Athlete Reflection- Writing on the Bus

“Follow effective action with quiet reflection. From the quiet reflection will come even more effective action.” -Drucker

From my last blog I mentioned that I was going to write about books that I had recently read that dealt with athlete and self-reflection. The first book is “Writing on the Bus” by Richard Kent, a University of Maine English Professor and the director of the Maine Writing Project.

I came across Kent’s work while reading the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA) magazine where his concepts were being introduced. I contacted him directly to learn more about the writing concepts and after a few email exchanges he asked if we wanted to have our lacrosse team (Temple) be a part of it.

About a year and half later, Kent’s work was published and what I had a part of was only a fraction of what he introduced in his book, “Writing on the Bus”. I read the book cover to cover and was completely impressed with his concepts and the range of what he covered. He will soon be releasing an “Athletes Writing Workbook” very shortly to accompany “Writing on the Bus”.

I have used versions of his concepts at both Temple University and the University of Vermont and I plan on implementing his concepts into our brand new lacrosse program here at Stetson that starts up in the fall.

One quote that a coach shared about her team using the Team Notebook concept,

“Our team had never been so in tune with themselves…with Team Notebooks the players took ownership of their team and destiny. We had the most successful season in program history”.

Kent has set up different ways to have athletes write about their athletic experiences and explains different ways that the athletes and coaches can use the act of writing to enhance performance and to grasp the athletic experience.

 

 

One particular part that I found very effective was the use of an Athletic Injury Sheet. One year our program was hit with various season ending injuries and it was important to me to keep those student athletes still engaged and part of the team. All of their healthy teammates each had goals and expectations from the coaches. Though, the majority of injured athletes do not get the same attention. They are usually left to themselves, on the sidelines, with the athletic trainer. I was able to keep our injured athletes engaged AND on track with the rehabilitation workouts by setting up writing sheets. What they had to do:

• Work with the AT or Dr to come up with goals for their rehabilitation
• Get a “game plan” of how to achieve those goals
• Write about their thoughts and feelings throughout the rehabilitation process
• Write about what their future goals and expectations were for when they return to play

So while their teammates has writing assignments after games or practices, those who were injured would still have something to write about and this kept them a part of the group.

It was also effective because it kept their goals in sight and kept them motivated throughout their rehabilitation. They knew that as coaches, we were reading what they were writing and that we cared. It also kept them thinking about the future and how this experience could and would make them a better athlete.

If you are looking for a new way to get to your team to open up, reflect, or to focus them, or if you just love writing and sports, I would encourage you to check out the book, “Writing on the Bus”.

Happy Reading!

Nicole Moore, Lacrosse Head Coach, Stetson University nmmoore@stetson.edu