Building a Winning Culture in Youth Football

My partner in 1st and Goals, Glenn Tobias and I have spent a lot of time discussing what it takes to build a winning culture in sports programs. We have studied organizations and leaders such as Coach K at Duke, Pete Carroll at USC, Nick Saban at Alabama, John Wooden at UCLA and Mack Brown at Texas. Though each has their own distinct coaching style and philosophy, they all built a winning culture within their programs.


Glenn and I have been coaching a high school team that's part of a home-school football league in Virginia and Southern Maryland. And though we have had a good deal of success over the past couple years, we haven't been able to break into the top echelon of the league. Below are some thoughts from Glenn concerning what it takes to develop a true winning culture in our organization. 1st and Goals is creating a program that will help organizations, from administration to parents, build and sustain successful sports programs.


 

Now is the time, just as we instruct the players, to examine what can be learned from our loss. If failure is, indeed, success turned inside out, then we need to unravel the events and subsequent results leading up to and culminating in today's miserable performance. Although I was not able to participate as a coach this year, I must admit that, as a member of the board of directors, I have to include myself in today's loss. This belongs to all of us.

Phil DuBois has spoken to me about developing a culture in the Kings organization. The question becomes, in my mind anyway, are we willing to do that? Are we willing to invest in developing a vision that will lead the Kings to a different outcome in the future? To that end, let me begin the 'conversation' with a few thoughts. I suspect that several mindsets exist:

1.     "If we just keep playing, we will eventually start to win; number of years equates to success." The problem with this thinking is, if correct, then this only comes to fruition if and when organizations with greater longevity than our own cease to exist so that we become "old enough" to begin winning. We have all met coaches and players who have 20 first years under their belt. They don't learn. They don't progress. But they can certainly brag about how long they've been at it. The problem is they are bragging about perpetual mediocrity. Not much of a legacy or heritage in my book.

2.     "Winning isn't that important; all that matters is 'character' ". The problem inherent with this line of reasoning is that "character" necessarily includes the will to persevere and overcome any obstacle necessary to achieve the goal. We are not teaching the kind of character that we want our young men to have if they can walk away from a performance such as today's and be OK with it. This does not, by the way, equate to helmet throwing fits of anger or other out-of-control behavior; nor does it equate to becoming smack-talking, disrespectful thugs in football uniforms. This is not to what I refer when I say they should not be OK with today's performance. What it does equate to is some deep soul searching by every member of the organization from the board of directors, to the coaching staff to the parents to every last member of the squad. And it equates to a passionate drive to improve year by year or give up and go be better stewards of the precious gift of God that we call time. If the Kings ever play a squad that is truly 8-9 times better than us in every aspect of the game then, and only then, should we walk off the field with our heads held high in a losing contest in which the score reflects that disparity.

3.     "Mindset? What mindset?" There is the mindset that says "Who needs a mindset?" Some of us may represent the Jerry Seinfeld skit in which he depicts guys as "not thinkin' anything". As funny as Jerry's sketch may be, and it is, it's not funny when we're investing the effort and expense into a football season. Everyone needs to be thinking, and they need to be thinking in the same vein. Dick Vermeil, in instructing his coaching staff, said, "Never miss an opportunity to convey our vision and values." Of course, to do that, there needs to be a clearly defined and precisely communicated vision and unmistakable, practicable values.

I recently listened to a leadership seminar on audio CD. During that seminar, a comment was made that I found very challenging. It, at once, both confirmed and challenged many of my paradigms about business. And now I find it challenging my paradigms about football and coaching. While I've often thought about better facilities, equipment, methods, coaching techniques, fundraising, etc etc etc., I am realizing the truth of the comment I heard in this seminar, "Culture eats strategy for breakfast." The Kings organization must change its culture in order to make better use of its opportunities. Of course, facilities, equipment, methods, coaching techniques, fundraising, etc are all important. But they are the baseline essentials. No one really succeeds without them. The difference maker is attitude.  And attitude is born of a culture.

Good changes have begun in the Kings organization. The important thing to remember now is that it's ok to take a little time to lick our wounds, get a little recreation and get refreshed. But if we believe that we can wait for next spring to begin thinking about how to get better, I would offer this reminder via the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:

The heights by great men reached and kept

Were not attained by sudden flight

But they, while their companions slept,

Were toiling upward in the night.

Glenn Tobias

1st and Goals--Developing Tomorrow's Leaders Through Youth Sports

A Unique Approach to Youth Development Through Sports

Through experience and research we have discovered that the lessons are being lost that were once assumed instilled by mere participation in youth sports. We now know that without a deliberate plan and effort, the vast majority of young athletes do not acquire the life lessons so many coaches, parents and administrators assume are being learned.

Our mission at 1^st and Goals is to help a wider range of young athletes gain some of the benefits that should be available from the youth sports experience. Through a combination of physical and mental preparation and by merging short-term goals and long-term outcomes, young athletes will acquire the skills needed to flourish on the field, in the classroom, in their communities and in their future chosen professions.

1^st and Goals is redefining success by redefining what it means to be an elite athlete and a winning coach. Our philosophy is firmly embedded in our 3 Most Valued Principles (MVP’s): Leadership, Teambuilding and Communication. We are teaching coaches and young athletes how to take ownership of their programs and foster on-field leadership, how to develop a collective belief in the power of a team while maintaining a healthy sense of “self”, and how to build relationships on foundations of trust and mutual respect that will inspire and motivate coaches and players alike.