Success Part 2 - the personal goal

Today we're continuing our look at success. If you missed the last episode, I recommend checking it out for a series overview, as well as why I think it’s important to define success for your teams. 

In today’s segment, we'll be diving into the first of three benchmarks that I use to measure success, the personal goal.

For me, this is the foundation that everything else is built on. It doesn’t matter if it’s a team sport like football or volleyball, or one that’s a bit more individualistic like tennis, swimming or track and field. Even though I’m going to talk about this mostly through the lens of a team sport, I believe everyone can benefit from this concept. 

This also isn’t just a youth sports thing, even the pros go into a game with a personal goal. It is likely more strategy based, like knowing my opponent makes less shots when they go right, so I want to force them that direction. Or, it may be technique based, “make sure I fully extend on my serve toss.” Granted, it’s likely much higher level stuff, but they are still personal goals for that event.

Bringing it back to our level. 

One of the reasons I love the personal goal, is that it meets players at their current ability level and sets them up for a positive outcome, regardless of playing time. It gives them something they can easily work towards, whether they get 30 seconds in the game, or 30 minutes.

When I talk with the team about setting their personal goal, I put a few parameters on it. 

It must be specific.

It must be something I can control.

It must be something I can achieve.

Now, The first few times we do this, I’m going to need to help them think things through, because we always get big dreams. Goals like: “I want to win,” “I want to score a lot,”  “I want to run a personal best,” even, “I want to be a good teammate.” 

All. Too. Big. 

We want to help the kids break these down. Help them see that achieving a big goal comes from achieving lots of small goals. When we say small, what we really mean is specific. 

 “I want to run a PB” will turn into: “I want to have a good leg drive at the start,” 

“I want to be patient and not go out too fast,” or, “I will keep my effort up all the way through the finish line.”

The younger or more inexperienced the athlete, the simpler and smaller the goal. And, I usually just have one per game. 

It must be something I can control. 

“I want to score a lot.” Not only is this goal not specific, this is not something the player can directly control. There are too many variables, and no real area of growth. 

I had a player whose stated goal was to “get more rebounds.” Not a bad goal, but it left too many things out of her control. So we start talking it through.

I’ll ask; "What does that mean?", "How can you achieve this?", "What will help you get more rebounds?"

I’m just asking questions, trying to get her thinking and cognizant of the process. She eventually settled on “get better body position when the shot goes up.” Something specific, and totally under her control.

As the season went on her goal changed, because she grew in confidence and skill. 

“body position” became “go get the ball” and then later that turned into “get the ball and put it right back up.” All small actions that she could control.

It must be something I can achieve

Realistic goal setting is something we should all strive for. It’s great to have goals, but if they’re unrealistic, how much are they actually helping us. 

A goal of “I want to make the shots I take” may seem achievable, but in a game setting, it faces the issue of control. Too many variables like pass quality, defender spacing, balance, stress, way too much going on. But, a goal like “catch and shoot” or “have good follow through” is something that is achievable and will eventually lead to making more shots.

As the season progresses, and we continue to talk about this, the kids will begin to set good personal goals for themselves.

As part of our pre-game routine, I will often remind them about goal setting. That way they have time to think, and it starts getting them focused on the game. In our huddle I’ll often ask several of them what their goal is. One, so that I can help direct it if need be. But two, so that I can also help cue it when they are in the game. If I know what that goal is, I can also positively reinforce it and cheer it on when I see them working towards it.

Goal setting isn’t just for the kids. I need to model this as well. They’re always surprised in that first game of the season when I talk about what my goal is for the game. For me, it’s not just filler either, I really do have a goal. Maybe it’s managing the subs effectively, or in a more competitive game, managing the clock or cueing good adjustments. It helps me grow as a coach, and shows them I’m serious about it. If it’s important enough for the guy who supposedly knows what he’s doing, then they should probably take it seriously too. 

The personal goal is part of our culture as a team. We’re all working together, individually, to make this thing happen. They know it’s part of how we measure success, maybe one of the most important parts. 

I’ve coached teams in some pretty big games. Games where those players that are lower down on the depth chart know that they probably aren’t going to see much if any playing time. When asked about their personal goals for the game, “cheer from the bench and bring the energy.”

You gotta love the buy in. 

Join us for our next episode where we’ll be discussing our second measure of success - the team goal.

Included below, you can find some specific personal goals that my past players have had. If you’re stuck or looking for more examples of what I’m talking about, these may help out. 

Basketball

"catch and shoot" "rip and go" "crossover to my left hand"

"fight through screens" "make a strong move" "move without the ball"

"defensive footwork" "quick feet on defense" "sprint back on defense"

"no empty waterbottles" (this was from a player who was acting as a manager due to injury)

"high energy on the bench" "call out screens" "broomstick" (player spacing)

Softball/Baseball

"smooth easy swing" "baseball-ready every pitch" "glove on the ground"

"two hands" "move on contact" "take a strike"

"don't lose focus" (on base and in between pitches)

"if it's hit to me..." (knowing what you're going to do before the pitch)