Create Awards to Reward Effort

By Lynette Lange

Recognize and celebrate the progress your athletes made throughout the season with in-season awards. Shifting the focus from results driven awards to effort based awards allows you to provide encouragement to all players and their unique contributions to and progression on your team.

When planning awards, think of something specific to what that individual has done, is doing, has learned or demonstrated. By recognizing specific actions and behaviors that are desired and support encouraged character traits, you will set your team up to grow and strive to meet those expectations. The individual awardee will also believe in themselves as a learner, listener, encourager, etc as they are recognized for those character and skill traits. Here are some of our suggestions for awards:

• Best Encourager
• Best “event of the season” (outfield catch, slide to home base, header goal, etc.)
• Most improved (be specific about growth area)
• Most team spirit
• Best listener
• Most engaged
• Most inquisitive learner
• Best teammate
• Most cooperative
• Most helpful (be specific as to what person did)
• Best instructor
• Most positive attitude
• Success seeker
• Most disciplined skill development
• Most energetic
• Create Awards to Reward Effort
• Boldness
• Most willing to learn
• Has most game wisdom
• Gives most compliments
• Most committed to practice
• Best sense of humor
• Most responsible (be specific with what)
• Trustworthy
• Prepared
• Most willing to try
• Most respectful to coaches, referees,parents, etc.
• Most positive
• Best team “glue”(these individuals hold the team together)