There are two ways to win and feel successful in sports. The way we typically think of winning, scoreboard winning, means we have outscored our opponent. The other way to win and feel successful is to take a Mastery Approach. This type of winner focuses on effort, learning and recovering from mistakes. Being a mastery winner is more important, more satisfying and should be the end goal.

Positive Coaching Alliance uses the acronym ELM Tree of Mastery to keep coaches, athletes, parents and administrators focused on what is most important. 

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E is for Effort. We’ll give our best effort in every practice and game. It’s more important to me that we try our hardest than if we win. If we win without giving it our best effort, that win doesn’t mean much. But if we play a strong team and try our hardest and lose, I’ll still be proud of our team. 

L is for Learning. Let’s continue learning and improving every time we come out here. If we continue to learn, we will get better. Getting better than we are now is more important than whether or not we are better than some other team. We can also think of this as competing with ourselves; if we get better than we used to be, then we are winning that competition. 

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M is for Mistakes. Nobody likes to make mistakes, but mistakes are part of learning. You can’t learn without making mistakes, because to learn you have to try things that are new and challenging, so of course you are going to make mistakes. On our team, it is OK to make mistakes. Our team will have a ritual called Flushing Mistakes. If you make a mistake, flush it by making a motion with your arm like you are flushing a toilet so the mistake goes away. If you look at me and your teammates after a mistake, we should all make that flushing motion, too. We want to learn from our mistakes and not let them discourage us or keep us from working hard.

So, remember, as long as you are encouraging your athletes to give their best effort, continue to learn and improve, and make mistakes, they are climbing the ELM Tree of Mastery and becoming a winner in sports and life.

To read more about the ELM Tree of Mastery or other resources for leadership and coaching life lessons, head to devzone.positivecoach.org!