Realistic and Effective Goal-Setting

When I first started coaching at Gordon College, I had little to no idea of what I was doing. I came in with almost no coaching experience, and I shaped my approach to coaching largely from what I had seen as really working well from prior coaches. I also used a lot of what I had seen as not working well from the player perspective to shape how NOT to be as a coach, which shows how important both positive and negative experiences can be for a person's development. Generally, I knew how to interact with athletes to motivate them towards growth, I knew what kinds of skills to teach and how to correct mechanical problems for how athlete's were engaging skills, and I knew what kinds of drills to run during practice to promote team skill progress and readiness for game-play... but the reality was I had no idea how to actually coach.

When I was looking to recruit an assistant coach, I knew of a person I had played with and against across multiple sports in high school, Hannah McClelland. Hannah was a wonderful volleyball and basketball player, but when she went to play sports in college, she focused on basketball - her true love. When the coaching position at Gordon sort of fell into my lap, I was desperate to find an assistant coach who understood female sports, had a vision that would align with mine, and could help me grow as a coach. When I first approached Hannah about the position, she was hesitant - because she didn't feel she knew collegiate volleyball play well enough to coach. But I told her that I really needed her to coach me in how to be an effective coach - and that was a role she felt she could fulfill. And boy did she...

In our very first game of the season, during my very first time-out as head coach the girls came running off the court to get feedback. In a 60 second huddle I had shared with them the 15 things that were going wrong - their eyes had glazed over after thing number 3, but I was in a coaching ZONE and was not taking in feedback from their nonverbal communication. "We need passes that are on target, to produce three-hitter sets that are on the net! We need to be moving our feet to the ball. We need to anticipate! Anticipate the other team's movements! We have to communicate better with calling the pass and the plays for one another. Joanna, you are the captain of the back court - you need to talk to your team to guide the defense! Serves need to be pushing the lines... err to the deep court, not in the net. Drive towards keeping the serve to push points. Be aggressive in your attacks, with intentionality around ball places! Play with confidence and commitment!" The girls ran back to the court, shoulders hunched, after the whistle blew. Hannah pulled me aside and said - "you have got to run time outs differently." I had no idea what she was talking about and continued the rest of the game in similar fashion.

After the game was over, Hannah and I debriefed the approach and the girls' response to coaching. Hannah made it clear that I was overdoing it on feedback and goal-setting. She challenged me to prioritize ONE thing during huddles - one piece of specific feedback with an explanation of the why we would focus on that one thing. It took some time, but once I had mastered that skill Hannah relaxed her assistant-coaching reigns a little bit and allowed me to also provide ONE thing to a few individual athletes for individual skill development in addition to the one team thing during huddles. The focus that our athletes had on those priorities after huddle were tremendous... primarily because they were attainable, specific, and focused.

This simple modification was so impactful - it might have been the best change to my coaching approach that I made over the course of my time coaching. Come to find out, this approach to over-communication of goals is something that young coaches struggle with a lot. And athletes can do this to themselves as well as they learn more about the game. Rather than causing athletes to feel overwhelmed by the multitude of skills they can work on, we should aim to empower them to concentrate on a singular aspect, which enhances their commitment to practice. This focused approach not only aids in skill development but also builds confidence as athletes can then see tangible improvements over time. And it applies to almost every scenario of goal setting with young athletes. In behavioral medicine we talk about SMART goals - an acronym to remind us how to create effective and attainable goals with our patients.

Here is what it means:

• S - stands for Specific

  • What will be accomplished and how will you know that it was attained?

  • What specific behaviors are tied to the goal?

  • What features of change will I notice if the goal is stated specifically?

• M - stands for Measureable

  • What data will be used to measure the goal?

  • How will I know when the goal is accomplished based on the data provided?

• A - stands for Achievable

  • Is the goal feasible?

  • Do I have the resources/skills needed to accomplish the goal?

  • What supports will I need to be able to meet this goal?

• R - stands for Relevant

  • How does this goal map on to other, broader goals (for my development? for the team?)?

  • Why is this goal important?

• T - stands for Time-Bound

  • What is the expected time-frame for goal completion?

  • Is the time allotted for the goal possible?

  • Do I have the time needed to be able to work towards goal completion?

Now with my daughter, when I am dropping her off to practice or a game, I make it a point to ask her the question - what is the ONE thing you are going to prioritize and focus on in your play today? This simple yet profound question serves as a powerful tool for her mental preparation. I've noticed that when I pose this question, it prompts her to reflect on her skills and the aspects of her game that she wishes to improve. This quick conversation about her focus for the day also fosters a sense of accountability in her. She knows that she has made a commitment, even if it is just to herself, to work on that one thing. This sense of ownership over her development encourages her to push herself further and take her practice seriously. And this enables her to commit more to practice of that one thing, whether it be chasing down every defensive ball, closing the block, making good transitions off the net to hit, or staying behind the ball on her attack... Just having that quick conversation about what one thing she will focus on helps her to focus her energies in her skill development process.

This practice of prioritizing one focus area not only enhances her performance on the field but also instills a growth mindset that she can carry with her beyond sports. It teaches her the importance of setting goals, staying disciplined, and continuously striving for improvement, valuable lessons that will benefit her in various aspects of life. Overall, these moments of reflection and intention-setting around goals have made a significant impact on her approach to the game and her overall development as an athlete.

As parents, we can support our athletes in their goal setting approach, even if we know nothing about the game. We can also support goal-setting around character development and leadership skills, to ensure our athlete is growing as a whole person, within their sport. By providing a space for a little bit of focus and offering guidance on realistic and effective goal-setting, we can focus our young athletes towards their own intentionality and self-evaluation around growth and development.

Some conversation starters to level up with your young athlete:

• Specific:

  • Help me understand what that goal means? I'm not as familiar with the sport, so teach me about what you need to do to know you have met that goal.

  • What supports will you need from me to get you there?

• Measurable:

  • How will you know when the goal is met?

  • Would you like me to (take stats? count the number of times I see you do the thing each game? ask your coach to measure your progress?) to support you in measuring your progress?

  • What kind of data will tell us if you are not on track to meet your goal or not making the progress you want?

• Attainable:

  • What do you need for (time? practice? game opportunities? teammate support) to achieve this goal? (for example, if the goal is for an outside hitter to get 5 kills per game but the team is not good at passing or setting, that might be very difficult to achieve)

  • What is a smaller version of this goal that we can focus on to make sure it is attainable?

• Relevant:

  • How does this goal fit in with your role on the team?

  • How does this goal progress you as a volleyball player?

  • How does this goal fit in with what your coach is asking you to focus on?

• Time-Bound:

  • How long will it take you to get there?

  • Is there a smaller goal that we could focus on to help achievement fit in to our time availability?

  • How long will it take you to figure out if you are not making good progress on your goal?