Defining WINNING as a Mix of Outstanding Performance and Outstanding Behavior
During recent months, I have been helping Sandboarding Peru integrate behavioral principles into its coaching framework for underprivileged children and youth doing sandboarding in Huacachina, Peru. The approach and process developed, which utilizes the unique power of sport to provide a school for developing life skills and citizenship, have the potential to be scaled and replicated in other projects, sports and countries.
Through a series of workshops with the Peruvian sandboarders and their parents and instructors, I have developed a set of nine behavioral principles. The principles, which define winning as a mix of outstanding performance and outstanding behavior, are as follows:
SANDBOARDERS’ PRINCIPLES
PERFORMANCE PRINCIPLES
1. CONFIDENCE: I embrace the attitude that everything is possible
2. DISCIPLINE: I come to every training session, work in a smart and focused way and give my best
3. PERSEVERANCE: I show that I can perform even better than my coaches and others think
TEAM PRINCIPLES
4. HONESTY: I pat my team members on the shoulder every time they show sportsmanship and fair play
5. RESPECT: I treat my team members and coaches, as I would like to them to treat me
6. TEAMWORK: I bring a positive spirit of camaraderie and collaboration to my team and ensure that everybody is feeling included, accepted and cared for
COMMUNITY PRINCIPLES
7. CITIZENSHIP: I volunteer at least one hour of my time every week to support my community, especially to help keeping the sand dunes in Huacachina clean
8. GIVE: I value unselfishly helping others
9. RESPONSIBILITY: I show that I am a worthy role model – on and off the sand dunes
The behavioral principles are now being integrated into the coaching framework for sandboarding in Huacachina, Peru. Huacachina, which is an oasis 300 kilometers south of Lima, offers spectacular scenery and an ideal training ground for sandboarding with some of the biggest sand dunes in the world.
The work in Huacachina has been endorsed by the leadership of the Regional Government of Ica, Peru, for instance through its presence at a principles signing ceremony on 20 November 2015. The support is expected to offer new opportunities for more children and youth to do sandboarding, for instance by offering a sandboarding summer school to a large number of children and youth in the local area. Furthermore, one of the sandboarders, 16-year-old Aldahir Herhuay, is currently being considered for a potential opportunity to represent Peru as a snowboarder at the 2016 Youth Olympic Winter Games in Norway, on the basis of support by the Peruvian Olympic Committee.
For other examples of similar support of mine to projects evolving around sport, children, values and positive societal change, see http://minc.ch/about-giving.html