Ivana’s Insights🌎

Having the confidence to become a leader for your team is no easy feat. Many times, there can be a lack of self-belief, and there can be pettiness among teammates which can be contributing factors to hinder you while you lead.

I grew into my leadership position on my team right after the COVID-19 pandemic, so it was around my junior year. I wanted to make sure I really gave my all to the team and spoke up when needed that way I didn’t have any regrets when I left the team. Was this transition easy? Definitely not. Was it a bit scary? Absolutely. Did I grow as a person through this experience and learn leadership in other areas of my life? You bet I did.

So, here are some tips for you while starting your leadership journey. Small things that are somewhat easy to execute, can help you get your feet wet as a leader, and can help make an impact on your team immediately.

1. Lead by Example

This is a great way to begin practicing leadership skills. However you want to lead, start by being the best example of doing things a certain way. For example, on my team I always felt an importance for energy and being there for your teammates. Therefore, I started to live by this and give this to my team every day. Leading by example is always a good way to start leading, because it sets the example that you want, and it is a great way to branch into a harder area of leadership, which includes actually speaking up.

2. Build a personal relationship with each of your teammates

I noticed in my time at school that cliques can easily be formed on teams, which can be a big hinderance in building a positive culture among the team. This one might be hard to do on bigger teams, although I don’t think it’s impossible. Personally for me, the tennis team is only 8-10 people so numbers wise, it was fairly easy for me to have the ability to get to know each of my teammates. Take the time to have a decently close relationship with each of your teammates, not only to build team morale, but also because people want to work with those that they like and those they believe care about them. Your word as a leader will carry much more weight this way.

3. Have team meetings- without the coaches

Being able to meet with your team without your coaches included can serve great power. Having frequent meetings with your team can help make sure the team is all on the same page. When I was on the team, I used team meetings to set goals as a team, and also to raise team morale before matches. I really liked having meeting as a team because it helped keep every person on the team accountable without the coaches being involved.

These are just 3 tips to help you start your leadership journey as a student-athlete! It doesn’t matter what year you are or what kind of sports team you are on, these tips can be useful.