The key is to find something to rally around. It needs to be a concept that will light a fire in your players. Very often, it works best when that concept comes from the players themselves.
During the fall of the 2004-05 season, for example, we brought in Felicia Hall, one of the nation’s most renowned motivational speakers. She spent two days with our team putting them through various exercises before the players came up with four goals for the season. These goals were derived completely by the players with no help from the coaching staff. It gave them ownership. They would be in charge of policing their own team by the standards they themselves put forth. Those goals were:
To be self-motivated.
To make any necessary sacrifice.
To have an uncompromising commitment to the team.
No one cares who gets the credit.
As a coach I get chill bumps when I think that this collection of players came to those team guidelines on their own. There was nothing about number of wins, going to the Final Four, or winning the SEC Championship. This team knew it was about the process and figured out that those four goals would help them achieve a great deal if they stuck to them. Of course, that team went on to win 33 games, win an SEC title and go to the Final Four.
Their team card was designed with those goals on it with the header, “The Real FINAL FOUR.” We give these cards to our players in a team meeting and ask them to carry it with them at all times.
There is something about physically having something — being able to visually see it — that gives it a stronger impact in the mind. We are to the point that our players expect them now.
You can use a variety of concepts for these cards. During the 2003-04 season we took our team to the movie theater to see “Miracle,” a film about the 1980 USA Olympic Hockey Team. The movie had an amazing effect on our team. We were going through some adversity of our own as Coach Gunter became ill during the season. We wanted to make sure that our team maintained its focus so we devised a card that on the front
showed the USA Hockey Team with the simple slogan “Do You Believe?!” On the back we had a photo of the New Orleans Arena (home to the 2004 Final Four).Certainly we are not saying these cards have been the reason for our success. However, your ability as a coach to plant positive, motivational thoughts is a key component to keeping your team reaching for its goals.
