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Training Champions

The purpose behind coaching youth sports is not to win championships, it is to train champions. It is not what you can get out of the kid, it is what you can pour into them. Many coaches have the misconception that the only purpose of youth sports is to win championships. What they miss is the triumphs that happen every day on the practice field. I have been part of the coaching staff of a runner up championship team and a championship team, but I never once set out to succeed to that level. My goal every season is for every young athlete to leave my program better than they came in. I push them as hard as I love them and in return, they love the sport, try their best and win championships. Champions cannot be driven, they must be led.

In order to train champions, you must first understand that everyone can become a champion and be a champion yourself. What are attributes of a champion?

Desire to succeed

knows the Direction they are going

is Committed to the cause

is Disciplined in their training

is Dedicated to success

Perseveres through adversity

is Diligent to the end

Has Courage to go beyond where they have gone before

Has Heart that drives them when there is nothing else

Has Integrity to be trusted with any future challenges

How can you teach these attributes? Many say that you can’t train someone to be a champion, it is something that they must have within them. I disagree with this. There is a way to train a champion, but it takes a Champion Trainer to train a Champion. Does this exclude you? Of course not. You too can be a Champion Trainer. What does it take to become or train a champion?

The Foundation of a Champion Coach

Love

Yes Love is the most important part of leading someone to become a champion. No I am not talking about love for the game, I am talking about the love a parent should have for their child. Each child needs to know that you love them before they will become a champion for you. And for you to become a champion yourself, you must love them whole heartedly with all your life, or else you will fall short when it comes to everything beyond desire in the attributes of a champion. In order to show your love to the kids you must have a servant’s heart. You must understand and provide for their physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual needs which requires you to know each one on a personal level.

Trust

A coach that trains champions must earn the trust of their players. If your players don’t trust you, then you cannot expect them to do anything for you, but if a player trusts you they will do just about anything for you.

Leadership

What is Leadership? The best way that I can describe this is to look at yourself in the mirror and see the example that you are promoting. Do you want your team to act like you do? Set a good example. You must also be organized and know the sport that you are coaching.

The Foundation of a Champion

Purpose

Help each player find their Purpose. This is as true in youth sports as it is in life. If you play the game without purpose you will not do your best, you will only do enough to get by. If each player understands their purpose within the context of the team, and sees the consequences of them not fulfilling their purpose, then they will most likely take pride in their position and try to do it the best that they possibly can.

Habits

Attitude – Once their purpose has been determined on their team, the youth must have a positive attitude toward their assignment. This is as much a lead by example as it is something that needs instructed. If the coach has a bad attitude toward a drill, practice, or even a game – so will his team. Getting down on young athletes only breads a bad attitude. Although there is a technique you can use to push youth through a transition but you will need more understanding of how to train a champion before you go there.

Knowledge – before you can begin to teach skills you must first give them the context that the skills will be used in. I don’t care if they are 5 years old or 35. To train a champion, they must first have the direction that they are going; otherwise they will be a bit apprehensive to go where you want them to go. Training in this way builds up trust so when you ask your player to go somewhere they haven’t gone before later on, they will trust that you have good reason for asking them and will be more likely to do it.

Skill – This is where most coaches begin and fail. They will open practice up with drills that teach skills and not have any understanding of where each kid has been and are planning to go. In this situation if they fail the skill test, negative pressure is applied and if they succeed positive reinforcement is applied. The problem is, that usually very little knowledge is ever given to those that fail the drill because they have a bad attitude toward the coach after the negative reinforcement are no longer listening to the instruction being given.

This is a lot of information to digest, but it is the foundation of creating a champion. If you can internalize these basic principals you will have the foundation necessary to create a championship team.

The four stages of athlete development

Unconscious incompetence

The Athlete does not understand what it is he should do and doesn't know what he is doing is wrong

Conscious incompetence

The Athlete realizes that what he is doing is wrong, but is unable to correct it.

Conscious Competence

The Athlete realizes that what the were doing was wrong and understands what they should be doing and can demonstrate it while focusing on it.

Unconscious Competence

The Athlete knows what to do without thinking about it.

Baseball

2008 Patterson Park All-Stars

2008 Patterson Park Requarth Lumberjacks

2007 Heritage Reds

2006 Heritage Diamondbacks

Football

2008 Bluffton Bucs - Third Grade

2007 Oakwood Lumberjacks - Fifth Grade

2007 Bluffton Bucs - Fifth Grade

2007 Spring Hill Raiders

2006 Franklin Cowboys CCC TYFA Champions