My question is to those who have experience with high school athletes.
I am a club coach up here in Canada, and the state of track and field in Canada is very week so it is easy to be at the top of the heap.
What I am asking is how do we encourage 100% effort on the track and especially on off days. We train as a group three times a week and three days are supposed to be on their own.
There are a few that do the work on and off, they are improving tremendously, (ex. grade nine female 24.00 and 11.92 and grade 12 male 22.1 and 47.5)
A few seem to be just going through the motions thinking it is beneficial?
Any advice on how to encourage an increase in effort and confidence?
“If you don’t demand that your people maintain high performances to remain on your team, why should they be proud of the association?” - Lou Holtz
I think it all starts with the coach. Tell the athletes your expectations and hold them to those expectations, no exceptions.
Also, we all know that with success brings confidence. Once people realize that they are doing well, they find pride in themselves and the team. Pump these kids up. Talk to them individually and tell them something positive, i.e. they have potential, if they work hard you can see them as the best 100m runner on the team, then the league, etc. Don’t be fake though, kids can see through you.
I think work ethic breeds upon itself. If you have leaders or highly-motivated individuals on a team, it will spread to the rest over time. To make this possible, you could try to practice more as a group on the easy days so the others can see how much intensity needs to present, or you can place the not-so-motivated athletes (or younger) with a more disciplined athlete. Kind of like a mentoring program or training partner. Just some thoughts.
what clemson said is right, by making team rules and sticking to them. In high school we were allowed only two tardies or two unexcused absensences. If we got a third of either one we were off the team. He stuck to it even if it was his best runner. We had 150 guys on the track team and prob 2 kids would get kicked off for tardies every year.
I have to agree with Dlive…many high schoolers will b.s. their coach about working on their own. But if you got everyone to train together on off/easy days they might realize what they’re not doing…also with the increased training they would(one could hope)improve and further motivate them to continue training 6 days as opposed to 3.
The way to get the work done is to get them together all the time! Leaving people to their own devices seldom leads to good things. The problem in Canada when I came up was that the same people had been winning with the minimum performance excuseable- without the ability to see a way to bridge the gap between Nat Champs and World Champs. Of course, as soon as athletes with wheels, combined with motivation and organization, came along, these people were cast aside. That’s why (Holtz aside) Football teams have 95 scholarships. If you don’t work enough, someone else will- and you’re gone!
I agree Charlie, but is there also the danger that by ALWAYS training together and doing too much for your athletes you can take THEIR responsibility from them and they begin to rely on you to organise and do everything for them - nearly even run for them?
One way or the other, this IS the way it is in the successful programs. Unless athletes are on the road, their sessions are supervised- and done on a time schedule. Planning to get a workout done ‘at some point in the day’ is a recipe to get it pushed right out .
