High school athletes should set high expectations for themselves as coaches set the standards

Coupled together they are a powerful

I read a terrific quote this morning on Twitter: “The combination of high but attainable expectations & high standards are a twosome that is tough to beat!” Kevin Eastman, a coach and speaker, said those words and nothing could ring truer on today’s athletic scene.

Expectations and standards are too seldom identified for teams and athletes. Former UCLA men’s basketball coach, John Wooden, famously had every member of his team write down their expectations for the upcoming season each fall. He would not look at the expectations which may take some by surprise, but he wanted each player to have their own, personal high expectations and to work toward achieving them. Only at the conclusion of the season, in a team meeting, would he unfold the pieces of paper and share the individual’s expectations. Coach Wooden saw his role as coach to set the standards, which he obviously did with great effectiveness. Ten NCAA titles are clear evidence of that.

The lesson we all can take from the Eastman quote and the Wooden Method is that setting high expectations is a crucial ingredient to establishing the course of a team. And a coach that allows athletes to strive for greatness within themselves has the ability, if not obligation, to create the standards by which the team will pursue those expectations.

Yet, in reality, how many coaches embrace this type of environment? Not enough, I expect. The ones who do, though, have the opportunity to develop a team around those high expectations even without peaking inside the notes to learn where the players see themselves and the team several months down the road. It is the owning of those expectations which matters. And it is the consistent embodiment of high standards by a coach which permits a team to form and rally behind one another.

Wooden never talked about winning games. He talked about the team’s high standards and the execution of fundamentals. Even when games were down to the wire and the Bruins were in jeopardy of losing, he spoke of standards and of the need for the team to focus on their effort and adhering to the skills he had taught them. That left the players to concentrate on their responsibilities, not on the need to make a big play for the win. That would come naturally, in Wooden’s philosophy, when everyone committed fully to their standards.