Overcoming
Limitations and Negativity in Your Coaching
written by Bill
Utsey, Director of Athletics, Greenville County Schools,
Greenville, South Carolina
The
objective of this article is to get you to use this summer
to really think deeply about where you are in your coaching
career and to suggest some avenues you can take to raise your
personal coaching to another level of productivity. There
are "Coaching Points" within this article designed
to make you think and reflect upon your coaching philosophy
and core principles. This article implores you to take your
summer or off-season time to rejuvenate your inner-self.
One of the things I see in my position, with many middle
and high school athletic coaches, is the glass bubble
or set of limitations they have over time enveloped themselves
within. These are coaches who have talent, knowledge, and
passion for their sport and their kids, but for many reasons
they have fallen into a negative tunnel. The glass bubble
is actually a set of limitations coaches have unknowingly
placed upon themselves. The actions or inactions that cause
this phenomenon are subconscious and happen over a period
of years - the coach never will see it coming nor will he/she
admit to it happening. Regardless, the result is almost always
negative. Here are some symptoms:
The program has been lingering in a static state - about
the same, year-in and year-out over a number of years -
or has performed with mediocrity over the past two to four
years.
The coach expresses feelings of
disappointment, confusion, doubt, or worry. These are sure
signs that there may be a need for changes in at least one
or more areas of coaching philosophy or strategy.
The coach is consistently expressing
a resistance to any kind of change. Change is a good thing,
especially if it nets results! What we all want is results!
The coach is speaking negatively,
more often than not, about his/her players or complaining
about the toughness of the competition, or using other excuses
to explain the stagnation of his/her program. If you are
going to change the way you do things then you need to change
the way you think, because you will act and do things the
way you think. Negative thinking begets negative actions
which always result in a higher propensity for negative
outcomes.
Coaching Point: "There is very
little difference in people. The little difference is attitude.
The big difference is whether it is positive or negative."
(W. Clement Stone) Do you have any problems, issues, liabilities,
and/or weaknesses within your program? If so, FIND
and DEFINE THEM! Turn every stone, turn over
every leaf. Eliminate the negative issues and make changes
that will turn your program's liabilities into assets. Look
for the silver lining! Look for the opportunities that will
net significant, positive results in your program!
When we talk about limitations, we are first referring to
the way you perceive your own capabilities as a coach. Secondly,
we also are talking about how you perceive the capabilities
of your student-athletes and your school's athlete/talent
base. Since both of these mindsets come from your own thoughts
and experiences, you own them completely and only you can
change them. The explanations that follow suggest to you that
by changing the way you think about your ability as a coach,
and changing how you think in regard to abilities of your
athletes, you can affect significant improvement in your coaching
and in the talent level and playing performance of your students.
Is not this what we all want - to get better as a coach, and
for athletes to play at a higher level of productivity?
This article, backed by a whole lot of psychological research,
provides the message that each of you is a much
better coach than you think you are! All the
research about talent level, and how to improve athletic talent,
also proposes to you that your athletes can become a whole
lot better than what you think. [By the way, another area
of even greater potential for you to tap as a coach is your
athletes' perceptions and thoughts about how good they think
they are…and, believe this, they are a whole
lot better than they think they are!]. I implore
you not to take my word for these claims. Find out for yourself.
Do your own research and find out how to tap more of your
athletes' and your own potential.
As stated above, limitations
(things people think or believe they cannot do, or are incapable
of doing) have nothing to do with your knowledge of the sport.
It has everything to do with your belief in your athletes'
and team's capabilities, not to mention your own capabilities
as a coach.
"Believe in the unlimited potential of man."
"The best team in the state walks the halls of every
school in the state."
The two quotes above make powerful statements that can be
applied to every situation in every school in your state.
These statements have nothing to do with the actual talent
base at your school. They have everything to do with your
opinion or what you think about the level of athletic talent
at your school. Would it not behoove you to believe in these
statements, as opposed to thoughts of limited talent in your
school? See how simple this is. The first step in breaking
loose from your own limitations is to start thinking on the
positive side of everything associated with your coaching.
Heard this
before? "Is the glass half-empty or half-full?"
What is your thought process?
Would you not put yourself in a better position as a coach
if you embraced - as two of your core beliefs with regard
to athlete talent - the two statements made above ("…unlimited
potential…"; "…best team in the state…")?
Anything short of this in your thoughts runs the risk of being
read by your athletes, and will lower not only their expectations
but also their effort and commitment. What is even worse,
if you think your athletes lack talent, just think of how
believing this will impact your own expectations and, therefore,
level of effort and commitment to your athletes.
Many years ago another statement was made by a very experienced
coach
about how talent comes around in cycles. This coach even went
on to give several examples of schools where this had supposedly
happened - lots of good talent for 3 or 4 years and winning
seasons followed by little talent for 3 or 4 years and losing
seasons. For some reason, though, the school where this coach
was never experienced that cycle of good players. Could it
be that the players at this particular coach's school always
could read what this coach's expectations were even before
the season began? The claim this article submits to you is
that the answer is a resounding "Yes!"
Coaching Point: "Talent comes around
in cycles." If you believe in such cycles, or if you
believe your school does not have a lot of talent upon which
you can "build a winner," then you are not only
limiting your athletes but also yourself as a coach. For
those of you that harbor these beliefs and thoughts, they
will surely make their way to your athletes…and you
will never realize it. If you have these thoughts, you will
unknowingly act them out (doing things and saying things)
and your athletes will eventually see, hear, or feel it
from you. As a result, your athletes' level of expectancy
will drift toward the mediocre. You cannot fool your athletes!
We all have strength and conditioning programs to improve
our athletes' level of strength, speed, and power. If it makes
sense to do this (and it does!), then doesn't it make sense
that we need to do something to condition our minds and the
thought processes of our athletes?
Coaching Point: There is a famous Vince
Lombardi quote, "Winning isn't a sometime thing, it's
an all-the-time thing." He's not talking about winning
games. What Coach Lombardi is really saying is that 'winning'
is an attitude - a way that one thinks. The second thing
he is saying is that you have to work on this - attitude
- all the time.
This summer, make an effort to build in your mind an unbending
belief in the unlimited potential of mankind. Build an environment
of positive expectancy throughout your program. How can you
do this? The below "CAN DO!" section suggests some
things you can actually do to build your belief in the unlimited
potential of man and positive expectancy in your program:
CAN DO!
Just like you have to do physical exercise workouts to
condition your body and to stay in shape, you must also
do things to condition your mind so that it will always
have positive expectancy driving your thoughts.
Find out all there is to know
about building a positive mental attitude. (put "Positive
Mental Attitude" into any search engine. See what
happens!)
Read or listen to something
that is positive everyday.
Say something positive to
at least five people everyday…i.e. instead of
saying "Have a good day," change that to "Have
a GREAT day!" or, how about this..."Hey! It's
a great day to be in America." (I use this one
all the time. It really gets people's attention!)
Buy and read highly acclaimed
and best selling self-help, motivational books that
are on the market today (These will get you thinking
more deeply and critically about yourself and your players!).
Enlist in some kind of a regular
email newsletter that has as its mission building positive
mental attitude.
Make a list of positive sayings
and affirmations that you can use to put on their lockers,
on your practice schedules, or use in talks to your team
and in team newsletters.
Keep a folder or binder of brief
stories, articles, talks that will build positive expectancy
(use them to share with your team or to put on their lockers
for key games, or when special motivation is needed, OR
share them in a weekly newsletter to your players in the
off-season.).
Develop a theme or themes for
the upcoming season or year for your players AND put them
on posters, banners, T-shirts, and in newsletters to your
team. These will work in developing a team personality and
an environment of positive expectancy. But don't stop there...set
up some rewards for players who demonstrate in workouts,
practices, and games the traits you are trying to instill
in your players (use T-shirts, ranking & bulletin boards).
Increase your presence among your
players, and speak to them with positive expectancy and
a genuineness that communicates that you care about them:
Volunteer for some kind of
duty every day (bus, parking lot, lunch room). At this
duty speak to your players every time you see them...
About their grades
About their lifting and
off-season conditioning ("What are you working out
with now in the squat?" Have you improved your vertical
jump?")
About their families and
friends
And tell them, "Have a
GREAT day" as they depart
Attend other school functions
(school plays, concerts, and other athletic events)
and if you have one of your players in one of these
events - you will reap great benefits if you are present!
"Remember, kids won’t care unless they know
you care."
The
objective of this article is to get you to use this summer
to really think deeply about where you are in your coaching
career and to suggest some avenues you can take to raise your
personal coaching to another level of productivity. There
are "Coaching Points" within this article designed
to make you think and reflect upon your coaching philosophy
and core principles. This article implores you to take your
summer or off-season time to rejuvenate your inner-self. 