Building Culture in Middle School and JV Sports

After a fantastic fall athletics season at Belmont Hill, the winter teams have officially embarked on their latest campaigns. While students will rally in The Loop to cheer on the varsity programs looking to break records and capture ISL titles, the majority of athletes will be competing at the Middle School and JV levels. The legacy of these teams might not live on banners or in the annals of the Jordan Athletic Center, but the experiences create lasting memories for students and alumni.

“Year in and year out, our players are sad when the season ends, stopping the coaches in the off season and telling us it was their favorite time. Three or four years out and upper schoolers still talk about how much fun they had in middle school,” said Form III soccer and Form III squash coach Stewart Steffey. “Due to the inherent pressure both the classroom and athletic field present in the Upper School, I see it as our obligation in the Middle School to make sure the boys enjoy each other's company and the brotherhood, focusing on the moment.”

Form I basketball and Form I baseball coach Al Murphy ‘98 takes a similar approach. “It always starts with the first rule for all my teams: sports are meant to be fun,” Mr. Murphy said. “It is important that all of the kids feel like they have a spot, from the next varsity star to the novice player, and they walk away excited about the next day. They feel like practice is something they get to do, not something they have to do.”  

The lasting appreciation for these teams extends to JV as well. While there is often disappointment from the players who do not make varsity, the surprising joy of JV athletics is a frequent topic for the Woodbury Public Speaking Contest or alumni returning to campus for Chapel Talks.  

This immense pride the boys feel for all these teams below the varsity level does not happen by accident. It’s the result of the culture fostered by the teacher-coaches leading them, who know the boys and care deeply about creating a sense of belonging for every player involved. 

Prior to the start of the school year, Form III hockey coach, teacher, and former USA Hockey Olympian Jamie Phinney led a workshop for coaches to share effective ways of building belonging and culture in their teams. Ms. Phinney presented examples of some of her own methods and gave the coaches the opportunity to discuss and share the strategies they’ve found to be successful with their own teams. 

Ms. Phinney begins the process of building a strong team culture before even the first practice. At the start of each season, she gives out the same survey she distributes to her classes to understand what helps each boy learn best. “I use the survey results as my guidepost to understand each kid individually and then how we can work as a team,” Ms. Phinney said. “I ask questions like, ‘What coaching style has helped you in the past? Are you a player who responds well when a coach immediately says something to you after a shift? Some kids need it, they need to process it and then they need to be done with it. Or are you someone where that doesn’t help?’”

The ability to truly know each boy is the benefit of teaching and coaching them, bridging the two sides of campus and connecting the students’ daily experiences. The academic, athletic, and extracurricular components of Belmont Hill all present opportunities to discover the best ways to champion a sense of joy and community in the students. The ways in which faculty members lean on each other as resources and share best practices is not limited to only the athletic arena. Impactful methods of leadership and teambuilding from robotics, theatre, and the arts, can be used just as effectively in athletics. Understanding what motivates and inspires a particular student in one area of school life, only helps the other faculty members instill a similar sense of purpose in other fields. 

“How far can we really stretch them if we don't actually know them as people? If I only teach them hockey, I'm going to stretch their hockey, but I could actually stretch their hockey further if they knew there was more to them than just hockey,” Ms Phinney said. “That’s where I think the teacher-coach model is at its best, because we can get more out of these boys in the space that they’re really passionate about if I let them know that’s not all they are. Because if they think that’s all they are, their approach to it is, ‘I can’t mess up’.” 

The pressures student-athletes place on themselves to perform is apparent even before the varsity level and Mr. Steffey noted how he and his fellow coaches work to help the boys see the bigger picture. “We strive to put 'team' ahead of results and personal gain. Taking care of each other, celebrating other's success and picking each other up, ultimately leads to the overall success we seek to achieve.” 

Coaches are always looking for ways to measure that the culture is clicking. For Ms. Phinney, one way to pull this off comes at the end of each practice. “We have an agreement where if we actually think that was a great practice, we will shake hands. But not every day, because there are days when that wasn’t a great practice.” 

The decision of whether or not the team reached their standard of working hard and playing for one another comes from the players, not the coach. For Ms. Phinney, that sense of ownership and buy-in is what ultimately creates the bonds carried long past graduating Belmont Hill. “If you have more ways where they can see that the culture and effort matter more than the outcome, then you’re there.”