2011 Saluki Football Team Building - C-H-A-M-P-S

Tomorrow I will complete this season’s team building process with Saluki Football at Southern Illinois University. That will be session number seven of seven. They began with the first meeting of the team on August 6 and continued every couple of days throughout the pre-season practices. We met most often in the team’s locker room, but a couple of times in other settings. The locker room is best because it’s where the players feel most “at home” and the seating is very flexible for gathering small groups for discussion.

 

I’d like to share this season’s team building outline and you may use it as is, modify it to suit your team or ignore it. Earlier in the summer I shared this outline with a few other sport chaplains on other campuses around the USA and they reported good results.

 

I pray that this process of building community in your team, based on learning who each other are (identity), beginning to trust each other and then making commitments to each other, plus building the culture of the team by helping them to embrace a shared set of values, help you build a championship team.

 

Session 1 –

Introduction to C-H-A-M-P-S and Team Building Process

• Community = Identity + Trust + Commitment

• Culture – Driven by Shared Values

 

Character and Courage – Group Discussions

• Tell us something about the most courageous football player you’ve ever known. Who is he and what did he do that looked courageous?

• How do players demonstrate genuine courage in this sport?

• What word would you use to describe the character of the 2010 Saluki Football team? Why that word?

• What is the word you’d like to be emblematic of the 2011 Saluki Football team’s character? How will that description be earned?

• What have been some critical factors to the shaping of your personal character?

• What do you see as your role in shaping the team’s character?

 

Saluki Football Coaches –

Each coach has a group of players with him from the opposite side of the ball to interview him and to share his answers with the team at large.

 

• Coach; tell us where you grew up, a little about your family, what position you coach at SIU and how many years you’ve been coaching.

• Tell us about one highlight from your career in football, either as a player or as a coach.

• Tell us about someone from your life that has been a consistent model of either courage, character or both.