SwitchedOn’s new Team Dashboard is designed to help coaches enhance their team's performance by allowing them to easily track stats and assign training sessions (watch the tutorial). Here are 6 tips (with examples) to help coaches set their team apart with this feature.

#1 Set Goals

Setting training goals for your team helps establish a clear direction, increase motivation, and focus their efforts while minimizing the risk of injury. Start by determining how much time you want your team to train each week (this depends on the time of the year, sport, age, etc.). Then, check the team dashboard at the end of each week to track progress and see if everyone met the goal.

EXAMPLE: During the off-season, a High School basketball team with 10 players may aim to train for 4 days a week with each player dedicating 45 minutes per session to achieve the most significant gains, setting a weekly goal of 30 hours for the team and 3 hours for each athlete. By analyzing the team dashboard (see image), you can see that 3 players did not achieve the goal, making it an opportune time to acknowledge and appreciate those who worked hard and met the goal while motivating and inspiring those who fell short to keep pushing forward.

#2 Celebrate “Most Time Trained” During Team Training

Praising your players for the effort they’ve put in at home with the SwitchedOn app is a great way to boost their confidence, motivation, and dedication to getting better. A great way to do this is by checking the leaderboard before your team training to identify athletes with the most “Time Trained.”

EXAMPLE: When one of these athletes makes a good play, commend their efforts with a positive remark such as “Well done! Your hard work during at-home training is paying off.” By doing this, you can also inspire the rest of the team to strive harder, creating a healthy sense of competition that motivates them to increase the amount they train with the app, ultimately leading to enhanced overall team performance

#3 Assign Sessions that Focus on Weaknesses

Coaches have a lot to work on during team training, making it difficult to address specific weaknesses. An effective solution to this is to assign sessions in the SwitchedOn app that focus on these areas, which your athletes can then complete on their own.

EXAMPLE: If a soccer team is struggling with scanning before they receive the ball, their coach could assign this 10-minute scanning session for their team to complete every Wednesday.

#4 Let Players (Occasionally) Choose Sessions to Assign

When athletes have a say in deciding the team's training sessions, they are more likely to feel a sense of ownership and motivation toward their training. As a result, they become more engaged and committed, ultimately leading to better performance.

EXAMPLE: Every week, designate one player to pick or create a training session for the team (they can send it to you using the “Share” feature). This allows the athletes to have some control while still allowing you to prioritize important sessions. You can also consider letting them choose multiple sessions to alleviate some of your workload.

#5 Use Rewards and Consequences

Effectively utilizing rewards and consequences with your athletes can be a powerful way to boost their motivation to train and create a culture of accountability, ultimately leading to increased overall performance.

EXAMPLES:

• Tell your team that the athlete with the most Time Trained will get a shoutout on your team's social media page.

• Tell your team that the athlete with the least Time Trained will have to choose 2 other teammates to give a 5 minute speech with in front of the team.

• Tell your team that all athletes below 80% assignment completion must do extra conditioning at the end of practice.

#6 Encourage Athletes to Keep Each Other Accountable

As a coach, it may be tempting to personally confront your team or a specific athlete when they fail to achieve a goal you set. However, you can promote the growth of your team's leadership skills by encouraging specific teammates, such as team captains, to take on this responsibility. This approach can help enhance your team culture and benefit the athletes as players and individuals.

EXAMPLE: Every week, choose a captain or captains to speak with the team members who didn't meet the goal set for them, such as completing an assignment or reaching a certain amount of training time. Encourage them to talk to their teammates privately and respectfully, and to communicate they are doing this to help the team and not to create conflict or animosity.

For more information on SwitchedOn for Teams, tap here.

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