What is interesting about potential is that it is a latent excellence. Being latent we know that potential is there. The issue in athletics is that potential may or not be developed.
In strength and conditioning every rep can give you a different result. Being purposeful and getting the most out of effort will dramatically change the potential of each individual and the team.
To see how the group is succeeding, rate each athletes effort from 1-10 daily. Then take the scores and multiply them together to see how they are doing as a group. Multiplying the scores is the chosen method, because striving to reach ones potential not only changes the individual, but it is contagious and effects each person on the entire team.
The following is an example two groups (A & B) of 5 people. In the first group everyone excels. In the second group three athletes do well, but are not training up to their potential. This is based upon observations and the ranking by the coaching staff.
Group A…Â 10x10x10x10x10= 100,000 total potential points
Group B… 10x10x9x8x8= 57,600 points
You can easily see how not accomplishing your best dramatically effects the teams potential. What is eye opening is that you would assume that achieving 8 or 9 out of a possible 10 was not such a bad score. But when you look at the total points the potential of the team almost dropped in half.
The old adage, “One bad apple can spoil the bunch.” is actually scientifically true. The hormone ethylene is found in fruit and promotes ripening.  It does so at very low concentrations. Apple growers take advantage of this by picking fruit when it is not ripe. They then hold the fruit in enclosed conditions without ethylene. Then the growers expose it to ethylene right before taking the fruit to market.
Remember the potential of a team can be dramatically affected by few players just as a little ethylene can change the outcome of an entire harvest. Every rep and every individual you coach counts. When building a Championship program keep an eye out for ethylene and Get them all Strong.
