Thanks to Coach Taylor Quick from Noxapater High School in Mississippi. Great information in his words that he shares. He is a great coach who practices what he preaches. He gets the most out of his athletes!
One of the biggest buzz words in the sports world, especially in the sport performance world is CULTURE. We hear it all the time. “That team has a great culture.” “They have a culture of winning.” “That staff came in and really changed the culture of the program.” “We want to change the culture of this program.” But what does that even mean? How do you change or establish a culture? The answers to those questions are not easy to come by. Every coach has their own “secret sauce” for culture building and creating buy-in. The problem is that not every athlete responds in the same way. Not every athlete fits into the one size fits all, get in or get out, my way or the highway method that so many coaches employ when trying to “establish a culture.” So how do you fix that? How do you create buy-in and the culture you want within your strength program? The answer lies in building community.
Dictionary.com defines community as:
a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
a similarity or identity.
joint ownership or liability.
That sounds exactly like culture to me. If you can create community within your program, your culture will come. But, to build community, you first have to understand the dynamics of your team and the characteristics that each athlete brings to the table. This has nothing to do with ability. This is all about personality and who the person under the jersey is.
There are different types of athletes on each team. You all know them. There are the vocal leaders. The kids who jump in front and rally the troops with the ra-ra speech and then attack the lift or the drill with all the effort and intensity you could ever ask for. Then you have the silent leaders. They won’t say much, but they will always give you that same high level of effort and intensity. There are the vocal floaters. They like to join in on the ra-ra speeches and are always high energy, but during the lift or the drill, they just seem to coast through it. Then there are your energy suckers. These are the kids who complain and have horrible body language. They show low intensity and minimal effort through everything. These are the ones who ultimately make and break your culture. Why? Well your leaders are already bought in. You don’t have to win them over. Your floaters and your suckers are the ones you have to worry about. Leadership and energy are contagious, but not nearly as much as complaining and loafing.
Taking these differing personalities and blending them into a community that can create and maintain a culture is one of the most important tasks we have as strength and conditioning coaches. No matter how hard we try. No matter how loud we yell. No matter how “old school tough guy” we are, we cannot force culture into existence. I asked Scott Cochran once about how he created the culture at Alabama that spawned multiple national championships. His answer stuck with me. He said, “Coach, I didn’t do it. The players did it. I didn’t even realize it had happened until one day I saw a young guy across the weight room doing something absolutely wrong, and before I could get to him to correct him, two of my veteran players had gone over to him and said, ‘that is not how we do things here. You do it this way or you can find somewhere else to play.’ It was at that point I knew we were ready to take that step into greatness.” They set the standard and communicated what that standard was. Anything less was unacceptable. That is step one to creating your culture through community.
SET YOUR STANDARDS!
Set your standards and do not EVER waiver on those standards. If there is a grey area, then it does not need to be one of your standards. Your standards have to be non-negotiable and without compromise. Period. Communicate what those standards are and what the consequences are for failing to meet them. No grey areas.
Step two to creating your culture through community is:
PRIORITIZE RELATIONSHIPS!
Athletes are not machines. They are living breathing humans. They are not robots who respond with automated outputs. Humans are dynamic. Some days even your best vocal leaders are quiet and display less than normal effort. Why? Because they don’t like you and don’t care about the program? Of course not. Usually, there is something else going on in their life that they are preoccupied with. That’s ok. Our training session that day is not necessarily more important than whatever they have going on. What may seem arbitrary to us may seem daunting to them. Respect that. Notice that. Ask questions. Connect with them as a person and not just an athlete. If the only conversations you have with your athlete are about training and the sport they play, you are missing the boat. I would rather tell that kid to go take a break in my office and get their head together than have them not paying attention to what they are doing and get injured. This also shows them that you care more about them than about just what they can do for you. The relationship isn’t one sided. Athletes must buy in to YOU before they can buy in to your vision.
Step three to creating culture through community is:
COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR ATHLETES
I don’t mean in the basic sense of telling them when training sessions are and giving coaching cues, etc. I mean true communication. Talk with them, not at them. Listen to what they have to say. Answer any questions. Athletes love to know why. Why are they doing this movement? Why are we doing this many reps? Why are we doing that much weight? Why can’t I do more weight than this? Answering those questions gives them a level of ownership in their training beyond just hearing “because I said so.” Validate their concerns. After all, their body is their greatest asset and we are charged with not only developing it but protecting it. Our first rule as coaches is to do no harm. How can you follow that rule if you refuse to listen to what an athlete has to say about his or her own body. I learned this early on in my career. My first year as a GA at a D2 school in Clinton, Mississippi, I was put over Men’s Soccer among several other sports. I knew absolutely NOTHING about soccer. The first thing I did after meeting with the coaches was call the three team captains in and listen to their concerns with S&C and ask them what they believed they needed as players from a performance perspective. This was a very beneficial move. Not only did it calm some of their fears about me being some ruthless dictator that was going to destroy their bodies in the weight room, it also helped me to understand what they believed they needed. We had a great year and went on to win the conference!
Step four to creating culture through community is my favorite:
HAVE SOME FUN
Training is fun, or at least it should be. Sports are fun. Understand and realize that you can create a great deal of community on your team by letting some things go that don’t really matter. It doesn’t really matter what music is playing. Let them have a say so in what they listen to. They will love you for it. One of my fondest memories of having Don Decker as a strength coach was him letting us listen to an awesome playlist but everyone once in a while, he would run in there and throw on Tim McGraw’s Live Like You’re Dyin’. It was hilarious. After about two weeks, guys who HATED country music were singing it at the top of their lungs because we were all just having a great time while simultaneously having a great training session. Having your shirts tucked in at all times isn’t going to help you win. I’m sorry, it’s just not. Spare me the whole “it’s a little thing that leads to big things” argument. It’s the wrong little thing to worry about. BUT, if you want that to be one of your standards, you better stick to it and by God, you better tuck your own shirt in. Understand that sometimes, there is more benefit in throwing your plan for the day out the window and riding the train. If they come in and the energy level is through the roof, let them chase some numbers. Be safe, but read the room. Psychology trumps Physiology. So what if you only had them going up to 90% for a single. You can’t always plan for when an athlete has everything turned up to 11 all at once and is absolutely feeling it. That day very well might be a turning point in their career. Ride the train. It may be the domino that has the whole team turned up and reaching new heights. Have some fun.
I’ve been privileged to coach at both the college and high school level. I’ve coached male and female sports. I’ve had teams who loved the weight room and teams who started off hating it. I’ve had athletes who I gelled with instantly and those who took a long time to win over. Through it all, my focus has always been on creating a community within my weight room. Your community will drive your culture. Set standards, prioritize relationships, communicate well, and have some fun. This is the best job in the world.