Sports Team Case Studies

How was Athlete Assessments used?

• Work with Athlete Assessments included three phone consultations with Bo Hanson, use of the assessments with all players and coaches and access to the included coaching resources.
• An Athlete Assessments Coach login was set up for Holly. Players and coaches were sent their assessment surveys using the automated invitation capability within the coach login. Each person received an individual email and completed their assessments online (in about seven minutes).
• Holly organized a team meeting to discuss the concept of behavioral profiling. The goals were to create a more cohesive team, to help athletes understand their own communication and motivation style, and to identify their respective strengths and limitations in the context of their sport.
• Using a presentation provided by Athlete Assessments, Holly explained the AthleteDISC model. Players quickly understood the core behaviors of each of the four styles and were able to self-select which style they thought they were likely to be (prior to accessing their own results).
• Each player was then provided their personal report to review and to build on their self-awareness. With the aim of creating greater understanding of each other’s personalities, and to minimize behavioral conflicts and misunderstandings, players shared their personal profiles with each other.
• As an ongoing exercise, different pairs of players meet each week to better understand each other. This is reinforced at regular team meetings where players learn more about the team and team goals. The long-term goal is to create stronger emotional bonds on three levels, being the bond between players, the bond to the team’s goal and the bond to the team’s identity.
• Another component of this process was directed towards the coaches, who also completed their own assessments. The information within their personal profiles gave each of the four coaches a better understanding of their preferred coaching style.

What was achieved? Results and Outcomes:

• Within six weeks, players have become more aware of their own sporting behaviors and very aware of the impact they have on each other. An example is in the relationship between the freshman catcher and senior catcher (who is also her mentor). The senior catcher is a ‘high D’ (task-focused, fast paced) and the freshman catcher is a ‘high S’ (people focused, slower-paced) – basically opposites within the AthleteDISC model. The two were becoming very frustrated with each other and conflict was apparent. Holly, using their Athlete Assessments showed them their conflicts over the speed of completing tasks and doing them right. Once the two realized their differences, they created a strategy to make respective adjustments and to value these differences.
• Within the team there exists even greater respect for the diversity of the players’ personalities. Players and coaches now know that to get the most out of each other and the team, they must treat each team member as an individual and according to how that individual would like to be treated. This is helping to build even greater respect within the team.
• The final critical component relates to the coaches’ coaching styles. The concept of Situational Coaching Styles was used and shows how the coaches could be more relationship focused to balance their degree of task focus. During consultation sessions, ‘Athlete Engagement’ was a key area for ongoing work. This is largely related to the coaches’ style of coaching and being able to tailor their style to suit the situation and the specific needs of their individual athletes. This has lead to creating an atmosphere at training where players feel more valued, and they want to be part of the team. At the Missouri Bears this is done to an exceptional level and is a model for other teams of all sports. Find out more about Holly and her team at www.thediamondofsuccess.com
• At the time of this publication, the Missouri Bears have just played and won all first eight games.