The values that coaches teach may be few or numerous, but they almost always include concepts such as being on time, working in a group, accepting responsibility, and being good citizens. A value is something that you consider important in the way you live your life, such as honesty, kindness, or integrity. Everyone's personal values will be different, and yours will largely depend on who you are. Sometimes, values are learned from parents, teachers, or other important people in life.
Your training philosophy is the set of values, beliefs and principles that guide your training. These values and principles drive your approach and behavior both in coaching and in life. We all have these values and they drive behavior. However, not everyone, not even all coaches, have taken the time to express and show them clearly, so they are not always sure what drives their decisions.
Identifying your values and establishing a link between them and situations that make you feel negative is one of the most important steps you can take toward positivity. They are not discussed or implemented, and coaches falsely assume that their athletes will simply take up these values and apply them. This page explains how you can begin to develop a clear, coherent philosophy that reflects your beliefs and values, and that guides your training as you develop your skills. Peter Chee and I provide business professionals with several training principles that they can apply every day.
Try to create a list of your five main values that you want to focus on now and remember that you can come back and review them whenever you want, nothing is definitive. However, since core values are fundamental to team success and character development, it is vital to involve the team in determining them, making them visible, emphasizing them, and using them as a guide to the daily decisions and actions of the program. Maintaining core values becomes more difficult when you're on a losing streak, facing setbacks, and your athletes may not be doing the right thing on and off the field. As you discuss and work to define your core values, give your team the opportunity to share or write down their answers to the above questions and write them down on a white board, whiteboard, or poster.
Hopefully now you feel well prepared to start and experience the flow that occurs when you live a life aligned with your values. When you transgress and break your core values, you run the risk of losing the respect and trust of your team, and you send the message that shortcuts are fine. Every good coach and leader understands the importance of core values as a guide to overcoming the ups and downs of sports and, more importantly, for developing the character of young men and women. Throughout this time, I have deeply connected with my coaching spirit and have developed 8 personal training principles that form the basis of a successful coach.
