Stretching and Fixing Relationships

Photo courtesy of UWGB Website

Got the chance to watch Getting Players to Play Hard: Revised Edition by Coach Divilbiss and loved it. The most outstanding point of the entire video was when Coach Divilbiss talked about the idea of constantly "stretching and fixing" your relationships with players. "Stretching and fixing" is the process by which you stretch your players comfort level on discipline and playing hard and then build the relationship back up after the stretching is over. You push them farther than they want to go, they get mad at you, you build the relationship back up within that stretched comfort zone, and then you proceed to stretch it even farther. It's a great concept and one that I think all master teacher's use. They maintain the delicate balance between pushing players forward and building them up.

 I've never heard it put this way, but it's a great way to explain how to coach! It's why I constantly remind our players that I'm doing this (pushing them) because I care about them and want to make them better, not because I am trying to be a jerk. This process is something that I want to improve upon this year as I think it's the one single key to getting players to play hard out of motivation not fear.