Coaching Notes
North Central College XC Philosophy on Developing a Winning Team Culture
Here are my notes from a presentation famed North Central College XC coach Al Carius gave on his philosophy of developing a winning team culture at a past USTFCCA coaches convention.
How powerful is it to say and really be a coach? Coaches are blessed with the privilege of creating memories that will last and lifetime and — most importantly — coaches play a key role in developing the next generation of citizens.
When you compare the athlete to the sport — the athlete is more important. A coach of young men and women should concern themselves with developing people. More important than any victory or personal best are the life lessons learned and the person the athlete becomes.
Team culture starts with values. What values are you passing on? Work ethic? Teamwork? Trust? Follow through? Or Win-at-all-costs? You-only-matter-if-you-run-fast environment? Self-wroth tied to performance and nothing else?
“A coach will impact more people in one year than the average person will in an entire lifetime.” — Billy Graham
#1 Question to ask recruits: “Why do you do what you are doing?” The response you want to hear is the athlete LOVES running and intrinsically does the activity for the joy of the activity. Loves the challenge running presents against themselves, to see what I can do. To push their limits. Not for the fanfare, not for the trophies, or the bragging rights. Love to run hard and get the most out of themselves — that is what will sustain a person through both the good and bad periods.
80% of coaches are “Level 1” — specifically focused. Care about the stats, mileage, splits, and workouts and little else. Result focused, not people-focused.
15% of coaches are “Level 2” — aim to impact the hearts & minds of the athlete to perform at a higher level. This is better than Level 1, but still a transaction. The focus is on the athelte’s performance to make the coach and athlete look good.
5% of coaches are “Level 3” — these are the best coaches, who last the longest and always have successful teams and produce successful citizens. Bowerman and Vigil are examples of Level 3. These coaches aim to connect with the athelte’s spirit by creating an environment not about what the athlete can do for me, but what I, the coach, can do for the athlete. By fostering an environment of unconditional service and acceptance of the athlete as they are — and supporting their journey of what they can become — the Level 3 coach produces more champions (not just on race day, but in life) than Level 1 or 2 coaches.
Two reasons to run:
For Fun.
Self Discovery.
Personal bests are always celebrated, more than outright winning. Personal bests are about self-mastery and elevation. Anyone can win with personal bests. All personal bests count whether on race day, or in training.
Anytime an athlete achieves a new personal best (fastest rep, most miles run in a day or week or month) recognize it, call it out. Creates more buy-in on the part of all athletes on the team. Shows you care and are paying attention to everyone’s progress.
No individual is bigger than the team. Be selfless. The more you give to others on your team others will give back ten-fold.
How to develop a winning team: look for people of good character, who love to run, and want to improve. And surround them with others like that and you’ll have a top team quickly. People live up to the standards/expectations of their peers.
When you have good values of people of good character on the team, you don’t need a lot of team rules as they will self-organized because intrinsically motivated by a love of running and desire to improve.
Any questions? Direct Message me on twitter or send an email.
Thx. | jm