The Culture Rep
Essential Reading for All Developers
The Thing We All Want as Coaches, But Few Will Ever Experience
November 1, 2024 | Read on my website | Read time: 5 minutes
It’s not a big win, a first-place finish, or the approval of our peers.
And it’s not a special award, a promotion, or even hoisting the trophy at the end of the season.
All those things are awesome, and each of us has experienced at least one of them in our careers. But what I’m talking about is far more special and long-lasting.
I’ve been fortunate to experience it a handful of times in my career.
And I experienced it again this past Saturday.
I experienced Camelot.
Stay with me…
Camelot is the living embodiment of your vision—a masterful performance that emerges naturally from consistently iterating on that vision over time.
It is both surprising to experience, while also having an inevitability to it.
Last weekend, my team won its first league match at the U19 MLS Next age bracket.
But anyone can win a match.
This was different:
- We dominated one of the best teams in our league.
- We played a proactive style that was incredible to watch (playing vision).
- We worked together relentlessly for 97 minutes (culture vision).
- We did it on their field.
- We did it against a team who had just tied the #1 team in the country the week before.
- We overcame adversity at the end when one of our players was sent off.
- We overcame adversity when they added several minutes of injury time.
- We overcame the emotional intensity of the match, instigated by the opposing coach.
- We overcame an injury to our goalkeeper in injury time, with our backup making a big save.
And we did it with late-developing kids in a league that prioritizes physicality, using players who were with us from the start or castoffs deemed “not good enough” by other clubs.
This is what you want. This is what you truly yearn for. This is what makes coaching a special vocation.
To take a group of people, get them to believe in a vision, lead them down a path, and do what was unthinkable only a few months ago.
But few will ever experience it.
I think one of the main hangups of development is that people think it’s an either-or scenario:
You are either a Developer who prioritizes development at the expense of winning, or a winner who prioritizes winning matches irrespective of development.
By believing it’s a choice between development and winning, we implicitly give ourselves permission to take developmental shortcuts.
Which means the things we all want, few of us will ever get.
It took us 15 months of work to get to last Saturday.
It took us 2.5 years to earn the small wins that precede this type of moment.
Coaching is hard.
Development is even harder.
It requires far more than most leaders are willing to give...
But it provides the greatest gift you can experience as a coach and a springboard to push your group even further. A roadmap to sustained success.
If development is your navigation, you too will experience Camelot (if you haven’t already).
Here are the 5 biggest hurdles you’ll have to manage along the way to Camelot…
1. Your Ego
Ego is our biggest enemy.
Which means WE are the biggest hurdle on the way to Camelot. Development is an infinite game where winning means simply continuing to show up and iterate to the best of our abilities.
Serve the vision and your people with humility by simply staying on your path.
2. Criticism
Criticism cuts deep.
We’ve got a self-critic that reminds us we aren’t good enough and are falling short. We will have doubters who will tell you that you don’t know what you’re doing.
Keep going. They don’t see what you see.
3. Imposter Syndrome
If not you, then who?
If they call you coach, then you are the right person to lead them to Camelot. Build your awareness, exercise your artistry to the best of your ability, and, above all, endure by staying on your path.
There is no one better than you to help your people do the impossible.
4. Our Soccer Culture
You are not like the rest.
And people will overwhelmingly not understand what you do. A belief in development is a counter-cultural stance that cuts against the grain.
You are playing a different game, which means people won’t get it...until they do.
5. Non-Developers
You are going to upset a lot of other coaches.
They’ll pat you on the back when you aren’t yet close to their level. And they’ll curse you as you pass them by.
Don’t mind them. You are a reminder of the route they chose not to take.
Final Words
Experiencing Camelot is like watching your favorite movie for the first time.
It’s like witnessing something you intuitively know will be deeply meaningful, even though you haven’t yet seen the full story unfold.
In many ways, Camelot’s undefinability is both its greatest gift and its largest deterrent.
People want proof. They want guarantees of outcomes. They want the shiny things, and they want them on their timeline.
I can’t predict what will come next for my team.
Sustained success might be around the corner, but maybe it isn’t.
But what I can guarantee is that our players fully grasp the importance of committing to a process that simply asks us to take the next step as best we can.
Which means we have won.
Even if we don’t win our next match.
Injury Time
A Chance to Connect Before the Final Whistle
Last Week's Question:
What is the most difficult challenge you have as a coach every week that others (outside coaching) would be surprised to hear?
One response I received stood out and will set the table for this week's question:
The most difficult challenge I face week to week is dealing with different levels of desire. The teams I coach are not playing at the highest level so it makes sense from that perspective but even that being said, I have kids who want to be play at a higher level and probably will be very soon. However, having a training environment where only about half the kids have desire to become better becomes difficult for me to manage at times, and for the kids who are giving it their all to improve.
-RJ White, (Washington, DC)
RJ's challenge is one many coaches share and can identify with.
His challenge is the subject of this week's question:
This Week's Question:
How do you handle varying levels of desire and commitment within the "second groups" at your club? What solutions or frameworks have you found successful in bridging these gaps?
Let's keep this going. I know RJ's challenge is shared by more than a few within our community.
Reply to this email with your best response and we'll keep the conversation going next week.
Have a great weekend, and good luck with your next step.
To Development,
Nate Baker
Founder of The Developer’s Way
Author of Nate Baker's Newsletter
Creator of The Daily Developer
P.S. Whenever you are ready, there is 1 more way I can help you👇:
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