Many sports managers ask themselves the same question: why do some academies attract the best coaches, committed parents and generous sponsors, while others struggle with constant turnover and a lack of trust?
The answers vary, from facilities and pay to personal issues. But in my view, the real difference comes from a clearly defined mission, vision and values, the absolute foundation of any success built on a long-term strategy.
Why does your academy need this foundation?
- Clear direction and focused effort (mission): A clear mission makes sure that in your day-to-day work you can see a specific goal and are working towards a measurable result.
- Inspiration for long-term development (vision): Showing a clear goal to strive for motivates staff and players to keep broadening their horizons.
- Building trust in the community (values): The sports community, parents and business partners look for projects built on an honest approach, where everyone is treated with respect.
How do you define them?
I often come across websites of organisations that do have these elements defined, but you can tell they were either written by AI or exist just for the sake of it.
The key to all of this is asking yourself a very simple question: why am I doing this at all?
The club or academy you run or work for was set up for a reason. Most often it will be the wish to get young people physically active, and that is already a good start. But is that all there is to it?
Think about what your organisation is really meant to bring to the lives of coaches, players, their parents and potential partners. What makes you stand out? What do you give the young people in your care? Talk it over with a few people who represent your organisation’s different stakeholders and try to understand what you really are.
What you learn from this will help you put each of these foundations in place. Below is a short guide on how to word them:
Mission
- Use the “Action + Purpose + Audience” formula: A mission is not a poem. Write one concise sentence that precisely defines your day-to-day work and the value you deliver. Instead of a vague “we want to teach kids to play football”, put it like this: “We coach children from our region in the spirit of fair play, giving them a safe environment for sporting and personal development”.
- Define the problem you solve: A good mission responds to a real need in your community. Ask yourself whether you are tackling a lack of local sports facilities, or perhaps chronic inactivity among young people. Name the problem and make your mission the official, everyday answer to it.
- Do the “Lift Test”: Read your mission out loud. If a coach, a parent or you yourself cannot recite it and explain it in 15–20 seconds to someone completely outside sport, it is too complicated. It has to be simple, striking and easy to remember.
Vision
- Paint a bold picture of the future: A vision is the picture of the future that the people in your organisation want to create. It sets a clear direction and describes where the organisation would like to be in the future.
- Set a clear time horizon (e.g. 3, 5 or 10 years) so it does not sound utopian: “By 2030 we want to be the leading football centre in the region, with our own training ground, supplying young players to the top levels of the game”.
- A shared cause: A well-defined vision should be shared by everyone in the organisation: the board, the management and the staff. Run the draft past your coordinators and coaches. If this picture does not give them the inner drive to get up in the morning for training, the vision needs adjusting.
- Balance inspiration and realism: A good vision expresses dreams and challenges. Remember, though, that the path to achieving it must be credible. Make sure the goal is very ambitious, yet achievable if you make the most of your organisation’s current potential.
Values
- From words to behaviour: Slogans on a wall such as “Respect” or “Professionalism” mean nothing without instructions for use. Add a specific expectation to each one. For example: “Respect – we start training on time, we look after club equipment, we shake hands with our opponents after the match, and parents in the stands do not shout at referees”.
- Create a Code of Conduct: Values have to be formally built into the club’s structures. Write them down and include them in the academy’s rules, creating a clear code of conduct for the children, for staff on away trips and for the parents themselves. Detailed documents like these give everyone the same understanding of which attitudes are expected in the organisation.
- Be ready for zero tolerance: Setting out your values in practical terms means you must be prepared to defend them without compromise, especially when the safety and wellbeing of children and young people are at stake. Spell out which behaviours will lead to exclusion from the academy (e.g. physical or verbal aggression, discrimination). Your values must give everyone involved a real sense of safety.
Summary
In my opinion, what sets the best organisations apart is that they have a clear identity, and to have one I think it is worth first setting out your principles and only then putting them into practice, moving in a specific, well-described and deliberate direction.
If you build an organisation on solid foundations, believe me, every group of stakeholders you work with day to day will appreciate it. As people, we want to get involved in things that are close to our hearts, so don’t wait: start working on your organisation now, so that it reflects as fully as possible what you and your people believe in.
Frequently asked questions
Why does a football academy need a mission, vision and values?
The mission gives clear direction to day-to-day work, the vision inspires staff and players towards long-term development, and the values build trust – parents, the sports community and business partners look for projects built on an honest approach.
How should an academy word its mission?
Use the “Action + Purpose + Audience” formula and fit it into one sentence, for example: “We coach children from our region in the spirit of fair play, giving them a safe environment for sporting and personal development”. Then do the lift test – if you cannot explain it to someone outside sport in 15–20 seconds, it is too complicated.
How do you write a vision that does not sound utopian?
Paint a bold picture of the future with a clear time horizon (3, 5 or 10 years), run it past your coordinators and coaches, and balance inspiration with realism – the goal should be very ambitious, but achievable if you make the most of your current potential.
How do you write values so they don’t end up as slogans on a wall?
Add a specific behaviour to each slogan (e.g. “Respect – we start training on time, we shake hands with our opponents, parents do not shout at referees”), write them down as a code of conduct in the academy’s rules, and clearly define the behaviours that lead to exclusion.
