I sit here and write this at the end of another successful week of tryouts and another outstanding jamboree. Once again, our players have shown me that they've arrived fit and ready to do battle in the quest of capturing another division title and making a run for the SCC Championship and a magical run at the Class LL Championship.
It's been an interesting summer as we prepared for this season. We've had to deal with any number of distractions. Our new turf field, a bit behind schedule. A low turnout at the freshman level that cost us our freshman squad and a terrifically talented and important coach in our program. Our training field showing the results of hard use. A new rule that switches home and away colors. Yes, all sorts of distractions and "excuses" seem out there and ready to take away from what we can accomplish.
But it's clear that none of these things have had any negative impact on us. Our Senior class, led by Captains Mackenzie Joyce and Erin Keary, have come forward as one and have set a tone on the expectations they have on themselves and on the program. No turf? Then we become masters on grass. A small freshman class? Yes, but a strong group of freshmen who have shown they are all ready to compete and contribute at the JV level and beyond. We can effectively train on any surface and we look pretty good in those orange jerseys, particularly when the Finn opens up for business. We will learn how to be good road warriors in September, as we await our new home and be devastatingly tough hosts on those who come visiting in October.
Tryouts were tough, but they revealed a strong program, top to bottom. The difference in overall ability across our depth chart is as tight as I've seen it in my 13 years here. We show ourselves to be fit, technically strong and tactically savvy, from experienced seniors down through our new freshmen. And we've begun to think about ourselves differently. We began the summer determining those values that we want to embrace in 2018. And we agreed these are the values each of us must embrace for us to find success in the program in 2018:
- PRIDE - Our actions always reflect positively on our uniform, our school and our community. It reflects our ongoing respect for those who came before us and the legacy they left behind.
- SPIRIT - An irrepressible positive energy that we cultivate and spread throughout our program providing the spark the drives us and the respect we show one another.
- EXCELLENCE - Simply put, we accept no effort or performance that is not about being the best version of ourselves that we can be. Every. Single. Day.
- UNITY - We each “hold the rope” for all the others, reflecting our absolute belief in one another and creating a family that is defined by the trust and care we have for each other.
- INTEGRITY - Our actions reflect our inner values, thus we do the right thing always, because we are ethical and we know this is how we build consistency and trust.
- SELFLESSNESS -
- Each one of us commits to making whatever sacrifices are necessary on
- a personal level to ensure the program achieves its objectives; team before self – always!
And while we still chase those titles and banners, we have come to understand that these outcomes are not "goals". Rather, they are the logical signs of success that comes from a program that has high ideals and values and understands that goals should actually measure our processes and how we do things. Are we doing things in such a way that we can expect to strongly compete for these banners? Are these looks at our processes guiding our decisions and priorities in training? Over the next few days, we will finish our "mission" statement that sets these goals. Watch as our players start to focus on things like shooting accuracy, turnovers/steals and limiting shot opportunities for our opponents. Watch how our performance in these areas drive the training focus this season. You may have already seen these changes in action. All of our players came to tryouts this season with individual performance goals set and made public. We built our team objectives for tryouts performance from the sum of all the individual player objectives. In addition, many players have made strong personal commitments to individual in-season goals that focus on how well they do their job and where they want to find significant individual improvement.
In essence, we have asked the players to take up greater ownership of our overall success through defining how they will measure their own personal success. We move from a culture that has the coaches defining the standards and levels of achievement, to one where the players set their own standards as individuals and as a program. And this is how it should be. A player driven and player motivated program. As coaches, we hope to inspire that inner motivation residing within each player, and through that, build a force that cannot be stopped within the SCC or within Class LL in 2018.
I think it's going to be an exciting thing to watch and to be a part of.
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