Cultivating a Healthy Team Culture

Empowering youth soccer coaches to create positive, player-centered environments

A good coach needs to be many things, but chief among them is being a good communicator who can create and continue to nurture a healthy team culture throughout the season. Your communication style will sit at the center of what you do as a coach, whether it's in your communication with the players (both on and off the field) or with the players' parents and caregivers. The first weeks of each season are critical in establishing norms and shaping the culture of the team. Your ability to effectively use this early part of the season to put in place that culture will serve as an invaluable foundation for the weeks that follow.

Establish Clear Expectations from Day One

So where to start? Begin by outlining your coaching principles to the players and their families. You'll have many opportunities to do this, but right away, find a time (it doesn't need to be more than 10-15 minutes) to gather the players and parents together to share your principles and vision for the season.

Put some stakes in the ground that set out your coaching principles and set the tone for the team's culture for the upcoming season. Do this with clarity and do it unapologetically. Do not expect every parent and every player to agree with you. Your job as a coach is not to make everyone happy. Your job is to have clear intention, understandable principles that center on players' growth and success, and to have actions throughout the season that follow. Actions follow principles that follow intent.

Set Your Coaching Principles

Having a clear set of principles is key to establishing your coaching style. Principles should be able to last if not forever, then for many seasons. Goals and objectives are shorter term, things you are looking to accomplish during a season, a week of the season, or even one training session. Goals can be temporary or designed to meet a certain moment or a set of conditions. Principles are your north star, your guideposts, the answers to the toughest questions you’ll encounter as a coach.

Over time, every coach needs to develop their own principles, but there’s a few I’d like to offer that I believe should be part of every youth sports coach’s approach to coaching.

It’s About the Kids

“I think the most important thing is to create an environment where everybody feels comfortable, where they can be themselves.”

Steve Kerr

If you decided to coach to fulfill your own sports dreams, lift a trophy, boost your ego, or whatever, my suggestion is to stop coaching right away. It’s not about you. Every intention and every action is in service of providing the conditions for the kids to improve skills, grow in confidence, and form positive relationships. Period.

Keep it Positive

There’s a myriad of research about the benefits of positivity in a youth sports environment. The sports experience is one part physical, one part mental, and one part emotional and it’s your job as a coach to create an environment on the field where players can be creative, solve problems, and express themselves and feel emotionally secure. This cannot be emphasized enough. Here are some specific ways to cultivate a culture of positivity.

  • Encourage players to view challenges as opportunities for growth. Celebrate effort and perseverance as much as, if not more than, outcomes. Players will understand that their abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work, promoting resilience and a love for learning.

  • Rather than focus on things players did wrong, recognize and praise specific behaviors you want to see repeated. Instead of just saying “good job,” be specific: “You showed excellent skill and decision making on that last play,” or “Your positioning on defense on that play was perfect.” This helps players know exactly what they did well and encourages them to continue those behaviors. Even better if you can tie your praise to specific goals or skills the team has been working on in practice.

  • Make it clear that mistakes are a natural part of learning. Emphasize that every player makes mistakes, even the professionals, and that it’s how they respond to mistakes that matters. I like to say, “The most important play is the next play.” This can help reduce the fear of failure, not dwell on the past, and encourage players to take risks and try new things.

  • Promote a team culture where players support each other. Encourage them to cheer for their teammates, offer constructive feedback, and celebrate each other’s successes. This not only builds a positive atmosphere but also strengthens team cohesion.

  • Your attitude and behavior set the tone for the team. Be enthusiastic, patient, and encouraging. Demonstrate respect to all players, officials, opponents’ coaches, spectators and respect the game itself. Your actions will speak louder than your words and will be mirrored by your players.

  • Encourage open and honest communication. Let players know they can come to you with any concerns or questions. Be approachable and listen actively. This builds trust and shows that you value their input. Where there are opportunities to do so, empower the players with ownership and responsibilities.

How to Think About Winning and Losing

How you frame winning and losing with your team is crucial for establishing a healthy culture. The desire to win can be challenging to manage, for both players, coaches, and parents, but it’s important to remember that success is not solely defined by the scoreline. In fact, the less you are oriented around the score, the better. Focusing on what can be learned from game situations is far more beneficial for player development. This may seem counterintuitive, but here’s why this matters.

Playing sports is an inherently creative endeavor. Each game presents unique, unscripted scenarios and problems for players to solve and work through. Within the games, there are countless opportunities for coaches to observe, assess, and contextualize events for their players. And following the games (not always immediately, but at the next practice), you can ask players questions like “What did the team do well?” and “Where can we improve?” This method of posing open-ended questions promotes critical thinking and helps players understand the game on a deeper level. And for coaches, this provides insights into how players are experiencing and processing in-game situations.

Rather than focusing on the scoreline (the quantitative), focus on qualitative gametime experiences. Place the emphasis on your players’ creativity, problem-solving, technique, and teamwork. This will allow you as a coach to truly help your players develop by constructively praising strengths and identifying growth areas. Celebrate the best moments, recognize effective patterns of play, and evaluate the team’s attitude and resilience. Highlight how players support each other emotionally, especially when things go wrong. This reflective practice helps players understand that true success is measured far beyond just the final score. Highlighting these aspects turns every game into a valuable learning experience, helping players build skills, confidence, and resilience.

Make it Fun

“Fun is the single most important factor in getting kids to play sports. If it's not fun, kids won't play.”

Wayne Gretzky

Kids vote with their feet. Meaning, if they are having fun playing with the team, they will express this by showing up at practices each week. If they’re enjoying themselves, they will be insisting to their parents that they go to practice, rather than the other way around. As a coach, this is absolute gold. They are there because they want to be there.

Key to your job as coach is to keep it fun for the kids. And how you show up and what you project during practices and games is what matters. When you are positive, energetic, kind, and are able to meet the kids where they are emotionally, you’ll ensure the game remains fun for the kids. Here are a few tips for bringing the fun to your coaching.

  • Make practices fun and engaging to maintain high levels of enthusiasm and participation. Incorporate a variety of activities that challenge the players and keep them excited about coming to practice.

  • Leave space for social time amongst teammates. Team sports are inherently social and providing time for the kids to have fun with their peers is an important part of the experience.

  • Project positivity and happiness. Don’t ever be afraid to smile and laugh, especially at yourself. Kids will respond to you as a person and you’ll gain their trust if you share in happiness and joy with them.

  • Celebrate team successes and positive moments. As you set goals and objectives for your team, imagine the moment you can celebrate those achievements. Seek out those moments that demonstrate growth, skill building, or any kind of success and announce that success with high fives, claps, shouts of jubilation, or however you want. Those are moments to be enjoyed by all.

Be loose, don’t take things too seriously, and be authentic. Don’t ever forget that this is fun.

Summary

Cultivating a healthy team culture hinges on your ability as a coach to communicate effectively, set clear principles, and maintain a positive and fun environment. By focusing on the players' growth, creating a supportive atmosphere, and framing success beyond just winning and losing, you can help your team thrive both on and off the field. Remember, the ultimate goal is to foster a love for the game, gain skills and confidence, and build lasting relationships. When players feel valued, understood, and excited about participating, they will naturally gravitate towards the sport, making practices and games a rewarding experience. Embrace the joy and celebrate the successes. You’ll see how a healthy and positive culture within the team helps support a positive experience for players, their families, and coaches.

Nadeshiko Japan huddle image by Christopher Johnson, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

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