How Do I Teach Them To Work As A Team?!

[newbiecoach 0]

Hi there,

I am coaching my daughter's 6th grade team and things aren't going too well. I really need help in getting these girls to work together! Everyone's attitudes are really messing things up. Unfortunately, a number of my girls just don't like each other. And almost all of them tend to be rather critical when someone makes a mistake....one of them was actually brought to tears at our game this morning!

They are improving their skills and have the potential to win but with all the negativity, they don't stand a chance.

I don't know if there are drills that can help or something I can say, that I haven't said already, or what. Please, please, please help me out here.

Thanks so much!

[Juniper1299 0]

This is a hard situation to deal with. If the girls do not get along there is no way that you as the coach can "make them." However, when my girls get down and start being miserable to eachother I put them on the bench. A bad attitude is not doing anyone any good on the court. Maybe let them know that you notice their poor attitudes and the next person you see with a bad attitude will sit with you on the bench. Now, I don't know how many girls you have and if you can afford it but even if you have to sit everyone with a bad attitude, let them see that their poor behavior is not going to get them anywhere but on the bench. I know I have told my girls that if they are going to have negative attitudes then we should just turn around and go back home, because we aren't going to have any fun let alone win a game with that type of sportsmanship.

I hope this helped!! It is a really hard issue to deal with and it is all too common especially with girls that age.

Juniper

[newbiecoach 0]

Thanks for the response, Juniper! I feel the same way as far as putting them on the bench for bad attitudes but at our last game I didn't have any extras. Half of my team are also on the same soccer team and they had a game at the same time.

Anyway, I have thought of a couple of ideas that I'm going to try at our next practice on Tuesday. I hope it helps because it will be our only practice before our game on Saturday! I don't want to mention them right now in case they are flops but I will post after practice as to how they turned out.

Thanks again!

[Naescire 0]

Had this problem with older girls last year. I don't know how their parents are but talk to them. Sometimes and I mean sometimes the parents can be a big help by talking to their kids. If they choose not to get involved then you have done your job and made them aware of the situation so when you put their little bad attitudes on the bench then the parent can't come back to you and say "well, we didn't know anything about it."

Since you may not have the luxury of benching players you could tell them they will not be playing a match at all. Tell them you will forfeit the match.

Put them in circle and put them on the spot about the attitudes.

Partner up the girls that don't get along and make them perform some type of teamwork skills together and compete against the other teams.

In my case, the parents helped put a stop to a lot of the crap by talking to their daughters. I would suggest that as a first step. Talk to the parents as a group and then individually with the parents of the bad attitude kids. <_>

[fmfjohn 0]

Newbie,

Here's a idea that you might try with your girls. At the start of practice, pair them off in any random order - 1-2, left end,right end - whatever seems reasonable. Then tell them that they are to watch their partner for something(s) they do well. At the end of practice, have them circle up and tell the group what their partner did especially well. We call it "Team gratitude", and it usually doesn't take long before they start seeing each other in a much better light.

I also agree that parents can be extremely useful, but I think that when it gets right down to it, the girls (or boys) have to work it out for themselves. We coaches just have to keep pointing them in the right direction.

Good luck! john

[newbiecoach 0]

Thanks for all of the ideas you guys....I really appreciate it! Here are a few things I did at practice yesterday:

First, I asked them what they thought the main problem was from our last game and they all agreed that it was the lack of teamwork and bad attitudes toward each other, so at least they are aware of it. I then tied them together around their kneepads, while they were sitting, so then they had to work together just to stand up! I told them that they are responsible for their behavior on the court and how they work together, but as their coach, I'm there to help them along....so I helped to pull them off the floor. It was so funny I had taken my camera because I knew it was going to be memorable! Then I just had them walk around a bit and they really had to focus so they could keep it together. The cord I used was a nice, shiny red to go with our uniforms so each girl got a piece to wear in her hair as a reminder. I know they will remember that for a long time

Then we did kind of a "hot potato" and when each girl got the ball they had to say something that they would like to hear on the court when they do something good. The second time through, they had to say something they would like to hear when they really screw up. Of course, they wanted to hear similar, positive things, whether for good or a mess up. Basically, they need to think before they speak (as we all do!) and not be critical of each other.

We all had a lot of fun and I'm pretty sure that I got my point across. They were much more positive when we were scrimmaging the other team. Hopefully, we can continue to come together.

Sorry to go on so.....thanks again for the input!

[vickster309 0]

Hi Newbie:

I too coach 6th grade girls one of which is my daughter. We had some of the problems you were experiencing also. Last week before our 4th game I had decided to do a "Secret Sister" type name exchange between the girls. I gave each girl a brown sack that they were to put their little gift and positive note into and on the outside, write the girl's uniform number. This way all bags looked the same in hopes of protecting the identities of the givers. I brought a large bag and put all of the girls gifts into it. Anyway, my intent was that before the game I would hand out each girl's gift, but some girls arrived late and we didn't have time. We ended up winning both games and played a third game for fun. I handed out the secret sis bags after the game and it went so smoothly that I thought even if we had lost the game, this would have been a little "pick me up" for each of the girls. Our "Big Reveal" will be at our last game which is Halloween Day!

Just another thought!

Vickie