Back on November 25, 2016 I wrote a reflection
about serving Millennial sportspeople (http://sportchaplainsportmentor.blogspot.com/2016/11/notes-on-serving-millennial-sportspeople.html?m=0)
, and the issue of how to serve, to lead, and to coach this group has only
intensified since then. I recently saw a Facebook link to a video about how to
manage Millennials and found it to be quite insightful. Here is a link to the
video featuring Simon Sinek. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MC2X-LRbkE
Just a couple of hours after watching the video
I had some time to contemplate its implications. I wrote down four coaching
points that can be used by coaches and/or sports chaplains in working with
Millennial sportspeople. They are below. Please consider using any or all of
them with your teams.
1. Create “phone
free” spaces. Much of the reason for this group’s inability
to speak with people face to face or to build relationships is that they are
fixated by their mobile phones.
a.
Team
meetings – require that no one bring his or her phone
into team meetings. Leave them in the locker room or in your car.
b.
Team
meals – if your team eats meals together, require
them to not bring phones to the meals, ever.
c.
Position
group meetings – require that your position group not bring
their phones into the meeting space. Insist that they be 100% present to learn.
d.
Selected
bus travel – I know one college basketball coach who
collects all the team’s phones in a drawstring bag for bus travel on game day.
It eliminates distractions and enables the players to focus on the task at
hand. She returns the phones to them after the game.
2. Create
opportunities for making an “impact.” Many millennials want a
sense of having made an impact on their world, and simply going to class, to
practice, and to games may not scratch that itch.
a.
Provide
opportunities for recurring community service - make it a regular service
project in the same place with the same people so that relationships form and
develop. This is where they will experience genuine impact.
b.
Mentoring
of younger teammates – connect the eldest players with the youngest
to learn their way around campus, to understand how the school works, to grasp
the culture of the team and the community.
c.
Spotlight
drill – select one player to be “spotlighted” and
ask the other players to tell how the spotlighted player has made an impact on
their lives, on the team, or on their community.
d.
Write
thank you cards – distribute cards on which the players can
write notes to thank their parents, their high school coach, their high school
principal, or a donor to their sports program. Help them focus on people who
helped them be where they area.
e.
Serve
people who could never repay them – choose some from your
community. It might be a homeless shelter, a soup kitchen, a food pantry, a
women’s shelter, an animal rescue facility, or anything where they can see
beyond their privilege and sense an impact upon others’ lives.
3. Celebrate
achievement, not simply participation. This generation grew up receiving participation
medals. They were rewarded for simply showing up. This not only devalues the
awards given, it also diminishes the true value of genuine achievement.
a.
Make a
list of minimum expectations for everyone involved. These
are not to be celebrated, they are the bare minimum.
b.
Make a
list of achievements that will be celebrated. Celebrate these strongly.
c.
Make the
two lists widely different.
4. Help
them declare independence from their parents. We’ve all heard the stories
of “helicopter parents” and many of us have lived those stories. Help your
players declare their independence, cut the apron strings, grow up, and find
freedom. Help them compose a letter with ideas such as these:
a.
Dad and Mom, thank you for helping me to grow and to find my way to this team.
b.
Please, now allow me enough room to compete, to succeed, and to fail.
c.
Please affirm
these expectations for both academic and athletic performance that come
with being a part of this team.
d.
Please celebrate
with me as I achieve in the classroom and on the field of competition.
e.
To simply participate
is not good enough at this level. I must meet the minimum expectations and
strive to really achieve.
f. Thank you.
These are just some first thoughts from this
excellent video. We must find new and creative ways to push through the
counterproductive and often annoying traits of Millennials as we coach them. We
must find ways to lead, to inspire, and to encourage them to be all that God
created them to be.
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