February 2019 - 16

'Thank you'
Showing appreciation to all athletes a critical part of team building
By Darren Fenster, contributing writer
Anson Dorrance, the legendary women's soccer coach
at the University of North Carolina, closes out each season
with a senior letter. It's a " thank you " to those who are
playing their final season in a Tar Heel uniform, but on a
much deeper level, it's a heartfelt tribute expressing what
each senior has meant not just to the program, but also to
Dorrance.
Whether it was Mia Hamm, who is arguably the greatest
women's soccer player of all time, or someone who played
sparingly in four years, every senior received a letter from
Dorrance. And upon reading it, they felt like they left a
lasting mark on the UNC program. The words in these
letters are incredibly powerful and impactful.
But the senior letter isn't just about seniors. Dorrance
uses it as a motivational tactic to get more from the girls
who aren't seniors. Prior to playing in the title game, which
Dorrance has done more than two dozen times, he'll ask all
of the seniors to leave the locker room before reading each
senior letter to the underclassmen. By the time he's finished,
everyone in the room is chomping at the bit to play for the
seniors and send them off as national champions. The letter
helps everyone on the team understand what those seniors
mean to the program. In Dorrance's mind, those letters
were his final push to make sure greatness was achieved.
And evidenced by his 22 national championships, it worked.
What struck me most about the senior letter was the
individualized nature of a gesture that includes everyone,
regardless of their status on the team. In Dorrance's mind,
every player is important to the overall success of the
program, and he wants everyone to know it, especially those
who might not fill up the stat sheet.
If a player has a uniform on a team, that player serves
some sort of critical role. And every role - no matter how
big or small - bears some kind of impact. Many times,
players are in roles they don't necessarily like; only nine
guys play on a baseball field at one time, and at the college
and professional levels, there are always far more watching
from the bench. The larger the roster, the greater likelihood
that some players carry a feeling of insignificance to their
team. It's our job as coaches to make everyone realize that
they are an important cog in our club, regardless of how
many at-bats they get or innings they throw.
There are countless ways to make a player feel like
they matter. It may be simple recognition for something
16 FEBRUARY 2019
seemingly miniscule, like a hitter who advances a runner or
a bullpen catcher who enthusiastically catches any pitcher
who wants to throw. Some college football programs award
scholarships to walk-ons who might never line up for a
single down, and Dorrance has his senior letters.
As for me, in 2017, our Greenville Drive facilitated the
creation of " the championship thank you. "
The Drive, the minor league team I was privileged to
manage for four years, won the first South Atlantic League
title in the 12-year history of the franchise. It was an
incredibly special season on so many fronts; one that I won't
soon forget. On my drive home from South Carolina to New
Jersey, I had a chance to reflect on the five-plus months that
made our year as rewarding as it was. It was during this
drive, thinking about countless moments that made us who
we are, I realized something pretty remarkable.
It's our job as coaches to make everyone
realize that they are an important cog in
our club...
We had 49 players come through Greenville during
the 2017 season. That's the most I've ever had in my four
years managing the team. Every one of those 49 guys did
something that helped us along the way. From a guy who
played in just a single game, to the 10 guys who were with
us from start to finish, to everyone in between, I could see
very clearly in my mind specific moments that each one of
those individual players had over the course of the year that
helped us on our road to a championship. Every single guy
had their own championship moment.
The " championship thank you " began in the form of a
letter, commending the collective group on accomplishing
something it had never accomplished. In it, I also detailed
a personal routine of my own where, before every game, I
would print out four lineup cards. Three of those cards go
to the umpires, and the extra card would go to a pile on my
desk to later be used as note paper.
In the envelope with my letter, I enclosed one of those
extra lineup cards. The lineup card I decided to send to
each player was not random by any means; it was a specific
lineup card from a specific game where they had one of
February 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of February 2019
