Focuses: dealing with school and sport, not fearing failure, confidence & accepting criticism.
Mental training and sport psychology are two different things. A short session of mental training should be incorporated into daily training. In order to teach confidence, coaches should use a thoughtful approach that does not involve negative statements but instead an explanation. Example: Iinstead of telling the athlete “that was a stupid shot”, you can say “did you undestand the situation?”
The other buzz word used a lot today is “experience”. How does an athlete get experience if they are never in the game or if during practice situational drills are not used regularly?
Find a way to make each athlete understand their worth. By coaching each athlete individually, you will do wonders for your program.
We recommend that you assign homework. Then meet to review and have players come forward and explain a tactic to make sure they have understood the assignment.
Hold individual coach/player meetings every week (10 minutes)- most players don't like to speak in front of others.
Understand instead of criticize - work on reading your athlete's facial and body movements, pull them aside or use them to demonstrate a skill. Review skills slowly with an explanation - not only will your athletes understand, they will also increase their self esteem.
Mental states and mental training can be the difference between winning and losing. The old saying “work smarter not harder “ still holds true.
Recognize what type of learning works with your athlete. Don't be a singular communicator- adjust to each athlete’s communication skills - we all learn differently.
Suggested Drills:
Navigating Your Mind with Bestey Armstrong (all)
Goal Setting with Maggie Steffens
Something by Bridget?