Clean The Barn: A Soccer Coach’s Guide To Elite Mindset
Okay, now this might sound like an odd name for a soccer article. And I bet you can’t figure out what I am referring to as “THE BARN.”
Becoming an elite soccer players requires you to develop an elite mindset. Far Post Director and Coach Todd Kinsbury shares:
The 5 Principles he learned from Cleaning the Barn as a kid
Our Soccer ‘Barn’ and Others Across the World
The Question You Need to Ask Yourself as A Player, Coach, Or Parent
The BARN is my little name for our indoor facility.
The reason why I call it the barn started when I realized it was impossible to keep our indoor space clean… Our desks in the office are constantly dusty.
The floors are always dirty (for a variety of reasons…) and you would be shocked to see how much stuff we vacuum up off the turf on a weekly basis… But it has turned into an affectionate name as well.
Champlain Valley Exposition Center is Far Post Soccer Club’s Home for indoor programs, practices, tournaments, and futsal.
Yeah, it gets dirty but it is our home away from home and we do what we can to keep it in the best shape possible.
The 5 Principles Coach Todd learned from Cleaning the Barn as a kid
Now, I am going to take you back a way… a long ways to when I was a boy.
I grew up in Waitsfield, Vermont, and my father really wanted our family to have the closest thing to a “farm” upbringing as possible.
We had various animals and a small farm, but we were really not what you would call traditional farmers - having a few chickens, a rabbit and a few horses is really not a farm in the true sense of a “Vermont family farm.”
Still, there was always work to be done on a daily basis, and everyone in the family had to chip in to help. Everything from fixing fences to getting hay to feeding the animal to shoveling horse manure out of the stalls and I could go on.
My father would constantly make me clean the barn… I just could not understand this. No matter how much I would sweep and clean it was always still dirty.
And, honestly, I thought I had better things to do… But I am not sure why it didn’t really register with me that my dad was doing all this to help me learn.
I could completely understand when he would make his high school baseball team spend time before the season making the baseball field absolutely beautiful.
He made it clear why they were there, and it wasn’t just because he or the school wanted cheap labor. He wanted every player to understand that:
No one was beneath these little details and that all must play their small part
Everyone must take pride in their own place
Doing these sorts of things help athletes (some of which had huge egos) stay grounded and humble
All should be grateful for all that is provided
Everyone is responsible for every little detail
Coach Todd Kingsbury’s Principles for Accountability and Conscientiousness he athletes as learned growing up in Waitsfield, Vermont.
Our Soccer ‘Barn’ and Others Across the World
Fast forward to now. The barn is our indoor space. Actually, it is not just our indoor space. Centennial Field, Virtue Field, Veterans Park, St. Michael’s Turf… basically every field we use. Actually, it goes beyond that - think about every field we go to for league or tournament games… all of the hotels we stay at or the restaurants we go to with teammates or just family members… the canteens or locker rooms in Holland… We are visitors at all of these places, and the way we treat these spaces tells so much about our character as a club, a team and as people.
I loved watching the World Cup a few months ago. The storylines were all so intriguing.
But one of the lasting impressions made on me were the pictures of the Japanese after games.
And I am not just talking about the players but the fans as well. After matches, what were the images?
Hundreds of Japanese fans not just picking up their trash but also the trash of others.
It seems - win or lose - the Japan fans continue to display conscientiousness and a respect for other peoples’ spaces.
Japanese fans explain that not only is this the honorable thing to do as they are taught by their parents, this practice of Atarimae, doing what is obvious and expected, brings good Karma to the Japanese players.
Checkout this Video of Fans from the Qatar World Cup Finals to hear the Japanese fans speak for themselves.
A Simple Act of Manners Demonstrates the Good Sportsmanship and Camaraderie we need to see in Modern Soccer
Their conscientiousness and respectfulness earned the Japanese players and fans earned attention and accolades from viewers and soccer enthusiasts across the world.
Tweets like this November shot from the Japanese locker room after their upset against Germany and this video of the Japanese fans cleaning up in the stand by @FIFAWorldCup praise in in late November captured the story and show us what the Gold Standard for ‘Cleaning the Barn’ is today
They were leaving these complexes looking better than when they arrived.
When you look at the pictures of the Japanese players in the locker rooms after matches, you can see the impact of a team working together. They left it Spotless. Clean. They left no trace and in some cases nicer than when they arrived. When everybody does their part, the results speak for themselves.
The Question You Need to Ask Yourself as A Player, Coach, Or Parent:
Now I get it - everyone is busy.
Coaches have full-time jobs and in some cases families at home - they want to fly in, do their job and get out of here.
Players come in for training and then need to head out to get to dinner or onto the next activity or home to do their homework.
Parents and friends show up eating dinner or having a snack in the stands… occasionally leaving the trash behind, even if it only by accident.
We are all on the same journey together - some contribute more than others - that is just the way life is. Some “do their job” and often more while others are just riding along on other people's efforts.
The Question You need to Ask Yourself is: What type of person do you want to be?
There’s a common saying in Mental Performance Coaching:
How you do anything, is how you do everything.
Those players, parents, and role models who hold themselves to higher standards of conscientiousness - even when it’s as simple as picking up snack wrappers, are demonstrating the same discipline and respect it takes to become elite.
By taking ownership over the small things, you’re proving to your brain that you are a responsible person.
This type of evidence, that you demonstrate every time you do one of the ‘small things’, like sweep the entry area or get to practice prepared, helps you develop your self-image.
When you like your self-image and you get in the habit of holding yourself to higher standards, you see this ripple effect in your life - because you are taking ownership of your actions.
Consistent commitment to building your character shows up in your results at home, at practice, in school, and on gameday.
It will be your actions that determine how close you come to meeting your goals, so becoming the kind of person that ‘Cleans the Barn’ can be key to unlocking the athletic identify you need to launch you to your next level of success.
Here are some straightforward actions that can show your coaches, your teammates, but most importantly - yourself - that you are the kind of person who is committed to Gold Standard Results.
