Category: Leadership

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Abby Wambach’s 4 Rules for Success

Abby Wambach's 4 Rules for Success

Abby Wambach’s 4 rules for success brought this graduating class to its feet.

Her commencement speech to Barnard College Class of 2018.

“Like all little girls, I was taught to be grateful. I was taught to keep my head down, stay on the path, and get my job done. I was freaking Little Red Riding Hood”.

“If I could go back and tell my younger self one thing, it would be this: ‘Abby, you were never Little Red Riding Hood; you were always the wolf.”

“Non-athletes don’t know what to do with the gift of failure. So they hide it, pretend it never happened, reject it outright — and they end up wasting it. Listen: Failure is not something to be ashamed of, it’s something to be POWERED by. Failure is the highest octane fuel your life can run on. You gotta learn to make failure your fuel.”

“Here’s what’s important. You are allowed to be disappointed when it feels like life’s benched you. What you aren’t allowed to do is miss your opportunity to lead from the bench. During that last World Cup, my teammates told me that my presence, my support, my vocal and relentless belief in them from the bench is what gave them the confidence they needed to win us that championship. If you’re not a leader on the bench, don’t call yourself a leader on the field. You’re either a leader everywhere or nowhere.”

“As you go out into the world: Amplify each others’ voices. Demand seats for women, people of color and all marginalized people at every table where decisions are made. Call out each other’s wins just like we do on the field, claim the success of one woman as a collective success for all women. Joy. Success. Power. These are not pies where a bigger slice for her means a smaller slice for you. These are infinite. In any revolution, the way to make something true starts with believing it is. Let’s claim infinite joy, success, and power — together.”

“Women, at this moment in history, leadership is calling us to say: ‘Give me the effing ball. Give me the effing job. Give me the same pay that the guy next to me gets. Give me the promotion. Give me the microphone. Give me the Oval Office. Give me the respect I’ve earned and give it to my wolf pack, too.'”

“Don’t just ask yourself, ‘What do I want to do?’  Ask yourself, ‘Who do I want to be?'”

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We are in Coach & A.D.!

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Coach & A.D. How To Coach Girls

‘How to Coach Girls:’ Developing team chemistry

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The following is an excerpt from “How to Coach Girls,” written by Mia Wenjen and Alison Foley. Foley is the head women’s soccer coach at Boston College, where she has led her teams to the postseason during 13 consecutive seasons. Wenjen is an entrepreneur and blogger at PragmaticMom.com.

Developing team chemistry

Mia: My oldest daughter played volleyball, and her team would huddle after every point, win or lose. It looked like a very positive thing, girls huddled up, hugging each other. Sometimes it wasn’t though. A player in the huddle might assign blame for a lost point, demoralizing the group. Since the coach is not part of the team huddle, the team culture would reveal itself in these moments, good or bad. While the coach can’t control what happens in the huddle, it’s an extension of the team culture created during practices. It’s a little like baking bread; you need all the right ingredients at the right temperature. If you do all the right things and create the right environment, the bread rises on its own. Continue reading “We are in Coach & A.D.!”

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Building Team Chemistry

Building Team Chemistry

My oldest daughter played volleyball, and her team would huddle after every point, win or lose. It looked like a very positive thing, girls huddled up hugging each other. Sometimes it wasn’t though. A player in the huddle might assign blame for a lost point, demoralizing the group. Since the coach is not part of the team huddle, the team culture would reveal itself in these moments, good or bad. While the coach can’t control what happens in the huddle, it’s an extension of the team culture that was created during practices. It’s a little like baking bread; you get all the right ingredients at the right temperature. If you do all the right things and create the right environment, the bread rises on its own.

Building Team Chemistry

One my daughter’s teammates was invited to attend a national training camp. The coach told the players to kick the ball around in small groups before practice started. She approached a group and asked if she could join. A girl asked if she had been to this camp before.

“No, this is my first time,” she replied.

“This group is only for girls who have been to camp multiple times.” Continue reading “Building Team Chemistry”

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The Pitfalls of Choosing Team Captains

The Pitfalls of Choosing a Captain, Act of graciousness to be a good follower, How to Coach Girls

We will be posting the first drafts of each chapter of our book. This is the chapter on The Pitfalls of Choosing A Captain.

It’s an act of graciousness to be a good follower.

My daughter was on a new club soccer team in which half the team were friends of hers from a previous team. The captain selection process seemed arbitrary. Right before every game, the coach would need a captain to start the game, and she tended to choose the same person, Anna*. Anna is a good player – there’s at least a half dozen players at her same level – and she’s a good friend of my daughter from playing on the same team the previous year. Even though the captain’s duties on this team was solely to represent the team before the game started and determine who kicked off, my daughter felt like Anna was “coach’s pet” and resented her and the coach. Continue reading “The Pitfalls of Choosing Team Captains”