What would you do if you saw your mother running with a football?
- If the response is “push her out of bounds,” the player is best suited for offense.
- If it’s “tackle her,” he’s a defensive player.
- If they write “knock her head off,” then you know for sure you have a quality special teams candidate.
This is a passage from one of the best books about leadership, teamwork, and motivation I’ve ever read… …and surprisingly, it’s about a high school football team
The book is Chasing Perfection: The Principles Behind Winning Football the De La Salle Way
De La Salle was a winning machine under book author Coach Bob Ladouceur (399-25-3, .934 winning %).
They won 10 national titles and once won 151 games in a row.
As we work on building The School of Entrepreneuring, we’re learning a lot on youth development and what works (and doesn’t) and there is a ton that can be learned from sports.
This book has been incredibly influential.
Here are my 8 favorite ideas from the book (with direct quotes/passage pulled from around the book below):
- Individual accountability is paramount
- Commitment matters
- Intensity every day
- Give honest and direct feedback
- Inspire confidence & empower
- Make sure there is roles & responsibilities clarity
- Simplify and repeat. Keep it simple.
- Focus on what’s in it for them
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1. Individual accountability is paramount
Note: Accountability cards detailed below were my favorite practice from the book. And is one that can be translated to many settings – the classroom, companies, etc.
Every week, players must write down one practice goal, one conditioning goal, and one game goal on a white index card.
Players stand up and not only state their goals but commit them to a teammate or coach who is then responsible for holding that player accountable. Players can’t commit to the same teammate twice, which eliminates cliques and forces players to interact with more than just a few teammates.
The key is that the goals have to be measurable and realistic.
His teammates are listening. They want answers, too. It’s not just coaches holding him accountable but his teammates, too, and that’s powerful.
They are going to participate, they are going to set goals, and they are going to be evaluated by their peers every week, and commitment cards are a big part of that.
If guys are flaking out or not showing up or not working hard, they can’t be part of the program because it undermines accountability and teamwork.
We ban our kids from working out if they are struggling in a class, smart off to a teacher, or require other discipline. That has been a very effective tool for us. They sit in the breezeway between our locker room and weight room, do their homework, and watch their teammates train, and it really bothers them.
We expect discipline to reach all aspects of their lives.
If you’re a Spartans football player, you’re accountable and responsible to our team 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days per year, on.
There have to be consequences for poor behavior.
2. Commitment matters
Culture of commitment and accountability is the best way to help young men mature into respectful, responsible, productive adults who are better equipped to overcome adversity in their private lives. I can’t stress this enough.
People ask us, “What’s your attendance?”
We tell them it’s 100 percent.
There’s no such thing as a missed workout because if you can’t come at night, you come in the morning and vice versa.
No excuses.
Everybody is equal.
It’s important that everybody puts in the same amount of work, everybody’s accountable, and the training becomes engrained.
Everybody has to find a way to get work done and not make an excuse to miss work just like in real life.
You can’t get your vacation in, well, we apologize, but you can’t leave for two-and-a-half months in the summer and come back and play football for us.
3. Intensity every day
It’s all strictly business. What are we in here for?
Not to socialize, play around, or squeak by. We’re here to get strong and work hard. That’s the bottom line.
Everything we do is geared toward that.
Kids want to quit.
They claim they’re not having any fun.
The fun comes when our work is done.
The reward is on the backside. Do you want to be a good football player and play at the highest level?
You need to put in the time and endure the pain.
You can’t fake it. It’s like discipline. You can’t say you’re going to be disciplined this week. You have to be disciplined every week. You can’t emphasize it one week and not the next.
4. Give honest and direct feedback
At the core of my coaching philosophy is direct feedback and being honest with players about their talents, what they’re capable of, and what their potential is.
Sometimes outsiders think we’re down on kids, and we’re not bolstering them and giving them confidence.
We take the opposite philosophy.
We’re not going to lie to kids.
Kids don’t know what they’re capable of. We know what they’re capable of.
We want to make these guys adults quicker and introduce them to the adult world faster than most kids their age so we hold them to an incredibly high standard.
You have to hold them to a consistent standard of mature, adult behavior, and I want them to understand why we do that, too.
I don’t want it to be reward and punishment.
I want them to think at a higher level of human development.
5. Inspire confidence & empower
Help players during the game by displaying confidence in them.
A coach shouldn’t be another opponent.
Very rarely do I yell at a quarterback, for example, because I don’t want to usurp his authority in front of his teammates.
My goal is to empower the quarterback because if he’s confident it will resonate in the huddle.
I do a lot of mental prep with our quarterbacks to help take pressure off them.
If I throw a lot of scenarios and if/ then statements at them during the preseason and leading up to the next game, then when they get on the field, they will have had time to process everything before it unfolds on the field.
6. Make sure there is roles & responsibilities clarity
Note: in talking to teachers, coaches, administrators, the hardest part of operating a school or teaching the class is often not the students but is the parents. De La Salle creates clear boundaries and expectations here as you’ll see below.
In coach / student dynamic
You’re an adult. They’re kids. They already have friends. They need you as a coach, a mentor, an expert, a teacher, somebody they know will hold them accountable and discipline them.
In coach / parent dynamic
They can’t help their sons once they step on the field.
You may want to, but you can’t.
They have to figure it out themselves.
You can’t help them be a better tackler, a better blocker, or a better runner.
Let them succeed or fail.
This is something they need to do without parental interference. All you can do is support them and trust us as coaches. We want to hear it from them—not you.
Making sure your voice is heard is an important part of growing up. Don’t make excuses for them either.If you’re going to let your son do this, you have to trust us to do our jobs.
7. Simplify and repeat. Keep it simple.
Note: De La Salle has a repeatable system that they operate religiously.
They don’t seek out the new & novel but instead prefer the tried & true – the essential few vs the trivial many.
This is quite counter to teaching at most schools which is decidedly more artisanal, i.e. teachers like to put their own spin on classes because it is interesting to them vs repeating what works.
By the end of the year through repetition and one-on-ones and doing the same thing day after tedious, monotonous day, he’s going to be a better player than he ever thought he could be.
I try to keep my scouting reports of analysis with diagrammed plans attached to two pages or fewer. You have to be careful that you don’t overload them. They don’t want to let you down. They know how hard you’re working for them and they don’t want to disappoint you.
Teams that run limited formations and concentrate on technique and execution are more difficult to scout.
Kids like to do what they’re good at.
Our scheme will be simple so we play with confidence, we’re going to eliminate the big play and make the offense earn everything they get.
Any defense can be effective as long as there are simple rules, you constantly drill players on their technique, and the players know what they’re doing.
It’s not going to work unless he can teach our technique.
That’s been the difference.
It’s about breaking it down step by step.
8. Focus on what’s in it for them
Note: At the core of the De Le Salle way is what is outlined below with a profound focus on What’s In It For Me (WIIFM). This is often forgotten in schools where it is about teachers teaching what they want and the way they want.
In my opinion, a successful program must be about more than outcomes. Kids will fight for you and will achieve amazing things if you stand for more than that.
Players push themselves far beyond what they previously thought was possible all because they felt connected to others who care.–We focus on how the kids were benefitting.
I’d recommend this book to any leader, not just coaches, for its lessons on motivation, commitment, hard work, accountability and teamwork.
If you’ve read other great books on youth development or coaching, leave them in the comments.
If you’re a coach or have significant experience in youth development and would like to get involved with a new type of school focused on creating students who are leaders, critical thinkers and problems solvers, I’d love to chat.
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