Youth-Athlete's Sport Blog

Although there are many characteristics to a champion, I focused on the five key traits I have noticed in youth athletes and wrote a post on the first trait (champions look past the win-loss record). This post is about the second trait of a champion: they lead so other can follow.

Champions lead so that others can follow
In a game, player leadership is vital for the team’s success and, probably, the biggest challenge for a coach to encourage and develop. Being a leader requires taking your team under your guidance and directing them to where they should be. A good general of a team has the respect of his teammates and does not abuse that respect. It is no coincidence that teams with player leaders win more often than not and rally together in the final moments of close games. More...

A few days ago, I wrote about the five traits of a champion. The first trait of a champion is that they realize the final score is not necessarily measured by the wins column. I want to spend some more time digging into this topic since most competitive coach almost exclusively measure success by wins and losses.

Champions know the final score does not necessarily measure winning.
The final score does not measure winning, what measures winning is individual and team improvement. As a team, are we better this game than the last game? Are the skills we developed in pre-season and in-season practices being used in the game? The final exam of skills development is shown during the adversity of the game.

During the next practice after every game, I give the team a fifteen minute opportunity to individually reflect on the performance. Fifteen minutes of practice time is expensive, but experience has shown these moments of reflection has done more to build a team’s character and mental winning approach than any other effort of skills development.  More...