wesome …you have just formed your university’s first ever ultimate team so you can compete in the UPA College Series! You’ve booked a field and time for your first practice and are eager to see your team running around in a fluid gel-like state! However, half an hour into the first practice you have gone into deep despair. Why? Well, 5 players haven’t shown up, half just want to scrimmage, 4 players are injured, and the rest are too busy practicing their heckling and playing 500-up. You’re stunned, speechless, and have no idea what to do! You thought everybody’s focus would be the same as yours and things would just fall into place. Ha! Not so dear fool (deep head shake), not so!

Monotone Man enters page: This unfortunate situation that lead this young player to take up co-ed hopscotch all could have been avoided with a little bit of … PLANNING!

Why could a plan have helped? A plan is important no matter what the level, age, or competitive nature of the team. It helps form realistic expectations, provides direction, and can be a huge motivator for everyone involved. Plans can range from very simple – “Dudes! From now on we don’t care who wins ‘cause I just got us a beer sponsor!” to very complex – “Okay gang, here is your second 3 month practice schedule broken down into 5 minute increments.” A plan, however, can’t just be based on the reason this team was formed because a reason can be interpreted in a thousand ways. To play at Nationals could mean to win it, to make quarters, or to just make it there. Before you decide on a plan you have to do a little bit of research through team meetings, talking to players, and your own instincts and beliefs. The information you need to find out is: what is the make-up of your team, what are the team goals, and finally, what are the team’s limitations.

Alright, lets get right to determining what kind of team you are forming, inheriting, or being paid to coach. (ohhhh … to dream!) By this I mean what is the skill level, experience, time commitments, and, probably most importantly, the focus for your players. Using the university team referred to above, you have discovered that they are straight from high school, have played 1 or 2 years, have basic skills, can practice whenever, and want to play competitively.

Now to the next step - goal setting. This is where you take your reason for being a team and determine what you can realistically achieve and accomplish. You can decide on just one goal (make the finals at Nationals) or Now when goals are being set the whole team should be involved and the coach, you, should be at the center of the process by either formulating the goals yourself after consultation with your team or acting as a facilitator while your team sets them. You need to be a strong presence in this process to insure the team goals are (drum roll please): realistic, attainable, challenging, specific, measurable, and positive (i.e. losing in the finals is not an A+ goal). Once your goals have been finalized, you need to remember that your goals will change as the season progresses (injuries, anyone?) So don’t be afraid to tweak, adjust, and build-on them. Finally and in the name of motivation, it is imperative that everyone is continually reminded of what the team goals are, and when they have been reached, missed, and/or changed. Now concerning the university team above (keeping it simple so not to piss off Mr. Editor), their goal is to qualify for College Regionals.