May 6th, 2011
Building up your team’s personality
Any coach will tell you that one of the biggest challenges of coaching is building up the personality of a team. It is one of the keys to success – a team that knows its identity and its strengths and weaknesses can tailor its schemes and approach to maximize the odds of winning.
Putting your team through challenging practice sessions will help you identify leaders. Who steps up when times are tough? Who lifts up their teammates and who quits? Once you find out who you would like the leaders to be, put them in positions of leadership and consider electing them to be captains.
In football, identifying the strongest facets of your team will help you tailor game plans on offensive, defense, and special teams to give you the best chance to win – synergistic game plans. For example, if you have a strong defense, you are better able to take chances on offense, knowing that your defense will be able to stop opponents. On the other hand, if your defense is less than stellar, a ball control offense will disrupt the offensive flow of the opponents and give you a better chance of limiting points. Finding strengths and focusing on them will give you the best opportunity for success.