By David Jacobson
Positive Coaching Alliance
Among the most daunting challenges for any Responsible Coach is getting players to communicate with each other during game action. Players often resist taking charge vocally, whether from shyness or fear of making an incorrect call.
However, the possibility of overcoming shyness through a desire to contribute to team success is a tremendous opportunity for personal growth through sports. Likewise, it is important for youth athletes to get past the fear of making mistakes.
The principle of redefining “winner” asks Responsible Coaches and Responsible Sports Parents to look beyond the scoreboard and help youth athletes define “winner” in terms of Mastery. As a mnemonic device to remember the basics of pursuing Mastery of one’s sport, we use the
acronym ELM for Effort, Learning and Mistakes (that is, bouncing back from mistakes and not letting them deter you from the hard work necessary to master a skill).
The fear of making a communications mistake -- where a player may shout the wrong instruction to a teammate -- may be even more daunting than the fear of making a physical mistake. It’s one thing to trip and fall while performing a difficult physical task, and quite another to loudly call attention to oneself and risk the embarrassment of an obvious mental mistake…especially a mistake that likely would cause a teammate’s mistake.
Considering those circumstances, along with the normal communications awkwardness of teens and “tweens,” it is no wonder many players clam up rather than communicating. One solution is to drill communication just as you drill anything else. And remember that in youth sports, as in later life, "what gets rewarded gets done." For example, here is a way to drill and reward communication on a hockey team.
Split your fielders into three lines, at shortstop, left field and center field. The player at the front of each line is “in action” as you loft a flyball toward a spot that requires players in action to call for the ball. Award that threesome one point for catching the fly ball and award another point for each player who communicated effectively while in action.
Effective communication may mean one player yelling, “Your ball, Tammy!” then Tammy yelling “Ball! Ball! Ball!” to indicate she will make the catch, while the third player directs Tammy “Back! Back! Back!”
Notice that of four possible points, a group can earn three for communicating and only one for possession of the ball. That proportion reinforces the importance of communication, so that “what gets rewarded gets done.”
Soon, you'll have your whole team striving to communicate better. You also may identify a few players to rely upon for vocal leadership, and you may find hidden talent in some of your lesser-skilled players that you can use to build their confidence and sense of importance to teammates.
Perhaps most importantly, learning to communicate effectively as part of a team is a life lesson that will serve your players well in whatever they do after their sports careers end.
In an effort to benefit millions of youth athletes, parents and coaches, this article is among a series created exclusively for partners in the Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports Program
TM (
ResponsibleSports.com) powered by Positive Coaching Alliance (
http://www.positivecoach.org).
