As was taught in the Motivation module in the 3D Coaching Course for Certification, we need to find ways to step into the home life of athletes. Although this strategy isn’t about literally stepping into their lives in a physical sense, it still allows coaches to make a relational deposit into the lives of their athletes away from the sport.
Commentary
By Amy Simmons
As I was going through the teaching on Motivation, I reflected on what Jeff said about visiting athletes in their home environment as a way to motivate them intrinsically. I was currently coaching our daughter’s 8U basketball team, and it didn’t seem feasible for me to visit the girls in their homes, as it was near the end of the season when I heard this teaching. Since I could not physically make it to each of their homes, I decided to make my voice heard in their homes in a different way, through hand-written letters.
It took a couple of hours during a weeknight to write each of the girls a short note of encouragement. I was sure to keep in mind the things I’ve learned about creating a ‘growth-mindset’ from Dr. Carol Dweck’s book Mindset, a summation of which you can find on this video.
I know how excited my 8-year-old daughter is when she receives something in the mail, and I figured this would be a great way to excite the girls, let them know how much I care for them, and also would be a great way to send a message to their parents that we are seeking to be transformational with their daughters.
I mailed the letters, and was excited to see how the girls reacted at the next game. Within a couple of days, I started receiving Facebook messages from many of their parents telling me how thankful they were that I was coaching their daughters.
One particular girl on our team was out for basketball for the first time. All season long, when the ball was passed to her she was very hesitant to dribble, drive or shoot. She would always look for the first opportunity to pass the ball, and wanted nothing to do with “taking a risk.” In my note home to her, I told her that I believed in her and wanted to see her “drive to the basket and shoot at our next game.” At the next game, this girl drove to the hoop over and OVER and even scored her first points of the season!
College-recruiters have figured out that they need to hand-write letters to recruits in order to demonstrate that they “care” about them. Unfortunately, most of the time this is a transactional tactic to get kids to commit to their schools. Why not use this strategy to be transformational in the lives of our kids? Since college-recruiters do this, I think this could work at any level of sport. It is a simple strategy to connect with our athletes on a deeper level.
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