Setting Team Goals

Coach,

I don't think you can ever set your goals too high. We want to win a state championship, that is why I am where I am at right now. Now, considering the competition in our district, much less the rest of the Class 5A schools in the state of Texas, that might be a pretty arrogant statement. But, we challenge our kids on a daily basis and expect great effort all the time. Why do that, then set your goals low? Now we have other goals like, win each game one game at a time, have the best record within our own school district, win the district (conference) title, win the regional championship (advance to the state tournament), then, win the state championship.

Now, I've been at places where we'd start with "make the games the last week of the season matter," "have a winning season," etc. Those goals at my current school would not be acceptable. As long as they stay in your locker room and not on the back of a T-shirt, you should be OK.

Just my 2 cents.

Coach I think your strategy is one of the better ways to handle goal setting. I am a graduate student in sport psychology and goal setting is a major topic in the field. For goals to be most effective the players should have buy-in into what the goals are. Also you should set a variety of goals ranging from short-term goals (goals for today, this week, etc) as well as long-term goals.
The topic of setting goals that are "too high" has some mixed review in the field but I would be careful setting goals that you feel aren't realistic. Not every team has a chance to win the state championship. Now having said this, you should make your goals aggressive. If you really do have a real chance to win the region, then make that your goal. Make it a goal that would be very difficult to attain, but one that is possible. That is another reason to set many goals and different length ones. If you don't reach your end goal of winning state, you still have all those other goals you have accomplished. This can add confidence, help build cohesion, and reinforce all the good your team did over the season.
Lastly I will say that every team, player, and coach SHOULD set goals. There is a great deal of evidence that links increased performance to goal setting (when done correctly as stated above).
Good luck with your season.

When our players set goals, I have them also list 3 things for each goal that they plan on doing to help them achieve that goal. It does no good to set goals and then not have a plan on how you are going to achieve them. For example, it is great for a player to say that he wants to hit .400. But what SPECIFIC things will he do to make sure that happens??

to reach the ultimate goal of a championship etc etc you have to start somewhere. when I was coaching I wanted my team to be a little bit better when they left the field than when they came whether it be practice or a game. By being a little bit better it could be in any number of ways physically mentally or just atttude. goals are set but you reach them one day at a time.