Some of us may be very early in the season and still working on hitting that team stride. One way you can do your part is to understand, accept, and execute your role on the team. This is an easy topic in theory, but it will really take some motivation and dedication on your end to make it work. If you want to be an asset to your team, this could be something that interests you. How well you fulfill your role on the team definitely influences your value on the team. 

Everyone on the team has a role whether they like that role or not. These roles are technical roles (your position) as well as supportive roles (captains). Roles can be designated (appointed team captain by coach) or come naturally (becoming the emotional support for the team because you’re naturally awesome at that). As a member of the team, you can have one role or more than one. Regardless of the number of roles you may have or which role you have, it’s important that you fulfill your role(s) to the best of your ability. On the individual level, you need to understand that you are a part of the whole. Your role, however big or small you perceive it, is needed for the team to function.

There is a difference between knowing your role and accepting your role. You may KNOW that you’ve been designated as a leader of the team, but have you ACCEPTED that role? Knowing your role and accepting your role can be the difference between being an effective teammate and being the guy or girl that gets on everybody’s nerves. Once you have accepted your role, your attitude towards the workload and responsibilities of your role changes. You are working hard to fulfill the role because you WANT to, not only because you HAVE to. This frees up your mental space for more focus on getting the job done. This can also create a more positive exchange between you and your coach(es). Think about it, if a coach doesn’t have to remind you ten times in one practice that you’ve run assignment incorrectly, that would make practice and play a lot better on the both of you, yeah? 

Ok so you’ve accepted your role, but how can you excel in your role? Make it your responsibility to know everything about and successfully execute that role. Learn what it means be that role. I remember an athlete told me once, “I’m a football player. I don’t just play football” (shout out to you, sir!). That’s grown man talk right there. Take the time to continuously improve in your role. This may take the form of asking your coach more detailed questions about your role, doing work on your own to form a deeper understanding and appreciation of the role. Be THAT guy or girl that has a strong sports knowledge about your role/position. You should be confident in your role which will also give the coach confidence that you are the right and only person to successfully fulfill that role.

Once you’ve excelled at your role, you can have a better understanding of just how your singular role plays into the team’s functioning. This is the whole, “it’s not about YOU” part that coaches talk about. It’s really not about you, but it kind of is about you. On one side, it is about you because every single person on the team is needed to execute as a team. On the other side, it really isn’t about you, personally. Meaning, your ROLE is important, but who is fulfilling that role can change. So, I guess you can say it isn’t about you as an individual, but it is about your contribution as a member of the team. But! You can increase your value on the team by continuously showing that you are the best person available to fulfill that role. The moment you can make that switch from it being about you as a person to being about you as contributing to the team through your role, man look… All kinds of opportunities can pop up with that mindset. So yes, these are some things to think about as you get rolling with your season or even get ready for your upcoming season. Do you know and accept your role on the team? How well are you fulfilling your role? Are you hurting or helping the team? Think about it and go on and prosper, yall!

#FlexThatMentalMuscle

These are two concepts that influence athletic performance more than one may think. A number of us are familiar with the concept of Fear of Failure. This can work two ways. Some people use the Fear of Failure as motivation to continually excel.  Some people are hindered by the Fear of Failure. They are held back from improving because they are afraid of failure and their perceived consequences of failure. I’ve had to help an athlete work through the Fear of Failure in order to improve performance. It’s more so the perception of failure rather than the actual failure that seems to hold athletes back. Once you can deconstruct the perception of failure an athlete has, he or she can eventually start to perform without detrimental effects of his or her perceived consequences of failure. It’s an interesting concept to understand and address when working with athletes.

The Fear of Success can also influence athletic performance. This may sound downright silly, but it does occur. It may even occur more than some of us realize. The Fear of Success can also impede athletic performance. The Fear of Success encourages athletes to hold back their performances for, again, a perception of too much responsibility, attention, or higher expectations or a lack of self confidence. For example, there may be an extremely talented 2nd string cornerback on the team. He can easily beat out the 1st string CB for the starting position, but he chooses not to. He may not do so because he may not think he’s not good enough to start, may become anxious by the thought of more attention on him, or various other reasons. Again, this is more of a perception issue rather than an actual issue. This is another interesting concept to be mindful of when working with athletes.

The perception of success and failure can motivate athletes to perform in certain ways. Whether this perception be grounded in personal experience or completely created by the athlete in his or her head, it should be addressed in a way that allows for understanding and improvement by the athlete. Just a little nugget of information I wanted to pass along!