21 November 2010

Roles in a team

Success for a team is about the team members working for each other.

Individuals taking it upon themselves to do the things that need doing. Now this can happen spontaneously in many cases. However, success comes along more often when these things are articulated, planned for and recognised.

I realised there a lot of roles that that can be filled in a team, and if you don't have a manager or coach, players step up to do them. Particularly when you let them know that the work is valuable and they are trusted to do it their way.

Player roles
  • puller
  • first cutter
  • dump denier
  • long cutter
  • hucker
  • aerial defender
  • finishers/goal catcher
  • disher
  • structure setter
Coach roles
  • skill teacher
  • motivator
  • organiser
  • optimist
  • reviewer
  • line caller
  • sideline talker
  • tactician
Manager Roles
  • finances
  • food
  • uniforms
  • venues
  • registration
At the representative level, Australia is steadily delineating these roles, and finding the people who will be managers and coaches, so the players can focus on their playing roles.

Got others?

2 comments:

  1. I like this--even if it's still just the players doing all the roles, I've been on teams that could definitely specify more who's going to do what. Having four people in the "Captain" role who are expected to collectively do all of the coach and manager roles can lead to some of them getting lost along the way.
    Other potential roles:
    Reset/Swing handler--sounds like 'disher'
    Statistician
    Recruiter

    'sideline talker' is also a pretty important role that probably can't be filled optimally by just one person, but also doesn't work if everyone is trying to say the same thing. In practice, that probably needs to be split up into multiple sub-roles, but that's getting a little specific...

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  2. As far as sideline talkers, I feel like some people are better at talking to certain positions. I for instance am MUCH better at talking to the mark or cup, than I am a down field defender or the deep.

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