The Importance of Goal Setting for Athletes

This week I want to digress a bit from our regular series on program design. Instead I think it's important to look at goal setting in regards to the athlete's goals as opposed to setting goals for the speed program itself.

Whether you coach a team of 50 athletes, just your son or daughter or run groups at a facility, getting athletes to both write and verbalize their goals is an important part of the overall process. Like any aspect of life, if you don't know exactly where you want to go, you'll have an extremely difficult time getting there. So if you do coach a big team, don't make that an excuse.

I regularly find the time to a 4 - 5 part series of goal sheets/meetings with a group of over 40 athletes. You'll be amazed at what your athletes have going on inside their heads. Many of your athletes, even the ones who never speak at practice, have incredibly detailed (and lofty) goals. Some of your most talented athletes have a surprisingly low level of self confidence. But if you don't sit down and assess these goals with your athletes, you'll never get this inside information

I believe the coach/athlete relationship is underrated. Top coaches take the time to learn something personal about each one of their athletes. Even if its one small detail, that can make a huge difference in that athlete's success and life. Your goal setting meetings are a perfect opportunity to get to know a little about each athlete.

And you can use that to your advantage. When an athlete is struggling in a workout, being able to specifically mention something they talk about in their goal sheets will have an immediate impact on their psychology. When athletes feel like you know and care who they are as people and not just another name and face amongst the masses, I find they are less likely to goof off, take short cuts, get in trouble and make excuses. Because you know what their goals are, they can't escape that accountability.

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So here are my top 3 keys to effectively establishing seasonal goals with your athletes:

1. Progress from simple to complex
Start out with simple goal sheets that only contain a small amount of information. Most athletes aren't really sure what their goals are so you don't want to overwhelm them. By progressing, it will be easier for them to get clear on what they want. Many times, kids will be hesitant to state their real goals because they fear success, not failure.

Once you meet with your athlete and discuss the first series of basic goals and expectations, you can give them the next goal sheet where they have to analyze their goals and get more specific. It's up to you how many goal sheets you want to give. Often I will only use 2 sheets with my young athletes, where my experienced athletes will sometimes complete 4 or 5 sheets. And believe me, some athletes take this very seriously. I've had the hardcore ones write 7-8 pages papers on their goals. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but I can't count how many times an athlete has said, 'I spent more time on this than any paper I've ever written for a class.'

I'm never sure how to respond to that!

 

2. Make them accountable
Our goal meetings are an important part of the process so I expect it to be take seriously. Therefore I have certain parameters that must be met before I will accept one for review. First, all responses must be typed and in complete sentences. I accept sheets and set up meetings on a first come, first serve basis. This is great because there becomes a feeding frenzy of athletes trying to get their sheets turned in. Star sport athletes want to be first to have their meeting because, well, they want to be first in everything. They'll even compete for who writes the longest goal list. Everyone else looks at it as an opportunity to show commitment and effort and earn points with the coach. So when I post the order of meetings, no one wants to be down at the bottom of the list.

Athletes who don't turn in sheets or try to hand me a hand written sheet get put on the 'Incomplete' list, the team equivalent of being in the leper colony.

 

3. Follow up
I have a lot to do so doing hundreds of goal meetings a season is a challenge. But its worth the effort. But nothing undermines that like expecting athletes to be accountable, then not finding the time to hold meetings. My goal meetings have to be short, I limit most to 5 minutes. I'll grab kids when I can. Maybe a meeting will be in the weightroom, another at the track or on the field. I do it when it works out, but I make sure to do it.

In these meetings you're going to learn a lot more than how many touchdowns Johnny wants to score or how Mary wants to be league MVP. You're going to learn personal information and get glimpses into who the kids are as people. It is critical that you use this information to your advantage. Sometimes I'll use it publicly, sometimes in private conversations. But I always make sure that I try and say something relevant to that specific athlete as often as possible. I carry all the goal sheets around with me in a big purple 3 ring binder. It's one of my most important coaching tools.

So use these tips with your athletes. It's going to help you develop your team into a family, and give your individual athletes specific things to shoot for each and every day. When they forget, you'll be there to remind them and then they'll do anything for you.

 

So now that your athletes know where they want to go, click here to make sure you have the speed training tools to take them there.