On the women’s basketball team, it is a challenge trying to find the right way to reach each individual. One way we do that is through setting goals. We set personal and team goals, both short-term and long-term.
This year, we started a new program using goal cards. Each player sets an individual goal, writes it on a note card and turns the card in to me once the goal is complete. After, I give them a Lancer decal to put on their locker. It is similar to the Buckeye stickers the Ohio State University football team puts on their helmets. We hope to hand out a ton of them this year.
We also use values to motivate. We have 10 values that we chose as a team, and we try to integrate them all into everything we do. Each player is assigned a value and she is responsible for educating the team about that value, what it means and how we should apply it to our team.
Encouragement is the motivational tactic that our team likes the best. This can be very powerful when given from the right person. I try hard as a coach to tell our players what I want them to do, as opposed to what they are doing wrong. I love it when our women encourage one another. It is so powerful when someone can feel another person’s belief in them, which is why we love playing at home in front of the California Baptist University Crazies.
About two or three times a year, if we are lucky, we may be motivated by inspiration. Sometimes this is a motivational speech straight from a Disney movie. Sometimes the team is fortunate to have events intersect just perfectly, allowing for a fairy-tale moment.
These are the moments that give you goosebumps as they are happening, and turn into stories you never tire of sharing and motivate you to work a little harder.
Jarrod Olson is the head coach of the women’s basketball team, a position he has held since 2012.
