Laxicon007, An interview with Doug Bartlett of VMI and 4 other coaches from all levels | Leadership

This podcast is an interview with a collection of lacrosse coaches including Doug Bartlett of VMI, Steve Peterson of Mariemont H.S. Reed Peterson of Berry College, Steve Schooler and Kurt Kuwach from Cincinnati's Youth Programs.

Here are the show notes

Steve Peterson found a community service project in his hometown that needed physical labor that his team could fulfill. The project took 4 straight days of weekend work on their own time and helped build a work ethic into his players and built camaraderie on his team. Shovelling snow off the field has a similar impact for him as well. Steve talks about how it is important to do more than your share and it starts with the Head Coach, and then the assistant coaches, and then the formal or informal team leaders. Everyone needs to set the example so that all players know what is expected of players on the team. In his parting thoughts Steve talks about ensuring you have a quality team and high standards set. If you have a high quality team people will want to be a part of it.

Reed Peterson talked about the leadership development program at Barry College. Seniors who are in contention for being captains are given a number of upperclassmen and sophomores to lead in off season lifting and running events, and each of the individual groups are responsible for the members of the group meeting the running and lifting goals set for the group. If one fails, they all fail, so they bond together to help each other meet the goals. Reed says “standards are a mindset”. they really don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. Reed also talks about using practice to mentally prepare his players for the game by scripting out 10 situations that he thinks his team needs to be ready for that week and then using the practice as a mirror of the game running those situations throughout practice. In his parting thoughts Reed says to create a successful atmosphere on your team, make it a family atmosphere. Reach out to the families and ensure everyone is included.

Kurt Kuwatch talks about how to integrate 10 minute leadership breaks into your practice and how that can effectively plant the seed of growth with each player while they are in the midst of competing and working hard. The short breaks act as a refocusing on what is important to the team and less on what they individually are struggling with during a particular practice.
Doug Bartlett talks about players’ roles and how acceptance of their roles helps build trust between teammates which is essential to the success of the team. Players need to know that you love them and you love the game. Coaches need to show they are passionate about the game. Coaches need to find out what makes each player tick.
Be confident right and confident wrong. Coaches need to be humble when they make mistakes, admit them and move beyond them. “You don’t have to be a captain, to behave like a captain”. Coaches need to find a way to reward every player out there, especially in practice. Doug also talks about the importance of preparation and how that carries a team forward into the season, that perfect preparation ensures that they will “never lose a game in their minds”. Coach also says that “sometimes less is more”, if you have your players at a level that you feel comfortable with, there is nothing wrong with sending them into the locker room early. Coach also talks about the importance of being humble in both winning and losing. He describes how if his team was losing by a lot at any time, he would take a time out in the last 5 minutes and remind his players to finish the game with the best they have regardless of the situation, because that is how they will start the next one. Doug says to “leave the room better than you found it.” Players can go from “who’s who, to who’s he, to who cares!” like that so we need to be engaging with them all the time to ensure we understand wher...