The Need for "Cultural Architecture"

If we get right down to it, the desire to shape and mold an athletic culture that is functional and growth-oriented is most beneficial to the athletes themselves. It is for this very reason why an athlete cannot be a passive observer in designing and implementing a positive dynamic. Too many times administrators, coaches, and parents will give the athlete (especially at the youth and high school levels) a free pass, arguing that the adults are the ones who must shape and oversee the quality and direction of a team/program.

This premise is a somewhat obtuse perspective....

Obtuse because you are assuming that the "adults" have the capacity to lead an organization down a meaningful and

impactful path.

Obtuse because you are denying the athlete an opportunity to learn an incredibly valuable lesson of ownership in the direction of a group of people.

Obtuse because if you don't include ALL populations of a organization in the construction and implementation of the mission, vision, and principles of the group, you are providing an incomplete template.

EVERYONE (and I mean EVERYONE) needs to be involved in the process of defining and establishing a Culture of Excellence for their athletic team, department, or association....otherwise, you are wasting time and effort (and money?). This is exactly what the vast majority of the athletic world does. And it is why we continue to have far too numerous examples of bad and dysfunctional behavior at all levels of the sporting experience - all of which is occurring in spite of a heightened awareness in such matters and the establishment of programs that promote good sportsmanship, character, etc. Let me draw out for you a very common scenario at the youth athletic association level.

It is now the norm at the conclusion of almost very athletic contest at the youth/high school level for a handshake line to be undertaken. In these lines, all participants meet and exchange "respect" between teams. This perfunctory exercise is usually a positive experience for the winning side, and a feckless exercise for the losing side. While the concept of a handshake line to promote good sportsmanship is a worthwhile cause that is (almost) above criticism, it is generally a hollow gesture. It is hollow because it has become a mandated process that provides little, in any attached value by those directly involved. You can't "force" someone to display good sportsmanship - that is something that must be internally defined and ethically driven by each and every person on the team. The creation of positive sportsmanship programs is a magnificent example of Social Engineering at its finest. In reality, the philosophy of sportsmanship must become a process that all team members have valued and established for the express desire to create ownership; and thereby greater adherence to its ultimate purpose.

This is what is known as Cultural Architecture.

Which brings me full circle to the point of disservice that this and others programs do to the young, developing athlete. This is not about an argument against promoting good sportsmanship within the youth athletic experience. This is not an argument against the message...but rather against the establishment and delivery of said message. These programs and processes for young athletes cannot be created by the adults in this equation for the sole purpose of making them (the adults) feel as if they are providing a meaningful educational moment.

It's high time we start giving young adults credit for the knowledge they (instinctively) have and then giving them the ability to design and implement programs that truly promote and advance the cause of such issues as character, ethics, and sportsmanship.

I fully grasp that a young child (6-9 years of age) may not grasp the depth of such a concept as character. But they most assuredly understand the concepts of "right and wrong." And once they start crossing into their teenage years and into high school, they know full well what character (and lack of it) looks like. They need to be shown the process of how functional, healthy programs can be established and sustained by all members of the team - this is called "ownership."

We have problems with our youth in the athletic experience not because they are not capable of making moral and ethical judgments about issues; but we have problems because far too many parents (and coaches as well as admin) believe they must be the ones to guide them to a better understanding of how things work in the world in which we live. What they are really doing is misplacing "guidance" with "enabling." Unwittingly, their efforts to educate actually teach the young adult that they are not capable of making value decisions. Even more disturbing of a by-product is that this mindset offers the young athlete an "out" - an opportunity to throw up their hands, shrug their shoulders and quip: "How was I to know?"

It is now become a critical point to remove the shackles of offering young adult athletes "enabled and protected status." They need to become active participants who can make decisions that benefit all of the team...or live with the consequences of their actions. We far too often equate that premise with being an adult....therefore asking too much of a young, developing mind. But living with the consequences of your actions is really about being a part of the human experience - which we should be teaching them as soon as possible.

Development of great organizations or teams is about "letting go".....

Letting go of the false premise that one person can control the direction that we feel we need to move.

Letting go of the belief that we must protect those among us who don't know any better.

Letting go of the belief that we promote growth and discipline through onerous rules and regulations.

Letting go of enabling being a matter of education.

Athletics is one of the greatest socialization and educational templates we will ever have at our disposal. Let's find a way for it to work for all of us in ways we may not have even begun to utilize.