The forgotten element of coaching

Week after week, millions of coaches across the world are teaching young athletes how to play the game. In all sports, coaches are instructing their athletes on how to kick, catch, throw, swing or do whatever other skill is necessary to help them compete in their sport of choice.  They teach technical skills, tactical skills and conditioning, but fail to incorporate one of the most important elements of an athletes development, mental toughness.

In her book, “Bringing Your A Game,” Jennifer L. Etnier, PhD defines mental toughness as, “Characteristics of a person who is able to commit day in and day out to training for excellence and who is able to perform at the top of his or her game in the face of stress, distraction, and even bad luck.”  In the pressure packed world of sports, athletes young and old, are in dire need of this mental training. In his book, “Mind Gym,” Gary Mack emphasizes that through quality instruction, coaches can teach their athletes these seven characteristics of mental toughness that will help them perform on and off the field:    

Competitive: Finding a way to win.

Confident: Having a can-do attitude and the belief that you can handle any situation.

Control: Controlling your behavior and emotions on and off the field.

Committed: Staying highly motivated and focusing on achieving your goals.

Composure: Learning how to deal with adversity.

Courage: Willing to take a risk.

Consistency: No excuses no matter how you feel.

Training your mind, is just as important as training your body.  As a coach, the choice is yours in how you teach these seven characteristics to your athletes.  By incorporating them into your training regime, you are equipping athletes with tools necessary to succeed.  Sites such as www.mentaltoughnesstrainer.com and www.nays.org can help you gain the skills necessary to become a great coach.  We are not here just to teach kids how to play a game.  Our responsibility as coaches lie deeper if we want to develop athletes to their full potential.  Teach a kid how to face their fears, achieve their goals, maintain a positive attitude and deal with adversity; and you develop an athlete who is successful on and off the field.  Now that is something to be proud of.  For more on kids and coaching go to www.kidsandcoaching.blogspot.com

Phil Jackson & Positive Coaching Alliance

Check out this video and see why coaches need to be educated.  Anyone can teach a kid how to kick and catch, but can you understand a kid and teach him to be a champion on and off the field?

Coaching Kids

Throughout my time I have seen some good coaches and some bad coaches.  Most of the time when you come across a bad coach it is due to a lack of one or more of the following:

• Thinking that their way is the only way.
• A refusal to listen to their players
• Win at all cost attitude
• No understanding of age-appropriate development issues
• Screaming, degrading and demanding to much

You see, coaching isn’t just about teaching a kid how to kick or throw a ball; it’s encompasses so much more.  As a coach it is your responsibility to understand the stages of athletic development that children go through.  Each child evolves at a different rate physically and mentally, thus dictating their performance capabilities.  If you expect to much, constantly scream and yell or physically demand players to perform at levels they are not capable of; then the only result you will achieve is failure.  In his book, “Total Training for Young Champions,” Tudor Bompa, PhD describes the different stages of athletic development as:

Initiation Stage (6-10 years): Coaches should develop low intensity training programs that emphasize fun, focus on the overall athletic development and steer clear of sport-specific performance.  

Athletic Formation (11-14 years): At this stage, the focus should progress to developing motor skills, fundamental tactics, strategies, and sportsmanship in a variety of fun competitive environments.

Specialization (15-18 years): Here the most significant stages of an athletes training take place.   Coaches should provide players with a program that incorporates multilateral development and sport specific skills and drills that allow young athletes to begin to focus on their sport of choice.  

Now I know some of you coaches out there are saying, “you don’t know what your talking about.  I have a system and my system has always worked.” The only thing I can do is refer you to the bullet points above and stress the importance of educating yourself in the art of coaching and understanding children.  More than likely you’re losing players at a fast rate, because they have not attained athletic maturation. Your expectations are too high and you have put too much pressure on your athletes.  Our job as coaches is to develop players, not chase them away.  Take the time to learn and understand and you too will be developing champions on and off the field.