Marin Voice: Coaches focusing on positive team culture first have the right idea

With Marin schools back in session this month, coaches will be busy preparing for the season ahead.

Here’s one winning strategy they can follow to prepare their players for competition this fall: Resist the urge to start the season by jumping right into a heavy dose of technical and tactical training. Instead, focus on getting to know each player in order to lay the groundwork for nurturing a positive team culture for the season ahead.

Coaches play significant roles in supporting student-athletes through their communication, engagement and ability to connect athletes to the appropriate resources and referrals.

Consider a theory we use in team dynamics known as the Stages of Group Development. Creator Bruce Tuckman suggested that all groups go through a variety of stages in becoming more cohesive: forming, storming, norming, performing and finally, adjourning. The return-to-school period is all about that forming stage.

How can coaches be a facilitator of enhanced team communication and cohesion? It starts with how they craft practice sessions in the early going.

First off, ask individuals about their offseason. Even if you know them, get to know them all over again. And of course, get to know the new incoming team members. That includes asking them about areas outside of their sport. Remember the old adage: “they don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Further, help guide teammates toward getting to know one another.

Next, coaches might consider working with the team on setting a culture for the season to follow. This is no small order.

The Positive Coaching Alliance organization defines culture simply yet beautifully: the way we do things here. What will this team be about this season? What are the values that you ascribe to and what do they collectively believe in?

Taken further, what are the actions and standards that represent those values? Without actions and standards that correspond to selected values, your team culture can stagnate, ending up as “dead words on a wall.” Bring them to life with actions that you will all hold each other accountable for.

Lastly, coaches should consider what kind of motivational climate they are creating for the team.

Are words, actions, rules and standards signaling that results and winning are the most important element of the experience? Or, are the coaches creating a climate in which enjoyment of the experience and consistent improvement is most fundamental? Sport psychology research suggests that athletes will be more bought in and less burnt out when the latter is highlighted, creating a task-oriented environment.

This fall, Dominican University added a master’s degree program in applied sport and performance psychology. As a profession, it is about working with performers and coaches to help them think, feel and behave more productively in order to perform to the best of their ability and enjoy their performances more.

At Dominican, we are incorporating coursework grounded in the theory and research of sport and performance psychology while incorporating hands-on training that allows practitioners to apply this education in the workplace – be it on the field, on the stage or in the boardroom. The focus is on training students to do the work in the field with athletes, coaches and other performers.

In these early days of the fall season, coaches and parents must remember that student-athletes are exposed to stressors both within school and sports that can significantly impact their overall mental health. Some of these stressors include deselection from the team, academic challenges, injuries, parental expectations, social pressures, inconsistent coach behavior, role strain and fluctuating levels of performance.

Early intervention from coaches is crucial to reducing the severity and duration of symptoms which can be done by problem-solving stressors, reducing pressure and expectations, normalizing experience, and connecting the athlete with the appropriate professional.

By focusing on how the student-athletes can improve as individuals and as a team on a daily basis, and keeping at the forefront of your coaching their enjoyment of the experience, you’re creating a motivational climate that will keep them excited to come to practice and, hopefully, improving as the season goes along.

Alison Pope-Rhodius is program director and Dan Ourian is assistant director of the applied sport and performance psychology master’s degree program at Dominican University in San Rafael.