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AFM Magazine


Gain a Competitive Edge Through Transformational Coaching

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by Jimmy Hensel, Director of Player Development

University of Northern Colorado

If you have any coaching experience, you have seen firsthand the multitude of  influences and challenges facing young people in our culture today. More and more kids come to our programs damaged emotionally and mentally to the point that they never reach their full potential as athletes, students and as people. Not only are our athletes at varying stages of physiological development but a list of societal issues like divorce, single parenthood, drug abuse, an entitlement mentality and even over protective parents are key factors in their makeup. The pool of athletes who are ready and willing to work hard in school, grind on the field and who place being a positive role model on campus as a priority, are shrinking. Getting the buy-in to your program from the pee-wee level to the professiopnal level means something different today and I have concluded a competitive edge lies within this topic.

I believe that football is the last great American institution where the mental, physical and emotional adversity brought on by the game opens a path to an athlete's heart. This connection can help you develop a culture within your program that is consistently competitive and send your athletes into the real world as better men. A transformational coach understands this opportunity and gains a competitive edge by getting 100% effort from his athletes through his ability to communicate with is heart. Make no mistake, a coach's influence affects the fundamental development of the athlete's make up and his potential on and off the field. Winning football games will always be a by-product of men who coach values like brotherhood, sacrifice, teamwork and family. These values are still necessarily taught in order to be competitive. I believe that today more than ever, football needs transformational coaches who understand their own personal purpose. This perspective transcends the Xs and Os. This perspective eclipses winning and the exchange or transaction between the coaches and players for a scholarship, fame, fortune, fancy facilities or whatever external reward that your level of football may offer.

 

Whether we like it or not, the game of football is center stage in a cultural war being waged all around us. It is no stretch to compare and contrast the good and bad in the football culture with the commendable and objectionable we see in our society as a whole. My question is - what kind of coach are you and what are the results of your influence? Are you a coach who can articulate your personal purpose in life? Do you coach from a defined philosophy or do you make most of your choices and decisions solely based on emotions and feelings. The journey from a transactional perspective to that of transformational coachn relies on your ability to identify and understand your purpose as a man and your why as a football coach. This process requires you to define yourself and being able to clearly speak and write about what you believe.

 

Becoming totally focused on the transactions of the game is easy to do if your emotions are not anchored in a philosophy that places importance on other values in addition to winning. We can easily identify the "win at all cost coach" or "the win at all cost program". From the New Orleans Saints bounty-gate debacle, Penn State and Coach Paterino's fall, to a pee-wee coach whose priorities are out of order directing with runaway emotion on the sidelines. Managing a program with that mindset is morally unacceptable and we can all agree we need to bring more value and purpose to the game other than being victorious.

 

Don't misunderstand me. Being excellent in the transactions of the game is vital to a well-orchestrated football program. Your organizational skills, your ability to lead, teach and motivate are keys to success. Being excellent in the Xs and Os of the game is integral. Values like education and winning are at the foundation of a quality transaction and purpose for coaching football. However, if your ultimate focus remains on winning, I believe you will miss the opportunity for the competitive edge that a transformational perspective brings.

 

How can you get a recruiting edge if your facilities are not the best in the country? How can you be competitive, attracting top talent if you still have one home and away uniform along with a single helmet design? How do you inspire your athletes to believe if your school has a losing program? How do you turn a program around quicker without the ability to offer the best transaction? Conversely, how do you get that competitive edge if you can offer the best transaction? The answer is the same - become a transformational coach.

 

Start by defining yourself and identifying purpose in your own life. Next, put your coaching philosophy into concise language and get your entire organization to speak that language placing everyone on the same page. Inspire your athletes by talking about what you believe before you teach them what to do. This kind of language will speak to them from your heart. Finally, give each athlete the opportunity to define himself as a person and as a member of your team. If your athlete can verbalize their value as an individual and as a player it creates a bridge to their heart and will prepare them to hear and be open to what you want them to believe. The competitive edge you seek is a complete buy-in from your athletes where they give their whole body, mind and heart in pursuit of the values you teach them to play for. Extraordinary physical accomplishments are possible from an individual or team that believes they are valuable and cared for on a personal level.

 

 

A good coach is an expert at the Xs and Os of the game. He is an excellent communicator with the ability to gain and hold attention when he speaks. A good coach understands the importance of competition and winning while avoiding the "win at all cost" trap. However, a good coach can become great by defining himself, putting his coaching philosophy into language creating a tool capable of communicating what he believes at from the heart. A great coach gains the competitive edge by evolving past the transactions of the game and helping his athletes realize their full potential on the field and in life. I will make the argument that the days of being a transactional coach are numbered. In my opinion, becoming a transformational coach is not only the right thing to do, but the only way to develop that winning program that can sustain itself over time in the culture we live in......Strength and Honor.

 

 

 

 






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