On Goal Setting

The Estacada girls volleyball team went to the State Finals six times in ten years, and finished second every time. “They said” – whoever they are – that the team was ‘snakebit’ – ever hear that one? Can’t win the BIG One, all those things that people talk about when you just cannot seam to get over that last hurdle.

As a coach, I had tried to get the team into the weightroom thinking that what would go on there would make a difference. Unbeknownst to the players, some of their boy friends went into the office and secretly enrolled them into our Be An 11! Class the semester after finishing second once again. The boys thought the had the talent and that class would make the difference.

From JAN to JUNE 5 of the six starters would lift everyday at 6:06 AM before school. They continued through the summer, sweating through the summer program. The team as a whole increased their vertical jumps an average 5-6 inches during that time. That makes a difference in your play at the net!

Each year, right before 2-A-Days would begin in AUG, we would take as many of the class to a FCA/Be11 Breakaway 3-Day Camp. We did this because there are no FCA Camps in the Pacific Northwest for kids to go to and it was a great ‘fit’ with Be An 11 principles. We would wrap it all around whitewater rafting on the one of the country’s “Wild and Scenic River” of southern Oregon, The Rogue. (You can see a video of the Camp activities and what we talk about here unfold at www.maxcast.com/EQualizer. It is a thirty minute video or so – be sure to see the BFS “Wall Challenge.”)

One highlight of the camp was the goal setting session. Come to find out that the volleyballers had never set the State Championship as their goal in all those years. The coach did not want the girls to be disappointed if they did not make it to the top, so the goal had always been to ‘get to state and do as well as we can there.’

After going through the goal setting segment, the girls on their own decided that the State Championship would be the goal this year.

Another this to come out of the camp was “The Creed.” The teams represented were asked to write a Team Creed, a statement of who they were and what they were about.

A side note here, the way I like to introduce the Creed lesson is with a movie clip from Gladiator. Remember at the end of the movie after the underdog Gladiator turns the upside down and wins and is confronted by Caesar? Gladiator says, “I am Maximus Desimus Meridius . . . . . . and I will have my revenge in this life or the next.” That is what he was about. That was his motivation. That was his Destiny. The question becomes, what was the Destiny of the Estacada Volleyball Team? What were they about?

Here is what they wrote and then signed off on during a Creed signing ceremony. They made copies of it for their lockers, laminated wallet sized ones for their purse, and posted a large one in the locker room for everyone to see before they went out for practice or a game. They took it to all their matches. In fact, the last thing they would do before leaving the locker room for the court, they would “Read the Creed” and then go compete.


We want something we’ve never had, so we’re prepared to do something we’ve never done. We will reach success by our hard work and determination. No fear, no laziness, no excuses. I will not give up; I will get up, and make a difference. Circumstances during the day won’t effect how I play. I will stay loyal to my team, no matter what the cost, no matter what the temptation. We are a team we will work together as one to reach our absolute full potential. We will remember always that together we achieve more. We accomplish more when we don’t care who gets the credit. We will play to win, not to not lose. Even when our bodies are physically tired we’ve got heart and our hearts will never get tired. We are a family with an amazing bond, under no circumstances or stressors will our bond be broken. We are sisters of the game!

Since they had a lot of players, good players, back from a second place team, they started the year ranked #1 and kept that ranking for 2/3 of the year going undefeated. Then they went to a tourney on the coast and lost one match in tournament play. People searched for what was going wrong. The girls are stale, listless, they’re tired. It must be the lifting early in the day, trying to keep up with their studies, school activities, not enough sleep – we have to cut out that lifting.

The coach emailed me that it has to stop. I said you’re the coach. It’s your team. If that is the decision, so be it.

The girls, however, had to be heard from. Upon getting the news, the team got together, went to the coach and said it was not the lifting at the early hour. Furthermore, they would continue to come in early and lift. “Because it there’s more going on there than just lifting.” It’s a bonding experience fostering teamwork. And it was part of their preparation – their Creed.

What happened? Below is a picture I took late in the season, the moment the girls beat the arch rivals for first place seeding and a rare Conference Championship that was usually lost to that rival.

The girls went to state still ranked #1 and won it all.

Often, the biggest obstacle we have to get over is the self. We often get in our own way and do things that hold us back – like not setting the goal – and keeping our eyes single to the glory of the Championship Dream. The major reason for failure in life is giving up what we want most for what we want at the moment. The Goal. The Creed. They help us maintain our focus and give us the strength, the motivation to surmount the obstacles, to jump over the hurdles that are there to test our mettle.

EndNote: The team they beat that year, a young team, went on a mission of their own and vowed to come back and win. Our Coach saw great talent graduated but got a younger group ready who stormed back to the state finals, but fell short to that other team on a mission. BUT the team got it all together, practiced up, many continued lifting after the example set by “The Sisters of the Game” and came back to win it again the following year. State Champions two our of three years after finishing second all those years.

Goal setting is the single most important force in human motivation. You can do great things when you have a Goal, a Plan, and a Purpose.

In All that You Do, Be An 11!

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