When a coach enters a new coaching job, they have to establish program beliefs. I also think the new coach needs to establish a culture where each player puts themselves in a position where they are playing for something more than themselves. I want my players to understand the program is the most important thing and them as players are working to build upon the past successes.
I outline the program beliefs in another post but here, I will be detailing how I try to create a team first mentality. Along with the program beliefs, I give all players and parents a, “I Represent” list. I want everybody, players and parents and school staff and community members/fans, to be proud of the team and program. This is where this list comes from. Here are the 11 people every basketball team represents…
1) Myself
2) My Team
3) My Coaches
4) My Teammates
5) My Parents
6) My Administration
7) My School Staff
8) Former Players
9) Alumni of the school
10) My Community
11) “School Name” Basketball
These 11 different groups of people each have a stake in the program even though they may not be on the team. I want my players to understand they are a part of something much bigger than themselves. What this also does is help me to relay why certain rules or policies are in place.
For instance, I have a hair rule for my players. I will have players ask if they have to follow the rule. The answer is yes. And of course the next question is WHY? That is usually when I ask them some follow up questions. Does your mom like your hair? Does your dad? Does your grandparents? And normally within those 3 questions one of their answers is no, they want me to cut it. That is my in to explain why I have the policy.
The player is representing that person and I as a coach want every person we as a team are representing to be proud of the team. I try and remove anything that people might not like from the program. I want each one of the 11 groups to be proud and not have bad comments towards the team or players. So that is the justification for some of my rules as well. Now breaking down the following 11 groups…
1) Myself and 2) My team and 3) My Coaches and 4) My Teammates
This sub group is the people within the locker room. It is the teammates and coaching staff on the team. I try to get my players to understand that if you are acting like an idiot at McDonalds then outside people are not going to say Johnny was being an idiot but rather say the basketball team was being idiots. Johnny might have been with 3 other non-basketball players but since they recognized Johnny, it’s the basketball team. This is trying to keep the team from having any negative press. These 4 are mostly looking at the current season.
5) My Parents and 6) My Administration and 7) My School Staff
This 2nd group is the “mentors” of the players. The parents and grandparents of each player. The school teachers, principals, superintendent, other coaches, and any of all employees of the school are grouped here. These people normally have the closest relationships with the players. We want to represent this group of people well. And most of the time, the kids themselves do not want their actions to make their favorite teacher or teachers look bad.
As a teacher myself, I have defended numerous kids to outside people because they did something stupid during a game and now this person who does not know them thinks they are a bad kid. “How do you deal with that kid every day?” The kid may be one the best students in the whole building but had one moment of stupidity and now for some people they are a problem child. And now here I am as a teacher of the kid defending them because this outside person has a negative image of them. And because I am defending them, I am being judged negatively as well.
The players may not understand that school employees can be judged negatively because they will defend the player to outside people. The kids do not want this to happen because of them. I work to try to make them see that this type of thing does occur.
8) Former Players and 9) Alumni and 10) My Community
The next group is people from the past. Any former player still has ties to the current program. Any alumni of the school has ties to the program. The alumni may not have played any sport but they still are connected to the program. And the community and its members and fans are associated with the program.
I want former players who may not know me to be proud of the current team. I was a former player who saw my alma mater one time and walked out of the gym in disgust with how the team looked and played. I do not want that to happen. I want former players to be proud of the current team. I want alumni of the school to be proud. These are the people who came before us and put the foundational pieces down for us to have more success than they had. We as a current team need to try and honor that.
And finally community members and fans. I want the community to come to every game and support the current players. There is nothing like playing in a pack gymnasium no matter the size. The gym being filled and loud creates great atmospheres for the players to play in. I want that for my players. But if the community do not like things within the program then they are not going to show up.
I have sat and talked to some of the old men and woman of the community and heard them speak to the long hair and facial hair of some of these high school kids. Most of them absolutely hate it. Most of them were in the military during WW2 or Vietnam depending on their age and they still like the high and tight hair on the current young men in high school. I think we need to try and represent those community members just as much as anybody else. So we do some things to show them the respect they should be given. And in return they feel a connection and a representation to the team.
Finally 11) “School Name” basketball
The school basketball program is bigger than us all. The school will still be playing basketball after every player and coach has stopped playing or coaching. We need to try and honor the past people who came before us but also put our own foundation down for the future generations to build on the legacy we create. I want my program to be considered a premier program and the only way that happens is if everybody associated with the team represents the program to the highest possible level.
These 11 groups of people need to fill a connection to the current team as much as possible. Likewise the current team needs to earn the respect of the 11 different groups. When everybody comes together the fan support increases, school morale increases and usually that means more success for the basketball team. The players tend to play a little harder in a full gym then they do when it’s half-filled. It can take some time to get full buy in from the players about being representatives of the team but when that does occur then they carry themselves a little bit taller. They start to sense the filling of pride that comes along with being a part of something bigger than themselves and that is what I am trying to do with these representation list.