if You Build it They Will Come..and Play

This is a story about a high school varsity team that set a record for most participants on the team at their school. As you probably already know, the sport does not matter to me. The coach, believing that an atmosphere of relaxed coaching, with no yelling and clam instruction, would be a way for athletes to perform at their best, and he thought that he would attract more children to his team using this method.

He started out coaching this team with only seven participants. As the years passed, and word spread amongst the students in this high school, other kids decided to try this sport. More and more kids started to come out for the team and soon this team was known for eclectic discussions, innovative games during practice, and charitable events.

The amount of fun was directly related to the children’s performance. It certainly seemed that the more the coach relaxed the atmosphere around his team the better they performed. Children were given repeated chances to play and when they did play they were enthusiastically supported by other teammates and the coach. They got better quicker than if someone had told what to do.

 In a day where kids are constantly being told what to do during a game by coaches, parents, and teammates, this coach decided to let the children’s own inner desire for competition be reinforced by letting them be creative and relaxed when they participated. No yelling at the kids. No deriding an athlete when they made a mistake. The coach gave constant encouragement to have fun while they were playing.

Sure there were detractors. I heard of people in the school disparaging the coach and his team for not playing their best players. They were scolded by people they competed against for having “too much fun” and disrespecting their sport. Quite interesting that adults, supposedly there to set an example and model the behavior they wanted the athletes to have, took a negative approach to this team’s actions and behavior. The coaches demanded that they be part of the show and get credit. They wanted validation, status, and status quo to be the rule. Times have changed. The world no longer believes the earth is flat!

Then it happened.

 I am getting this story second hand so I can only relate to you another person’s account, although I trust this person to tell the truth. During a practice six athletes on the team were given the opportunity, along with others, to play three games against each other. After two games were completed, one of the boys went up to the coach and asked him if it was okay if they switched teams. I’m told the coach asked why and the children’s response was classic. They had figured out how to make the teams even. On their own, and by having the coach create an atmosphere where all the kids would have a chance to compete, the kids wanted fairer competition. ALL ON THEIR OWN. They figured it out. Really, isn’t that our goal as coaches?

 The final game was extremely competitive. It created a stir amongst the other players on the team not playing in this contest and soon had a “playoff” atmosphere surrounding the participants.  The kids went at it under an aura of positive pressure and had a blast, high fiving each other, encouraging each other, and they played at a very high level!

By now, you should know how strongly I believe in this approach and the Zen of life. It is so much better for the children to be allowed to make mistakes in a safe and positive atmosphere than it is to constantly be at them with instruction. They got better with less instruction, not more! This example is going to resonate with the children for the rest of their lives.

When this story was related to me I was beaming. But being the tweaker that I am I commented to my friend that this story and team bothered me, and it bothered me quite a bit. You should have seen his face! Why I wondered, was this kind of coaching/teaching and the children’s response, an anomaly? Why wasn’t this standard operating procedure?

If we have anything to say about it here at Frozen Shorts, and we do, they, and other teams like theirs, will soon become the rule, a shining example, not the exception, for coaches to coach, for players to behave, execute their skills, and to have fun while playing youth and high school sports.