Sample Top Ten List
Sample Top Ten List

Promotion: Top-Ten Sheets Keep Your Athletes Motivated

Dick Moss, Editor

Are you the type of statistics junkie who has recorded every performance of every athlete you've ever coached?  If so, you're a prime candidate for the following idea. Set up a top-ten (or twenty, thirty etc.) performance list for your program.

Objective Performance Sports
For sports with objective performance standards, such as track and swimming, record and rank the performances of your past athletes.

A computer database or spreadsheet program makes this task easier. Type in the name, time, year and competition, then let your computer “sort” by time. (Your team manager is a prime candidate for this duty).

If you have a website, you could dedicate a page to team records and Top-Ten lists.

Team Sports
For team sports that don't have objective performance criteria, you could rank past teams based on their finish in your city, conference or province/state. You could also use game statistics such as rebounds, steals, points per game etc., to rank the best-ever players and teams in these categories.

Advantages
One advantage of this process is that it will give you objective information on how well your current athletes are performing relative to your stars of the past.

But the real advantage is that your current athletes will be highly motivated to get on the list and move up in rank. As they move past names they recognize from the old days, their confidence and sense of tradition will increase dramatically.

Embellishments and Awards
If you want to get really fancy, you could post a certificate-style Top-Ten sheet for each event. Athletes who crack the top 10, 20, 30 or 40 can receive a copy of the certificate as an athletic banquet award.

Reference: Dick Moss (Editor), Physical Education Digest.



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