BUILDING CHARACTER

AND

DEVELOPMENT
FRANK GLAZIER CLINIC Toledo Mega Clinic February 15, 2008 David Sedmak Head Football Coach Mason High School (Ohio) Office: (513) 398-5025 x 34145 Cell: (937) 776-415 sedmakd@mason.k12.oh.us David_sedmak@hotmail.com

ATTITUDE

GREAT RESOURCES ON CHARACTER, ATTITUDE, & LEADERSHIP:

The Team Captains Leadership Manual (Jeff Janssen, M.S.) Championship Performance (Periodical) Developing the Leader Within You (John C. Maxwell) Developing the Leader Within You Workbook (J.C. Maxwell) The 21 Indispensable Qualities Of A Leader (J.C. Maxwell) Numerous other books by Maxwell Changing Lives Character Curriculum (Dennis Parker & D.W. Rutledge) Charisma Seven Keys to Developing the Magnetism that Leads to Success (Tony Alessandra, PH.D.) How to Win Friends and Influence People (Dale Carnegie) Successful Coaching (Rainer Martens) Coaching and Motivation (William Warren) Coaching and Winning (William Warren)

I. What is Character? II. What is Attitude?

I.

Character:
Websters Dictionary: One of the attributes that make up and distinguish an individual and the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation. Character Counts website lists six pillars of character: - Trustworthiness; - Respect; - Responsibility; - Fairness; - Caring; - Citizenship

A) Definition of character

B) Some roadblocks to developing good character in your athletes: 1) Adolescence

- Teenagers are determining their identity naturally results in putting themselves first; - The rebellion that ALL teenagers go through can result in their opposition to the adult teaching them the positive character traits;

2)

3)

Broken homes or poor examples set by the adults in their life; Inability to develop responsibility because their parents have done everything for them;

C) How to overcome those obstacles:

1)

2) 3)

Daily Lessons pound it home; throw enough mud at the wall, and some of it will stick; Dennis Parkers Changing Lives program; Stress TEAM every day with your athletes Good Deed of the Week;
- This helps to teach them about caring, respect, and responsibility;

4) 5)

Reward good character by your athletes; Penalize poor character; Model good character
Be fair in your treatment of your players; Be trustworthy yourself Say what you mean and mean what you say; Treat your players with respect; Treat your coaches with respect, and make sure your coaches display unity among each other. - On HOW to be effective leaders; - To model & encourage good character by their teammates.

6)

Train your team leaders:

II. ATTITUDE
A)

Definition of Attitude: Websters Dictionary: A mental position with regard to a fact or state; a feeling or emotion toward a fact or state; Charles Swindell: Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it

B)

Some roadblocks to helping your players develop a positive attitude: Consistent losing; Negative environment (school, home, team, etc); Lack of self-esteem; Lack of direction; Lack of goals or dreams; Lack of resources; How to Overcome these obstacles: 1) Schedule games you can win; 2) Create a positive environment on your team; 3) Teach the players how to set and achieve goals
start small & short term, with goals they can accomplish,

C)

4)

Create a solid off-season program

then develop bigger and more challenging goals; make them right them down and look at them daily; have a partner hold them to the commitment of achieving the goal;

5)

weightlifting - this will result in improved self-esteem and confidence; Utilize testing, record-keeping, competitions, point systems; - BFS is GREAT for this; - Be creative

Get the resources you need

School (pester A.D.); Booster Club; Fund Raising; Corporate Sponsors

6)

Use those resources to acquire items to reinforce better self-esteem

New Uniforms; T-shirts & other prizes as awards for reaching certain goals or other accomplishments

7) Community Service
Doing for others tends to make them feel better about themselves, which increases self-esteem & confidence; Working with handicapped kids or others who are less fortunate can help them appreciate the things they are blessed with, which can dramatically change the way they think

IF TIME: Quest For Excellence Point System & Clubs Off-Season Testing

III. CONCLUSION
- To develop character and a good attitude with your players, you must demand it, encourage it, sell it, model it, and address it every day; - There natural and environmental obstacles to the devopment of character and a good attitude, but these ARE possible to overcome by the coaching staffs hard work.