How Coaches can Implement Sport Psychology

Coaches have a huge impact on the development and success of individuals and teams in sport. The beauty of the GAA means that anyone can get involved and become a coach. This is  a blessing in that coaches can have very diverse backgrounds and experiences that they bring with them to their role within the sport. On the other side, it can lead to questionable coaching methods at times. 

The psychological aspect of sport performance and even participation in sport is huge and coaches have a direct impact on; 1) The participation of individuals in sport at a young age and 2) The success of individuals/teams as they grow. Don’t get me wrong, you don’t need a background in sport psychology to be a successful coach, but in this blog, I share some useful strategies that I have learned from my experience in sport and my education in sport & exercise psychology.

Developing a ’Winning Mentality’:

Weirdly enough, the key to developing a ‘winning mentality’ is to stop talking about a ‘winning mentality’.

We are constantly being told or telling people to develop a ‘winning mentality’. We know that what we focus on has a huge impact on what we do and what outcome we get. Are you, as a coach, aware of what you are focused on and the impact that has on your player(s)?

When we focus on winning/losing, being better than others, or punishing mistakes, we create an ego-oriented or fear-based climate in which player(s) fear outcomes such as losing or making a mistake (Nicholls, 1989). This climate increases anxiety around performances and makes players focus on the outcome, instead of the process. Player(s) may fail to see their improvements and developments because they only see success set by the coach; winning, being the best, and not making mistakes. 

Imagine this; a player/team plays the best they have ever played. They execute the tactics set out and they make smart decisions during the match. The player/team loses the match and are terribly disappointed. They dread going to training because they know the coach is going to be raging that they lost. They fail to acknowledge that they’ve just played the game of their lives. That’s a pretty sad thought in my mind…

Remember, talking about winning doesn’t mean you’ll win.

Instead, talk about what your players can do to get their best performance. By creating a mastery-oriented climate (Duda & Treasure, 2015), we can help player(s) focus on development, on learning new skills, and on giving their best effort. Research shows that coaches who focus on the task decrease a player's anxiety around performance, increase improvement and enjoyment around their performances, and end up with better results. At the end of the day, the goal should be to help athletes perform their best and hopefully, success (whatever that is to you) will come with that. 

Know Your Players: 

Each and every individual has different needs to help them play their best. I have been on teams and the coach has said “no talking on the bus, you should be focused on the game ahead” or “no messing around in the dressing room, everyone should be completely focused”. For me, this wasn’t what helped me perform my best. I like to have a bit of craic on the bus, or in the dressing room. For some people, this was ideal, but for me, sitting there thinking about the game for an hour on the bus and in the dressing room, just made me overthink it and start to get nervous. It wasn’t that I wasn’t focused or that I didn’t care, it was the complete opposite, I knew that I played my best when I felt relaxed, when I felt like it was just another game, and when I enjoyed the experience. 

What I’m saying is, get to know your players. Some will want quiet time to focus, others prefer to be distracted, some want a motivational speech, others just want a recap on the tactics. Ask your player: “What do you need from me on the day of a game?”. In handball, ask them “What do you want from me during a time-out”. 

Your player(s) know what makes them tick, so just ask!

Make Your Words Impactful:

This follows on from the last point… saying “we have to win”, “you have to be confident”, “you have to focus” is well-intended but essentially useless advice. How does a player play with confidence? What does a player need to focus on? Instead of telling players how they ‘need’ to be, tell them what they ‘can do’ to play with confidence, or what they can focus on to help their performance. 

Tell your player(s) what to do (not what not to do). We’ve all heard coaches say “don’t pass the ball across the goal”, “why are you hitting that serve?”, “don’t be behind your marker”, and “stop making the same mistakes over and over again”. I get it, you’re pointing out the error so your player(s) won’t do it again. But, what happens when you tell yourself “don’t eat the cake”... all you can think about is eating the cake, right? Instead of telling yourself not to eat the cake, tell yourself what to eat instead. 

When you tell your player(s) what not to do, that’s all they can think about, and when we think about something, it’s more likely to happen. Instead of telling your player(s) what not to do, tell them what to do;

•  Instead of “don’t pass the ball across the goal” say “pass the ball out the wing”.

•  Instead of “why are you hitting that serve?”, say “hit a drive serve down the left”.

•  Instead of “don’t be behind your marker”, say  “be out in front”.

•  Instead of “stop making the same mistakes over and over again”, tell your player what they can do to correct that error.

Don't get me wrong, some player(s) respond well to different types of instruction and motivation, but player(s) are under enough pressure to perform as it is. They need coaches to help them in that moment, and as we know, what we say has a huge impact on others, so think about it and make sure that it is helpful to their performance. 

References: 

Duda, J. L. & Treasure, D. C. (2015). The motivational climate, athlete motivation, and implications for the quality of sport engagement. In Williams, J. M. & Krane, V. (Eds) Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance (4th ed) (p.274-303). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.

Nicholls, J. (1989). The competitive ethos and democratic education. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 

Smith, R. E. (2015). A positive approach to coaching effectiveness and performance enhancement. In Williams, J. M. & Krane, V. (Eds) Applied sport psychology: Personal growth to peak performance (4th ed) (p.274-303). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education.