How Do You Coach Character?

If you were to call any youth sports organization and ask them about their core values, they would tell you how important qualities such as integrity, character, and sportsmanship are in their program. They would tell you how they are teaching kids life skills that will help them the rest of their lives.

But, if you asked them “how” they do it, their answers might get a little more vague. You might hear how their coaches have “x” years of experience, and that the game itself is such a great teacher of character. And it’s true, but what you don’t always hear or see if an actual process or system in place that makes teaching and developing character a priority.

As a performance coach I see it all of the time. When you just rely on an individual coach to teach these skills based on their own beliefs and style, what you get as a parent or player is a crap shoot of coaching quality and consistency. You get a player who has an amazing experience with one coach, and then the next season in the same Club they have a totally different experience with a different coach. I am not talking about coaching styles, but an actual difference in philosophy and values from coach to coach. It’s one of the big problems in our youth coaching programs.

So, it was refreshing when I came upon Brett Miller. Brett has been a youth soccer coach for about 5 years. He hasn’t won a National Championship or World Cup (yet), but I guarantee Brett is changing lives with the impact he is having on his players, parents, and coaches, on his team and the other teams as well.

In Episode 108 of The Weekly Yes, And Podcast – Brett shares simple and applicable ways to make teaching character and life skills a relevant and natural part of coaching.

I was really blown away from my time with Brett, and I think you wil too!

Follow Brett on Twitter!

Click here to listen on iTunes!

–Travis

To Share This Post - CLICK HERE!