After reading yesterday about the tradition of how the coach in WI used the Captains booklet, I wanted to share the tradition we have been using the last 4 years on our football team. We are an “all seniors leadership team”. We figure that if a player leaves our program without having an opportunity to lead and taught to lead well, we have failed them. Each freshman, sophomore and junior is assigned to a senior captain. We give each freshman a Life Lessons booklet and one day a week they meet with their senior captain and a junior partner, who take them through one of the 10 traits of an athlete, emphasizing those traits which are part of our Core Covenants. Each sophomore is given a Compete booklet and one day a week they meet with their senior leader who discusses a different section of becoming an elite competitor (emphasizing those traits that are specifically part of our culture). Each junior is given the Captains, 7 Ways to Lead Your Team booklet and once a week they meet with their senior leader who prepares them to take over the leadership role the following year. Coaches sit in on meetings as a spectator only. As you can guess, this has paid huge dividends on our team. The freshmen are welcomed to the program in a positive way by a senior in a mentor. Our seniors have really taken ownership of the team culture and by teaching to the younger players they have become much more accountable to each other and the team. Our team communication has improved dramatically. The younger players understand and buy into our team covenants quicker than when it was just coaches teaching. Our team violations and discipline issues have almost disappeared. And last but not least, we are winning. Thanks, Coach Shanley
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 20:00:00 +0000
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