Are We “Forrest Gump-ing” Our Young Athletes?

 

Like everyone else in the 1990’s, I saw the movie Forrest Gump in the theaters and loved it.

 

One of the scenes that stuck with me was when Forrest and his fellow army recruits were getting dressed down by their military drill instructor.

 

“Gump! What’s your sole purpose in this army?”

Without much hesitation, Tom Hanks’ classic character confidently retorts, “To do whatever you tell me, drill sergeant!” To which the drill instructor fervently commends his uber-compliant recruit.

 

This scene came to mind last week when one of our SPIDERfit certified coaches and I were discussing the challenges involved with helping young athletes set and pursue long-term goals.

 

Most young athletes, even into high school, can articulate some grandiose goal for sports, school, or some other life pursuit.  They struggle however when it comes to “what does that mean for my actions today?”

 

Their understanding of pursuing and achieving a goal revolves around showing up and doing whatever we tell them to do.

 

While taking qualified instruction and feedback is an important part of pursuing a goal, nothing is more critical to success than individual ownership of that pursuit. This is incredibly hard to get kids, and most adults, to understand.  Showing up and doing what you’re supposed to do is important, but getting ahead of the curve in anything requires a greater degree of personal intention.

 

 

Don’t get me wrong. When our teams take our coaching instruction, they move closer to achieving their goals.  However, the athletes that will get ahead in sports, school, and life, are the ones that take feedback from mentors and directly apply it towards pursuit of their goal.

 

These are the young athletes that ask questions. You see them walking through movement sequences while they’re standing in line for drills.  Their performance improvement comes more from their focus and buy-in than their natural physical development. When these kids are doing something that’s important to them, they can’t seem to get enough of the experience.

 

The question becomes, can we “create” this level of personal accountability towards goal achievement with our young athletes?

 

I can’t give you “THE” answer, but I can share some of the ways myself and my youth coaching colleagues from the SPIDERfit community and beyond have increased individual accountability towards the pursuit of a goal with their young athletes.

 

1. Encourage your athletes to ask questions.

When I coach, I’ll even “make” an athlete ask me a question after I explain a drill. This increases their level of cognitive processing and encourages them to “individualize” team coaching cues.

 

2. Make “goals” part of the team vernacular.

Discuss them frequently. Make team goals super-simple. Work specific mini “goals” into drills, games, etc. that are relevant to skill development. Focus on specific actions (get 5 passes), not just mantras (work hard!).

 

3. When helping young athletes create goals, highlight process-related vs. outcome related goals.

“Winning the championship” is a great goal but what daily actions are necessary for the team and individuals to make this happen? What’s the single most important specific action? This becomes the team mantra. Remember, young athletes don’t have the “future” part of their brain fully developed until after puberty.  Today is the day.

 

4. Individually ask your athletes process-related goal questions before, during, and/or after a drill.

“What are you going to think about when you “x”? How did you “x” in that drill?” This helps them become intentional and take ownership of their efforts.

 

5. Create small incentive benchmarks for process related goals.

Recognize personal accountability towards pursuing goals in practice and create a simple recognition/reward system.

 

 

Considering all the above, you can see one of the greatest goal-related opportunities we have with young athletes is to help them connect a “WHY?” to the time and energy they spend on a pursuit.

 

When young athletes hold themselves accountable for taking purposeful daily action, it becomes a valuable skill that will help them become a champion in the game of life.

 

 

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