Success Part 4 - a position to win

Over several episodes of this series we’ve talked about success; why I think it’s important to define it for your teams, as well as two metrics I use to help my students measure it— the personal goal and the team goal. 

Today we’re going to look at a third facet, one that may not be obvious, and that you may not even agree with. 

Now, what we’re talking about is nuanced, so I want to be clear. When we play a game that has real consequences tied to a loss we are trying to win that game. Maybe it’s a league game or a tournament. We are going to compete, as best we can while adhering to our program philosophy and culture. We’re just not going to limit our entire definition of success to a binary outcome. 

For us, the third measure, that third goal, is to be in a position to win near the end of the game. 

I introduce this goal when I’m framing and defining this idea of success to the kids. 

It’s also something we talk about often: at different points in training, before tournaments, and even before individual games.

As part of every pre-game ritual, we count off our goals as a group. 

One: the personal goal

I’ll ask a few kids what theirs are and give them time to think about it if they haven’t already.

Two: the team goal

Good team defense, we’ll review what that means to us.

Three: If we can accomplish one and two, and things go our way, we want to try and be in a position to win with two minutes left in the game. 

I can hear the questions, because I get them with every new batch of players, and from many adults as well.

They ask “coach, why do you say be in a position to win, why isn’t our goal just to win the game”

Well there are a couple of reasons.

One, building resilience and keeping things small.

How many times have you seen a team lose confidence early in a game? They go down by a goal in the first few minutes, or the other team makes a 10-0 run. Often the shoulders start sagging, or heads are down, body language says that this is all futile and the game has been decided, before the final whistle even blows. 

When we talk about being in a position to win, the early and mid-game score matters a little less. Unfavorable calls from the officials carry less weight. That point deficit isn’t insurmountable, we still have plenty of time to make it up, as long as we stay mentally tough and keep chipping away at it.

It also helps us focus on the now, on each possession. As coaches we often talk about doing the little things or winning the small battles, and that focus of being in a position to win helps us reinforce that.

Reason two, chaotic endgame.

If you’ve spent much time playing or watching sports, you’ve likely seen just how crazy things can get near the end of a game, especially a tight game. One odd bounce, a missed or questionable call from the officials, a defender has a minor lapse in concentration, or a player has a magical run or moment that is unlike anything they’ve had all season. 

Australia’s first ever Winter Olympic gold medal was won by Steven Bradbury in the thousand meter short track speed skating event. 

Now, Steven is not an elite skater at these Olympics. He only makes the quarter and semi final races because his opponents were either disqualified, or crashed during the race. So knowing he was quite a bit slower than the other four skaters in the final, his strategy was to hang on to the back of the pack, i.e. be in a position to win, and hope two other skaters had a mishap while fighting for medal position. A strategy that paid off when the other four competitors all crashed in the last fifty meters.

The 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Belgium is playing Japan in the knockout round and after being down 2-0 has managed to come back and tie the game with about fifteen minutes left in regulation. Fast forward, we’re now in injury time, with less than a minute to go. Japan sets up for what is likely to be the last corner kick before we head into extra time. But, it isn’t meant to be. The crossing pass is easily handled, but instead of holding the ball and running the clock out, the Belgian goalie quickly feeds the ball upfield and Belgium is on the attack, scoring the go ahead goal. It took all of about twelve seconds for Japan's hope of making the quarterfinals to be dashed. 

Basketball, hockey, American football, rugby— sports are full of last second shots, hail mary passes, or broken tackles in the last few seconds. 

Crazy stuff can happen at the end of a game, and these are professionals. Now let’s add to the mix the fact that these are teens we’re dealing with, and we’ve just amped up the possibility for emotional and physical chaos.

Sometimes, that end-game score just doesn’t really reflect how we performed during the game either. In basketball, a two or three point deficit in the last twenty seconds may become a ten point loss, because of an end game strategy to trade opponents free throws in order to regain a needed possession of the ball.

By focusing on being in a position to win, instead of the final score, we can help give our kids a healthier long term outlook on their performance as well. 

It’s unlikely to take the immediate sting out of losing a big game, but as they get some distance, when they wake up the next morning, they are likely to have some perspective on what happened. They may be better able to see the things they did right in that game, or more easily identify opportunity and need for growth as opposed to fixating on the loss or seeing it as a total failure. 

I also think that it’s a powerful framing tool. If we are in a good position at the end of the game, but the final result is against us, it allows us to talk about areas and opportunities for improvement and still keep all those things we did well during the match in a positive context: we worked hard and executed, we were where we wanted to be at the end of the game. Here are the things that we still need to work on, or, maybe we were just unlucky. 

Like the St. Louis Blues in '96 — man I hated those Redwings.

*All links accessed in February 2026