Tip of the Month - October 2021

Coach Monika Says…

Helping Your Team to Value Practice Prevents Undesirable Behaviour

We hear a lot in the News and Social Media about bullying in schools. How about the same behaviour on sports teams? What can you do about it? No matter the sport, teammates who regularly spend time praising, acknowledging, and appreciating each other in training work better as a unit, according to sport sociologists. When coaching a team, creating a culture of appreciation is absolutely the best defense against bullying and other issues among teammates.

The good news is that it doesn’t take much work to develop this culture. “The more coaches can do with regards to relationship building, the stronger a team will be,” according to TrueSport Nadia Kyba, social worker and expert in conflict resolution. “This is just as important as skill-building.” Here are her recommendations and ways to provide a better training environment:

• Appreciation means “acceptance.”

• Set the example

• Start team appreciation early

• Make it Fun

• Get older athletes to buy into the concept and show leadership

• Practice appreciation at all times

Practicing appreciation is a simple and powerful means of preventing undesirable behaviour like bullying on a team.

Reference:

Kyba, N. (2021, October 1). Why and how to help your team practice appreciation. Bullying prevention. Series. TrueSport. Retrieved October 28, 2021, from https://truesport.org/bullying-prevention/expert-series-nadia-kyba-msw-rsw-on-bullying-behaviors/