The Quote Coaches Can Use to Motivate Athletes During the Offseason
Every coach has a unique spin on running their off-season program, but ultimately the goal is the same. They must find a way to sustain momentum.
Momentum is the motion of moving. Unquestionably, it takes far more energy to create momentum than it does to sustain momentum. When an object is in motion, small nudges can keep it in motion. However, that same small nudge is not enough to start it in motion. That’s the power of momentum and that’s why coaches don’t want to lose it.
If an athlete completely checks out of a sport for 7 months a year, it will take a heck of a lot for a coach to help that athlete just to get back to where they were 12 months ago, let alone improve. Coaches understand that you can’t build a program like this. Unquestionably, this means the offseason is just as important as any other season.
With this in mind, for athletes to maintain the motivation to train in the off-season, they must keep an eye on the future. Moreover, athletes must buy in to a coach’s vision for the future. Therefore, coaches must first share that vision with athletes before the off-season starts.
Using a Team Vision to Maintain Motivation in the Off-Season
A team vision must be crystal clear. It must have daily and weekly routines that keep the athlete connected to it as well. It would be a mistake if a coach inspires their athletes with the team’s vision for the next season, then file it away like a picture of a moment in time. If a coach treats the team’s vision like that, athletes will lose their connection with it, and they won’t have the same motivation during the off-season. It will be no different than how an athlete loses their connection to a team photo taken today, 1 year from now.
So, if a coach wants to keep athletes connected to the team’s vision, the off-season plan must facilitate this connection. This is done by designing the off-season program to encourage athletes to act on something related to the team’s vision on a routine basis. In other words, the off-season plan must help athletes create and sustain winning habits.
It doesn’t matter how small the habit is. In fact, the smaller the better. Small habits that are easy for athletes to commit to as they prioritize other things in the off-season are the ones that will stick. Off-season programs designed with this intent are how coaches build long lasting dynasties.
As the famous quote credited to Frederick Matthias Alexander states:
People do not decide their future, they decide their habits and their habits decide their future.
If coaches can get athletes to buy-in to this mindset during the off-season, motivating athletes to sustain momentum will be much easier.