Team Motivation: Be a source for energy and enthusiasm
s u h d -‐ErgyA #1 p tivn o M am Te
Team Motivation: Be a source for energy and enthusiasm The coach sets the tone for the whole team. What he emphasizes has a trickle down effect on everyone on the team. The easiest way to motivate your team is through energy. Energy in sports is one non-‐skill thing that can really tilt the scale for coaches and players. People talk about momentum all the time, but momentum is synonymous with energy, positive energy.
Energy for a coach starts with a passion for the game. If this is something you love and love to do, that will be obvious to your players. The discussion of details, extra hours of work, drawing a play on your G-‐board to help make plays clear and wanting to continually help are all parts of passion. When a player sees you putting in these extra things and sees your love of the game, your passion will have an effect on them. Combining passion with knowledge of the game allows you the confidence to energize your team. When you deeply love to do something and know expertly how to do it, confidence will be beaming off you. The first steps to energy are putting in that extra time and showing the passion you have, combined with a deep understanding of what you’re doing. Once you have confidence in something you are passionate about, all you can do is give off energy. You want the players to care as much as you do. You want to share your knowledge and insight with them, so they have a better understanding of how to play the game. Energy is a great way to bring them in. The presentation of energy needs to before players to buy into it. Senseless yelling and screaming is not the answer. But because you have the passion and knowledge down, the energy will be authentic. This means talking to players in a clear, louder, and concise manner. Show them you are prepared, that you have scouted your opponent and you have confidence. You want to get points across clearly and always end on a high note to keep the energy going upward. At practice, transitioning from one drill to the next, when discussing how to do the next drill, it’s important to end with telling your players to “get after it” or “push this drill harder”, something that gives off some extra energy. Energy needs to be in your voice, body, and actions. You’re trying to instill confidence in your players by giving them pointers in a very lively way. It never hurts to show a player something too, a defensive stance, proper pitching motion, or anything that really gives off how much you want to help them. In practice this means pointing out positive and negatives to players and providing encouragement. Constant vocal help will keep them going. And then really push them. Shoot for goals in practice, timed events; things that will make them give a little extra effort. And push them along the way, keep letting them know you want them to reach this goal as bad as they do. In games energy is about getting your team in a prepared game mindset. Let them know how much you trust them and give them positive encouragement to reinforce things you’ve worked on in practice. Once the game starts you want to help them notice things they may be doing wrong but you need to be that extra push they need when they’re too tired or the score isn’t in their favor. Players need direction and a continually push. Lift them emotionally and mentally so that they play harder and more energetic physically. Talent can only get you so far and that is when intangibles come into play. By constantly showing positive and reassuring body language whether through clapping, celebrating, high-‐fives, and other small gestures, keeps a team uplifted. Then this is followed up with words of encouragement, speaking loudly and concisely about adjustments a player needs to make, and really being genuinely fired up about the team.
You are the starting point for everything, with you passion and knowledge you need to let go and really embody energy. Everything you do is with an extra “oomph”, directions are made clearly and then finished with a final statement of encouragement, and body actions need to be inspiring. When a player is having an off game or can’t find their role on a team or is having trouble learning something, they’ll look at you for a source of energy and help. You can motivate them to turn their game around or find a role or get better at something by giving off positive energy, letting them know you believe in them, and frequently pushing them. Positive energy is the backbone of motivation.
Team Motivation: Be a source for energy and enthusiasm The coach sets the tone for the whole team. What he emphasizes has a trickle down effect on everyone on the team. The easiest way to motivate your team is through energy. Energy in sports is one non-‐skill thing that can really tilt the scale for coaches and players. People talk about momentum all the time, but momentum is synonymous with energy, positive energy.
Energy for a coach starts with a passion for the game. If this is something you love and love to do, that will be obvious to your players. The discussion of details, extra hours of work, drawing a play on your G-‐board to help make plays clear and wanting to continually help are all parts of passion. When a player sees you putting in these extra things and sees your love of the game, your passion will have an effect on them. Combining passion with knowledge of the game allows you the confidence to energize your team. When you deeply love to do something and know expertly how to do it, confidence will be beaming off you. The first steps to energy are putting in that extra time and showing the passion you have, combined with a deep understanding of what you’re doing. Once you have confidence in something you are passionate about, all you can do is give off energy. You want the players to care as much as you do. You want to share your knowledge and insight with them, so they have a better understanding of how to play the game. Energy is a great way to bring them in. The presentation of energy needs to before players to buy into it. Senseless yelling and screaming is not the answer. But because you have the passion and knowledge down, the energy will be authentic. This means talking to players in a clear, louder, and concise manner. Show them you are prepared, that you have scouted your opponent and you have confidence. You want to get points across clearly and always end on a high note to keep the energy going upward. At practice, transitioning from one drill to the next, when discussing how to do the next drill, it’s important to end with telling your players to “get after it” or “push this drill harder”, something that gives off some extra energy. Energy needs to be in your voice, body, and actions. You’re trying to instill confidence in your players by giving them pointers in a very lively way. It never hurts to show a player something too, a defensive stance, proper pitching motion, or anything that really gives off how much you want to help them. In practice this means pointing out positive and negatives to players and providing encouragement. Constant vocal help will keep them going. And then really push them. Shoot for goals in practice, timed events; things that will make them give a little extra effort. And push them along the way, keep letting them know you want them to reach this goal as bad as they do. In games energy is about getting your team in a prepared game mindset. Let them know how much you trust them and give them positive encouragement to reinforce things you’ve worked on in practice. Once the game starts you want to help them notice things they may be doing wrong but you need to be that extra push they need when they’re too tired or the score isn’t in their favor. Players need direction and a continually push. Lift them emotionally and mentally so that they play harder and more energetic physically. Talent can only get you so far and that is when intangibles come into play. By constantly showing positive and reassuring body language whether through clapping, celebrating, high-‐fives, and other small gestures, keeps a team uplifted. Then this is followed up with words of encouragement, speaking loudly and concisely about adjustments a player needs to make, and really being genuinely fired up about the team.
You are the starting point for everything, with you passion and knowledge you need to let go and really embody energy. Everything you do is with an extra “oomph”, directions are made clearly and then finished with a final statement of encouragement, and body actions need to be inspiring. When a player is having an off game or can’t find their role on a team or is having trouble learning something, they’ll look at you for a source of energy and help. You can motivate them to turn their game around or find a role or get better at something by giving off positive energy, letting them know you believe in them, and frequently pushing them. Positive energy is the backbone of motivation.
