Sports Then and Now

As a coach, it can be very easy to only focus on the hard work. Drumming your team through the theory, studying past games, having them practice and stay in shape, we all know the formula. In fact, it’s a winning and enjoyable formula, so you won’t see any subversive attitudes or half-baked criticisms in this post. Instead, we’d like to talk about how to best celebrate your team.

Morale and bonding is a large part of team life. It’s an essential part of not only the lived experience of your athletes, but also in how connected your members feel to the team. Ideally, a team should be one big family, but one that doesn’t let personal relations get in the way. Perhaps a softer version of a military unit might come into mind. However, just like the military, it’s essential to take a break and allow your team to come together once in a while. This is true no matter what level of athleticism or what kind of team you manage.

Consider our advice for guidance to this end:

Take Part In A Charity League

Enrolling into a charity league table can be great fun. It can also serve as easygoing practice for your team, and allow them the ability to once again have fun with the sport without worrying too much about the competitive level. For example, if you coach a university team of rowers, it could be that taking part in a university championship in support of a certain charitable organization (these happen often) could help your team relax, enjoy the sport, keep their fitness levels up, and potentially win plenty of donated money for a good cause.

This is goodwill all around. The time it takes out of your schedule can be well rewarded in terms of morale, and might also give you some extra time to assess your game plan for when the real competitions start up again. This can also help some of your team members who might have been on the bench for a large portion of last season back into the fold. That itself can raise morale among your team mates. A little goodwill can also help them bond, as they will have always come together to ascribe a positive direction for that particular league. This, in itself, is often a good thing.

Create Memorabilia

A team is often a temporary thing. We do not expect our players to last for decades upon decades, and even if we did, the effective range of an athlete starts to become less and less viable after they start entering their 30s. However, most of the coaches reading this will often be involved with university coaching or lower, and so this also adds an element of change to the roster on a yearly basis – particularly in high school sports teams.

This means that celebrating the team through the use of symbols can be a create idea, as it helps commemorate the bonding and activity everyone shared together through this time. It’s something everyone can look back on fondly. Having hooded sweatshirts crafted, allowing the team to keep their sports jerseys or other uniforms, or finding something much more long-lasting, such as commemorative pins and coins, could be the best step forward. Click here for info to figure out how to design and order these kinds of memorabilia, and to ensure that they are high-quality.

Empower Your Team

You needn’t solely attend special events or purchase materials in order to best celebrate your team. That can also come through the daily coaching you impart to them. Remember, communication is two ways. For a team to be effective, they need to trust you, but more importantly, you need to trust them. Ensure you allow your team to give their insights, trusting them to complete their goals, to celebrate the good times but to never deeply condemn them for failure, all of this can contribute to a mindset of mutual worth that is essential to build should you hope to employ a team of go-getters.

On top of all of that, staying consistent in your praise and discipline can ensure they feel on solid ground when working with you. This, in itself, is an act of celebrating your team, because you are respecting the individuality and whole of the collected players at the same time.

With this advice, we hope you’re much better able to empower your team – through and through.