FRA
Coaching is more than just teaching the game – it’s about inspiring a team to come together, to work hard, and to achieve something bigger than themselves. It’s about creating a culture of effort and positivity that transcends individual performances and culminates into something truly magical.
In this blog, Matt Pell, CEO of Beyond Pulse, explores the importance of recognizing and rewarding effort in team sports. Pell uses his own personal accounts as a youth basketball parent to show how building an effort-centered culture can transform a group of players into a cohesive, unstoppable force. Whether you’re a seasoned coach or just starting out, Pell’s accounts provide valuable insights for building a successful team culture with effort and teamwork at its heart.
I was watching my 12-year-old son play basketball at practice last week. It was magical. Not just watching him, but watching the whole team.
He’s the fourth of our four kids, significantly younger than his older sisters, who are all athletes. Over the years, I’ve seen a lot of coaches, witnessed a lot of games, and even more “partial practices” – by that, I mean showing up at the end and waiting for practice to be over. However, last week was different. Through a combination of misunderstanding the schedule, a renewed focus on not being on my phone, and no other parents being there (because I got the time so wrong), I was able to watch almost a complete ninety-minute basketball practice with the blessing of the coaches. And it was remarkable.
Every player, all ten of them, was seen. That sounds so simple, right? But when you think about the practices and games you have witnessed over the years, and even the ones you have participated in yourself, you realize that coaches often fail to notice many of the players.
Coaches tend to focus on the big things, like scoring and big steals, which are easy to notice and applaud. But I would argue that 95% or more of team sports are composed of all the other stuff, the little things, that happen during the game.
The great basketball coach, Geno Auriemma, emphasizes these little things that are important in building a “successful” team. One of my favorite topics Auriemma discusses is about great players and effort, as demonstrated in this video:
Geno Auriemma’s main points:
- Great players not only possess talent, but they also work hard and make an effort in every aspect of the game, especially in training.
- Great players give their all in every play and drill, regardless of whether they are the star or starting players or not.
- Effort is a crucial factor in achieving success and building a winning team culture.
- Energy level and effort is something that all great players bring to the game, unprompted.
At my son’s basketball practice, I witnessed something truly special: the energy level was high for ninety minutes straight, on the court, off the court, in between games and drills. The atmosphere was dripping with high, positive energy. These 12-year-old kids were enjoying it all, high-fiving when kids made good or bad plays (something I know the coach actually coached these kids on early on), displaying positive body language, and putting in 100% effort.
The coaches spent 75% of their positive feedback on the effort plays – not the end results. While there are a handful of players on the team who have a good chance of pursuing basketball through high school, most will not. And yet, it’s often the kids who do not necessarily consider themselves as “basketball players” who make the greatest contributions and receive the most positive feedback from the coaches. This is because the coaches prioritize effort over everything else. And it’s highly contagious.
Even the star player, who is used to getting kudos for scoring, stealing, and other obvious individual efforts, suddenly realized that the biggest recognition he could get was from the effort he put out. This is where the magic lies: when you have ten players all putting the work in on every play, in every drill, knowing that they can count on their teammates to do the same, something special is born. And suddenly working hard IS the fun! Working hard becomes enjoyable and rewarding as players sacrifice for each other, diving for loose balls, and pushing their limits. These are all things that anyone, regardless of talent, can contribute to the team’s success.
This team, kids who didn’t make the first or second team for their club and almost didn’t have a team to play on this season due to the lack of a third team, have done something magical. Their record this season is 27-6 and most of those games have been won by fewer than 10 points, often against teams they “shouldn’t” have beaten. The record really isn’t the point, although it is great to see some tangible reward for what this team has become. What is truly magical is watching these coaches relentlessly encourage effort in practice, which has helped transform this group into a formidable team. There’s simply no other word for it. It’s magic.
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