Team Canada played well enough to qualify for the 2012 Olympics in London,
To complement a lengthy, illustrious professional soccer career in Europe, North Carolina and even Japan, her play on the Canadian women’s team throughout the 80’s and 90’s is why she has appeared in numerous media broadcasts as of late. In fact, she played on the women’s national team that qualified for the Olympics in 1996; the same accomplishment was matched by this year’s squad. During the last several years, she has been involved in numerous coaching activities, including running a soccer camp at a community center on Vancouver’s Eastside that saw the likes of soccer legend Zinedine Zidane and Mayor Robertson. She has proven herself on the field and is now teaching others how to do the same.
Interestingly her fondest memories are of playing in the NCAA at the University of North Carolina. She implies that the experience was the most successful of her career and her take on the success of that team’s dynamic differs from the common perspective: “People think chemistry is everyone loves each other…people hated each other. Internal competition was huge (at UNC)…you’re fighting tooth and nail against each other.” But competition from within the team doesn’t negate respect: “There’s respect, if you’re around great players, you appreciate it…one day they’re on your team, the other day they’re not.”
Carrie mentioned an effective coaching strategy that was used on that UNC team, something which can be implemented into the office. Apparently every component of practice was recorded and so players were constantly being ranked in every aspect of the game and so the coach “…would match the person with the best header with the worst header on the team, matching people’s strengths with the other people’s weaknesses.” Obviously ranking skills in the office is time-consuming and may hurt morale, but having the best public speaker in the office work with the shy guy in the corner on presentation skills, for instance, would be a successful and cost-effective strategy.
Another sports strategy relating to the office involves communication: “I coach now and one thing I’m doing is at the end of every practice, I have a player that tells everybody two things that the team did well in practice. It’s extremely good for team building and people can share how they feel.”
But above all, the role that sports play in developing a competitive and successful team–whether it’s the Canadian National team or a company–is pinnacle. “The team environment really improves things and people who don’t play on sports teams are often more sensitive and don’t participate in the journey as much as someone who does play on sports teams.”
Many of us simply don’t have the time to join a sports team (including me), but triggering the athlete within you and using some of the strategies mentioned by one of Canada’s soccer legends will undoubtedly push your team’s performance to new heights.
By Adam Potvin
Visit Carrie Serwetnyk's magazine at www.freekickmag.com
