Set principles for your team can help unite everyone around one cause. But, as Steph Fairbairn notes, the best outcomes are achieved when it is player-led.
We hear so much talk about culture, values and behaviours in soccer.
Why? Because if you get them right, they are the foundations on which everything else can be built.
All clubs should have values, ideally set out in a code of conduct, or something similar, that is shared with everyone involved.
But we can also set values at a team level. And these should be driven by the most important people – the players themselves.
I recently started this process with my group of under-14s. I knew what I wanted – a statement that encapsulates everything the team stands for.
It needed to be something we could hold ourselves and others accountable to, and that defined what success looked like, besides winning.
After thinking about the best way to do it, I settled on a 20-minute session, which also acted as a rest between training activities.
It wasn’t too long a time to feel like a big deal, but long enough for the players to engage.
I set out a number of large pieces of paper on the grass, each with a question on them. I gave them sticky notes and Sharpies and asked them to write down anything that came to mind when they read the following questions:
With this, I wanted to get a sense of what the space really meant to them – is it about learning, having fun or seeing friends? Knowing more about why they come will allow me to tailor sessions to make them meet their purpose.
I wanted to understand more about what drives each of the players as individuals. If I know how they went to behave, I can support them in doing so.
I wanted to find out more about the interactions between players – the behaviours they want to see from each other. This will give us something to hold each other to in times of success, and of difficulty.
I wanted to find out how I can do better. I was ready to swallow my pride if needed, encouraging the players to be honest.
I wanted to understand how the players will feel best supported by those watching them on the sidelines. This will be fed back to parents and carers.
In sharing the five questions with you, I’ve used the phrase ‘I wanted’ five times. In actual fact, this is about what the players want. What they want their space to be.
We are now in the reviewing stage, pulling all of the ideas together to make a statement we can all agree to, and hold each other to.
When making some amendments to the phrasing of the statement last week, one girl turned to me and said, ‘Steph, if we’re going to do this, we have to be honest, or there’s no point’.
I was reminded again, as I have been many times throughout this value-setting process, that my players know far better than I do what they need.
What I need is to make sure I hold the space to allow them to get it.
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