Team Leadership

This entry is not about the DWU program it is for all athletes and coaches to help get yourselves on the same page for your upcoming season.

As I have gone through my years of coaching many different divisions of college volleyball and coaching high school players at teams at summer of camps. I keep looking at some of the differences between those programs that annually seem to be at the top of their game and achieve their goals. Of course all of us know that talent and skill development are a big factor in successful programs. How do we ensure that there is going to be quality development of talent and skill? I have found that for most teams that struggled with quality development there was a lack of leadership throughout the team. This lack of leadership came from both the coaching staff and players. In recent years I have started to get rid of the phrase "team captain" from our program. I wanted it to be more specific and more responsible and accountable sounding so we call them "team leaders". We want these people to lead the rest of the team in the right direction for accomplishing all of our goals on and off the court.

However, it is a learning process for both coaches and players. There are natural leaders out there as well as those that need to be nudged into leaders but for both those leadership skills have to be discovered and then developed. One thing I am still learning is to be specific with my leaders as to what I truly want from them. What their responsibilities are and how to get them to follow through with handling their responsibilities. A lot of times us as coaches just seem to say "be a leader". I have taken responsibility for not leading or teaching my "leaders" how to lead. I look back and past seasons and sometimes realize that all I said to my team or leaders was, "figure it out" or "you need to be a better leader". Unfortunately it is not that simple (oh how we wish it were) young athletes need direction so that they can give direction.

I have put a major focus this summer in learning about how to develop great leaders for my team. I want to develop responsible and respected team leaders. Here are some of the things we will be looking for out of our team leaders this upcoming season:

* We set high standards and hold teammates accountable to follow the rules
* Inspire teammates to work hard, overcome obstacles, and stay focused
* Refocus teammates when they are distracted, down, and discouraged
* Minimize and manage team conflicts, cliques, and problems
* Encourage teammates to act responsibly on and off the court

There are many styles of leadership out there. Every single person can be a leader in their own way. It does not only have to be seniors either. The greatest quality I have seen in the best leaders is their demand (in a positive way) for excellence from their teammates on and off the court.

I wish all of you the absolute best with your upcoming seasons and I look forward to updating you on the DWU Volleyball Program as we begin our journey for a GPAC Conference Championship.

-Coach V