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Core Values: Defining Your Mission

Written by: Blake Costalupes

"Do you have the imagination to to see yourself doing something truly exceptional?". Coach Jim Steen, former coach of the NCAA division III Kenyon College swim team, amassed over 30 national team championships. An incredible feat, coach Steen expresses imagination of your own success, and defining your purpose as a key ingredient to success and a purposeful, meaningful existence. This imagination of purpose, also known as one's core values, is also the key ingredient and necessary first step to coaching and creating a successful team.



The world's greatest coaches always begin by asking themselves why they coach (Gilbert, 2017). Identifying a clear understanding of your core values acts as a compass, navigating your team through a successful season. Successful coaches should realize that winning alone is not a powerful means of steering a team in the direction of continued success. Quality coaches are in the business of people building (Gilbert, 2017). The New Zealand All Blacks, one of the world's premier rugby clubs, understands this and lives by the mantra "Better people make better All Blacks". Developing your core values as a coach should be focused around 3 key levels. These levels are outlined by Gilbert (2017) in what is called the Championship coaching Golden Circle. The three levels of the circle are as follows, emanating from the inside to the outside:
  1. Why: A calling to teach sport and life skills (commitment, teamwork, courage, discipline, etc.)
  2. How: Demanding and efficient practices, competition management, team rituals and traditions (team dinners, goal setting, senior recognitions, etc.)
  3. What: Better athletes and people compete to win in sport and life (play like a champion and become good citizens)
A fantastic overview of team core values for the New Zealand All Blacks can be seen by visiting the following link: http://www.rugbytoday.com/columns/rugby-resolutions-legacy-all-blacks

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