Developing the Complete Player: Building Young Men of

Character
By Mike Masters
Director
Cross-Training Football, NY

I. Why Coach/Teach Character?

A. Developing the inside will make the outside better
1. The team with the best character will eventually prevail.
2. You cannot truly succeed without developing the whole
person
B. Coaches, not football, build character
1. Character is the key to helping a person reach his/her
FULL potential
C. Don’t let tragedy strike. (Death by poor decisions) Help to be the Solution.
D. Things to consider
1. Why coach?
2. What do you want
3. is developing players’ character important?
4. How do you define success
5. Does the Bottom line go beyond W’s?
6. Is MY character worth paying attention to?
E. 5 Benefits of teaching/coaching character
1. Adds a positive dimension to your coaching.
a. Coaching becomes whole life focused, your focus
is on the big picture.
2. Helps to show the players that you see them as
individuals not as products
3. Teaches intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation can
only take a player so far
4. More teachable moments are created.
5. Focuses on building men for life ad creating life learners.
F. Are your players as character fit as they are physically fit
1. The thing we cannot see, (heart) makes the difference.
II. Thoughts on Character
A. Character means to etch or inscribe.
1. What we do (our actions) etches on our heart. Every
action does this. Every action molds our character, who
we are.
B. Our character is our underlying core. It doesn’t blink, & never changes.
C. Do you coach performance or the person.
1. Mean look at the outside appearance NOT the heart.
D. Integrity comes from the word integer, meaning whole
E. Develop the whole/complete player
1. Think of an apple divided into 4 parts. Each part makes
the whole. Viewed from one side, the apple may even
appear whole, but the missing quarter will be revealed,
and will not be a filling
a. Lesson: The player may appear whole, but when
really needed, the missing portion will eventually
be revealed at a time of need.
2. Body + Mind + Social + Spirit = Complete Player
a. Physical – Performance
b. Mental – Player (know assignments)
 c. Social – Partner w/ the coach and with the team
(team player)
d. Character – Person
3. Slogan/Quote recited before games: “Be on guard, stand
firm in the faith. Be a man of courage. Be strong. Do
everything with Love. Play Hard, Play Smart, Play
together, Play true.”
III. Ways to teach/coach character
A. Be a role model
1. We are the Lid.
2. The kids will act the way we act. If we are cool, calm and
collected, they will be too.
3. We are the standard.
B. Posters in the locker room
1. “Know what is right do what is right.”
2. If you put them up, you have to use them. You have to
talk about them with your kids.
C. Character word of the day/week
1. This is usually an acronym, and is used in the talk of the
week and referred back to throughout the week.
D. Character talk of the week.
1. “Chalk Talk – the X’s & O’s of Life”
2. Uses the character word of the week.
3. Uses a whole planned out character curriculum w/ the
kids
4. Give lots of tactile, physical examples like the “Ladder”
illustration mentioned in the next session.
E. Team Acronym
1. Take your team mascot ie the Cougars, and make each
letter into a character word. (use the “100+ Character
words” sheet attached.)
2. The Words should be a total team mission statement. &
should be balanced toward the total person, not just
focusing on athletics, but on mental, social and
character aspects as well.
3. Now each time you say the names, ie breaking the
huddle, the name means something. You are etching
positive character traits into the heart each time.
4. Ideas for the Team Acronym
a. Laminate it and give it to the kids to fit in their
wallets so they can carry it around.
b. Give drills in practice a character name that
relates to words in the acronym, ie pursuit drill is
the hustle drill, or heart drill (see sheet for other
words that can be used)
IV. Tips for coaching character
A. Care more about character than education
B. You reap what you sow. The sooner you start sowing, the sooner you’ll
start reaping character development.
C. The athletes’ character won’t go higher than yours.
1. Go through conditioning with the kids. Show them you
are willing to go through the same thing they are doing.
D. Examples speak louder that words
1. Clean the locker room, but let them see you. They will
catch on.
E. It is REALLY who you are and who your team is. Be about more than
just winning.
F. Use character words in coaching.
1. Coaching positively. Johnny knows he needed to catch
the ball. Talk to him about focus and being calm under
pressure instead.