KEPIMPINAN adalah faktor yang penting dalam sukan. Ia terlalu penting sehingga

kadangkala tokoh yang sama menyandang jawatan di beberapa persatuan berlainan. Ini kerana

tokoh berkenaan amat sesuai bagi sukan-sukan yang diterajuinya selain faktor kemampuannya

sebagai pemimpin sukan. Pada suatu ketika lalu, kepimpinan dalam sukan sering menjadi isu

apabila ada pihak-pihak yang menentang pelantikan ahli politik untuk mengetuai mana-mana

persatuan. Alasannya supaya tokoh berkenaan tidak menjadikan persatuan tersebut medan

perjuangan agenda politiknya. Begitu juga, pernah ada pihak-pihak yang menyuarakan

kebimbangan terhadap pihak istana mencampuri urusan persatuan-persatuan sukan, sama ada

di peringkat nasional mahupun di negeri. Namun keadaan sudah berubah sekarang. Tidak ada

perebutan bagi jawatan-jawatan utama dalam kebanyakan persatuan sukan kerana bukan

mudah memimpin sebuah persatuan sukan dan adalah sukar menjadi pemimpin yang boleh

diterima oleh pegawai, atlet dan peminat. Ini menyebabkan tokoh yang sudah bersara atau

meninggalkan sesuatu persatuan atas sebab-sebab tertentu sering menjadi pilihan untuk

menerajui semula persatuan berkenaan, jika berlaku kekosongan.

Sementara itu dari aspek gaya kepimpinan pula, jurulatih yang berkesan pasti berjaya

mempengaruhi suasana dan sikap atlet terhadap beban tugas dan tanggungjawab yang

diberikan. Secara tidak langsung ini dapat meningkatkan lagi kepuasan dan prestasi atlet

sendiri. Situasi ini berlaku kerana adanya interaksi antara jurulatih dengan atlet. Menurut Fouss

dan Troppman (1981), interaksi antara jurulatih dan atlet merupakan kriteria yang penting dalam

menentukan keberkesanan sesuatu program latihan. Gaya kepimpinan seseorang jurulatih atau

pengurus

pasukan ketika berinteraksi dengan atlet semasa mengurus program latihan, sama ada ketika

offsite competition atau onsite competition memberi kesan terdapat atlet. Kesan yang diperoleh

atlet adalah berkadar terus iaitu jika wujud hubungan yang positif dari aspek interaksi antara

keperluan dan kehendak jurulatih, pengurus pasukan dengan atlet, maka kepuasan serta

prestasi

akan meningkat, atlet akan mencapai kejayaan. Proses interaksi antara jurulatih dengan atlet

adalah satu komponen yang sangat penting untuk meningkatkan prestasi dan kepuasan

seseorang

atlet (Gibbons, McConnell, Forster, Riewald, & Peterson (2003); Frontiera (2006) dan Serpa,

Pataco, & Santos; 1991). Menurut Mallet (2003), jurulatih memainkan peranan yang sangat

penting dalam melahirkan atlet-atlet dengan kemahiran dan pengetahuan yang diperlukan bagi

meningkat prestasi atlet dalam sukan yang mereka ceburi. Jurulatih juga mempunyai pengaruh

yang sangat besar dalam mewujudkan keseronokan dan kepuasan serta penyertaan berterusan

atlet.

Gaya Kepimpinan Jurulatih Kepuasan Atlet

Dimensi Latihan dan Arahan

Dimensi Demokratik

Dimensi Autokratik

Dimensi Sokongan Sosial

Dimensi ganjaran

Terry (1984) dalam kajiannya yang juga menjalankan kajian jenis sukan individu dan

berpasukan mendapati atlet-atlet yang menyertai sukan berpasukan lebih menggemari gaya

kepimpinan latihan dan arahan, demokratik dan ganjaran.

Dari segi perbezaan jantina pula, kajian menunjukkan terdapat perbezaan yang

signifikan dalam kegemaran lelaki dan perempuan pada gaya kepimpinan jurulatih dalam

dimensi demokratik, autokratik dan ganjaran, P<0.05. Hasil kajian menunjukkan atlet lelaki lebih

meminati gaya kepimpinan autokratik berbanding atlet perempuan, manakala atlet perempuan

pula lebih meminati gaya kepimpinan demokratik. Hasil dari kajian tersebut juga didapati atlet

lelaki lebih meminati corak kepimpinan ganjaran berbanding atlet perempuan. Dapatan kajian

ini telah menyokong kajian terdahulu yang dijalankan oleh Chelladurai dan Arnott (1985) yang

mendapati atlet lelaki lebih menggemari gaya kepimpinan autokratik manakala atlet perempuan

pula lebih menggemari gaya kepimpinan demokratik. Selain daripada itu, kajian yang dijalankan

oleh Chelladurai el al. (1988) juga mendapati atlet wanita lebih menyukai jurulatih yang

memberi sokongan sosial dan demokratik sementara atlet lelaki pula lebih menyukai jurulatih

yang bersikap memberi sokongan sosial dan autokratik. Keadaan ini mungkin disebabkan atlet

perempuan secara semulajadinya lebih suka kepada cara yang demokratik berbanding atlet

lelaki yang lebih suka kepada corak autokratik. Sehubungan ilu, dapat disimpulkan bahawa

secara umumnya kajian yang telah dijalankan ini menyokong kajian lepas walaupun umur dan

tahap kematangan sampel berbeza dengan kajian yang dijalankan sekarang.

Sementara itu, kajian Shaharudin (2004) mendapati alet muda lebih menggemari gaya

kepimpinan jurulatih jenis latihan dan arahan serta sosial. Dapatan kajian ini tidak menyokong

kajian Shaharudin. Ini mungkin kerana lempoh penglibatan atlet bersamajurulatih dan ahli

pasukan adalah singkat. Di samping itu, kebanyakan pasukan sekolah menggalakkan atlet

berlatih sendiri semasa latihan pusat dijalankan. Oleh itu. pergaulan sesama atlet dan juga atlet

dengan jurulatih adalah terhad dan menyebabkan mereka tidak memahami gaya kepimpinan

yang ditunjukkan oleh jurulatih.

A good sports leader can direct certain sporting situations or sports sessions to help guide and

motivate groups of people on skills, regulations and health and safety for example. Sports

leadership is how a sports leader achieves their aims of a session or competition. Successful

sports leaders combine good performance and leadership skills. This helps achieve both

personal and team goals. Sports leaders possess common factors as well as specifi c skills and

qualities that make them successful in sporting situations. A good sports leader will show

leadership qualities through their planning, delivery and evaluation of each sports session.

The Five Components of Excellence in Sports

In order to perform at a level of excellence in sports, one must have five components working for them in tandem:

Information

Motivation

Proper equipment

Fitness

Skills.

Leadership and the role of a leader in sports

Successful teams have strong leaders and the importance of this role is evident in all categories

of sports. The performance of a leader is very clear in interactive games and during matches.

Although less obvious in co-active situations, the leader’s contribution to the effectiveness of a

team’s performance is also influential.

Leadership maybe considered as a behavioural process that influences individuals and groups

towards set goals. As such, a leader has the dual function of ensuring player satisfaction while

steering the individual or group to success.

The qualities of an effective leader:

There are three traditional types of leadership used in sports varying from an amateur level up

to the elite level. Many coaches across team or individual sports will have characteristics from

one of these styles if not all.

1)      Autocratic Leaders

2)      Democratic Leaders

3)      Laissez-Faire Leaders

Firstly, the Autocratic style of leadership tends to make all the decisions and is motivated

to complete the task as quickly and effectively as possible. This leadership style is ‘authoritarian’

and does not take into account the opinions or preferences of the group. The autocratic leader

will not delegate responsibility and focuses on group performance and achieving groups. This

style would be most effective when quick decisions are needed for large groups/teams i.e.

whole team warm up session, when groups are hostile and discipline is needed, in the cognitive

stages of learning (Beginners).

Secondly, the Democratic style of leadership tends to share the decisions with the group

and is often ready to delegate responsibility. This type of leadership believes in consultation and

is interested in developing meaningful interpersonal relationships within the team. The belief is

that is that by giving ‘ownership’ of the task to each individual, the group will work harder,

developing unity and a common purpose. This style would be effective in a co-active game or

when time constraints are not as exacting , personal support may be required , if groups are

small and when in the autonomous stages of learning has been achieved (elite level).

Thirdly, the laissez– faire style, the leader will stand aside and allow the group to make

its own independent decisions. This style can happen automatically and will result in a loss of

group direction if the leader is inadequate. Lewin (1985) found that when subjected to this style

of leadership, group members were inclined to be aggressive towards each other and gave up

easily when mistakes occur.

The characteristics adopted by the leader depends fundamentally upon the ‘favourableness’ of

the situation. As is seen in the table below, the most successful teams will have a strong leader,

the task is clear and understood by the players and there is a positive relationship between

leader and players.

Going back to the leadership styles, an autocratic leader will be most effective in both the most

favourable and least favourable situations, whereas a democratic leader will be most effective in

moderately favourable situations.

From reading this article, you should understand how an important role leadership plays in

sports, the different types of leadership and how each is suitable to different demands and

situations. Above all, that question everyone thinks about, how to be an effective leader.

Successful coaches ranging from Sir Alex Ferguson to Warren Gatland , use all the three styles

of leadership within their role , switching from one to the other depending on the situational

need.

THE 5 KINDS OF LEADERS EVERY TEAM NEEDS TO BE SUCCESSFUL

Your leaders are absolutely critical to your success for a variety of reasons. Finding and

developing just one effective leader can be challenging enough for most teams. However, in

actuality, you really need 5 kinds of leaders if your program is going to be successful on and off

the playing field.

The 5 Kinds of Leaders Every Team Needs to Be Successful include:

1. Performance Leaders (Competition Captains)

2. Locker Room Leaders (Culture Captains)

3. Social Leaders (Chemistry Captains)

4. Organizational Leaders (Campus Captains)

5. Reserve Leaders (Sub Captains)

While some of the five leadership functions can overlap and be fulfilled by the same person,

each of them has a slightly different skill set and impact on your team. Let’s take an in-depth

look at each of the five kinds of leadership.

1. PERFORMANCE LEADERS (COMPETITION CAPTAINS)

Performance Leaders are your primary on field/court leaders.They take charge of your

team in practice and competitive settings to focus people and keep them on task. As

Competition Captains, they provide the strong vocal leadership necessary to help your team

perform to its potential during practices and certainly come game day.

Your Performance Leaders need to be highly results-oriented. They set the tone with their

own strong example and work ethic and make sure their teammates play with a high level of

intensity and accountability. Your Performance Leaders are typically your most committed and

competitive athletes on the team. Because they tend to have a certain edge about them, they

raise the level of play of everyone around them. They are serious about success and very

motivated to accomplish something special with your program.

Carolina women’s soccer coach Anson Dorrance says, “The most attractive type of leadership

to me is the student-athlete who is a coach on the field. I want a driving verbal force who won’t

let standards slip. That’s how teams with ordinary talent can win championships. Without

leadership, even a team with great talent will struggle to become a champion.”

Unfortunately, many teams lack a strong vocal Performance Leader. Some athletes shy away

from this role because they lack confidence in their leadership skills. They don’t demand enough

from their teammates because they worry too much about what others think of them. This lack

of leadership then puts the onus on the coaching staff to continually set the tone rather than the

athletes stepping up and taking responsibility and ownership of it themselves. Worse, when the

team struggles in competition, no Performance Leaders step up to calm and refocus the team to

get them back on track. The team often crumbles when adversity hits because they lack

Competition Captains.

2. LOCKER ROOM LEADERS (CULTURE CAPTAINS)

Arkansas pitching coach Dave Jorn says, "A lot of your success and failure is going on in the

locker room. Your leaders are key to managing the locker room." Detroit Red Wings assistant

coach Tom Renney echoes his statement when he says, “If you don't have good people, first

and foremost, in your dressing room, it will be a long season.”

Locker Room Leaders serve as the critical creators, champions, and caretakers of your

team’s culture. Through their words and deeds on a daily basis, trusted Locker Room Leaders

mold, monitor, and maintain your team’s culture into one that is positive and productive for your

program. In their role as Culture Captains, they determine and dictate what is acceptable and

unacceptable to do in your program, both on and off the field/court/track/etc.

Effective Locker Room Leaders take pride in your program’s culture and do everything

they can to enhance, protect, and preserve it. If someone acts in a way that is outside of

what is considered appropriate, the Locker Room Leaders will step in and set the person

straight. They willingly and quickly confront those who do not act in a way that is aligned with

your program’s vision, values, and standards. Often, you’ll find that effective Locker Room

Leaders contribute more to your program’s success with their leadership than they do with their

individual physical talent.

It is critical that the coaching staff and the Locker Room Leaders are on the same page

and support and defend each other. Following a tough practice or frustrating loss, the locker

room is often filled with upset individuals, disgruntled subs, critical comments, and seeds of

dissension. It is during these times especially when your Locker Room Leaders need to step up,

be vocal, and keep the team positive and productive. They need to constructively confront the

snipers and gripers on the team so that they don’t infect the fence-sitters. Left unchecked, these

pessimistic attitudes and negative comments corrode your team’s culture and chemistry.

Destructive Locker Room Leaders are better described as Ring Leaders. They are not

bought in to the vision, values, and standards of the positive team leaders and coaching staff

and often have their own stubborn way of doing things. They stir up problems, cause instead of

quell drama, and instigate issues in hopes of bringing everyone to their side. They often disdain

and undermine the coaches and sometimes mutinously attempt to orchestrate an ouster of the

staff.

Usually your productive Locker Room Leaders are the more senior and veteran athletes on your

team who are extra invested in your program’s success because they see that their time left to

accomplish something special is fleeting. Their advanced age often provides them with a

greater level of maturity as well, so they have less tolerance for the shenanigans that could

distract, disrupt, and destroy your team. There is often some overlap with the Performance

Leadership role as well.

Who are the Locker Room Leaders on your team? Are they positive leaders or negative

Ring Leaders for your team? How well are they fulfilling their role on a 1-10 scale?

3. SOCIAL LEADERS (CHEMISTRY CAPTAINS)

Your Social Leaders lead the charge on building and maintaining your team’s

chemistry, hence the term Chemistry Captains. They focus on the relationships of your team

and how well people bond together. They look to connect with teammates on a regular basis

and often plan various social events to get everyone to get to know each other at a deeper level,

especially outside of your sport.

Effective Social Leaders intentionally build strong relationships with the various

subgroups on your team. Subgroups occur naturally within a team based on positions, year in

school, hometowns, race, etc. Good Social Leaders are able to move in and out of each of the

subgroups on your team. In this way they are the glue that bonds the various subgroups

together, rather than allowing them to be exclusive and destructive cliques.

Destructive Social Leaders often create and promote contentious cliques, where certain

segments of your team covertly battle each other, sometimes more intensely than they do your

opponents. Further, destructive Social Leaders make your team’s social life THE priority. While

people might get along and have a good time at the parties they plan and host, your team’s

success and reputation typically nose dive.

Who are the Social Leaders on your team? How well are they fulfilling their role on a 1-10

scale?

4. ORGANIZATIONAL LEADERS (CAMPUS CAPTAINS)

Organizational Leaders get involved in the various clubs and organizations on

campus. They represent your team or athletic department on the Student-Athlete Advisory

Council, student council, and a variety of other campus related organizations. Acting as your

Campus Captains, these leaders keep your team involved and engaged with what is happening

on campus and in the community. They often plan various campus programs and community

service events.

Poor Organizational Leaders miss meetings and/or represent your team in an embarrassing

way in your athletic department. Their apathy and irresponsibility can quickly give your program

a poor reputation among athletic administrators and community leaders.

5. RESERVE LEADERS (SUB CAPTAINS)

Finally, an often-overlooked yet important kind of leader are your Reserve Leaders. Your

Reserve Leaders lead the second and third string athletes on your team. Because they don’t

play much or receive much outside attention, your reserves can be a very volatile segment of

your team. Keep this in mind - too many disgruntled subs can torpedo your team.

Baseball manager Casey Stengel once said, “The secret of successful managing is to keep the

five guys who hate you away from the four guys who haven't made up their minds.” Your

Reserve Leaders assist in the process of managing expectations and the frustration that can

arise with limited playing time for your substitutes.

Numbers-wise, your reserves make up a significant portion of your team, comprising sometimes

one third to one half of your total roster. So you need to find a respected leader of your reserves

who can help them understand their important yet limited role and quell any dissension that

might rise up during the course of the season.

Great Reserve Leaders create a sense of pride in their group’s unique role. As an

example, the Carolina men’s basketball reserves have even named themselves Blue Steel and

have created a cult-like following for their unique contributions to the team. Encourage your

Reserve Leaders to develop a sense of positive pride and perspective with their fellow

substitutes on your team.

SUMMARY

After reading through this article, invest the time to chat with your coaching staff about

each of the 5 kinds of leaders and how they impact your team. Slot your current leaders

into each of the 5 kinds and rate them on a 1-10 scale. If you are like most teams, you will likely

have some strengths but some deficiencies and voids as well. Make a conscious effort to

develop the leadership areas where your team is weak and be sure to praise the effective

leaders who are doing a solid job for you.

Then follow up with the various leaders on your team and express your appreciation for

the important leadership roles they play. Discuss with them the roles and responsibilities of

each kind of leader. Collectively decide which of your leaders will be the primary person(s)

responsible for each role. Be sure they understand what is needed and are committed to

stepping up and fulfilling these important roles for your team. A lot of the leadership roles will fall

to your team captains, but you should be able to allocate some of the Social, Organizational,

and Reserve roles to other leaders on your team.

4 leadership lessons we can learn from sports

I recently watched a high school state track and field championship. At the beginning of the

evening, the excitement among the athletes was palpable. Each athlete and team had such

determination and grit — but, of course, not all of them were going to win their races or the

meet.

At the end of the evening, I watched as one coach brought his female and male athletes

together. Some had won their events, others had placed, and others did not. The young women

and men did not win their overall championships, though they came in second and third,

respectively.

It was clear they had wanted to do better. The coach rallied his team in the middle of the track,

with their arms linked around one another, and talked about their journey through the season.

He celebrated their accomplishments as individuals and as a team. After tears, hugs and

laughter, the team walked away from this impressive display of coaching excited to train over

the summer and head into the next season.

Just as teams and athletes lose and move on, we can learn valuable lessons from how coaches

and athletes manage what some might consider failure. Not all teams can be the champions of

their sport — there can only be one. Coaches routinely work with athletes to help them manage

failure and rebound to be even better.

Here are some of the best tips I have gleaned from sports that can help employees (athletes)

and managers (coaches) better manage setbacks and failures.

1. Clearly define success.

Dictionaries define failure as a lack of success, but its true definition is personal and

subjective. Amanda Scarborough, ESPN softball analyst and coach, stresses that coaches and

managers must clearly define what constitutes success, mediocrity and failure. Lack of clarity

from the coach about the ultimate goal sends conflicting messages and creates confusion and

insecurity. Good coaches tell and show their players what they expect. Amanda also points out

that winning the game may not be the only definition of success.

Similarly, business managers must clearly define success, failure and mediocrity and outline

specific outcomes and directions. Just as coaches review winning plays and techniques, strong

managers provide examples of successful projects and outcomes, and coach their employees

to the desired outcomes. John Wooden, the famous basketball coach, once said that the

journey (the practice) is better than the end (the game). Wooden’s philosophy was never to

stress winning; he believed the outcomes would simply be a result of the team’s collective

preparation.

2. Fail fast and move on. In his book “Players First,” University of Kentucky basketball

coach John Calipari stresses the need for players to “fail fast” so they can learn from their

mistakes, make corrections and move on. He explains that bouncing back faster leads to

success faster. This advice also holds true in the business world. Gail Kelly, the CEO of

Australia’s second‐largest bank, explains, “How are you going to learn and how are you going to

innovate unless you fail? You need to fail fast, quickly, and then get up and off you go again.”

Adapting to a rapidly‐changing world requires the ability to fail fast, make the necessary

adjustments and move forward with confidence.

Managers can play a valuable role by helping their employees learn how to bounce back.Even

successful companies embrace failures and figure out how to move past them proactively. The

history of business has consistently shown the utility of failure a as springboard to

success. Grey Advertising actively promotes the idea that one must try and often fail in order to

succeed. On its company culture page, Grey highlights the quarterly Heroic Awards, noting

that innovation occurs “by embracing the importance of trying, failing, dusting yourself off, and

trying again.” The award serves as a strong symbol for employees to know that it is okay to be

imperfect and to keep working toward success.

Similarly, in an October 2013 Forbes article, Halah Touryalai profiled the odyssey of the

Domino’s pizza chain, which in 2009 put its CEO in a commercial to distinctively acknowledge

that Domino’s pizza did not taste good. Patrick Doyle publicly apologized for Domino’s failure to

deliver a quality product and promised to improve the recipe. This risky and honest move paid

off. Domino’s 2013 revenue was $1.8 billion, it is growing faster than its competitors and

opening more locations.

3. Recognize when to rally. Don Shula is the all-time winningest coach in the NFL.

Spending 31 years as a pro football coach, he holds the record for most career wins and is the

only coach to have had teams in six Super Bowls. Shula had a “24 hour rule,” a policy of looking

forward instead of retreating from the loss. He allowed himself, his coaching staff and his

players only 24 hours to celebrate a victory or wallow over a defeat. During those 24 hours,

Shula encouraged them to feel their emotions of success or failure as deeply as they could. The

next day, it was time to put their focus and energy into preparing for their next challenge.

Like the best coaches, managers should routinely stress to employees that everyone makes

mistakes, and the sooner they accept this fact, the easier it will be to recover. As Margie Warrell

noted in a recent article: “If you’ve made a mistake – whether taking the wrong job, or not

delivering the right result, or simply not managing yourself or others as well as you’d have liked

– the most important thing is never to let it define you.”

4. Taking yourself out of the game altogether can be costly. Coaches stress that

players need to have the courage to take the big shot, to reach for the prize instead of giving in

to failure. Research shows that task-focused thinking after failure leads to improved

performance. Self-talk that focuses on correcting errors and attaining goals will motivate you to

keep trying and move on from a setback. The fear of failure can prevent employees from trying

new things and achieving their personal best, so managers can help make it safe for employees

to fail by emphasizing that failure does not define them, and by alleviating their self‐doubt by

encouraging them to try again. As Michael Jordan said, “I can accept failure. Everyone fails at

something. But, I can’t accept not trying.”

Managers must recognize that in business, as in sports, failure is possible and frequent. What

happens afterward is what is important. I offer you these words to live by from coach Tom

Krause, the co-author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”: “There are no failures – just experiences

and your reactions to them.”

The Coach Behind The Longest Winning Streak In Sports History Shows How To Build A

Champion Business Team

Here are three valuable team-building lessons based on the longest winning streak in sports

history.

1) Wins are the result of a bigger mission. 

A great coach knows how to execute game winning plays, but inspiration is often about the

intangibles beyond X’s and O’s. “De La Salle doesn’t win because of anything Bob Ladouceur

does. They win because of who he is,” says Hayes.

Coach Lad stands for something bigger than winning games; he stands for commitment,

accountability, and pushing the bounds of human achievement. “As a coach you can know who

to block and what play to call, but it has no meaning unless the kids know who you are,” says

Ladouceur. “Our kids aren’t fighting for wins. They’re fighting for a belief in what we stand for.”

Neil Hayes told me about the moment he realized that Coach Lad’s story had to be told. It

happened during halftime of a game when his team played poorly. The coach walked into the

locker room and his team “looked at their coach, begging for wisdom, his guidance.” Lad didn’t

give them a traditional pep talk. Instead he said, “Why do I always have to be the problem

solver? Group problem-solving is a skill you will use your whole life. Figure it out.” And with that

the most successful high school football coach in history walked out, leaving the players to

come up with their own solution. This example is very consistent with Coach Lad’s bigger

mission to use football as a tool to teach life lessons.

“The game by itself doesn’t stand tall,” Lad told author Neil Hayes. “The violence isn’t what

attracts me to it. It’s getting kids to play together and to get along with each other. The game

should be a teaching tool. It doesn’t stand tall on its own.”

Former Spartan player Scott Hugo was the team’s co-captain in the 2004 season. Hugo studied

at Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship and is attending Harvard law school. “Coach Lad

always viewed the sport of football as a training ground for life,” Hugo told me. “Victories were

the byproduct of the program’s emphasis on the development of young men. Coach Lad’s

secret, in my opinion, is that he built a coaching staff and a program that instills values like

commitment, character, love, respect, and discipline into its players.”

2) Your actions had better back your words. 

Neil Hayes or players like Hugo would have labeled the coach as insincere had they not seen

him back his words with small actions every day. “Coach Lad is a successful leader because

he cares about the players and seeks to bring out the best in us. That is why he earns such

lifelong loyalty and admiration,” says Hugo.

When Hayes first appeared on campus to write about the program, he noticed that very few

trophies or visible reminders of the streak adorned the campus. Hayes had a brief meeting with

Lad and his assistant, Terry Eidson, as the two were cleaning up the coach’s office at the end of

a season. Hayes was shocked at the mementos they threw in a dumpster. “I remember seeing a

deflated coach of the year football. They laughed, and tossed it in the dumpster without a

moment’s hesitation. It struck me because those things weren’t important. The things that

motivate a lot of other people in sports didn’t motivate them.”

During one team meeting Hayes heard Coach Lad tell the players, “I’m focused one hundred

percent on you guys as a team. I want you to become what you’re capable of becoming. It has

nothing to do with wins.” Every word, every action supported Coach Lad’s bigger mission to

develop the players’ discipline, character, and dedication to the team’s success.

3) Hold each other accountable for the goals you set. Coach Lad used a stunningly

effective motivational technique he called “commitment cards.”  

Each week Coach Lad gave every player a white index card to write down a practice goal, a

game goal, and a conditioning goal. The players would stand up at the weekly meeting,

announce the goal and, most important, to whom they were pledging their commitment. It was

the other player’s job to stand up the next week and tell the team if the player had accomplished

his goals. “It was so powerful, it was spine-tingling,” remembers Hayes.

Former Spartan Cam Colvin had lost both of his parents by his junior season. He went on to

play for The University of Oregon and the 49ers before being sidelined with injuries. Today he’s

a successful real estate developer who recalls the impact of commitment cards. “It was an

amazing bonding opportunity. For example, I’d commit to you that I would catch 100 balls after

practice, 5 game-day catches, 2 touchdowns, and no missed blocks. It was our way of setting

goals for the week and to getting them done. It made us closer. We policed ourselves.”

According to Scott Hugo, who still speaks in the present tense, “The team always comes first,

and part of being a Spartan is proving to your teammates and your coaches that you can be

depended on. That’s why we fight so hard for one another, why we commit everything we have

to our preparation, so we can be counted on.”

Movie producer David Zelon was not attracted to the movie rights because of the winning streak

alone. He only committed once he learned what had happened after the streak ended. Coach

Lad had suffered a heart attack and one of their star players—Terrance Kelly—was shot and

killed near his Richmond home. The streak ended in the first game of the season. The story of

how the players fought their way back as a team gave Zelon the dramatic narrative he was

seeking, and the deeper message he intended to share.

“There was clearly something very special and miraculous going on with this guy Bob

Ladouceur,” says Zelon. “It wasn’t so much his wins, which were remarkable of course, that got

to me. It was the ability he had to get these kids to commit to each other so strongly, even when

things looked like they were going south, that was so powerful.”

A team of people will not hold themselves accountable, sacrifice, and fight for just any company

or program, but they will fight for leaders who stand for more than winning.When each of the

players on your business team commit to fight as one—not for themselves, but for each other—

magical things happen. The wins will take care of themselves.