Floorball – Taking care of the results

Usually you only see the hard results, your score in the football game, your position in the league and so on. Many times you forget to see the progress and results in the “soft” parts, like working together (teamwork), better communication, team spirit etc. The majority of coaches are judged purely on results and in many cases, purely on immediate success rather on their performance level connected to the pre-requisites.

Working together as a floorball team

Even if it’s the hard results that will count in floorball, but the soft results will make the right prerequisites for the hard results!

Floorball Positive Attitude

The head coach of a floorball team has one main job. He/She has to get the most out of the floorball team during the season. Everyone wants to win the floorball championship or the league title, but the reality of the situation is that only one floorball team will make it, and if  that is the only goal you as the floorball coach and your team have, to grade your performance only by whether or not you have won it all, there are going to be a lot of unhappy floorball coaches and players at the end of the year.

Floorball practices for 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 year olds

So ask yourself. Can you make your team better than it was at the beginning of the season? Can you put up a set of different goals, measuring development in different areas, where the league title of course can be one of the goals? Can you turn your floorball players and team into a cohesive unit? Can you teach your floorball players something about the game and teamwork and improve their outlook on life at the same time? Maybe the first thing you should work on is promoting a positive attitude within your team.

Floorball performance, (Talent + ability) X motivation/attitude = Individual performance

Correct Attitude = Success

Motivation and attitude to a floorball practice or game is crucial for success. You can for instance rarely (if ever) change the external conditions before a game or training/practice, soft/hard floorball field, cold/hot weather, a long journey to away games, late/early start of the match (lunch or lasagna games in Italy), big or small floorball arenas, etc., but you can change/affect your mind and attitude of how you deal with these situations, you can learn to accept and deal with the situation and see it as a strength for yourself or for the whole team (assuming that the other teammates also are capable of dealing with the situation this way).

Floorball scoring and shooting practice drills

A model to show the importance of correct attitude in floorball

There is a model, for attitudes importance in sports/floorball/work etc. on a scale of 1 to 5, you value three areas, talent, ability (skills) and attitude. Based on a formula these three together create a theoretical performance result for the individual or group.

I will try to translate this into two examples, it could look like this. The first example is a floorball player with, a little more talent (4) than the average, he/she has also a bit more ability/skills to solve the task (4), but the attitude / motivation falters and is below average (2). In example two, we have an average good floorball player with the ability (3) and skill (3), but this player always perform well (good attitude and motivation), regardless of external conditions and can deal with these without affect on the motivation / attitude (5)
Floorball Player 1: (4 + 4) x 2 = 16
Floorball Player 2: (3 + 3) x 5 = 30

With these results it would be obvious who would win the game, but this is for indivual player motivation and performance, but connected to Steiner’s model you can work with it in a practical way. A good motivated team can beat an unmotivated skilled team on every level.

“When you play another team with the same qualities as you, normally the best one wins.”  /José Mourinho
…If it wasn’t for the attitude / motivation part.

“Talent is not enough”

You or your floorball players can have all the talent in the world, or the best plans and targets to reach them (direction), but if you don’t have the energy and engagegement (why should I do something, what’s in it for me, what are the opportunities or threats), nothing will be done or it will not be done in the best way.

José Mourinho has openly complained about Karim Benzema’s attitude. During Real Madrids pre-season camp in the U.S. the question came up and Mourinho said that the 22-year-old must improve.
“Benzema needs to understand that he is extremely talented, but it is not enough. I need Karim. For me, it is important that the players throw themselves out. We need a striker who is glowing, not one that is completely without energy” /José Mourinho

“Remember what I said, this is an individual sport. Each player must take care of their own tasks, if the team will be successful” /Swedish hockey coach

“You need to remember that a team consist of individuals, that are cooperating with each other. The team itself will only exist if the cooperation is working well between the individuals” /Swedish hockey coach

Floorball game running and focusing on defense

Give 100 % in floorball

What makes 100%? Here’s a little funny mathematical formula, that might help you answer these questions:
If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
then:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%
and
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%
but
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%