Lessons In Leadership

Leadership with Captain Halo

Well, in case you missed it, I was named Captain of Team Orange this week after shooting up to number 2 on the leaderboard at Athletes Unlimited! This is a reminder to keep working even when things are not going your way. Your results can and will change at the drop of a hat if you just trust the process. I'll talk about that more maybe next week, so stay tuned, but Team McCleney takes the field Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on the ESPN family of networks, so make sure you tune in and are cheering for Team Orange! Here is the full schedule of games for the weekend!

I have to say, being a captain at Athletes Unlimited is not easy. It can be stressful acting as both head coach and player all within one week, but I have constantly reminded myself to stay true to what makes me perform at my best. Leadership is all about service. I talk about this in depth with my leadership program on the RISR app and I highly recommend it for coaches and players in the softball community. I want my teammates to feel served by me, helped by me, encouraged by me. This is constantly on my mind whether I am a captain or not. I want them to know that no matter what their role on the team is, they are there for a reason and a purpose to help the team thrive. So, with that in mind, how can I make sure everyone feels valued?

I'll let you in on exactly what we are doing this week.

Affirmation Bags. We did this with Coach Murphy at Alabama and some of you may have seen this on Alabama Softball social media in recent years. Once a week every season, our team would decorate a little paper lunch bag with our name on it. Each player would write a short affirmation (something they respect, love, and or admire about how each player competes) and place it in their bag. By the end of the week, each player has a word of encouragement from every player on the roster. You want to talk about feeling overwhelmed with gratitude and confidence all at the same time? It's an amazing way to bring people together towards a common goal and build team chemistry.

I'm so excited to share exactly what I value in each person that I was able to draft to my team with them in a really personal way. Make sure you're following along on social media to see how people are encouraging each other. Coaches, please reach out to me and share with me if you decide to do this with your teams and as always, if you would like more information please reach out via the contact form on my website.

I hope you all have an AFFIRMED and AMAZING week!


--Halo