Providing Insights on Leadership and Success. Coach Bechler is a John Maxwell Leadership Team Member.
11-time NBA Championship coach Phil Jackson said, “The strength of the team is each individual member, and the strength of each member is the team.” As a coach, you understand the importance of building a strong team.
There are plenty of teams that consist of skilled individuals and athletes with tremendous physical assets. However, some of these teams never reach their potential because they are just a bunch of puzzle pieces that don’t seem to fit together.
Great teams have great teammates. No disagreements there, but it isn’t easy to find great teammates. Not everybody that makes your team will come in as a great teammate — and that is where your presence and team culture kicks in.
The clearest signal that you have an athlete that is a great teammate is their desire to serve others. When athletes have the mindset of serving other team members, the entire program benefits. Legendary basketball coach John Wooden put it well when he said, “It’s amazing what you can achieve when you don’t care who gets the credit.”
Serving others is at the very core of sports — and it’s paramount to your team’s success.
“Start by doing what’s necessary, then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” (Saint Francis of Assisi)
This winter there was a snowstorm resulting in a 50-car pileup on the Ohio turnpike, which included some fatalities and dozens of motorists stranded in the freezing weather.
Some administrators from a nearby school district didn’t just see the news and feel sorry for all of those people.
No, they saw an opportunity to make a bad situation a little bit better.
Start off 2021 on the right foot with these free leadership webinars from author, podcast host, and leadership consultant Jamy Bechler. Listen in as the former college basketball coach and high school athletic director provides insights and tips that can help you create a stronger culture, develop better teammates, and build more positive leadership in your program.
Jamy will be conducting a variety of free webinars during the first two weeks of January culminating with an MLK Day Marathon, in which he’ll do five different presentations that day. Each leadership session will last approximately 45 minutes with an additional 10-15 minutes set aside for questions from those attending the session.
Topics will include “Selecting & Developing Captains”, “Team-Building During COVID”, “Developing Team Leadership”, “Building Culture Through Recruiting”, and “Effective Communication with Players, Staff, and Parents”.
Register today for one of the free leadership webinars at FreeLeadershipWorkshop.com.
Since March 2020, sports have been different. Covid-19 has made coaches and athletes adjust, adapt, and change the way they approach their sport. I have done countless zoom calls and consultations with teams on how to make the best of these unprecedented and challenging times we are all experiencing.
There is no doubt this pandemic has affected your team in some way – from games or the season being canceled, to quarantining and experiencing isolation, to wearing masks and staying six-feet away from teammates. No matter who you are, you’ve been affected in some way to some extreme.
Here are some ideas for making the best of a bad situation and trying to have a healthy and strong culture throughout this pandemic.
As a college student, I spent my summers as a life guard and camp counselor. During the weekends, the camp director would take the staff for boat rides around the lake. It seemed like every five minutes, he said, “See that turtle over there” or “Look at that turtle sunny itself on that log”. I don’t think I saw a turtle before he saw it at any point during that entire summer. Funny thing is that I also never saw a turtle on my own when I went out on the boat out without him.
Dan Wood is the Executive Director of the National Christian College Athletic Association. He joined the NCCAA national office staff in 2000. Dan was the recipient of the 2016 Professional Excellence Award from Southern Wesleyan University’s (SWU) School of Education. He serves on the Advisory Board of Sports Spectrum Magazine, is a member of Greenville Connect Ministry, and as a member of ALIVE Wesleyan he has provided leadership in building and capital campaigns and youth ministry. Prior to his time with the NCCAA, he was involved in Christian Higher Education, beginning in 1987 as a professor, coach, and Athletic Director at Christian universities. Dan was awarded NCCAA and NAIA Coach of the Year in Men’s Soccer and Men’s Golf; received the NCCAA Meritorious Service Award; and was inducted into SWU and Oklahoma Wesleyan University’s Athletic Hall of Fame.
In today’s episode, we discuss: