Who knows more about success than University of North Carolina women's coach Anson Dorrance. A resume that includes 20 NCAA championships in 28 years, a winning percentage of over 93 percent of the team’s games and 20 National Players of the Year tend to speak for itself.Success in sport is often emulated in the business world, and Karl Moore of Forbes Magazine wrote a great article outlining lessons that can be learned from the blueprint of Dorrance.
Head Coach Anson Dorrance’s success is due in part to great players and support staff but also to a style of coaching that maximizes the potential for high-performing, competitive individuals to gel into championship teams. How does he create an atmosphere where players must be competitive in everything they do (in training, in practice, and in the classroom), yet are able to come together so well as a team on the field? Competition and teamwork, this is a powerful but often elusive combination.
At the centre of his approach is an idea he learned from legendary UNC men’s basketball coach Dean Smith. Coach Dorrance measures and tracks everything his players do in practice, and calls this atmosphere the “Competitive Cauldron”. This way of measuring a player’s performance publicly within the team creates an atmosphere where competitive players push themselves to improve at every measurable metric. Dorrance uses practice time when the players are competing against each other to create intensely competitive situations to drive performance. Tim Crothers, in his biography of Anson Dorrance titled “The Man Watching” describes the approach.
“Dorrance decided that every single time a player touched a soccer ball, she could be graded in some way, and from those evaluations he could build a report card for the season. He could regularly post the rankings on a bulletin board for everyone to see, and players would be more likely to hold themselves accountable.
“Charting was a way for me to coach women without the intensity of my personality. Instead of whipping them verbally, the numbers would be whipping them. It would not be personal. We wanted to create a competitive fury in practice so that once they got into a game… they would feel at home in intense competition.” Said Dorrance.
As a leader, Dorrance has created a practice environment where he can measure and chart the metrics that give rise to a successful player; speed, agility, endurance and creativity. By creating these environments he has done two primary things; the first is to create a competitive and motivating atmosphere for players to push for improvements and know exactly where they stand on making progress. The second thing is that by the time the players play actual games, he is able to create leaders and players that channel that competitive energy and drive into beating their opponents.
Robin Confer, who was the National Women’s Soccer Player of the Year in 1997 and a part of three NCAA Championship teams at UNC, says that this system of measuring performance on key categories not only inspired her to push herself to improve as a player, but it also improved team performance.
“Every technical specific was charted and we had a bulletin board and we would go see the board as a player” said Confer. “You were ranked on all the categories and I am a very competitive person and I hate seeing myself at the bottom of the list. We created an atmosphere where everyone is one the same page and competing to win. The competitive metrics created an environment where we lost every day in practice since we are competing every day in practice. We become accustomed to competition in practice. Some people who have never been tested mentally and physically, had some trouble with it but those who stick it out can make a transformation into a champion.”
At the centre of his approach is an idea he learned from legendary UNC men’s basketball coach Dean Smith. Coach Dorrance measures and tracks everything his players do in practice, and calls this atmosphere the “Competitive Cauldron”. This way of measuring a player’s performance publicly within the team creates an atmosphere where competitive players push themselves to improve at every measurable metric. Dorrance uses practice time when the players are competing against each other to create intensely competitive situations to drive performance. Tim Crothers, in his biography of Anson Dorrance titled “The Man Watching” describes the approach.
“Dorrance decided that every single time a player touched a soccer ball, she could be graded in some way, and from those evaluations he could build a report card for the season. He could regularly post the rankings on a bulletin board for everyone to see, and players would be more likely to hold themselves accountable.
“Charting was a way for me to coach women without the intensity of my personality. Instead of whipping them verbally, the numbers would be whipping them. It would not be personal. We wanted to create a competitive fury in practice so that once they got into a game… they would feel at home in intense competition.” Said Dorrance.
As a leader, Dorrance has created a practice environment where he can measure and chart the metrics that give rise to a successful player; speed, agility, endurance and creativity. By creating these environments he has done two primary things; the first is to create a competitive and motivating atmosphere for players to push for improvements and know exactly where they stand on making progress. The second thing is that by the time the players play actual games, he is able to create leaders and players that channel that competitive energy and drive into beating their opponents.
Robin Confer, who was the National Women’s Soccer Player of the Year in 1997 and a part of three NCAA Championship teams at UNC, says that this system of measuring performance on key categories not only inspired her to push herself to improve as a player, but it also improved team performance.
“Every technical specific was charted and we had a bulletin board and we would go see the board as a player” said Confer. “You were ranked on all the categories and I am a very competitive person and I hate seeing myself at the bottom of the list. We created an atmosphere where everyone is one the same page and competing to win. The competitive metrics created an environment where we lost every day in practice since we are competing every day in practice. We become accustomed to competition in practice. Some people who have never been tested mentally and physically, had some trouble with it but those who stick it out can make a transformation into a champion.”
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