Improv(e) Player Leadership
What are your views on player leadership?
I was DMing with a D1 women’s coach and he asked my views on the topic…
A few of his questions:
Was it nature or nurture?
How do you go about developing it?
Here’s what I had for him… And for you.
It’s Gonna Take Improv
Generally speaking, parents of today’s youth have taken a more hands-off approach.
They don’t have hard conversations with their kids anymore.
What does that have to do with player leadership?
You’re not going to see it for these reasons. These kids haven’t been on the receiving end of a hard conversation with their parents…
So for you to think they’ll be able to look at one of their teammates who is currently so far below the line on a behavior standard and say, “Hey Ryan, that isn’t how we do things here.”
Don’t expect 90% of your 18u team to have this skill.
If their parent hasn’t done it to them, they won’t do it to a teammate.
Now you’re aware of the battle you’re facing, let’s plan to win it… with improv.
Constrain to Get More Reps
As coaches, we have heard of constraints-led teaching. Say you’re playing a cross-ice small area, 3v3. You want more overlapping(switches, scissor plays) to occur. So you incentivize it.
“Goals scored directly off an overlap play count as 3.” You say in your instructions.
You’re creating space for the desired action to take place more often.
Now they are getting more reps at the skill they need and they hardly even know it.
Now apply that to your leadership training by using improv.
Set up the scenario where a player has to have a hard conversation with a teammate about a below-the-line behavior they just saw their teammate engaging in.
The scenario creates the space for the conversation to take place. Now a kid who has never had a hard conversation has gotten a rep at it.
So when he faces a situation to demonstrate leadership in real life, he’s done it before. He’s got a little more confidence to step in and do the right thing.
This is improv’s place in leadership development.
You don’t lecture a kid on how to take a slap shot, you let him experiment.
Don’t lecture them on what they should say, let them have the conversation.
Last… I Showed Him This
You don’t have to be a leader.
But if you want to… You have to.