St Pauls Head Lacrosse Coach Rick Brocato discusses the roles that his captains take.

Completing the Total Athlete

For the past three months I have been a book hound for anything that deals with coaching leadership. I’ve read a ton of books written by current and former coaches on how to be a better leader. I’ve also read Dorfman’s Coaching the Mental Game which really helped to spell out the leadership qualities that we should be striving towards. However the most comprehensive and easy to understand book I’ve come across is by Jeff Janssen entitled The Seven Secrets of Successful Coaches. How do you become a coach where your players overachieve because of your leadership qualities? How can you work on and improve those qualities? Janssen answers these questions while providing lots of examples from successful coaches in college and the pros. The leadership and mental approach to sports is going to be the next big revolution in sports.

It seems that athletes are becoming more and more skilled as they are playing their sports younger and younger. They hire personal trainers to help them achieve more speed and strength. What we see today are athletes that are bigger, stronger, faster and more skilled than athletes of 5-10 years ago. My sense is that the next phase of athletic development won’t be based on what happens inside the gym or athletic field but rather on what happens inside a player’s psyche. My sense is that players who can better control their emotions and learn how to lead their teams will be the new “superstar” athletes in the next few years.

Janssen also wrote a book focused on how players can become stronger leaders. The Team Captains Leadership Manual is a must read for all high school, club and college players. Not just the captains; all players.
Kudda highly recommends these two books by Janssen.