A LEADER LEADS BY EXAMPLE: A leader must be a positive role model at all times. Every word spoken has to be a positive word. Every act he takes must be a positive act. A leader can never be negative. He/she must be a shining example of what it takes to be great.
A LEADER BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN OTHERS: A leader must be the type of person that others want to be like. He/she has to inspire his teammates to be their very best.
A LEADER IS AN EXTENSION OF THE COACH: Most players are well behaved when the coach is around. However, when the coach is not around, negative things can occur. Any type of negative talk, about the team or another player, is detrimental to the team. A leader does not try to cut corners in any way. He/she knows what the team and school rules are and does not break them himself, or allow others to break them.
A LEADER IS A HARD WORKER: A leader must enjoy serving others. He/she must want to do the things that are necessary for a team to have success. A leader is always trying to think of ways he can help improve the team.
A LEADER PUTS THE TEAM FIRST: It is easy to come up with excuses why we can’t get a task done. I hear those excuses all the time. If you want to do something, you can almost always do it. If you don’t want to do something, you can almost always find an excuse so that you don’t have to do it. I want people who I can count on to be there. I want people who are committed to basketball all year – not just during the season.
A LEADER TRULY WANTS TO BE A SERVANT: You can’t fake it, you either want to be a positive servant to your team, or you don’t. The leaders of this team do not have to be the best players. In fact, I think it is neat when someone who isn’t a great player steps up and takes on a leadership role. Your job as a member of this team is to find some way to make a positive contribution to the team. For some, that contribution may be providing leadership.
Here's what I feel is a necessity for the success of the team using these leadership qualities. I feel a good leader knows how to get the best out everyone on the team, because all have something to contribute, that's what a team is all about. The parts versus the whole: there is no ‘whole’ to a team without its parts - the players. The coach needs to become the hub for each cog of team, his/her leadership makes the mixture of different personalities the components, the assemblage of the parts that are regarded as single entities for the common good of the team: unity. Generally speaking, there is no team without unity, and that's when the system of a team requires the influence of leadership on the whole.
What Do I Want in a Player?
I want a player who is willing to make a commitment to being as good as he/she can be each time that she/he plays.
I want a player who is willing and ready to do what has to be done to make a positive contribution in the most difficult of games.
I want a player who competes in each game as though there is nothing he will ever do that will be more important.
I want a player who more than anything, wants our team to be the very best that it can be.
Is this too much for me to demand of you?
Is this too much for you to demand of yourself?
Educators need to communicate, make eye contact with each other whenever someone is talking. Coaches and teachers, through example, demonstrate to their students, athletes, and even the parents on how teachers and coaches play such an important role in kids’ lives. Providing knowledge, guidance, counseling, and maybe most importantly, nurturing for many young people every day. Generally speaking, coaches and teachers are selfless.
I can honestly say that my whole professional life is/was about serving others, and there’s a fine line of commonality between being a coach and being a teacher. The student/athlete, in most circumstances, are children/adolescents that need leaders/role models. I think most us tell our kids to thank their teachers and coaches for all that they do.
Consider this, who has done the same kinds of things for you in your life? Who has helped guide you at times when you were struggling? Who sparked something in you that you didn’t even know you had in you? Who has helped you become the best you are capable of becoming? For most of you, there are many people who have had that kind of impact on you.
These are the people who have had the greatest impact on your life, the job you do, and how well you do what you do. These are the “life-changers” that so many of us point to as being the most influential people in our lives. Certainly, our parents will fall into this category. But who are the other people in your life who have had the greatest impact on you?
I have had many athletes who I can label as being leaders. Can we all be leaders? I believe so, because the majority of us can lead by example, and I feel that might be the biggest form of leadership. Leading by example is subtle. Coaches and teachers are in roles of leading by example, and it's the empathy for the students' and the athletes' emotional wellbeing that needs to be the most important consideration.
A couple of quotes of encouragement from people who lead others through their lives: "If you’re a positive person, you’re an automatic motivator. You can get people to do things they don’t think they’re capable of,” said Cotton Fitzsimmons. “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind,” said William James.
A lot to consider. A path for leadership, a change of attitude is always an option, and that comes from positive actions and thinking!
