The surge of COVID-19 during the tail end of the winter and most of the spring seasons in 2020 had coaches and athletic programs scrambling to deal with incomplete or cancelled seasons. The shadow that COVID-19 has cast over sports has now lasted over a year, and many coaches have dug deep to find ways to keep their athletes and teams motivated and engaged, whether it is on or off the field.
Sports are a vehicle for happiness among most athletes. When done right, sports brings people together for a common goal, provides opportunities to showcase individual skills, teaches athletes how to perform together and become better teammates. With the limitation of social distancing, coaches have found ways to develop stronger relationships among their athletes and teams to mitigate the restrictions that COVID has presented.
Whether it be in small group practices to comply with social distancing mandates or conducting Zoom breakout sessions, coaches have adapted to the boundaries of safety within the pandemic and have provided a different space to establish vulnerability trust and cultivate connections with their athletes.
For example, many coaches went on social media to air stories of the achievements of senior athletes and their influence on the rest of the team. Bill Mandigo, the head women’s ice hockey coach at Middlebury College said, “We finished the season 21-3-3 and were set to host an NCAA quarterfinal game when the NCAA cancelled all sports. It was devastating to the team, especially the seniors. But they understood the situation and coped the best they could. We are all connected virtually and had a banquet in May so the seniors would say goodbye and thank you.” This is a tale replicated by many teams. In many cases, coaches ended up working remotely with teams in preparation for next season keeping all athletes in the loop to maintain a healthy mental and emotional perspective. These actions gave the coaches opportunities to help their athletes work through a shared major disappointment in ways that contributed to mature growth.
I had planned on traveling to the University of Massachusetts in September of 2020 to do team building work with the men’s lacrosse team. Of course, my face-to-face visit didn’t happen, and I worked with the team’s coaches to schedule remote meetings with the team. In preparation for the sessions with the whole team, I surrounded myself on Zoom with ten team leaders, including the four captains. The captains were all in their fifth year, deciding to stay around for an additional year of graduate study with the hope of competing in the 2021 session. The team leaders mentioned that these meetings I had planned could really bring out the best in all the players – to help each athlete declare themselves – so that a first-year player would feel comfortable and confident, if not courageous, in sharing their perspectives with an older, more experienced upperclassman.
So, with a weak internet connection, and praying for more bandwidth, I sent 10 groups of players into their breakout rooms with their leaders to answer 4 questions, derived from the Appreciative Inquiry process. Key AI developers, David Cooperrider and Diana Whitney remind us to look for what is already good before trying to move forward. It is easier to envision an inspiring future if you start with awareness of the best moments of the past and the best qualities of the present. One of the guiding principles in AI is to focus on what’s right in an organization, what they call the positive core: What attracted you to the UMass program? What do you value most about the team? “What has been a high point for you, a time when you felt most alive and vibrant? And “What factors give life to the team.”
The size of the small 5-player groups didn’t allow any of the players to hide – they had to declare themselves. Team leaders were instructed to ensure that everyone had voice. After the breakouts, two players from each group reported out the findings from the questions. For the “What do you value most about the team” question, results included:
- Have a common end-goal.
- The brotherhood with everyone and the culture which is kept strong by everyone.
- Everyone has your back on the field.
- Relationships
- Having a support system.
- Being a part of something that is bigger than yourself.
- Everybody wants to make each other better.
- Accountability, pushing each other to be better.
- Learning what hard work really is!!
- Being around guys that care for each other.
Each player declared these respective values, many which were closely connected to what other teammates valued. What was very interesting is that first year and sophomore players were responsible to reporting out the findings of their respective groups with the rest of the team.
These collective values kept the team striving forward as they prepared for the 2021 season. As this article is posted, UMass men’s lacrosse is back on the field playing in their third game – a return to competition, and a continued resonance of what matters most to the team!
This is a call to action for coaches to use Appreciative Inquiry to bring out the best in each athlete, and the collective team! Read The Coaching Zone: Next Level Leadership in Sports https://www.amazon.com/Coaching-Zone-Level-Leadership-Sports/dp/1736374702/ to learn more about the value of facilitating Appreciative Inquiry with your teams.