Today's topic comes from a blog post from a guy by the name of Tim Grover. Tim Grover is author of the book "Relentless" (highly recommend, and I will post more from that book), and founder of Attack Athletics - he is both a physical and mental trainer for athletes (specifically basketball players), and has trained some of the best players to ever play, including Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and Michael Jordan.
The idea is a simple one, but has a lot of intricacies:
"It may not be your fault that your team lost, but it is your responsibility."
"It may not be your fault that your team lost, but it is your responsibility."
In ultimate, we can apply this to a number of other situations:
"It may not be your fault that your team got broken, but it is your responsibility."
"It may not be your fault that your team got broken, but it is your responsibility."
"It may not be your fault that your team has low energy, but it is your responsibility."
"It may not be your fault that your team is late to the fields, but it is your responsibility."
It's important to remember that ultimate is a team sport, and whether we win or lose, we do so as a team, not as individual players or individual lines. The "blame game" is a dangerous place to be - when the sidelines start murmuring "why did he throw that? Why didn't she layout for that? Why can't they score?", things can go from bad to worse very quickly. Even if you aren't on the field, you can always contribute to the success of the team, so rather than looking to assign blame, take responsibility for the situation and do whatever you can to help the team.
It starts with body language and energy, but extends to our actual language and word choice - if you just threw a huck while your cutter decided to come under, don't come to the sideline and say "You should have gone deep!" - that's just you pushing the blame to someone else. Instead, take responsibility for what happened, and discuss what you can do to improve.
One way that you can take responsibility from the sidelines when your team is struggling is what a teammate of mine from Cleveland liked to call a "show of force". The idea is that you show the strength of your team, not necessarily by yelling and screaming louder than anybody else, but simply by supporting your team. The best example of a show of force can be seen after a team has just gotten broken. While the defensive team rushes the field and celebrates, their opponents usually have their 7 O line players walking back to the line to play the next point, while the sidelines have their head down, wondering who they could blame for the break. When this happens, the defense begins to gain momentum. But, what happens if the defensive team looks down the field and instead of seeing 7 lonely O line players, they see 27 people on the field, high-fiving and smiling? What happens when the sidelines rush the field to give the O line energy after being broken, instead of sulking? In my experience, this can often be the difference between a team getting one break or 3, and the difference between a close game and a blowout.
Maintaining energy through an 8 game tournament is an incredibly difficult thing to do, but sometimes, it's those little things that can keep you going.
One way that you can take responsibility from the sidelines when your team is struggling is what a teammate of mine from Cleveland liked to call a "show of force". The idea is that you show the strength of your team, not necessarily by yelling and screaming louder than anybody else, but simply by supporting your team. The best example of a show of force can be seen after a team has just gotten broken. While the defensive team rushes the field and celebrates, their opponents usually have their 7 O line players walking back to the line to play the next point, while the sidelines have their head down, wondering who they could blame for the break. When this happens, the defense begins to gain momentum. But, what happens if the defensive team looks down the field and instead of seeing 7 lonely O line players, they see 27 people on the field, high-fiving and smiling? What happens when the sidelines rush the field to give the O line energy after being broken, instead of sulking? In my experience, this can often be the difference between a team getting one break or 3, and the difference between a close game and a blowout.
Maintaining energy through an 8 game tournament is an incredibly difficult thing to do, but sometimes, it's those little things that can keep you going.
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