Success results from doing the right things with the right attitude. The question is "How do you get your kids and players to DO THE RIGHT THINGS WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE?" That is where motivation comes in. As Lou Holtz said " Motivation determines what you do." As a coach you are teaching your players more than just soccer skills - you are teaching them life skills and how to be successful. You can motivate them to do the things you want them to do AND to have the right attitude.
Lou Holtz said:
"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."
As a coach or teacher you can motivate kids and teach them to have the right attitude. The patches are a visual reminder that players and students will be rewarded if they do the things the coach or teacher wants them to do. Players and students talk about them and how they EARNED them. The patches help you train your players or students to do the right things with the right attitude, and that = SUCCESS.
1. Individual improvement - That way every kid can earn one by improving and you want every kid to improve. In Rec sports, you can't judge weak unathletic kids against athletic kids as far as achievements and speed, but everyone can strive to improve, hustle, be brave, and give it 100%.
2. Attitude - The right attitude is a key to success. We have 2 A patches that can be used to motivate and reward Attitude.
3. Hustle - Hustle is CRITICAL. A team that hustles can beat a better team that doesn't hustle - we see that all the time at all levels of play, even college and professionals. The Lightning Bolt patch is great for hustle and we have it with white and yellow backgrounds. It is an exclusive design.
4. Bravery - In sports, "Brave" is a better motivational word than "Aggressive". Heroes are brave and all kids love heroes. Use "B" patches to motivate and reward Bravery, which is doing something that you might be scared to do, or getting back up when you are knocked down, and not crying if you get bumped. In school, the B patch can be used to motivate and reward students who are Brave enough to work hard and do the right thing.
5. Team Spirit - Every team needs Team Spirit, which is rooting for your teammates and caring about your team. As a coach your team will be more successful if you encourage Team Spirit. We have a "T" Patch for Team Spirit.
6. Reward Your Players or Students if They Please You - Give a Happy Face patch to players or students who make you smile by doing something you want them to do, such as following instructions. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT - by doing this you are training your players to listen to you and to follow instructions. You are teaching them that they will be rewarded is they please you.
7. The V Patch Can be for Team or Personal Victories - Team victories are great but personal victories are also important. A personal victory can be any sort of personal achievement that you think should be encouraged and rewarded. In team sports, it will make a big difference if most of your players improve (MUCH more than if only a few players improve). If your "weak links" improve it will benefit the entire team.
8. Leadership - Every team and school needs leaders - players and students who are role models and set an example for others. In sports, you can reward leadership by giving a C patch and making those players "Captains" for the next game (you can have more than one Captain). In school, the C patch can be used for "Citizenship".
9. Be very careful about giving a MVP patch - it can cause hard feelings and be counterproductive, especially in Rec sports.
10. In Rec sports such as soccer, don't give a patch for scoring a goal or everyone will want to be the scorer and no one will want to be a defender. However, you can give patches for good defense anywhere on the field (even by scorers) and for team attacking and doing the things that lead to goals. In most sports, scoring is a team effort and the scorer gets the glory, but the score wouldn't have happened without other players.
11. It is good to give Rec players a patch for attending practice but not Select players. Select Players should not need to be motivated to attend practice. There are so few practices in many Rec leagues that practice is critical to success and if you can get your players to attend practice it is a huge advantage and you will have a lot more fun.
12. Try to give a patch to every Rec player who attends a game. Coaches have tried it both ways and found that in Recreational leagues it is best to give every player who is at the game a patch so feelings aren't hurt. You might ask "What if the player didn't try?" The way to handle it is to designate special patches for specific actions. For example - a Lightning Bolt for hustle, a "C" for courage, D for Defense, A for Attitude or Effort, T for Teamwork or Leadership, Gold Star for individual improvement, etc. and ONLY give those if they are earned. But have another patch like a Green Star that you can give to the kids who attended but didn't earn a patch (an attendance patch) and the only kids who get it are those who don't earn a patch for hustle, improvement, etc.. This is tricky because you want to motivate players and maybe there is a better way, but this seems to be the consensus of Rec coaches. Some kids are difficult but a positive, encouraging approach is usually best.
13. How to Use Patches to Promote Sportsmanship - "I have been using your patches as motivation for in-game accomplishments and rewards for mastering skills assigned as "homework". However, I thought you might like to hear about another way I am using your patches that has been a great success. At the end of every game, I have my girls pick out a player or two from the other team that they thought played well and present them with a patch. It teaches my girls to look for and recognize good skills and of course, promotes good sportsmanship. I think my girls like giving the patches away as much as receiving them. When we play a team the second time, there is always a friendlier vibe between players and coaches alike." Coach Jeff, CT
Below are links to 14 handouts for soccer, school and other sports. You have our permission to copy any of them and paste them into your document and alter them to suit your needs.
- Patch Reward System for Soccer that can be adapted for any Sports. This is my favorite patch motivational system to use for soccer and other sports. It is written for soccer but can easily be adapted for other sports. All the patches in this system will work for any sport. You can simply copy and paste this into a document with your team's name on it, and alter it to fit your sport, team and objectives. Notice how this system encourages Team Attacking, Team Defending, Bravery, Hustle, Leadership, Teamwork, Listening to the Coach and Following Instructions, and teaches that all players have defensive responsibilities. We encourage you to be creative and alter this so it will best motivate and reward your players to help you achieve your objectives. If you have an idea for improving this, please send it to me using the email link above and we will send you 50 free patches if I use your idea. You will be helping many coaches and players if you share a good idea and, if you want, I will recognize your contribution. Click here to see this patch handout
- Student Rewards Program for School Behavior, Grades, Attendance and Achievements. We now have a lot of schools using our patches such as the Star Patches, A, D, Lightning Bolt and Happy Face to motivate and reward students. You may wonder how they use the "D" - they call it D for "Dynamite". This is a great handout with good descriptions and pictures. They allow the patches to be ironed-on a "Spirit Shirt" or put on a keychain and attached to a backpack. Another idea is to use the patches as a reward to Honor Roll Students. At one school, they reward the Honor Roll Students with a different color patch for each term that they make Honor Roll and also give them a certificate. They say "The patches are good because the kids can put them on their back packs, jackets, scrapbooks or whatever they choose." The patches can also be used to reward good behavior by students. Click here to see this patch handout
- Soccer Patch Handout. This approach also has pictures of the patches that were copied from SoccerHelp and pasted into the handout and explanations of how they were used to motivate players.
- Soccer Patch Spreadsheet. This is a downloadable Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet file. It is intended to help keep track of who got which patch during games and practices. This will only open if you have Microsoft Excel installed on your computer.
- Soccer Patch Handout. This handout was submitted by a Girls U-11 coach and shows the patches used and what they were given for.
- League Email Explanation about Patches. This was written by a League. No photos, but good descriptions of how to earn each patch.
- U12 "Sharks" Patch Handout. This one has photos. I think there might be too many ways to earn each patch, but you can decide what works best for your team.
- Simple Patch Handout without Pictures of the Patches. I like some parts of this one, but I think every team should have a patch to encourage every player to be brave and hustle. Bravery should be defined as winning 50/50 balls and aggressive play. If a player gets hurt they can get one, but that shouldn't be the only reason.
- Soccer Patch Handout. I like this handout a lot. It is simple and I think is a good motivational system for rewarding important things. It has pictures of the patches that were copied from SoccerHelp and pasted into the handout.
- Letter and Soccer Patch Handout for Travel Team. I like this one a lot and it has some great ideas - they give a team "Goal Differential Patch" where every team member gets a patch for Goal Differential. They also give everyone a patch for victories. As the handout says: WINNING GAMES IS A FULL TEAM EFFORT! and SCORING GOALS AND PROVIDING DEFENSE ARE A FULL TEAM EFFORT! They iron the patches on "Streamers" (a piece of cloth about 2 inches wide and 12 inches long) that the girls then attach to their backpacks. The Streamers are very noticeable and uniquely identify the girl's backpacks. Each Streamer would hold 10 or 11 patches, or if they were a little longer they could hold 12. You could also iron them on both sides of the streamer. I think this is a great idea! Another idea is to iron the patches on 2 inch wide RIBBONS, which can then be attached to a backpack as a Streamer.
- Ideas for How to Use the Patches for Baseball: My players are loving your patches. We use gold star for player(s) of the game, blue star for hitting, red star for pitching, D for defense, lightning bolt for base running, A for attitude, Smiley face for funny play. We're half way through the season and many players are starting to work on the other sleeve. Easy to apply...most of the dad's are doing the ironing. Good stuff! Thank you from Pleasanton Foothill Little League, Single A Rivercats. --Coach Tony
- Softball Patch Handout. This handout was sent by Marlena "Mo" Osteen the Physical Education Dept. Chair and Varsity Softball Coach at Barry Goldwater High School, Phoenix AZ. Many thanks to Marlena for sharing. She said: "I would like to send you a hand out that I put together for my softball team that includes what patches the girls can earn for certain things that they do on the field or even off the field. Winning was not good enough for us to so I tried the patch idea and it is a complete hit!" Click the link to see the handout.
- Baseball - Ideas for Patch Program Spreadsheet for Baseball: We had our first baseball game last night, and the kids and parents absolutely love the patches. Each kid gets a patch after every game, and they are already talking about doing what it takes to earn one of each. I made my own spreadsheet with the patches across the top and the kids names down the side, the date and team played at the bottom. I just check the boxes, so I can remember who has received what patches each game. Gold Star is "the General" for leadership. Red Star is "the Blood Patch" for extra hustle, or getting hit with a ball and toughing it out. Blue Star is "the special effort patch" for giving the best that you have the whole game. D Patch is "the Defensive Patch" for a great individual or team defensive effort all game, or a specific play. V Patch is "the Victory Patch" for each victory that the team achieves. Lightning Bolt is the "the thunderstruck patch" the other team has been thunderstruck and doesn't know what just hit them. The A Patch is given when a player has a great offensive game, multiple hits, a home run, game winning hit, or had a breakthrough offensive moment, maybe their first hit of the season. Thanks to Tim, OK, age 10 baseball coach for these ideas.
- Volleyball Patch Handout. Click the link to see a volleyball patch handout submitted by Kristy. Kristy coaches a U14 Travel volleyball team. The handout has a GREAT idea of using the V patch for "Voices" and awards it to players who are vocal - lots of talking, bench cheering, calling balls in and out, telling the hitter where to hit, encouraging talk ("nice hit", "great pass", "awesome serve"), calling for shots, calling out blockers, calling out opponents setter, etc.
- Soccer - Colorado Storm Cheetahs Soccer Patch Motivational Program Handout, Soccer Skills Checklist and Letter to Parents Explaining the Patch Program. The links are to 3 handouts submitted by Coach Dave, who coaches 3 teams. This is an excellent program that I really like. He said "I think the patches are a wonderful motivational idea, particularly as awards for the kids demonstrating newly acquired skills. I now have 3 teams earning patches, and am constantly spreading the news about how well they work. My boys wear their patch shorts proudly and can still tell me exactly which skills they earned their patches for." The Patch Motivational Handout has photos.
- Baseball - More ideas from Coach Rich, Missouri.
D patch for good defense effort, play, or knowledge
A patch for attitude/sportsmanship
Green Star for Individual improvement due to hard work
White Lighting bolt patch for a great pitching effort
C patch for catching three or more innings in a game
Green/White Baseballs for Offensive production in a game
Yellow Lightning bolt for Hustle
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+David Huddleston
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