The House: a simple and effective way to monitor and communicate progress
Its important players and coaches can track and monitor performance over time. Data and information and statistics tell part of the story only and can be difficult to assess and more importantly communicate. Also information on physical performance only tells half the story and misses the often crucial part in progressing towards the élite level, especially in team sports.
As players near the more elite levels of their sport physical attributes become normalised with all athletes being quick, strong and highly skilled. What differentiates the truly elite player from the very good player is their mental abilities - the top 2 inches - being smarter, more dedicated, highly motivated, a team player and a leader - a WINNER.
The House provides a means to monitor both sets of player attributes - aptitude and attitude - integrated in one place, providing Coach and Player with a simple means to monitor and discuss progress on an on-going basis.
The House concept is simple.
We create a graph with Aptitude (physical skills) as the X axis, and Attitude (mental abilities) as the Y axis. Players are then rated and placed on this graph, with updates made as a season progresses. The 'ideal' progression we might expect to see from a player aspiring to the elite level is shown on the graph as a reference.
A simple progression is then to divide The House into 4 Rooms:
Room 1 are the beginners/novices
Room 2 are those whose physical skills are high but who need to work on the mental side of the game
Room 3 are those whose attitude is good and are developing the physical skills required
Room 4 are those with excellent attitude and skills and those you want playing on the team.
We would expect most players to progress from Room 1 to Room 3 quickly, avoiding Room 2, and then on to Room 4.
Be wary of players in the danger zone and their impact on the team dynamic.
In a multi-team squad, in season, these 4 rooms maybe looked at as:
Room 1: Novice group
Room 2: Danger zone, use with caution
Room 3: Development (2nd team) group
Room 4: 1st team candidates
The House can be used to monitor and assess both an individual athletes progress and the state of the whole squad over time.
