DRVIN Fosters Personal Responsibility and Accountability

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At some point in the 1990s, I was in a group of reporters when Julie Foudy was asked a simple question. Foudy, the co-captain of the U.S. Women’s national soccer team for 11 years, rarely gave simple answers. Her replies usually contained insight, humor, self-deprecation, a smile, or some combination of all of the above.

But if there ever was one, this question was a prime candidate for a simple answer. She was asked, “What sacrifices have you made in your life to become an elite athlete?” The reporter’s intent was to get a list of things other teenagers were able to do that Foudy was not because she was traveling the world playing soccer for her country.

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How Coaches and Parents Factor Into Player Development

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There are four stages of player development. The steps begin with a player not even knowing they need to improve and moves through the revelation that improvement is needed. Next, there is a stage where the player has improved but doesn’t recognize the improvement, until finally the player reaches the point of knowing they are good.

Here are the stages and the roles coaches and players can play in each.

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DRIVN Has Created a Sense of Community Within my Program

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In the past, I have written about how DRIVN has helped my football program at Greenwich High School with communication and accountability. In this column, I want to explain how it has helped develop a sense of community among my players.

Now that we have mastered the basics tools DRIVN allows, we are going to do much more with it. We are always finding new ways to use it, and sometimes we discover that it has improved a situation we didn’t think it would. [Read more…]