Roles

The Importance of Roles     PARENTS     Players     Coaches
Kevin Eastman
I’ve written about this before, but it seems like an appropriate time to revisit the subject.  I see lots of articles and comments about roles, and we all know they are important.  But I often read comments come from players that may be questioning roles.  Maybe we can hit on this subject again in a way that you or your players can look at roles in a different light.

One thing I truly believe: to win championships, or to exceed expectations, players have to be in the right role (that’s the coaches’ responsibility) and they have to embrace and execute that role (that’s the players responsibility).  The problem comes from the lack of understanding of the importance of roles to successful teams.

Many players see a role more from the standpoint of what they are “not allowed” to do, whereas players on a successful team see a role as the “value” they bring.  The value that a role brings is what is most important.

The reason we have a chance to succeed every year is that our players embrace their roles so well.  We ask them to become all-stars at their roles.

We also let them know that we understand that not everyone may have the role he wants — but they have to understand that that role is what brings the greatest value to the team. This way they see their role as a very key part of our success.  They couldn’t get out on the floor fast enough to show people that they were the best at the role they were given!  They knew they brought value to the team and impacted our success.

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