The 12 Days of Christmas - 12 Reasons Athletes Play Sports

Published: Fri, 12/02/16

"I just want to get a jersey with my name on it and be part of the team"

"I am playing on this team to add it to my extracurricular activities for my college application"

"I want to win the state championship and be the MVP of this team to lead us to great accomplishments"

These are 3 responses from 3 different athletes I have talked to in the past year. I asked them the simple question "Why do you want to play on the team?." Think about how different these answers are. Think about how differently you would interact with each individual knowing their goal. But if you are like me how often do we fall prey to not asking this question and listening to the answer?

As we approach the Christmas season, I want to share with you 12 profound answers to why athletes really play sports, and what they want from their coaches. I'll break it into 4 weeks leading up to Christmas.

This week I'll share with you 3 truths about what players want, shared by Coach Ingle Martin, multiple-state champion coach at Christ Presbyterian Academy in Nashville, Tennessee:

They want to contribute
They want to belong
They want to know they have what it takes

That's it. It's that simple. I have used these 3 facts as a basis of many of my coaching decisions since hearing Coach Martin share these. I hope they help you as much as they have me.

Next week we'll look at 5 things athletes want from their coaches.

My Culture Journey

11 weeks in on my journey to turn around the culture of a team I help coach, you can follow along here: The Culture Journey

NEW WYC PODCASTS

WYC 099 – International Tennis Coach – Adam Blicher talks Goal-setting & Mental Toughness

Adam Blicher is an International Award Winning Tennis Coach specialized in Applied Sport Psychology with a Ma. in Sport Psychology from the University of Southern Denmark. During the last 5 years he has travelled to 20+ countries for tennis tournaments ranging from Tennis Europe & ITF Tournaments to Nordic- & European individual & team championships.
Adam uses the demands & stress of Competitive Tennis to help players become strong, resilient people that are able to problem solve in high pressure situations while showing great character. He cares about the results of the players that he works with, but he by any means cares more about who the players are becoming as a persons, as a result of their Tennis journey. Everyday, every competition represents another opportunity for players to grow as a person. Growth in self-control, respect for others, persistence & trustworthiness. No matter how far a player ends up going in the rankings, tennis can be used to strengthen ones character & it is his quest to show the players he works with how & support them in the process.

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Make winning the right way your habit starting today,
Craig

Craig Haworth is the founder of Winning Youth Coaching, a site dedicated to helping coaches and parents make youth sports an awesome experience for the youth and the parents. He interviews coaches from around the world and posts them on his podcast, which currently has over 95 interviews and has been downloaded over 100,000 times. He writes a weekly note to coaches and parents. He is married to his high-school sweetheart and they share the blessing of 3 children and live in Franklin, TN. You can sign-up for his weekly note here, find him on twitter at @craighaworth1, or visit his website winningyouthcoaching.com.

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men"

- Frederick Douglass