SE: K-State Soccer Using Spring Time to Develop Culture
Apr 03, 2017 | Soccer, Sports Extra
When approached about possible ideas for this fall's soccer poster, K-State head coach Mike Dibbini turned to his players. As K-State Athletics shifts to a department-wide marketing campaign centered around three words — Who We Are — Dibbini's team is trying to figure out just that.
K-State's other athletic programs are decades old, allowing each of them to lean on history when highlighting notable achievements as part of their developed cultures.
After just one season of play, K-State's soccer team doesn't have that luxury, which is why this spring is such a vital time period. It's also why Dibbini prompted his players to become responsible in creating that culture, even in more fan-focused items such as the poster.
"We had each player come up with one word that describes us and we did a tally at the very end," Dibbini said. The tally was then cut to five words — family, competitive, believe, passion and commitment — that will be included on the fall poster. "The five words that describe our team," he added, "who we are, basically."
In the fall, K-State tried to bring together more than 30 players, most who were unfamiliar with one another to start, for the program's first season. The team recorded a 4-9-3 record despite tough circumstances.
"I thought we did a nice job of doing the best we can," Dibbini said.
At the same time, last fall's best was just a start. To move the program forward, K-State has taken an inward focus aimed at creating a tight-knit culture this spring.
"We're taking advantage of the time to actually build our team culture, our values and expectations, and getting to know each other a little bit more away from soccer," said Dibbini, whose roster holds 22 players this spring, with 12 players to join in the fall from the 2017 recruiting class. "Things are moving the right direction."
Specifically, Dibbini wanted his team to take ownership in the direction of the program. Thus, their involvement with the poster.
"The ownership is key. Accountability and ownership, that's what we're instilling, between the coaching staff and the leaders of this team, is giving them ownership," he said. "We're giving them the freedom to play the game, with them guiding the technical and tactical aspects of the game, but also doing the same thing away from the game so that they're looking out for each other."
K-State has diligently worked to improve communication at all levels. They have brought in Ian Connole, K-State's Director of Sport Psychology, to help. They even formed a leadership group, comprised of players from all classes and the team captains, that meets once a week.
Ideally, the end result is to understand each other on a deeper level. As that occurs, it becomes easier to push for the same goals and expectations.
"We're just working collectively together and collaborating together to communicate better as a team and to build trust, build that family feel," Dibbini said. "Those things will apply on the field because when you're able to communicate, trust each other and become a family off the field and on the field, it becomes a stronger togetherness."
To help weld this bond, K-State has arranged a variety of team-building activities off the field, away from soccer.
This could be anything from watching a movie together, getting Call Hall ice cream, bowling, playing basketball or writing letters to the team's Fort Riley partner unit — currently stationed in South Korea. The coaching staff has also held baking contests with the team at Dibbini's house and plans to bring the team together for a salsa-making competition in the near future.
"I think when you get yourself away from the soccer environment and do activities like that, it allows us to grow and get to know each other on a personal level," Dibbini said. "They get to know the coaching staff more. It's not just about X's and O's. It's about comfort, trust and togetherness."
K-State's spring schedule also includes six matches that are far from a walk in the park. Five of the Wildcats' opponents are Division I women's teams and three of them reached the NCAA Tournament last season.
"Typically, when you're scheduling spring games, you want to mix it up a little bit and play a few Division Is, some Division IIs, maybe some junior colleges that are competitive," said Dibbini, whose team will also scrimmage the K-State men's club team. "I felt like we needed as many competitive games (as possible) because we're still a brand new program and we wanted to put them in a competitive environment to get more games to prepare us for next year, which is a Big 12 year.
"We didn't go easy. We went difficult and the results are going to be the results. We're going to do what we can to compete in each and every game and learn from them, and just see if we can be better each game that we play this spring."
As much as the off-the-field planning was geared toward establishing the program's culture, Dibbini said its spring schedule was put together with similar intentions.
"I think having that competitiveness and being able to play at the highest level will only make us better at the end of the day. Yeah, we want the (positive) results. However, the results will be driven by how we approach the game and how we prepare ourselves throughout the process," he said. "I feel that every single player and the team is moving the right direction. We may see it in the results, we may not. Everybody is going to get an opportunity to play, and that's what the spring's about. One through 22 will get on the field to learn, figure it out, problem solve and have the freedom to develop your confident style on the field."
Confidence comes with time and improvement is a daily process, something Dibbini reminds his team often.
"The evolution of this team is trying to get better each day," he said. "Can we be better today? Can we beat yesterday? We're just trying to get better each day by doing the small, detailed things of getting better on the field and communicating better on and off the field."
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