The distinction between "team" and "program"

If I had a dollar for every time a coach — and yes, yours truly — used the term
“culture,” I could retire anywhere by choice tomorrow.

So on a whim, I looked up the term in an online dictionary and the closest I could
find to it pertaining to sports is, “the set of values, conventions, or social practices
associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic.”

Think about that for a moment — successful sports programs are created and establish
a set of values and practices they hope to have staying power.

Throughout my 18 years of sports journalism, which was my previous career and remains
my current hobby, most successful coaches would concur that much of the emphasis is
about establishing a culture in order to have long-term, sustained success. I have always
espoused the philosophy that there is a difference between a “team” versus a “program.”

I could think of any number of examples but among the ones I covered regularly or
witnessed infrequently included but are not limited to, with sport in parenthesis, are:
Napa (football, girls basketball), Justin-Siena (baseball, football, girls basketball),
American Canyon (football), Vacaville (football, wrestling), Middletown (football),
Calistoga (soccer, softball), Rincon Valley Christian (basketball) St. Helena (wrestling,
volleyball, football, soccer), Ferndale (football), Tomales (football) Benicia (baseball)
Clear Lake (softball) and Cloverdale (basketball, softball). Some of the aforementioned
programs are still going strong while others have faded. I could include De La Salle
(Concord, CA) Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa, CA) or Marin Catholic (Kentfield, CA)
in more than a few sports as well. We can probably think of several other schools or
sports around the entire United States but in the interest of space I’ll limit to my own
observations.

Those programs I mentioned have (or had if success is past tense) one common denominator.
The focus was never about which seniors were graduating or how much each was losing.
The preseason narrative was “I don’t give a damn who they just lost, that program will find
ways to win.” At the smaller school level like St. Helena, Middletown, Ferndale Cloverdale
or Tomales, those schools would not win regularly because their athletes were so much better
than their league foes. They won because the program had an identity and was a well-oiled
machine from top to bottom. As a result, the team was already a step ahead of its competition.

To further divide the distinction between “team” and “program,” with the former, the emphasis
is to build for a season. With the latter, it’s about success that has staying power.

Granted, some years the roster will have more talent than other seasons, and occasionally there
will be a down year. However, one down year is not going to become, say, two or three.

So what are the keys to having a good program versus a good team?

Everyone has their theories, but just to name a few, administrative and community support,
coaching, talent and continuity of a system certainly help, too, because so much of winning
is centered around making fewer mistakes.

Developing leadership has to become a factor as well. As in, leadership from players as well
as coaches.

Why is that important? Isn’t that why you have coaches?

True. Leadership comes from coaches, because they are the adults in the situation, but having
leadership from players is also vital.

Everyone has their own idea of what type of leader is better — one that leads vocally or by
example? Both are important but the former is really crucial. However, in order to balance
the scale, you need a few players that can step in to become leaders because it’s human nature
to turn someone’s message off if it is coming from the same person all the time.

Whereas, if a few players that are team leaders preach the same message that the coach
emphasizes, then the coach’s message carries that much more weight.

So how does a young man or young lady become a team leader? There is no hard and fast
answer other than the person evolves into that role over time.

It is also important that someone stays true to their personality. If a youngster is not a vocal
person in the first place, you are probably setting them up to fail if you try to make them
become a vocal leader.

It’s also important to be a leader, and sports, once again, teaches people good leadership skills.
No matter the title, everyone who participates in sports will eventually get to the leadership
spot, or, if nothing else, they will observe, admire, and hopefully learn from the leaders that
came before them.

It’s a crucial quality to be able to lead people in a positive, supportive way without losing
respect along the way.

Leadership skills benefit everyone throughout their life, because there will always be a
situation, where someone needs to take charge and lead others to victory.