José Mourinho uses guided discovery to educate his players (as I have wrote earlier). During the season he uses his 36 football drills to visualize the parts to use to take advance on the weaknesses of the opponents on a tactical and technical level. Mourinho uses and “produces” also dvd’s of the coming opponents which the players memorize. After that the defense, midfielders and attackers will have team talks, to prepare them for the next match.
His approach to ball possession in the midfield is based on the move of the opponents out of position and then attacking the remaining space. Through this, he breaks the lines which are common in each used system.
Dragging the opposite players out of the lines unbalances their set up and creates an attacking chance.
The team spirit within the team will most of the times increase when you have another team to compete against or a common “enemy” outside the team.
This is something Mourinho is using many times, creating enemies outside the team to make the team stronger inside. I think Mourinho has already couple of scenarios ready, Barcelona is the favorite to win the La Liga in everybody’s eyes and the referees will give advantage to Barcelona… (this was written before the season started) Try to Google some of those sentences and see if you get any hits.
“I knew this would happen long ago, but I do not care. I know because I know who controls the game, and if you look at their statements, then you understand why they have made this decision. I worry about playing on a Saturday night at 22:00 then on a Tuesday in the Champions League. Barcelona [does] not want to play on the Saturday because they play on the Wednesday before, and because of this we need to play on a Monday.”
As a leader you need to take responsibility for the extreme we and them situations that might occur in sports. A common fight against an “enemy” outside the team will strengthen the team spirit, but might in the long run create an unhealthy hostility against other teams or groups and it should not be necessary to do this in youth teams. You should focus on the challenge or compete against the situation rather than an enemy outside the team.
In order to incorporate these healthy snacks in to your floorball team, it’s a good idea to send home a flyer to the floorball parents outlining what is, and what is not acceptable as a floorball team snack. Make sure that everyone is signed up to bring a snack on floorball games and sometimes as well on floorball practices.
Food is fuel, and just like a high performance vehicle will sputter and die if you don’t have fuel, so will your floorball team and star players stumble and lose steam at a critical moment in the game, if you don’t have eaten correctly before the floorball game. Make sure your floorball players know about this and eat healthy and you’ll see a big difference in their performance in the floorball rink.
As I wrote earlier expectations create roles, I will give you the definition of a role once again.
A role within a team consists of four parts.
– Coaches and other trainers expectations on the player
– Other team member’s expectations on the player
– Other people’s expectations on the player
– The players own expectations, needs and resources
These four parts will form the players role, how the player have interpreted the expectations and what he/she thinks he must live up to, and accepts.
Could this be used in a creative positive way? Could it be used to create a winners’ role? So if one part forming the role is about expectations from coaches and trainers, your expectations, communication and feedback will be important to create that “winners role”.
In floorball practice, show that you belief in each individual, show them you belief they can be the best, that you belief they can do it… of course with synchronized video and audio.
This will be balancing between belief/positive expectations and pressure, and you don’t want to step over the line to the pressure side.
“- I think you can do it, but I appreciate you just as much if it does not go as we both believe.” The winners’ role I’m describing is not about winning games, it’s more about having to believe in the possibility of success. (You Can Do It).
Waterboy example of you can do it…
…and Barack Obama example of You can do it or Yes we can.
I’m not into politics, but Obamas short speach is quite impressing? Talk about creating postive expectations, you can do it!
Create a winning climate
You might have the capacity, talent and ability, but if there is a lack of belief, there will be lack of results. In this case the most valuable tool for you in your leadership is feedback. Make sure you create the pictures of success and belief in the heads of your players.
José Mourinho works on each player’s self-image, even if he might have many of the best football players in the world. They still need to be seen, feel the trust and belief from their coach. How you view them, is how they will view themselves.
Here’s a practical practical tip how to create a winning climate and winnig roles within your team.
– Create a list of strengths for each floorball player in the team, and focus on talking about these with your players.
– Notice your own attitude towards the players, try to “zero it” and focus on the positive things.
– Talk about each players strengths, show them that you believe in them.
– Expect the best from each floorball player.
Players want to meet expectations, they want to be winners, you can do it!
“A loser gets bitter when he is behind, and unwise when he is in front”
“A winner keeps his faith and balance, regardless of his position”
“To be afraid of losing, removes the willingness to win” /Vanderlei Luxemburgo
Your kids have been racing up and down the field for a few hours. They’re tired, they’re thirsty and pretty soon they’re going to be downright cranky on you.
What do you give them to boost their energy level and keep their mind and bodies in the floorball game? Too many youth floorball players don’t realize just how important it is to eat a healthy and balanced diet in order to stay healthy as well as to optimize their performance in the floorball rink.
Provide a variety of healthy snacks that are nutritionally dense in order to both please your youngsters palates and fuel up their bodies in an optimal manner. Here are some suggestions to replace those doughnuts and ice cream bars at half time.
Here are some suggestions and healthful snacks to give your youth athletes:
