Eric Miller

Response Paper 1

3/20/24

PHED:510

Paper 1

What is the “empty cup”? The empty cup concept is that “your mind is full of so many

things. Until you empty your cup, like this second one, no more can go in”. This is important

because in a team perspective the cup will always be full at the beginning of the season, then it

slowly starts to let go of some things that do not benefit the team at all. When it comes to my

coaching philosophy, character is a big part of my team. What you do off the field is a

representation of yourself and the team as well.

The empty cup theory can be a great idea to talk about to my team. A quote I enjoyed that

I would share with my team is “the cup is running over, its running over, no more will go in”.

This example can be good for a team because I know that the athletes can put more in the cup

and give more effort. Giving more to the team helping them the best they can is what we want to

see. What can you do to add impact to the team? How can you add more to our cup? We do not

want to empty it; we want to keep adding to our cup and getting the best outcome we can get.

There are lots of examples that talks about filling the cup up and getting the best of your

team. One example I really liked was “you cannot receive anything”. Everyone needs to do their

job to the best of their ability. Yes, there will always be times when someone is in a slump or not
meeting expectations. How can the team adapt to this? What are some obstacles that might

happen during this time? The cup will never be full all the time, it is about adapting to change

and being able to fill the cup back up. When the cup is full, is when everyone is doing their part

and we are all working towards the same goal, when it is not; is when we start to ask questions

on what we can do to be better.

I will apply this theory by making sure that everyone is locked in on the same goal. We

do not want players who only what is best for themselves and only care about them. There is no I

in team and I will always go by this saying. Seeing the cup full is when we can start to see what

we can do to add even more to the cup! When it is low, we start to try new things and figure it

out together as a team and not individually. Something I have added in my team is a wheel of

punishment. The wheel of punishment consists of different punishments that can be individual or

team oriented. If somebody is late to any team activity, doing something they are not supposed to

do in game; they will spin the wheel. This creates an environment of making sure we are always

on point.

My mentor in coaching is Chris Swift. Chris Swift is the heads men’s soccer coach here at

Greenville University. The love and passion he have for the game of soccer is awesome to see.

He has taught me so many valuable lessons as a 5-year player for him. Now since I have joined

the coaching staff here, I give all my respect to him as he does so much more behind the scenes.

Teaching me different coaching techniques that I bring over to my club team I coach. He puts the

team awards over individual awards. At the end of the day nobody will remember the individual

conference awards as we only remember who the champions are. This has been the case the last
2 years and we have had a lot of success. We are continuing to grow this mindset within the

team, and I will be using this same mindset when I am coaching in the future.

10 Character elements:

Respect

Loyalty

Compete

Positivity

Selflessness

Confidence

Effort

Hard work

Consistency

Enthusiasm