My Coaching
Philosophy
By Tony DiCicco
The objective in
any team sport is to transform the group from a mere collection of talented
individuals into a highly cohesive unit so that the whole is greater than the
sum of its parts.
-Colleen Hacker
Even before stepping onto the field for tryouts or the first day of the season,
you should know, as a coach, how you are going to approach the game. Think of it
as a game plan on a larger scale, a blueprint for the kind of coach you want to
be. Over the years I've been asked many times what my coaching philosophy is, so
I've tried to sum it up here as succinctly as possible, breaking it into ten
rather simple principles. Taken together these principles show how I approach
teaching and coaching.
1. Know Your Limitations and Use Them as Strengths
Whatever you do, do it to the best of your best ability. This sounds obvious and
maybe even a little simplistic, but its very important corollary is that you
must understand what your best abilities are and then work with them. In other
words, in order to perform at the highest level, you have to know your
limitations and at the same time use your strengths. Being aware of your
limitations allows you to enhance your performance by surrounding yourself with
the best people, which is what I've always done. Frankly, I've seen a lot of
people do the opposite. People who are afraid their abilities will be undermined
are threatened by the talents of others. And I have to admit that at times, I've
felt that way too. It can be pretty scary to be surrounded by people more
talented in some areas than you are, but in the end I've always tried to
appreciate my own abilities and those of my coaching colleagues to allow us to
do what was best for the team to help us win.
Surround yourself with talented people who understand their role in the larger
scheme of things. If you have a tremendous talent with a big ego who goes behind
your back or works behind the scenes to try to undermine what you're doing with
the team, that person is undermining the team. I've always brought in talent who
understood the role they'd be playing. Sometimes I brought in people who had
different opinions about the game or what should be done in certain
circumstances so I could learn from them and, in turn, they could learn from me.
I've always tried to be the kind of leader who brings in other leaders. At the
same time, I have to be sure they're loyal, that they keep the team as their
number-one focus so that together we can achieve success. In my experience,
whenever I've enjoyed success it wasn't just my success but also that of Colleen
Hacker, Jay Hoffman, Lauren Gregg and April Heinrichs, all of whom were an
integral part of my coaching staff. And in the end this is why we won: Each of
them brought to the table unique talents that complemented my skills.
If you're coaching at a the nonprofessional level or the equivalent of a youth
soccer team, you're probably not going to have the luxury of surrounding
yourself with experts. In that case, the best thing you can do is learn as much
about the game as possible. In terms of tactics, there are a number of books or
videotapes that can help prepare you for the season. It's also a good idea to
watch as much soccer, both at the professional and amateur level, as you can.
2. Play Hard, Play to Win, Have Fun
You must teach your team to play hard, no matter who the opponents are, because
you're setting your own standards, playing toward goals you want the team and
each player to achieve. Your players must learn that the best respect they can
give opponents is to play to win, to show them their best.
When I look back, one of the things I'm proudest of is not the record of our
team-103 wins, 8 losses and 8 ties over a five-year period-but that we had a
winning record against every opponent and that no team beat us that shouldn't
have beaten us. To me that's unique because at times it's easy to play down to
your opponent's level, to leave some of the key ingredients that make you
special out of your play.
Playing to win doesn't
mean that winning is the end-all, but it's an important component of success.
And yet the game is still just that, a game. You need to keep things in
perspective and communicate that approach to the players. We're not conducting
open-heart surgery or flying a plane with only one engine or performing heroic
acts the way firefighters, police officers and our military personnel do every
day. But in the heat of the moment of the Big Game, winning is certainly very
important. If you're coaching or playing in a Gold Medal game, it will be one of
your most important accomplishments. Even then it's still a game, and no one's
going to live or die because of it. All too often, coaches and parents take the
fun out of the game, and when that happens you might as well have your team play
with a weight on one foot, because you're making it that much harder to achieve
and enjoy success.
Remember, most of the players you're coaching are not going to go on to the
highest level of competition or even to the collegiate level. If you create an
environment of fun in which your players appreciate physical activity and learn
the game and teamwork and strategy, you will teach them discipline, team
chemistry and confidence-building skills that will translate into other areas of
their lives.
3. Less Is More
The phrase "less is more" was something we said during the Olympic and 1999
World Cup buildup. Ours was an incredibly fit and mentally focused team, a team
trained to peak performance that resulted in winning games. What we learned from
many Olympic athletes and some of the Olympic and National team coaches,
however, was that at some point they did too much, and as a result they didn't
achieve the success they might have otherwise. When asked what they would have
done differently, athletes who underachieved often said, "I would probably not
have overtrained in the last month."
So when you're at the
final stages of preparation for the big tournament or game, back off from the
physical training a bit and spend more time fine tuning, making sure everyone is
confident. If you've prepared properly, you'll actually get more out of it.
4. The Relay Paradigm
There have been studies that show that exceptional swimmers are actually faster
when they swim 100 meters as part of a relay team than when they are in an
individual race. It seems that as part of a team an athlete gathers support from
the other team members, which makes the individual better. In other words, as a
part of the whole, performances are raised, and that's the relay paradigm, as
Colleen refers to it. The effective coach nurtures these performance-enhancing
team relationships so that the team's performance is better than the sum of its
players' talent and coach's leadership.
5. Vulnerable, Humble Leadership
There are many successful leadership models, but some of them are now outdated.
For me these would include the methods used by coaches such as Bobby Knight,
Mike Ditka or the former Ohio State football coach, Woody Hayes. These are
leadership models that in large part traffic in intimidation tactics. Many of
their players loved these coaches, obviously, so there was certainly a side of
them that was very positive, but they also had the presence of demigods, and
that clearly won't work when coaching girls or women. My leadership style is
very different: I believe it's important to show players that I'm not perfect,
that I make mistakes.
Showing my vulnerability, I believe, allows me to inspire players and doesn't
separate them from me. It's important that players know you understand some of
the insecurities and challenges they're going through, and you can do this only
if they see your own vulnerability. So when you make a mistake, and we all do,
ask yourself if you can admit that you made that mistake. Or are you caught in
that place where you say, "I am a leader and I can never question myself or put
myself in a position where I can be challenged in my leadership"?
To my way of thinking,
being an infallible coach is far less effective than admitting your
vulnerabilities and leading through your humanity. This is not a new leadership
style: John Wooden and Phil Jackson exemplify this model.
6. Validate Their Feelings
Validating a person's feelings is something I learned while working with women.
It is a method of interaction that optimizes listening skills. For example, when
somebody comes to you and says, "I've had a terrible day. I went to a meeting
and found I was an hour late." They don't want to hear you say, "Well, you know,
I have a great pocket notebook that works for me, and it's really kept me
organized." What they want is for you to say, "You must feel terrible about
that. You probably feel like you let people down. I'm sure they're going forgive
you though, because they know what type of person you are." This way, you're
validating and sharing those feelings or, as Colleen might say, "wearing" those
feelings with them.
Let me give you an example of something that happened with Mia Hamm when I took
over the team in 1995. We were playing in a tournament in France and,
admittedly, I was overcoaching from the sideline. I was trying to tell the team,
and specifically a certain player, the runs and tactics from the sidelines that
I felt should be made. At one point Mia, who's a lot like me in that we're both
fiery people, came over and said, "Tony, just let her play."
I thought Mia was really displaying a lack of respect and I said a couple of
not-so-nice things to her, and then when she made a bad play I yelled out to her
and kind of dug in the knife a bit. At halftime Mia was visibly upset with me,
and I wasn't about to change the way I was feeling either. I was ready to take
her out of the game, but when we got back on the field, Carla Overbeck, our
captain and a tremendous leader, came up to me and said, "I know you're really
upset with her, but let's keep her in the game. This is how we're going to get
her back." I thought a moment and then said, "All right, Carla, let's give your
idea a try." My agreement with Carla not only empowered her and helped our
relationship, but it also avoided a rift between Mia and me that could
ultimately affect the whole team.
I always have individual meetings with players on tournament game days. I knew
that Mia would probably be dreading coming in to meet with me for our one-on-one
time before the next game. And the truth was, I was dreading seeing her. But in
the interim I was able to think about how she felt and the effect of my actions.
And as hard as I tried not to, I kept coming up with the inescapable conclusion
that Mia was right: I was overcoaching. I hated to believe that, but it was
true.
So when she came in
for our meeting, I said, "You know, Mia, we have to talk about the other day."
"I know. I know," she said.
"Look, I've given it a lot of thought and I think there are a couple of things
we have to talk about, but the bottom line is, and I need to tell you this, I
think you were right. I did overcoach." The look on her face was as if I'd said,
"Mia, here's a thousand dollars." And that's because what I did was validate
what she felt, and what she saw. The next few moments were filled with apologies
back and forth: "I overreacted, I shouldn't have said what I said." "Well, you
know, I did the same thing."
Mia left and in our game that night she put on quite a show, scoring a hat
trick. We destroyed Canada. Afterward the staff wanted to know what I had said
to her. I remember the team doctor coming up to me, looking for some gem and
asking, "How did you get her to play like that?"
"Well, I sat her down and said, 'You know, Mia, I think you're right.'" He just
loved that because he recognized it as coming from a place of strength, showing
that I could be vulnerable, that I could validate Mia's feelings, and that I had
taken the time to really evaluate the whole situation and be objective about it.
I know that for Mia and for me, instead of forcing us apart, the incident
actually improved our relationship.
In effect, what I did
was to try to put myself in Mia's place, to validate her feelings, which then
empowered her.
—from Catch Them Being Good by Tony DiCiccio and Colleen Hacker, Ph.D.,
Copyright © September 2002, Viking Press, a member of Penguin Putnam, Inc., used
by permission
