Holistic Team Development
Some of the most important values I hold in my service of sports teams are those I learned while studying small group dynamics during the 1980s and 1990s. Having led small groups of various sorts in my local church and with short-term mission groups, I was able to test a number of ideas I had gathered from books, teaching tapes (yes, I am that old), and conversations with friends and colleagues. I employed these principles in my leadership of groups involving competitors from multiple teams (FCA huddles), groups of coaches (Coaches huddles), and sports teams (American football, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Women’s soccer/football, and both college and professional baseball).
One of the best books I read during those days was, Good Things Come in Small Groups (Intervarsity Press 1985 ISBN 0-87784-917-X). It is full of excellent information, best practices, and tools for small group leadership.
Among the most useful ideas taught in the book is the section on Four Key Ingredients, Part 2 of the book. It describes the relationship and essential qualities of these four elements of a complete small group: Nurture (Bible study and discussion), Worship (prayer and singing), Community (development of relationships), and Mission (purposeful activity in serving others). It’s important for small groups to include all four elements to be healthy and productive.
Leadership of sports teams and small groups in the sporting community are wise to include all four elements. For our discussion related to the service of people in sport, I will use the same language with one modification. I will substitute Study for Nurture. The ratio of how each element is incorporated in the life of the team or group will likely vary widely, depending upon the focus of the group’s purpose.
Groups with an equal proportion of their time and resources allotted to each element are often called, Koinonia groups. Koinonia is the ancient Greek word for Christian community. These sorts of groups are ideal for the most complete, holistic development of the people in the group as it blends equal parts of Study, Worship, Mission, and Community. Graphically, it looks like this, with each element having 25% of the whole:
Most common among small groups within a church are Study Groups. These are often Bible studies, occasionally discussions of a book, Sunday school classes, etc. Many sports ministry groups have Study as the predominant feature of meetings. Even though it may occupy as much as one-half of their time and resources, to be at their best these groups should also include Worship, Community, and Mission. Graphically, it looks like this with Study occupying 50% and the other elements having 16.67% each:
Another common type of group in churches is a Missions Group. The focus of such a group is a purposeful activity in service of others. These can be as simple as the teams who park cars, greet visitors, or clean the auditorium on Sundays. They can be short-term missions groups, traveling together to serve, teach, or preach in other nations. In either case, their mission is the central element of their team and gives it purpose. To be at their best, these groups would do well to also find ways to build Worship, Study, and Community into how they accomplish their mission. Graphically, such a group looks like this with Mission consuming 50% of its time and resources, and the other elements having 16.6% each:
Sports Teams are more difficult for the development of a holistic group in that the Mission of the team, its sport, is remarkably consuming of its time and resources. The sport training, strategy, practice, and individual development of players can easily consume 100% of its life. It will require intentionality, effort, collaboration with the coaching staff, and buy in of the competitors to develop a team with all four elements included. Graphically, one could aim for proportions like these with the team’s Mission occupying 75%, and the other elements getting 8.33% each.
To quantify this in hourly terms, let’s suppose a sports team has 40 hours per week of activities (practices, individual workouts, video review, team meetings, staff meetings, travel, etc.). The Sports Training portion of that week would be 30 hours. If one was able to schedule time for Study, Worship, and Community in to the life of the team, that would allow 10 hours.
In my service of a Division I Men’s Basketball Team, I would estimate my weekly involvement at just about 10 hours (2 games per week). This service includes activities like:
· Practice attendance (primarily Community – building relationships – 3 hours)
· Game Day shootaround attendance (Community and Worship – prayer – 1 hour)
· Game Day Team Meeting (Mission and Study – 30 minutes)
· Game Day Character Moment and Pregame Meal (Study, Prayer, and Community – 30 minutes)
· Pregame Prayer in locker room (Worship - 2 minutes)
· Postgame in locker room (Community – 13 minutes)
· Character Moment discussion with Team (Study and Community – 20 minutes)
· Character Moment discussion with Coaching Staff (Study and Community – 20 minutes)
Serving a sports team is seldom simple, often chaotic, and regularly fluid in nature. It’s not likely to allow you to neatly arrange time in tidy proportions, but you can make a concerted effort to build Study, Worship, and Community into the lives of those you serve. Such service is most effective in the complete development of the coaches and competitors, each and all. Give it your best shot, they’re worth it.
