World Cup 2010- Putting the 'I' in Team

Nation,

I have been closely following the World Cup this year, as I often do. Once you put national jerseys on in any sport, I become infinitely more interested as many of us do. Every four years, North America tunes in to football/soccer and picks apart the aspects of the game we don't quite understand (The excitement when there are so few goals, lack of replay, the offside rules, the terrible diving and the ties).

For the first time, the World Cup is in Africa, South Africa to be exact. Do we need to have a world sporting event in a place that can't afford the 9 soccer stadiums built, that have cities so unsafe reporters (e.g. Stephen Brunt) are advised not to walk even three blocks without armed escort? That's a moral dilemna. A struggling population has embraced the World Cup, but it's like enjoying a wonderful meal before seeing the final bill. Nobody on this continent will be around for that moment of realization.

Yet we still love the World Cup, and watch it, and continue to support it. It seems like nothing can turn us off this event. We even seem to enjoy the drama of teams self combusting in the middle of the tournament.

Two games in and already teams are turning on each other and their management. Most notably is France. Les Bleus have seen a star player expelled from the team, a captain benched for game three, a player boycott of practice, and several admin and players publicly turning on their embattled coach. Raymond Domenech is certainly hard to love, and hasn't been shy to bash his players that he picked himself. What a mess after two games!

France is not alone. England to be on the verge of collapse and mutiny, less than a week after everyone sang the praise of their coach Capello. Host South Africa's players are yet another team questioning their coach.

Realistically, France benefited from an illegal goal to make the tournament, and they are not the same team that went to the World Cup Final in 2006 and won in 1998. Anyone remaining from those winning squads is four years older, and no replacement has been found for retired star Zinedine Zidane. England is feeling the heat from a soccer mad country, but they seem to be simply not good enough. And South Africa, how are players on the 83rd best team in the world complaining about their coach? They should be glad to be the host, and to have scored a goal!

What happened to 'Praise in Public, Scold in Private'? Everybody seems to be so quick to blame someone else for results that they haven't bothered to finish the tournament as a team. To me, that is a far worse crime than failing to perform.

As ultimate teams (both domestic or international), selfish finger pointing strife mid tournament is a terrible distraction that has very little chance of helping the situation. Commitment to the team, to the game plan (no plan works unless all are on board), and to the leadership is crucial to being a good team member and a person fans and teams can respect.

Lou Holtz and Leadership- What does your team expect from you?

Nation,

Another summer season looms and teams and players eagerly await their tryout process. People are finishing workout programs, people are getting outside to work on throws, and advertisement for tryouts are being sent out by e-mail and posted on sites.

Every year you hear the same thing from almost every competitive team, regardless of division or city

• We're a competitive team dedicated to winning/development
• Our goal is to reach nationals/upas with a top x finish (Usually the goal is overestimated and never met)
• Every spot on the team is up for grabs
• There is always extra themes that are common for teams ("fun", "great learning experience", "serious" "young".

I think teams do a good job of explaining what they envision the team to be. The promotion of tryouts is a shot-gun approach, hanging up a proverbial shingle and hoping the right players (and lots of them) come to tryouts. Paired with some direct communication to desired player targets, this is usually an effective strategy for fielding a team.

The only problem with this overall strategy is people have heard the same message every year, and we're getting desensitized to the messages of hope, fun, and lofty performance goals. We know that not all spots on good teams is available. We know that particular skill sets are wanted, and you're wasting your money if you don't fit that mould. And we know that the tryouts are an imperfect process based on people's mind's eye making a decision on who's good and who's not.

So, what strategy changes can I suggest? One easy change to stand out among teams is when it comes to Leadership. Like all areas of life, Leadership is in desperate supply when it comes to ultimate.

Lou Holtz, former US college football coach and national champion with Notre Dame was a heavy accented odd looking man who wouldn't strike you as a great leader or a man who could lead others to greatness. However, Holtz was a man known for his wit and his character as a coach, recruiter, speaker and studio analyst.

What was the secret for this man? A lot more simple than you might think. Holtz sold players on his program and the chance to win just like ultimate teams do every spring, but he also sold his players on a philosophy- He could be trusted to do what was best for the school, for the team and for each and every player. In the world of college football, that is rare to this do.

Holtz has many quotes about his time as coach and on leadership, but his quote (about what players want/expect from a team and coach) is my absolute favorite:

Coach Holtz advises that players ask the following three questions to evaluate your leadership:

• "Can I trust you?
• Are you committed to excellence?
• Do you care about me?"

Coach Holtz developed three subsequent rules and expectations he has used in his role as a leader:

• Do the right thing
  
• Do the best that you can
  
• Show people you care.
  

If you use this advice as a team leader in ultimate, you're really offering your players more than a place on a roster. You've built a team and a culture that people want to stay with and people want to join. Too often we've seen teams add players to the team for family/relationship reasons and cut more deserving players. We've seen good players get away with too much, and players not know where they stand with the captain/coach. We've also seen players question what the goals are and how the team is progressing. All these problems can be answered with leadership that makes people know they will be taken care of, and need only focus on their task and job.

A very simple leadership guide for long term gain both on and off the field.

Which team has the best leadership in Canada?

Nation,

We are in somewhat of an off season for competitive ultimate (there is really no off season for players that dedicate themselves seriously to this game). That means there is much more time to talk about the game, in between people working at their real jobs and doing off season training.

Leadership is defined as:
'the lifting of people’s vision to a higher sight, the raising of their performance to a higher standard, the building of their personality beyond its normal limitations’ (Drucker, 1985).

What's the difference between being a leader and being a manager? In layman terms, it's this- A manager relies on power/status or coercion to accomplish tasks/goals, and a leader does not. These two terms are not mutually exclusive, but they definitely do not mean the same thing. You don't run through walls for a manager. You don't reach levels you couldn't fathom without true leadership.

Leadership is in short supply everywhere in the world. Lots of posers, few legitimate people that can stand the test of time and excel at all the major areas of being a leader (Credibility, Vision, Communication, Passion, and Charisma) . Canadian ultimate is not exempt from a leadership void, and needs leaders in the CUPA office, and in all of the major cities.

However, I have seen some examples of leadership with playing the last few years. The very fact that captains of our national level teams can get 20 plus guys to practice/travel so much and wreck their bodies for a game with no money and limited "glory" is incredible. Some players, like Andrew Lugsdin, lead by example and give excellent speeches to motivate their troops in key games.

So.... my poll question is

Which team/city has the best leadership in Canada? Who are the leaders? What do they do well? Does a team have to be a winner to validate great leadership (I find it definitely helps the untrained eye to label someone as a leader)?