Leadership

My son plays in an under 10 team which is part of the youth set up of our local club. His manager is what you might describe as “old school”. He trains them hard with a focus on fitness and is demanding of them. Alongside this he has worked hard to make them play as a team as opposed to a collection of individuals and has done this by making them feel part of something. Along with the standard kit they have sponsored hoodies and coats as well as a training kit which has to be worn to every training session. The boys do outings together and the parents have become quite a close group as well. He has worked hard to improve their playing ability and it’s not usual to have three coaches at a training session for ten kids.

You can see that he genuinely cares about the boys and works hard to ensure that everyone gets a decent amount of game time even though there is a real competition for places in the first 7.

So what’s the result of all his efforts. Well, it’s rare that a boy misses training and rare that they miss a match. The genuinely listen to what he has to say and try their best to execute his instructions during a game.

So far this season, they have played 10 league games and won them all scoring over 90 goals in the process. They won yesterdays game 6-1 despite the other team playing the second half with an additional 3 players. To add to this, they recently won a cup competition in Manchester.

Todays post isn’t necessarily about my sons team but hopefully illustrates what a good leader can achieve.