One of the first things talked about when athletes sit down to meet us is what are the goals for that athlete.  Trust me after two decades in this business, I’ve heard them all:

“I want to make the Olympics.”

“I want to play professionally.”

“I want to play in college.”

“I want to finally beat that dude in a race.”

As coaches, or even parents, we always say something about if you put your mind to it you can accomplish any goal that you set for yourself.  I think that is true if we are setting up realistic goals for our athletes.

I mean, I could do all the training that I want, but there was no way I was beating Carl Lewis in the long jump.  No way!

So how would we set up goals for our athletes?  

I think there are several things we have to consider in order to make the goals realistic.  I mean if a young athlete has a goal that is darn near impossible to even get close to, then are we setting that athlete up for a huge depression when that goal isn’t attained?

When determining a realistic goal for a young athlete, here are some of my guidelines I would go by:

  • How old is the athlete? – The younger the athlete is I think the more leeway you can have for a goal.  Am I really going to squash a 6 year-olds dream of making it to the NBA by saying, “C’mon junior, your parents aren’t taller than 5’ 6”.  It just isn’t in the cards.”  No.  The younger the athlete is the less you really know how that person is developing athletically.  There is no way I am crushing a dream for a kid especially if that would possibly crush his/her passion for that sport.  The older the kid gets, the better you can estimate the athleticism, the better you can narrow that dream a little bit with parameters.  That will be touched on next.

  • What is the athleticism of that athlete? – This will really hone in on an individual’s goal.  As the athlete gets older, you can be a little more realistic of said goal.  If you have a kid who is 5’ 8”, but starts to show some signs of explosiveness, then his goal of dunking a basketball could be attainable with some hard work (more on that later).  If on the other hand you can’t slip a piece of paper under his feet when he jumps, then he has several factors working against him.  That might be one of those talks where you say, “I’m not saying it is impossible, but you aren’t tall and you don’t jump real well.  If you want to dunk a basketball, what are you willing to do to do it?”

  • What are you willing to do to do it? – Okay so you are a little older now and you have some athleticism.  This is when the hard work comes in.  They say that you need to put in 10,000 hours of practice to be an expert at something.  Whether that is true or not, it boils down to what are you willing to sacrifice to make your goal happen?  And that really is the more accurate question.  

    At this point, you can tell the athlete that achieving the goal is doable, but do you realize what it will take to get there.  Are you willing to put down the electronics and spend free time on a skill (dribbling, kicking the soccer ball, lifting weights, etc.)?  Are you willing to find time when others are having fun?  Unless you are a true natural, athletic freak (which that is a real slim percentage), you will have to make yourself into the athlete you need to be to attain your goal.

  • Be specific with the goal and write it down? – I think at this point, you have determined exactly what you are willing to do to accomplish your goal.  And maybe you modify your goal from, “Playing at a big-time college football program.”  To, “Playing for a scholarship at any division 1 football program.”  You make that change because you know you just won’t put in the work to be the former, but probably could put the work in to be the latter.  It’s not giving in, it’s being realistic.  Anyways, write down your goal(s), put them up on your bathroom mirror or refrigerator, and look at them daily.  Read it aloud.  You need this to re-affirm you know what you need to do to accomplish your goal.

Like I said, I don’t want to burst a kid’s bubble, but we need to make the goals realistic for them.  I have no problem with someone saying they want to make the Olympic team, but then tell me it will be tough to train with me 3 times a week.  That isn’t a realistic goal for you then.

We basically start off with the wide, lofty goal, and narrow it down as you get older and figure out what type of person/athlete you are.  Then, you make goals that are attainable and ones you can build on after they have been met.

Photo courtesy of Sandra Foyt on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/sandrafoyt/