Bring on the Joy
What’s the story?
Coaches deliver results - right? What about joy? Passion? Is that the responsibility of the individual or the team? Or perhaps even the coach…
Fresh from our presentation at the FIFA Diploma in Club Management programme at the Federation’s headquarters in Zurich, there’s no doubt that we were in the presence of passion but it was former Arsenal manager and FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development Arsene Wenger who succinctly said: “The most important job of a coach is to help players love the game and experience more joy playing football.”
Bringing the joy at the FIFA Diploma in Club Management Programme
The Team Code take
The joy of a win is one thing, but sustaining joy for the game? That’s another thing entirely.
It was wonderful to hear someone with Arsene’s level of experience and success to talk openly not just about pursuing joy but linking it to success. In the high pressure world of elite sport the paradox of many top players no longer enjoying the game they once loved is often overlooked.
As a coach, the capacity to be able to contain the huge pressure and create an environment where players can still enjoy the game is a rare gift. Real Madrid Manager Carlo Ancelloti has an incredible knack of creating a fun environment where players feel relaxed. It’s no wonder he’s one of the most successful managers around. We could fill the rest of this article with Ancelotti quotes but this one particularly stands out:
“I like to be funny. I can't stay all the time focused, disciplined, controlled. Behaviour like that is impossible. If the players are too nervous before a game, I have to relax them, calm them.” Carlo Ancelotti
One club demonstrably putting joy in the mix is Angel City, where the culture is thriving through a sense of togetherness. Joy, levity, and fun complement determination, tenacity, and grit and make it easier to deal with the inevitable disappointments and challenges of elite sport.
“This should be fun,” says Head Coach Becki Tweed. “It’s tiring, and you put your body through a lot, and you put your mental state through a lot. But ultimately, showing up every day and knowing that you're going to laugh a lot is something that drives people forward—staff and players.”
Of course, it’s important that athletes are self-aware, understand their strengths, opportunities for improvement and build relationships with others. It’s also important that they bring a growth mindset to everything that they do. This is not always easy; injuries, self-doubt, loss of form or loss of place chip away at joy.
In this scenario, the manager/head coach needs to ensure that they don’t lose their love for the sport. Too many talented people have lost the joy that they used to feel for their sport, and too many managers/head coaches allowed that to happen.
It’s easy to forget in a role dominated by the need for instant results and strategies to ‘win’ that one of the most important roles that a manager/head coach has is to motivate and inspire their athletes. To help them find the spark required for peak performance. In short, to help them achieve or retain their joy.
Without joy, enthusiasm will be lost and talent wasted. No coach wants that on their resume.
Three actions
Find ways to role model taking the work seriously but not yourself.
Transparency, feedback and open communication are vital in keeping momentum flowing. If you have to make tough decisions, explain your reasoning.
Focus on contribution not just outcomes - everyone has a role to play in a joyful culture.