up of people that you work with. When it’s time to for your first competitive event, keep a positive attitude no matter how things turn out in the end. Remember that you’re there to have fun and be supportive of your teammates. Winning isn’t everything, and sometimes winning comes in more forms than just the most obvious ones.

Filed Under: Sports, Teams Tagged With: Amateur sports, Campus, Parks and Recreation

The Importance of Strategy in Team Sports

As with most sports, team based sports are extremely competitive and at times, require a great deal of innovation to come out as the victor. The main reason for this is due to the fact that team sports incorporate many different components. The first and most obvious of these various components includes the diverse skill set of the players that make up the team. Each player must utilize their own specific skill in order to contribute to the team. Additionally, each skill set must be utilized at the right time in correlation with the various other skill sets that make up the team in order to be effective in accomplishing the common goal that the team seeks.

One way to accomplish such a goal and bring all of these elements together is through developing strategies. Strategies, or plays as they are commonly referred to in specific types of sports, are ways that players can cohesively meld with one another to develop a set of events that will lead to a common goal, typically scoring. Strategies are generally incorporated into the game during a pivotal point. Whether that point be an area in which the game is extremely close, and there is little time remaining and requires quick and precise action, or there is an ongoing problem that simply needs a quick and definitive remedy; strategies are an affective and important aspect of team based sports. Strategies can make or break a game that is close and on the brink of loss or win.

Filed Under: Strategy, Teams Tagged With: Sport, Team sport, Teams

Three Team Building Exercises

Sometimes the difference between a good team and a great team is the bond of the teammates. With so many good athletes all over the world, getting the edge over the competition can often mean good team work. Some of the best athletes in their sports never accomplish getting to the top because of their lack of teamwork and camaraderie. Instilling the value of team in a group of men or women will create an atmosphere of dependence. A team that relies on one another knows the value of each player and thus can play to the their best abilities. Here are a few team building exercises that can help to create camaraderie among players.

Three Team Building Exercises

1. Take a Team Trip- Take the team out of town on a trip. Whether that be to a tournament or theme park, or sporting event. The idea is that when individuals being to spend more time together outside of sports they know each other better. They not only learn the intricacies of each teammate but also their likes and dislikes. The time together gives them time to focus on the team and bond together with out distractions.

2. Team Dinners- Team dinners once a week at a restaurant or coaches house creates the mentality that the team is a family. They play together, they work hard together, and they eat together. These are also good times to approach issues outside of sports and show an interest in the players lives.

3. Inspirational Talks or Movies- Going to see an inspirational talk or movie before important athletic events is an effective way to galvanize teams together and get them excited about a common goal.

Team building is essentially about showing the team that they are more than just a bunch of individual athletes, they are a family with a common goal.

Filed Under: Sports, Teams Tagged With: Sport, Team building, Teamwork