Goal Setting Strategies For the New Season

Each new season brings a level of freshness and excitement for coaches and players. Along with this excitement comes pressure to succeed by winning games. Coaches face big responsibilities with each new team and must handle pressure that gets out of hand. In this article I will share some ideas and thoughts for the basketball coach as they begin a new campaign.

Expectations and pressure are part of coaching. The wise coach will approach the new year by setting goals. Goals are important by giving the coach team a focus and direction to their efforts. Expectations are laced with pressures to win and exceed previous successes. It is important to avoid predictions that will paint you into a corner. Expectations are tricky to reverse once they are not bet.

I encourage coaches to spend quality time establishing goals for their season. These goals are well thought out and are based on the coach, the players, and the team as a whole. Make sure you set your own coaching goals and share them with your staff and an accountability partner like a mentor. This will help you stay on course because accountability will help you "see" things that need to be challenged that you cannot see.

Set personal and family goals also. These goals of self improvement and enhancing relationships are your most important life focus, no matter how important we think coaching is. goals.

Here are some guidelines to writing goals before the season:

1. Goals must be realistic but written to stretch you and your team a little out of your comfort zone.

2. Write your goals specifically. Instead of aiming for offensive improvement, strive to get the ball to the paint every third possession and get to the foul line a minimum of 15 times a game.

3. Make goals measurable so you can evaluate them. Measure improvement in these areas; a) overall progress by the team, and b) individual player progress, c) specific areas of the game such as defense, offense, and skills.

4. Make your goals time sensitive. By your fifth game you may want to attain a specific level of team play or team defensive results. Use increments of time to gauge all parts of your game. Measuring improvement can be determined by your record but in itself your record can be deceiving. Closely examine your efficiency in specific areas such as turnovers, shooting percentage, and opponent's transition baskets.

5. Develop a schedule to review and re-adjust your goals. You can't afford to go an entire season and look at your goals at the end. Set periodic times to check and review each of your goals to stay on task. It is OK to re-write or revise your goals as they will never be perfectly written. Some will be too lofty, some not lofty enough. The key is to realistic, yet always to reaching for more than you have done in the past!

This season take the approach of goal setting to set you and your team on the right path. The benefits will be many and your focus will be on your team and not the expectations of others. Goal setting can be the best motivator in sports if designed and utilized properly.



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