How does Czechia's National Women’s Head Coach Carla MacLeod connect with players off the ice to bring out their best on the ice?

Since they began playing in the World Championship in 1999, the team has medaled twice, in 2022 & 2023. Those are the first medals in the history of Czechia’s National Women’s team program. What’s significant about that is those are the first two seasons the team played under Head Coach Carla MacLeod. What’s the secret to such an impressive turnaround on the world stage? 

Being authentic.

MacLeod, who is also the Head Coach of the University of Calgary Dinos Women’s program, did not take over the job with Czechia and begin ruling with an iron fist – quite the opposite, in fact. She assessed the team and took time to let her players know what their individual strengths were and reinforced their value to the team. This might seem like a simplistic approach, but MacLeod said the respect she and buy-in from her players was automatic.

Being authentic, to MacLeod, means asking players straight up what they need from the coaching staff in order to be successful. The response she got from over 80 per cent of her team was honest communication and feeling respected. This gave MacLeod a glimpse into how the team had been run prior to her arrival and reinforced that it wasn’t necessarily going to be about what she was teaching, but how she was teaching it.

The 41-year-old from Spruce Grove, Alberta played defence for Canada’s National Women’s team for five seasons, capturing two Olympic gold medals. MacLeod is now a member of the University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame as well as the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame. 

How do little things like coaches eating meals with players, or relaxing as peers on off days, create authentic bonds between players and staff? Coaches need both focus and fun to be successful, not just one or the other.