How to Get Your Team to Have More Discipline

The great Penn State football coach Joe Paterno once said that "the will to win is important, but the will to prepare is vital." Part of that preparation is finding a way to instill discipline in your team. No matter how talented individual players are, if they don't learn discipline, they may not succeed when they come together as a team.

Things You'll Need

  • Team
  • List of rules
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Instructions

    • 1

      Institute a set of rules that everyone on the team must follow. Post them in the locker room or wherever players are most likely to see them.

    • 2

      Explain to players that following the rules will help them develop the habit of discipline, which will make them better individual players and a better team.

    • 3

      Give each player two copies of the rules, one to keep and one to sign and return to you. Keep a file of all signed copies of the rules so that if a player claims not to know about a rule, you have proof that he was aware of it.

    • 4

      Enlist the help of parents if you are working with a youth team. Ask them to familiarize themselves with the rules and review them periodically with their child.

    • 5

      Establish consequences for any rule infractions. For example, being late or disrupting practice translates into push-ups, laps, loss of a starting position or other appropriate consequence.

    • 6

      Model the discipline you expect from your team. For example, if you expect players to be on time, don't come to practice late yourself. Model the behavior that you want your players to emulate.