What is Your Measuring Stick?

What Is Your Measuring Stick?
By Susan Schrag (Heart of America Region, Sedgwick, Kan.)

My U13 team was doing well. They had been in the semifinal in every tournament they had competed in during the season. We had great players. They all got along well. We were coming off a first-place finish at our last tournament. Everything looked good. On tournament day, however, we played terrible! We lacked enthusiasm. We let our frustration affect our play. Emotions were high and some of the girls were bickering with each other...I could go on.

I began to ask questions... “As a coach was I unsuccessful because my team didn’t perform well that day? Am I successful only if my team wins? How do we measure our success as a coach? What is our measuring stick?”

In the past, I have measured my success by my ability (or inability) to get wins on the scoreboard. But, I’m coaching juniors! They are in the seventh grade! Are wins and losses the best indicator of a coach’s success? What if my team plays the very best they have ever played and they don’t win the game?

I also coached a U10 team this season. I taught them to bump, set and spike. I continually encouraged them to pass to their setter. Very rarely did our passes go to our setter. Very rarely did we get a “bump, set, spike.” We lost most of our matches to teams who passed the ball back to us on the first contact and then waited for us to make a mistake. Were those teams more successful than ours? Was their coach successful because the team won more games?

I loved the “Guiding Principles” class in the CAP II curriculum. Intuitively, I knew I needed to have some guiding principles. The topic was so simplistic, so obvious! Of course, we all have guiding principles. But, could I verbalize my own guiding principles if someone asked me? No.

Why not? Why am I coaching if I don’t even know what I’m trying to accomplish? How do I make good decisions in the heat of the moment if I don’t know what principles are guiding my decisions? How do I know if I am succeeding?

A good friend of mine has always said “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” He was talking about business, but it’s true in volleyball, too. And, it’s true in life. So, coaches, I ask you...What is the main thing?

John Wooden, the winningest coach in NCAA men’s basketball, wrote in his book Coach Wooden's Pyramid of Success - Building Blocks for a Better Life,

“I set goals that I thought might eventually put us in position to win one (a National Championship), and it turned out pretty well. However, I would have been at ease if we hadn’t won a championship, because my significance and self-worth were never attached to winning. I just wanted me, as an individual, and my players, as a team, to improve. Our championships came as the by-product of meeting lesser goals of measurable, year-over-year improvement.”

National Championships were a “by-product”?! Wow! So, if winning wasn’t Coach Wooden's “main thing,” what was the main thing? He answers that question toward the end of that same book. He says,

“Winning seems so important, but it actually is irrelevant. Having attempted to give our all is what matters - and we are the only ones who really know the truth about our own capabilities and performance. Did we do our best at this point in our life? Did we leave all we had to give on the field, in the classroom, at the office or in the trenches? If we did, then we are a success...”

Coach Wooden knew what his measuring stick was. He knew what his guiding principles were. In his words, “it worked out pretty well.” (His teams tallied 88 consecutive victories in four undefeated seasons and won 10 NCAA championships. I’d have to agree, that it worked out pretty well!)

Most of us will never have stats like Coach Wooden, but like Coach Wooden, all of us are impacting the lives of the players we coach. Whether we coach juniors, high school, college or one of our national teams, we are having an impact on those playersʼ lives. So, again, I have to ask...what is the main thing?!

We each have to know what our main thing is. Are we coaching because we love the game of volleyball? Are we coaching because we want our players to learn those life lessons that sports teaches? Are we coaching because we want to win? For the fame? For fortune?!

Take some time to decide. Why are you coaching? What is your main thing? What is your measuring stick? How will you know if you are succeeding or failing as a coach? What principles will guide your 'heat of the moment' decisions? Do my actions as a coach match with my guiding principles?

Now that Iʼm thinking about it...Aren't these the types of issues we all wrestle with in life? Aren't these the types of life lessons we coaches would like our athletes to learn as they compete in this great sport that we all love? My hope is that you will wrestle with these questions for yourself. I hope you will ask yourself, as Coach Wooden did, “Did we leave all we had to give on the field, in the classroom, at the office or in the trenches?”

I am happy to report that when my U13 team performed way below their potential on that fateful tournament day I did not question my abilities as a coach. I saw it for what it was - an opportunity for this group of young ladies to learn some valuable lessons. In sports, we don't always win. Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh have lost some matches. The four-time (2007-2010) women's NCAA National Champs, Penn State, did not have all undefeated seasons. Learning to handle defeat is an important part of youth sports.

It's my job to teach resiliency, fighting through and learning from the losses. Thank goodness I do know what my guiding principles are. I am working at keeping the main thing the main thing. I know what my measuring stick is. I think Iʼll go plan another practice.