October 20, 2024   |   Tagged Coaching

How to build a responsible volleyball program and team.

“I have the responsibility to work hard and get ready so we can take this team where we need to go.” Philip Rivers

Volleyball requires responsible teammates to execute at the highest level. Take a minute to read through and discover more about the importance and power of responsibility.

What is responsibility? —Responsibility is both a strong feeling and a mindset. It is the drive to follow through with expectations not only for your life but also for others. Responsibility comes from the word response. Your actions provide a response to others about your character and behavior. It’s an obligation to answer to someone else for our behaviors or actions.

What is the difference between accountability and responsibility? Responsibility is the mindset before a task and accountability is the answerability after a task. I am responsible for the execution of the task; I am accountable for how the task is executed.

What are the characteristics of a responsibility?
Take a self-test:

• I have a high level of self-control and self-discipline.
• I am honest and transparent.
• I prioritize commitments and obligations.
• I am dependable.
• I respect the rules, codes of conduct and expectations of my teams, schools, home or business.
• I set my own goals for achievement.
• I initiate what is needed for success.
• I have high task efficiency.

Dangers of lack of responsibility
Basically, any kind of sport, business, relational or emotional success requires a foundation of responsibility. When we place the expectations for our success on the initiatives of others rather than making our success our own responsibility, we do not achieve. Lack of responsibility leads to lack of autonomy, underdevelopment of personal virtues, missed opportunities, failed relationships and lack of trust.

Dangers of over-responsibility
Over-responsibility can be a debilitating mental health issue. Feeling responsibility for more than you can control leads to despair and anxiety. You know you are struggling with over-responsibility when you feel responsible for the happiness of other people. Each person is responsible for their own happiness and attitude. When we take this on, we not only enable another to blame and shame us, but we also trap ourselves. Another danger of being over-responsible is to become too severe with ourselves and others. We fear losing control and can become anxious about cleanliness leading to OCD tendencies. We can become religiously overly responsible leading to severity in judgment and abusive moral piety. Overly responsible people can become fixated on perfection, symmetry, beauty which results in comparison, criticism, and shame. Overly responsible people struggle asking and accepting help. They can become burnt out and overwrought.

Surprising Research about Responsibility: A person’s perception of how responsible they are to a team or a task or the family will be proportionate to their follow through. The higher the perception of responsibility the higher the self-discipline and initiative.

What also was surprising in the research was that students understood they are highly responsible for their own learning on and off the court but that understanding did not equate to actual behavioral actions. They said one thing and did another. Their behavior did not show they took responsibility.

Numerous studies point out that most students don’t consider they have responsibility for peers or siblings. This equates to a highly self-focused mindset and a blindness towards the responsibility to help lead, inspire, encourage or motivate others.

Finally, a powerful insight for responsibility is that students can close the gap between being victim or being responsible through direct modeling and teaching. Students developed a responsible mindset when students shifted their mindset reset grasp that the quality of an experience is not merely what they are provided with, but also linked to their own effort, attitude, passion, commitment and follow through,

Why this matters so much

Coach, this is crucial to get right. Read books, get mentors, find out specific ways you can change your team from a controlled environment to a dynamic, alive environment. Without ownership there can be no responsibility.

Listen to how coaches speak. Those who complain and blame are not taking responsibility for their team. An irresponsible coach creates a negative outcome.

Those who have gratitude and self-responsibility create transformational teams. The more autonomous, self-responsible, and dedicated to the team each student and coach is, the better the outcome.

If all the energy comes from you, the season will be a disaster. The biggest reasons coaches burn out is because they are in an energy crisis. They want the season to look the way they want.

An automaton player is a heartless, brainless, soulless player controlled by the will and energy of the controlling coach. Instead, coaches who work with students to create a common, shared dynamic vision create responsible team members.

About NBC Volleyball
Since 1979, NBC Volleyball has been a forerunner in the positive sports psychology movement emphasizing the intrinsic values of confidence, leadership, grit, and personal faith. For more information about NBC Volleyball visit www.nbcvolleyball.com.