What if you allowed players to choose what skills they wanted to work on during practice? What if you offered the team the choice to focus their energy on what they cared about the most?
As leaders we dictate training plans and decide what we want the team and individual players to work on. What if there were select times or sections in practice where athletes were given the responsibility and opportunity to choose what they needed or wanted to work on?
Giving individual players the opportunity to choose does at least four things. 1) Gives the athlete the opportunity to think about the skills he needs to improve on; 2) Helps a player to become more self-aware; 3) Offers the athlete the freedom to work on the skills she wants to; 4) Shows the player you trust his/her judgment. This takes more effort on the coach’s part to be prepared for individual workouts, however, you will see players being more productive and enjoy the opportunity to choose their workout.
When teams are given the freedom to choose what drills they want to focus on we found the team highly energized and engaged. Often these choice workouts would heighten work ethic and challenge. Any time players are given choices it builds team camaraderie and a sense of responsibility.
Building trust doesn’t just happen in trust fall exercises! Trust can and should be embedded in the day to day context of your practices and team time!

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