Reflections on this Summer's Camps

Conducting summer camps is, obviously, something I really enjoy doing. The hours are long. The days are hot. The travel can be exhausting. The players and coaches make it all worthwhile. And that is what I take from the camps we conduct - the relationships built with the people we meet.

On a personal level, I enjoy seeing teams improve under our tutelage.  It is rewarding to see the concepts and ideas about the game come to life for the teams that camp with us.  To see them take the pitch for a summer tournament and witness their excitement over improved play and success is heart warming. And still it is the relationships that leave an enduring impression.

This generation of young people are an amazing lot as I am sure each generation is. I marvel at their problem solving skills on the pitch and in life.  I am in awe of their time management skills. Astounded by the wide range of activities and interests they lend themselves to with dedication and discipline.

Brittany lives on a working cattle farm and rearranged her chore and work schedule to be able to attend goalkeeper training. Jacob worked 2 jobs and came to training over an extended lunch break having to make up the time at the end of his day. Brianna brought her baby sitting charges to training and those youngsters respected her so much they were hardly even noticed. Nick convinced his parents to allow him to stay home from vacation to attend our camp at his school.

When I see dedication to soccer on this level it sends vibes of positive energy throughout me. I literally get charged up with excitement to work with these young people. But let's remember how I learned of their stories - I engaged these young men and women in conversation.  I showed a genuine interest in them as people. In turn they shared with me and a bond developed. A working relationship centered round soccer was established and we learned a little about one another along the way.

Candace is a young woman who attend our camps in previous years. Now a graduate, I invited her back for this summer's camp with her old team.  No pay. No incentive other than to play some soccer and hang out with friends. She readily accepted and showed to camp despite having totaled her car and being banged up from an accident a few days prior.  That's dedication. That's following through on commitment.  That's working to establish a tradition and legacy in a young program.  I have to believe big things await Candace in her future.

My son Lance and two of his teammates, Hunter and AJ accepted my request to volunteer as instructors for a high school girls camp.  These young men are all 19 years of age and placing them in camp with high school aged girls might seem a cautionary tale, but I have known these gentlemen for years. They are trustworthy, honorable and will someday, imo, become very good coaches in their own rights should that be a path they choose to follow. It turned out to be one of our best weeks of camps ever.  From 9:00 am through 6:30 pm for five straight days we worked for this high school girls team ... and they worked for us.

"Team bonding" is the catch phrase often bandied about when people talk of uniting a team these days. Team chemistry is still an elusive intangible sought after in pursuit of making a good season a great one.  Whatever we call it, it still comes down to the most simple of concepts - building relationships with those we associate with,

I don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other. This is a phrase I have heard repeatedly over the years. It is a phrase uttered by Coach Boone in Remember the Titans as he addresses the team after an early morning run through the Gettysburg battlefield.  In this instance the established relationships were of very poor quality and Coach Boone knew individual change must occur or they were collectively doomed.

With many of the teams we work with changing the way the team plays is the focus of what coaches ask us to work on during camp week. Relationship building with the members of the coaching staff and team is a crucial ingredient in our recipe for success. Establishing a foundation of trust rooted in honesty is our primary objective as camp clinicians. If we fail in this mission, the camp itself will be a failure.

This is the lesson Coach Boone sought to impart on the young Titan squad and his coaching staff. Liking one another is not a prerequisite.  Respect is. And the only path to respect is through honesty and trust.

I have recently written of the two greatest coaching tools being a chair to sit on and the ability to be silent during games.  Both were somewhat tongue in cheek ways of making the point that its a players game. Today I have identified the single greatest coaching tool in existence - the ability to build relationships. This also happens to be the secret to living a productive and happy life.  And for us here at CBA Soccer we enjoyed a wonderful summer camp season. One I would term our best ever for precisely this reason - the relationships established, developed and renewed while "working" in an environment of soccer.  Thank you to each instructor, coach and player who worked with us this summer! It was our best summer so far!

Attitude. Work Ethic. Productivity

I've been pondering what makes one team more efficient and effective than another team. By no means is this a scientific undertaking, It is very much my musings on observations I have made about teams I have been a part of in one capacity or another.

Mission. Goals. Standards.

Teams with a clearly defined mission tend to be successful. The mission statement defines who we are and what we are about. Separate from a mission statement are a team's goals. These can and should range from short term goals to long range goals. The goals can be viewed as stepping stones toward fulfilling the mission. Standards are how we are going to go about achieving our goals. What behaviors are acceptable and which are unacceptable.

Communication and Respect.

Among the standards successful teams share are effective communication and respect.  All opinions are welcomed and valued. Beginning in the 1980's a cottage industry came to the fore that focuses on team bonding activities. Both the corporate world and the sports world has taken advantage of such activities to promote effective communication, conflict resolution, the organizational structure and decision making process. The underlying premise is every team member is acknowledged and valued for the contributions they make towards the team's goals and fulfilling the team's mission,

Cooperation and Teamwork

Together Everyone Achieves More. Effective teams have a spirit of cooperation and collaboration. All voices are heard in the decision making process. Team members who trust the decision-making process tend to cooperate even the when a decision is not entirely to their liking. When teamwork extends beyond the field and into every facet of the team buy-in to team philosophy, mission and goals comes much easier.

Appearance and Character

A former coach of mine was fond of saying, "If you want to be a champion, you need to look the part." At first I thought this meant we had to tuck in our shirts and pull up our socks.  I came to realize the dress code was only a very small part of it. How our team was perceived and how the team perceived itself was the lesson being imparted to us. Team rules and standards of conduct.  Conduct detrimental to the team mission, goals and standards cannot be tolerated. In short, the personal decision making process begins with, if your behavior or conduct would reflect negatively on the team, don't do it.

Attendance

My high school coaching mentor addressed attendance in one brief sentence, Attendance is mandatory and will be punctual. One unexcused absence or tardiness resulted in suspension. A repeat offence resulted in dismissal from the team. This might sound strict, but Coach understood that disruptions to the team caused by unexcused absences and tardiness reduced productivity. Unexcused absences affect and impact the entire team in a negative sense. Being recognized as a dependable teammate is a prerequisite to earning trust. Dealing consistently with misconduct in a manner positive to the team's mission, goals and standards directly impacts trust, respect and productivity.

Organization

In many ways it is how a team structure is organized that determines its Attitude, Work Ethic and Productivity. If the organization is sub par, then productivity will likely be less efficient than it should be. Ownership is a shared responsibility.  If the team is set up as a dictatorship with the coach in the lead role it will be difficult for team members to fully buy-in to his process because they will not view it as their process.  It's difficult to fully enjoy an experience when it's not yours to enjoy. Ownership or lack thereof also impacts ones motivation.  If you feel ownership of the team, you are much more likely to be self-motivated as team performance will reflect directly on you as a member of that team.

To end I will tell the story of Alex.  I was coaching a club team comprised of the very best players in the area. I hand selected this team not only on talent, but on attitude, character and maturity.  Still, early on the team was not performing at peak level. Then we faced a disciplinary issue involving a member of the team. We discussed the situation with the team captains. When an agreement was reached as to what the discipline would be our lead captain, Alex, took charge.  The captains, led by Alex, met with the individual. They described the conduct detrimental to the team and informed the offender of his discipline.  I thought we might lose the player, but we did not. He was not happy, but it came to be a turning point for both the player and the team as a whole. The team rose to new heights and went on to a tremendously successful season. The player who had committed the violation of team conduct became a very productive team member who contributed significantly to our success.

The team captains took responsibility and addressed the situation and individual on their own, but with full support of the coaching staff.  I spoke with the individual in question after the captains had addressed him, but this was only necessary so that he understood I supported the captains decision. I had their backs on this.

If we had not upheld the teams mission and standards at that point in time our season might well have been lost. Thankfully we had an organizational structure in place that allowed us to address the issue with positivity and within the framework of expectations and the standards of how we wanted our team to be viewed and remembered.

For the Good of the TEAM.

Much has been written of TEAM chemistry.  In recent years a cottage industry has arisen to help coaches address team bonding. The market is seemingly flooded with books, videos, webinars and seminars devoted to promoting effective TEAM leadership through education and TEAM bonding exercises. Almost all of this information is directed at players. 

What about coaches?

The greatest compliment to any player

is that he is a great teammate.

 

We can’t all be great players,

but we can be great teammates.