Marquette's Coach Black Increases Team Buy-in with Teamworks

Meredith BlackHead CoachWomen's LacrosseMarquette UniversityWhat is the importance of communication and how does it affect your ability to execute on game day?It is absolutely impossible to over communicate. So often the message gets lost in translation. If you don’t communicate enough, you leave room for assumptions, which can cause problems. Everything needs to be detailed, and sometimes re-communicated so everyone is on the same page. That allows everyone to focus on the task at hand, which is to win the game.What was your initial reaction to Teamworks?My initial reaction was, ‘Wow, this seems too good to be true.’ With so much functionality, my brain started moving faster than I could. It’s been a huge time saver because so often I need to check the availability of my athletes, which is very easy to do on Teamworks. We put all of our meetings on the calendar right away so our players get an alert. It’s been awesome. We had high expectations, and it has definitely met all of them.What feedback have you received from your coaching staff regarding Teamworks?Everyone loves it. Teamworks connects our entire organization, whereas before we were all working separately and communication between us was more difficult. We are all on the same page with Teamworks and are tremendously more efficient.What has the response to Teamworks been from your athletes?Last year was our first year using Teamworks, and our athletes really like it. They love having all the information they need right on their phones. This year we are implementing the travel module. I know the athletes are going to love it because we will have the travel itineraries up ahead of time for them, which is something we haven’t done in the past.Have there been any moments where Teamworks saved the day?Oh gosh, yes, so many times. Particularly when last second changes come up with our practice time. One time we had to call a practice at the last minute and I was nowhere near my computer. With Teamworks, it took two seconds to get the message out to the whole team and staff from my cell phone. That's just one of the many instances. Have there been any noticeable changes in your team since you started implementing Teamworks?There has been a 100% noticeable difference. Communicating via Teamworks has allowed us to give our athletes more time to prepare so that they show up mentally ready. When the expectation is communicated to them prior to an event, the difference is unbelievable. The biggest way I can quantify the difference is in the buy-in. Our team was on the same page all of last year, and it was our best season yet.What would you say to another coach about the value of Teamworks?I would say that Teamworks is definitely worth the investment. You have to get it. It’s amped up our team's communication and our efficiency. The coaching staff is constantly being pulled in 100 different directions. Teamworks makes our lives so much easier. I would 100% recommend it to all coaches and athletic staff.

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