Joerik Michiels' The Player Development Blueprint
My friend, Joerik Michiels, is a top-notch skills trainer from Belgium.
I have had the great privilege to watch him work for the last five years during his visits to Canada. He is one of the world's best coaches at infusing skill development and constraints-led learning. He is also a firm believer that basketball is the vehicle for developing better people.
He has just released the Player Development Blueprint, which shares all he has learned on developing culture, personal development, leadership and the progressions he uses to teach modern basketball skills.
It is a great resources for any coach.
Joerik has profoundly impacted my coaching both on and off the floor. He has helped me win more games, but more importantly, he has helped me build better people.
I could not recommend this book any more highly.
How Great Coaches Bring Core Values to Life
Every season, on the first day of training camp, legendary University of North Carolina soccer coach Anson Dorrance gathers his team around a single sheet of paper. On it is a list of 13 behaviours; relentless competitiveness, accountability, passion, and humility among them.
The players know what’s coming next: each must grade herself and her teammates on these values throughout the season.
There’s no hiding. No excuses. No shortcuts.
What Dorrance understood decades before most is something the best coaches now live by, core values are not posters on the wall; they’re the team's operating system. When woven intentionally into daily coaching, they become a competitive advantage stronger than any playbook.
Dorrance has written a great book on these called The Vision of a Champion. It outlines all 13 values and how he envisions them being brought to life.
There is a reason he was won 21 National Championships with the UNC women's team. His athletes thrived on the environment that they co-created, based on those 13 values.
Dorrance was way ahead of his time. But building his culture based on values is totally inline with the needs of your modern athlete.
Today’s athletes crave clarity, purpose, and connection. Teams that thrive aren’t just skilled, they’re aligned.
Here’s how you can make your values real, visible, and powerful in your program.
Coaches Who Want Stronger, More Connected Teams
Every coach wants the same thing.
A team that competes, cares, and consistently shows up in the behaviours that win, not just the skills that score.
You want to lead athletes who trust each other, buy into the mission, and make decisions aligned with who you are as a program.
But wanting it and building it are two different things.
Culture Breaks Down When Values Stay in the Coach’s Head
Too many teams struggle because values are vague, unspoken, or inconsistently applied.
- Athletes aren’t sure what “effort” actually means.
- Accountability only shows up when something goes wrong.
- Coaches talk culture but make decisions based only on performance.
- Teammates define “acceptable behaviour” differently.
This creates confusion, frustration, and inconsistency, especially under pressure.
The internal problem beneath all this?
Athletes don’t know what the team stands for, so they don’t know how to behave when it matters most.
And that leads to the philosophical problem:
Sport loses the deeper meaning that makes teams powerful.
A Coach Who Leads Through Clear, Lived Values
Great coaches don’t just talk about culture, they translate values into daily habits.
You become the guide when you bring clarity, consistency, and purpose to your environment.
Your athletes don’t need another speech.
They need a simple framework they can trust.
A Simple, Repeatable Blueprint for Incorporating Values
Step 1: Co-Create the Values
Involve athletes. Ask:
- “What do we want to be known for?”
- “What behaviours make this team great?”
Choose 3–5 values and convert each into actions you can see.
Step 2: Make the Values Visible Every Day
Use short value reminders before practice.
Catch athletes living the values.
Use the language consistently.
Value → Behaviour → Reinforcement
This is how identity forms.
Step 3: Make Decisions Through the Lens of Values
If you say you value effort, reward it.
If you say you value respect, demand it.
If something violates a value, address it.
Values must become your decision-making filter.
Step 4: Use Values During Adversity
When momentum swings or emotions rise, anchor your team in its identity:
- “We respond, we don’t react.”
- “Our value is resilience.”
- “This is who we are.”
Values stabilize chaos.
Step 5: Evaluate and Celebrate Values
Weekly recognition.
Film tagged with values.
Reflection questions.
What gets reinforced becomes who the team becomes.
Start Small, Start Today
Ask your team one simple question:
“If someone watched our game but never heard us talk, what values would they say we live by?”
Then begin shaping the behaviours to match.
You don’t need a retreat or a meeting marathon.
You just need intentionality.
When Values Take Root, Everything Becomes Easier
Here’s what you’ll notice:
- Athletes self-correct before you intervene
- Leaders emerge naturally
- Players calm down faster under pressure
- Conflict gets resolved quicker
- Practices gain focus
- The team takes pride in who they are, not just what they do
You gain back time, trust, and emotional bandwidth.
Your athletes become better people and better performers.
From a Team That Tries to a Team That Stands for Something
When values become the backbone of your coaching, you move from:
Managing behaviour → Shaping identity
Talking culture → Living culture
Reacting to problems → Building a foundation that prevents them
You’re no longer just coaching a sport.
You’re coaching character, unity, and purpose.
You become the kind of coach athletes never forget, because you helped them become the kind of people they’re proud to be.
In the end, incorporating core values into your coaching isn’t about adding another task to an already overwhelming job, it’s about simplifying everything that matters. Values give your team a shared compass. They reduce conflict, increase buy-in, sharpen focus, and infuse meaning into every rep, every drill, and every conversation. When you build from the inside out, your athletes stop guessing how to act and start confidently living who they are. That is the quiet power of a value-driven program: it transforms culture from something you talk about into something your athletes carry proudly into the world long after the season ends.
Are you or your athletes struggling to be their best?
Let's work together.
I help coaches thrive.
As Certified Mental Performance Consultant and a basketball coach with 25 years of experience I understand the barriers to peak performance for both you and your athletes.
I would love to help you or your team build a competitive advantage. Here are a few ways I can help:
- Consult with your team or coaching staff
- Teach mental skills to your team via Zoom
- Work 1 on 1 with coaches
- Work 1 on 1 with athletes
Shoot me an email at jasonpayne@evolutionmpc.com, I love to talk coaching and see how I can help you.
Coaching is hard, let's make it easier.
Check out my website at http://jasonpayne.ca
Thanks for reading and have a great week.