A Culture Of Maximum Effort


I got a call from a coach from a neighboring county who wanted to come visit to discuss how I got my players to play so hard. I had never met the coach but he had watched our team play and had heard from other coaches how hard our teams played. According to him, I have a reputation of getting young people to play harder than a lot of other teams. I’m not completely sure it’s justified because there are several times during every season when I don’t think my team is giving everything they have. But I agreed to meet with the coach. He came in with a list of prepared questions such as are there any specific drills that we do, do we punish our team more than others or how many sprints do we make our players run. He was searching for the one thing that would make his players work harder.

Throughout the conversation I explained that I didn’t think there was any one thing we did. I believe that young people have to see themselves as being part of something bigger than themselves. A part of a community and the culture of that community should be maximum effort in all things. The atmosphere that we continually try to create is one of not “making” players do something but having them do something because they want to.We try to create this culture of maximum effort in all things not just specific drills. Simply using the words, “maximum effort” signals to a player that we are not pleased with the effort being produced. We also continually point out when effort is unacceptable and not up to our program’s standards. When our players hear “maximum effort” or “that is unacceptable” then they know their effort is not up to par.

It’s important that this culture extends beyond the court or playing field and into the classroom and at home.We hope that before long maximum effort will become a way of life and not just something that takes place in a certain drill. I don’t know if I answered the coach’s questions but I hope he felt the visit was worth his time.
--Dan Spainhour

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Coach Yourself: A Motivational Guide For Coaches And Leaders

About This Book
Coach Yourself is a unique book, compiled exclusively for coaches to provide you with physical, mental and spiritual motivation throughout the season. In his follow-up to A Season In Words, veteran coach Dan Spainhour arms you with quotes and motivational ideas to help you achieve peace of mind throughout the season from how to stay motivated to handling critics.

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