As you progress in your sport, you will receive instruction from many sources including your parents, coaches, other players, videos, and books. To learn a new skill (or correct one that is deficient), you need to understand the fundamental movements that comprise the skill and how these movements flow together in the proper order and timing. You will need to initially think about the skill and (to some extent) observe and analyze your execution of it.
When you are competing, however, it’s essential that you trust the skills that you have learned and practiced. As the Nike motto says, you need to “Just Do It!”
You cannot think about how you will execute a skill during a game. If you do so, you will obstruct the natural, unconscious mind-body connection that you’ve developed through hours of practice. Likewise, observing yourself (as if you were a third person watching yourself) will also hurt your ability to perform well.
Confidence and positive imagery is the key to your success. You must know that the ball will go in, and see it doing so in your mind’s eye. See yourself executing the skill with perfect form—without thinking through each step of it. Live in the moment of this image—picture your success.
For example, a broad or triple jumper in track needs to get his or her approach’s steps down properly to achieve the longest jump. The last step should ideally land immediately before the far edge of the takeoff board. Repeating a successful approach and takeoff over and over in practice will ingrain the mechanics of this skill within the jumper. Thinking about how this is done during a meet will only inhibit the “body’s” ability to do what it has been trained to do. Instead, the jumper needs to cast away any doubt about his or her footwork and envision a perfect approach, takeoff, jump, and final result.
When I played basketball in high school and college, I always approached the free throw line thinking that these “gimme” points were mine and envisioned the ball going through the hoop. Once I had begun the initial movement of my shooting motion, I would clear my mind, focus on the target, and let the hours of practice take over.
This process of letting your body take over is sometimes made easier by incorporating trigger movements at the beginning of the skill. In golf, this might be a simple “waggle” of the club’s head prior to beginning your backswing. When I shoot a basketball free throw, I bounce the basketball four times to engage my body and then exhale immediately prior to beginning the actual shooting motion.
Practice your skills to the point that you don’t need to think about how you perform them. Try out newly learned skills at lower levels of competition (e.g. pickup games with friends) and add them to your game-time repertoire as their execution becomes second nature.
Trust your skills and play your game with confidence knowing that your body will follow your mind’s eye to the result you see and desire.
Read more...
Monday, July 12, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
When a Player Talks with Mom and Dad in the Stands
One of sport’s benefits is that it helps a young child develop an increased sense of self-reliance. A child’s first steps into organized sports are a new and sometimes intimidating experience. Learning new skills, fitting in with peers, adapting to a structured environment all take a child into a strange new place.
Sometimes both the parents and their younger children are hesitant to let go of each other. For example, I substituted for a fourth grade boy in a basketball game a few years back and shortly afterwards, looked down the bench and saw that he was missing. I didn’t concern myself too much about this, as I thought that he had gone to a water fountain for a drink. Several minutes later, he had still not returned to the bench. I looked more closely around the gym and found him seated next to his parents in the bleachers, calmly watching the game, drinking some water, and engaged in what appeared to be a casual conversation. I had to wave to him and his parents to get their attention and indicate that I wanted the boy back on my bench.
Although the situation I described above is humorous and likely to occur only with the youngest, most inexperienced children, a more serious parent/child connection occasionally appears.
Sometimes you will see a player on the court or field looking up into the stands and either talking or making gestures to one of their parents. You may also see a parent constantly shouting out instructions to their child. A player, especially an older one, who is carrying on a discussion with a parent while playing, is engaging in a destructive behavior. Not only does this behavior potentially harm a player’s sense of self-reliance and self-esteem, but it also distracts the player from the game’s action.
If you find yourself interacting with your child during a game, barking out advice to the point your child is continually looking toward you, you need to realize the problems that this can cause and try to minimize this behavior. A wise coach will not tolerate this conduct and will tell your child to focus on the game and only listen to instructions from the bench. Your child’s coach may also approach you and inform you that this behavior is unacceptable.
I've coached a couple of boys who were good players and great kids, but unfortunately had parents who were constantly instructing their child from the stands. The lack of self-confidence played all over these boys’ faces and in their constant need for approval from both their parents and me.
Be a positive force in building your child’s sense of self-reliance—insist that your child concentrate fully on the game and control your own behavior during a game. Be a great fan to your child and his or her team. Let the coaches coach.
Read more...
Sometimes both the parents and their younger children are hesitant to let go of each other. For example, I substituted for a fourth grade boy in a basketball game a few years back and shortly afterwards, looked down the bench and saw that he was missing. I didn’t concern myself too much about this, as I thought that he had gone to a water fountain for a drink. Several minutes later, he had still not returned to the bench. I looked more closely around the gym and found him seated next to his parents in the bleachers, calmly watching the game, drinking some water, and engaged in what appeared to be a casual conversation. I had to wave to him and his parents to get their attention and indicate that I wanted the boy back on my bench.
Although the situation I described above is humorous and likely to occur only with the youngest, most inexperienced children, a more serious parent/child connection occasionally appears.
Sometimes you will see a player on the court or field looking up into the stands and either talking or making gestures to one of their parents. You may also see a parent constantly shouting out instructions to their child. A player, especially an older one, who is carrying on a discussion with a parent while playing, is engaging in a destructive behavior. Not only does this behavior potentially harm a player’s sense of self-reliance and self-esteem, but it also distracts the player from the game’s action.
If you find yourself interacting with your child during a game, barking out advice to the point your child is continually looking toward you, you need to realize the problems that this can cause and try to minimize this behavior. A wise coach will not tolerate this conduct and will tell your child to focus on the game and only listen to instructions from the bench. Your child’s coach may also approach you and inform you that this behavior is unacceptable.
I've coached a couple of boys who were good players and great kids, but unfortunately had parents who were constantly instructing their child from the stands. The lack of self-confidence played all over these boys’ faces and in their constant need for approval from both their parents and me.
Be a positive force in building your child’s sense of self-reliance—insist that your child concentrate fully on the game and control your own behavior during a game. Be a great fan to your child and his or her team. Let the coaches coach.
Read more...
Monday, June 7, 2010
Winning—Different Ways to Get a Scoreboard Win
As I often remind readers, "winning" isn't always about the scoreboard—especially in youth sports. But in this article, I want to focus on the more traditional concept of winning and some of the game day factors that influence a competition's outcome. More specifically, I'll discuss the less obvious, non-physical aspects of a player's performance and provide a few illustrative stories from my personal experience.
In sports you can win or lose a game in many different ways. Sometimes seemingly overwhelming advantages evaporate when confronted with a particular combination of skills, strategy, and tactics. This reality can provide you with your greatest victories, but also bring you heartbreaking losses.
Whether you’re favored to win or are the overwhelming underdog, always keep this principle in mind. Your opponent may look physically superior, either in athleticism or skills, but lack in some other less visible area. He or she may not handle pressure well or may make too many unforced errors. Likewise, your opponent may appear physically inferior, but still have an understanding of the game and its tactics that far exceeds yours—providing your opponent with an advantage that is not fully evident until the contest is well under way.
Gamesmanship may also play a role in determining who wins a contest. As it relates to playing your sport, you or your opponent may have a better understanding of human nature and attempt to use it to gain advantage. Certain player actions, comments, and attitude displays will sometimes affect an opponent’s state of mind, disrupting the flow of his or her game and ability to play it well.
Sometimes the environment in which a game is played also affects the contest’s outcome. Fan support, home field advantage, and playing conditions can all play a role in determining a winner and a loser.
At the close of my high school tennis career, my partner and I played in a local doubles tournament. Although we were seeded number one, we played two players from a private city school in the finals who clearly possessed better strokes and a more refined game. It only took a few minutes of warming up with our opponents to realize that we were in trouble. But there was another external factor that would eventually help determine the match's outcome. The weather. It was an extremely windy day.
The match began and we played poorly. While the wind carried our misplaced shots well out of bounds, our opponent’s superior ground strokes seemed to cut through the wind and give them winner after winner. At first we were grumbling and moaning over our misfortune, then yelling in frustration, and finally laughing in disbelief at our incompetence. But the wind, our wild shots, and visible behavior began to work to our advantage—our opponent’s game slowly began to fall apart. The stop and start, erratic nature of the match disrupted our opponent’s flow and concentration. As they began to make unforced errors, we pulled ourselves together, raised the level of our game, and eventually walked away with the championship trophy. Our opponents were disgusted with themselves, unable to comprehend how they lost a match to "less-talented" players.
While playing tennis during my junior year, I experienced two other situations that demonstrated how you can win a contest through means other than athleticism or physical skill. At the beginning of the season, I played another teammate to determine who would be the number three singles player. I was clearly the best athlete and had more potent ground strokes. But in our match, my teammate won, playing better angles and varying the pace of the game. His command of game tactics was superior to mine and provided him with the edge that eventually led to his victory.
A far more entertaining match (for me) occurred later in the season involving a teammate named Jay, our second singles player. Having quickly won my doubles match, I watched as Jay struggled to compete in the deciding third set. Although Jay was an excellent player, his powerful opponent seemed to have figured out Jay’s game. His opponent loved pace and was crushing his return shots at every opportunity.
In frustration, Jay changed his tactics. He began to serve underhand, hitting the ball in a looping arc that bounced high in the service box. Jay’s opponent ran up to the ball, wound up, and swung his racquet as hard as he could to put the ball away and immediately win the point. The only problem was that, in his eagerness to end the point, he began to hit the service returns out of play. During rallies, Jay began to also mix in lobs with regular ground strokes. I watched in disbelief as Jay’s opponent grew more and more frustrated, dumping shots into the net and spraying the ball past the end lines. As the match continued, his opponent completely lost his composure and Jay came back to win the match. Jay’s courage and willingness to dramatically change his tactics keyed his victory and provided our team with an enjoyable ride home.
You should always seek to understand the different ways in which a game can be won or lost. Never grow too confident in your physical ability or skills—realize that game tactics and other factors may play an important role in determining a contest’s victor.
Read more...
In sports you can win or lose a game in many different ways. Sometimes seemingly overwhelming advantages evaporate when confronted with a particular combination of skills, strategy, and tactics. This reality can provide you with your greatest victories, but also bring you heartbreaking losses.
Whether you’re favored to win or are the overwhelming underdog, always keep this principle in mind. Your opponent may look physically superior, either in athleticism or skills, but lack in some other less visible area. He or she may not handle pressure well or may make too many unforced errors. Likewise, your opponent may appear physically inferior, but still have an understanding of the game and its tactics that far exceeds yours—providing your opponent with an advantage that is not fully evident until the contest is well under way.
Gamesmanship may also play a role in determining who wins a contest. As it relates to playing your sport, you or your opponent may have a better understanding of human nature and attempt to use it to gain advantage. Certain player actions, comments, and attitude displays will sometimes affect an opponent’s state of mind, disrupting the flow of his or her game and ability to play it well.
Sometimes the environment in which a game is played also affects the contest’s outcome. Fan support, home field advantage, and playing conditions can all play a role in determining a winner and a loser.
At the close of my high school tennis career, my partner and I played in a local doubles tournament. Although we were seeded number one, we played two players from a private city school in the finals who clearly possessed better strokes and a more refined game. It only took a few minutes of warming up with our opponents to realize that we were in trouble. But there was another external factor that would eventually help determine the match's outcome. The weather. It was an extremely windy day.
The match began and we played poorly. While the wind carried our misplaced shots well out of bounds, our opponent’s superior ground strokes seemed to cut through the wind and give them winner after winner. At first we were grumbling and moaning over our misfortune, then yelling in frustration, and finally laughing in disbelief at our incompetence. But the wind, our wild shots, and visible behavior began to work to our advantage—our opponent’s game slowly began to fall apart. The stop and start, erratic nature of the match disrupted our opponent’s flow and concentration. As they began to make unforced errors, we pulled ourselves together, raised the level of our game, and eventually walked away with the championship trophy. Our opponents were disgusted with themselves, unable to comprehend how they lost a match to "less-talented" players.
While playing tennis during my junior year, I experienced two other situations that demonstrated how you can win a contest through means other than athleticism or physical skill. At the beginning of the season, I played another teammate to determine who would be the number three singles player. I was clearly the best athlete and had more potent ground strokes. But in our match, my teammate won, playing better angles and varying the pace of the game. His command of game tactics was superior to mine and provided him with the edge that eventually led to his victory.
A far more entertaining match (for me) occurred later in the season involving a teammate named Jay, our second singles player. Having quickly won my doubles match, I watched as Jay struggled to compete in the deciding third set. Although Jay was an excellent player, his powerful opponent seemed to have figured out Jay’s game. His opponent loved pace and was crushing his return shots at every opportunity.
In frustration, Jay changed his tactics. He began to serve underhand, hitting the ball in a looping arc that bounced high in the service box. Jay’s opponent ran up to the ball, wound up, and swung his racquet as hard as he could to put the ball away and immediately win the point. The only problem was that, in his eagerness to end the point, he began to hit the service returns out of play. During rallies, Jay began to also mix in lobs with regular ground strokes. I watched in disbelief as Jay’s opponent grew more and more frustrated, dumping shots into the net and spraying the ball past the end lines. As the match continued, his opponent completely lost his composure and Jay came back to win the match. Jay’s courage and willingness to dramatically change his tactics keyed his victory and provided our team with an enjoyable ride home.
You should always seek to understand the different ways in which a game can be won or lost. Never grow too confident in your physical ability or skills—realize that game tactics and other factors may play an important role in determining a contest’s victor.
Read more...
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Missing Practice - When Your Best Players Don't Show Up
Spring! When we say farewell to barren branches and winter winds, and face the warming sun. But poetic passages aside, it’s also the unfortunate time of the year when parents sign their children up for multiple team sports.
Basketball, baseball, lacrosse and the soccer empire all vie for the attention of youth sports participants and their parents. This bounty of opportunity can cause several problems for the athlete and sports parent. As I described in my last post, one such problem occurs when a parent “over-books” his or her child’s activities. With too many scheduled activities, the child inevitably misses numerous practices and games.
For coaches, it’s often a frustrating time. Many of us who coach do so for the rewards that come from developing young players and a team throughout the course of a season. Developing a child’s understanding of team play, and how to integrate his or her individual abilities together into a larger team experience, is one of the satisfying challenges that draw us to coaching.
But how can a coach develop a team when players regularly miss practice and games due to other commitments? The short answer is one cannot.
If you’re lucky, you coach a team that sits atop others. Possibly you coach a “select” team, one in which parents have invested significant sums of money for their child to participate. You may coach a team that needs to cut players to reach a manageable sized squad. Or maybe your team is simply the only game in town. In other words, you are a coach who has explicit power. You are in the enviable position of dictating to your players that they attend practices—or else.
The quandary youth coaches face
But in the mainstream of youth sports, most coaches don’t enjoy this level of control. At the bottom of the food chain are the coaches in a community’s developmental sports programs. These coaches typically have only one or two practices per week to prepare for their weekly game. The leagues in which they coach emphasize fun, instruction and equal playing time. Establishing an attendance policy and enforcing it is atypical.
A coach in these programs must instead resort to tactics of persuasion, possibly coupled with minor punitive measures such as not starting a player who misses practice or reducing a player’s minutes in a game. This coach must try to convince each child (or parent) that attending practice is important—both in developing the child’s ability to its fullest and to fulfill the inherent responsibility and obligation each player has to his or her team.
Other approaches a coach may use to address attendance issues include talking with individual parents to determine if they can help. Possibly splitting attendance equally between two competing activities may be an acceptable solution. Also, in certain instances a coach may be able to better match practice times to his or her players’ availability. This is more likely at the beginning of a season before the practice schedules are set.
Most importantly, practices must include a large dose of fun, provide players with instruction they find meaningful, and generate a high level of positive energy. Successful coaches in these programs often pull their players toward team goals through their own personal style of leadership. Ideally, players want to come to practice!
Focus on what you control
Sometimes the dice simply land wrong for a volunteer youth coach. Scheduling conflicts exist and key players on your team regularly miss practice and games.
So what do you do then?
I would suggest that you reset your team expectations and focus more on teaching the individuals who do attend practices. Concentrate on improving each child’s individual skills, providing more instruction and practice repetitions. This is also an opportunity for you to dedicate more time to your beginning players. Since there is less likelihood that these children are involved in competing athletic activities, they will more consistently attend practices. Parents of these children may also realize and appreciate that their child is receiving semi-private training at little or no cost.
From a competitive perspective, your beginners are usually your team’s weak link. But these young players may dramatically improve with added instruction and opportunity, leading to more team success as the season progresses. And should your better players begin to show up toward the end of the season (possibly for a season-ending tournament), your team will be stronger for your efforts teaching the younger beginners.
As I’ve written elsewhere, one of the greatest rewards for a youth coach is to witness the development of a young player’s ability and self-esteem under your tutelage. If you walk away from a season knowing you’ve helped even one child on your team, you have succeeded.
Read more...
Basketball, baseball, lacrosse and the soccer empire all vie for the attention of youth sports participants and their parents. This bounty of opportunity can cause several problems for the athlete and sports parent. As I described in my last post, one such problem occurs when a parent “over-books” his or her child’s activities. With too many scheduled activities, the child inevitably misses numerous practices and games.
For coaches, it’s often a frustrating time. Many of us who coach do so for the rewards that come from developing young players and a team throughout the course of a season. Developing a child’s understanding of team play, and how to integrate his or her individual abilities together into a larger team experience, is one of the satisfying challenges that draw us to coaching.
But how can a coach develop a team when players regularly miss practice and games due to other commitments? The short answer is one cannot.
If you’re lucky, you coach a team that sits atop others. Possibly you coach a “select” team, one in which parents have invested significant sums of money for their child to participate. You may coach a team that needs to cut players to reach a manageable sized squad. Or maybe your team is simply the only game in town. In other words, you are a coach who has explicit power. You are in the enviable position of dictating to your players that they attend practices—or else.
The quandary youth coaches face
But in the mainstream of youth sports, most coaches don’t enjoy this level of control. At the bottom of the food chain are the coaches in a community’s developmental sports programs. These coaches typically have only one or two practices per week to prepare for their weekly game. The leagues in which they coach emphasize fun, instruction and equal playing time. Establishing an attendance policy and enforcing it is atypical.
A coach in these programs must instead resort to tactics of persuasion, possibly coupled with minor punitive measures such as not starting a player who misses practice or reducing a player’s minutes in a game. This coach must try to convince each child (or parent) that attending practice is important—both in developing the child’s ability to its fullest and to fulfill the inherent responsibility and obligation each player has to his or her team.
Other approaches a coach may use to address attendance issues include talking with individual parents to determine if they can help. Possibly splitting attendance equally between two competing activities may be an acceptable solution. Also, in certain instances a coach may be able to better match practice times to his or her players’ availability. This is more likely at the beginning of a season before the practice schedules are set.
Most importantly, practices must include a large dose of fun, provide players with instruction they find meaningful, and generate a high level of positive energy. Successful coaches in these programs often pull their players toward team goals through their own personal style of leadership. Ideally, players want to come to practice!
Focus on what you control
Sometimes the dice simply land wrong for a volunteer youth coach. Scheduling conflicts exist and key players on your team regularly miss practice and games.
So what do you do then?
I would suggest that you reset your team expectations and focus more on teaching the individuals who do attend practices. Concentrate on improving each child’s individual skills, providing more instruction and practice repetitions. This is also an opportunity for you to dedicate more time to your beginning players. Since there is less likelihood that these children are involved in competing athletic activities, they will more consistently attend practices. Parents of these children may also realize and appreciate that their child is receiving semi-private training at little or no cost.
From a competitive perspective, your beginners are usually your team’s weak link. But these young players may dramatically improve with added instruction and opportunity, leading to more team success as the season progresses. And should your better players begin to show up toward the end of the season (possibly for a season-ending tournament), your team will be stronger for your efforts teaching the younger beginners.
As I’ve written elsewhere, one of the greatest rewards for a youth coach is to witness the development of a young player’s ability and self-esteem under your tutelage. If you walk away from a season knowing you’ve helped even one child on your team, you have succeeded.
Read more...
Monday, May 3, 2010
Playing on Too Many Teams
Many young athletes enjoy playing different sports and often excel in more than one. Your child may have the opportunity to play in multiple organized youth sport leagues at the same time. This typically occurs when sport seasons overlap or different leagues in the same sport are scheduled to run at the same time. Examples of organizations that may offer sports participation opportunities include your child’s school, volunteer sports organizations such as the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) teams, local clubs, and local community developmental leagues.
As described elsewhere on this blog and in my book The Joy of Youth Sports, playing multiple sports is beneficial to your child’s development and health. But before you commit to more than one organized activity or team per season, also consider the potential negative effect on your child, your family, and the teams for which your child will play.
Participating in too many activities can potentially burn out your child’s desire to play, harm his or her academics, and also add stress to your family life (e.g. transportation, missed dinners, time away from other duties, etc.). Too many organized activities may also consume other opportunities for your child to enjoy sports—specifically the self-directed neighborhood pickup games that offer essential benefits.
Less obvious is the detrimental effect that the inevitable missed practices and games will have on your child’s teammates and coaches. These individuals may depend on your child’s presence for success. Not only do a player’s skills and talent contribute to the success of a team, but the player’s participation in practice also directly impacts the team’s play. This situation commonly occurs with the “star” athlete—the boy or girl who is good in multiple sports or wants to play in multiple leagues in one sport. This player will show up for a practice or two and some games (the ones that don’t conflict with their more important league’s games). Despite their individual ability, most coaches inevitably wish the boy or girl was on another team.
Good coaches grow their program throughout the year, building upon each prior practice and game. In each practice, they both address mistakes in the prior game and teach new sets, plays, and other more advanced team tactics. They want to work with players to overcome their individual weaknesses. They seek to establish greater team chemistry and bonding. Without your child’s presence at practices, a coach cannot accomplish these tasks and achieve the program’s desired goals.
Although you want to provide your child with the best opportunities, balance your personal interests against those of other parents, players and coaches. Two core values in sports, both at the individual and team level, are respect and responsibility. In team sports, players are responsible to their teammates and must respect their teammate’s needs as well as their own. As a parent, demonstrate and convey these values to your child by realistically committing your child only to teams on which he or she can fully participate.
Read more...
As described elsewhere on this blog and in my book The Joy of Youth Sports, playing multiple sports is beneficial to your child’s development and health. But before you commit to more than one organized activity or team per season, also consider the potential negative effect on your child, your family, and the teams for which your child will play.
Participating in too many activities can potentially burn out your child’s desire to play, harm his or her academics, and also add stress to your family life (e.g. transportation, missed dinners, time away from other duties, etc.). Too many organized activities may also consume other opportunities for your child to enjoy sports—specifically the self-directed neighborhood pickup games that offer essential benefits.
Less obvious is the detrimental effect that the inevitable missed practices and games will have on your child’s teammates and coaches. These individuals may depend on your child’s presence for success. Not only do a player’s skills and talent contribute to the success of a team, but the player’s participation in practice also directly impacts the team’s play. This situation commonly occurs with the “star” athlete—the boy or girl who is good in multiple sports or wants to play in multiple leagues in one sport. This player will show up for a practice or two and some games (the ones that don’t conflict with their more important league’s games). Despite their individual ability, most coaches inevitably wish the boy or girl was on another team.
Good coaches grow their program throughout the year, building upon each prior practice and game. In each practice, they both address mistakes in the prior game and teach new sets, plays, and other more advanced team tactics. They want to work with players to overcome their individual weaknesses. They seek to establish greater team chemistry and bonding. Without your child’s presence at practices, a coach cannot accomplish these tasks and achieve the program’s desired goals.
Although you want to provide your child with the best opportunities, balance your personal interests against those of other parents, players and coaches. Two core values in sports, both at the individual and team level, are respect and responsibility. In team sports, players are responsible to their teammates and must respect their teammate’s needs as well as their own. As a parent, demonstrate and convey these values to your child by realistically committing your child only to teams on which he or she can fully participate.
Read more...
Monday, April 19, 2010
Build Confidence and Paths to Success
A child typically views his or her sports experience through the lens of personal success. Each child’s sense of athletic worth is based on his or her performance relative to others and, in team sports, the perceived contributions made to his or her team.
Most kids naturally discover their talent as they mature. They gradually learn how to apply their abilities in a way that leads to both individual and team success. But problems can arise both in the way a child internally defines success and his or her understanding of how to achieve it.
Some young athletes erroneously view success in more selfish terms—am I dribbling the ball, scoring a goal, or am I otherwise the center of attention? They fail to connect the individual act to the overall goal. Still others struggle to find any path to success. They feel they can’t keep up and have no idea how to contribute.
Parents can also contribute to the problem when they push their child into situations for which they are not yet prepared to succeed. Parents may expect their child to play primary team roles and receive equal playing time—regardless of the situation. They fail to understand that there are times when equal playing time in a game does not provide the best developmental experience for a young child.
So, how does a coach help a struggling young player find his or her path to success?
Learning to succeed in team sports is a process that depends on a child understanding a few fundamental individual skills, how to connect and apply these to team play, and then having the opportunity to do so in a game situations that do not overwhelm the child. Opportunity does not necessarily lead to success. Giving a beginning athlete the opportunity to play quarterback in a football game, when he has not demonstrated the necessary skills in practice, will usually result in the player failing at the task. Worse, it may reinforce the child’s negative feelings toward playing the sport. Instead, you should look to provide a more realistic opportunity for the child to apply his or her existing abilities in a meaningful and successful way.
Several years ago, I coached a team that included a sixth grade girl named Becky. She was a shy, quiet girl who was reluctant to shoot the ball and generally unsure of herself and her basketball abilities. However, she moved well and was clearly athletic.
My approach with Becky was to first build her confidence by having her perform tasks that were well within her abilities. I also initially avoided placing her in game situations requiring extensive ball handling or the need for her to shoot the ball. Becky quickly learned how to play great defense, set screens and make good passes.
As the season progressed, her confidence grew and she naturally began taking some shots and dribbling when required. By the end of our season, Becky was a key player on our team, confidently playing the game of basketball with a smile on her face.
Sometimes the reward for a coach is not only seeing a player develop and find themselves, but also the proud look in a parent’s eye. Becky’s dad, who played basketball in high school (and obviously hoped that his child would also enjoy the sport), gratefully thanked me and my assistant coach after our last game.
Although you should generally fit opportunities and team roles to a child’s ability to handle them, don’t necessarily eliminate opportunity because the child may be less likely to succeed. Even if a child is less talented or inexperienced, providing them with a chance for their big moment (one that may last a lifetime) is sometimes the right choice.
Your goal is to always provide each of your players with a sports experience that results in a real, positive sense of individual success. Tailor their practice and game opportunities, progressing from comfortable responsibilities and skills to more challenging ones. Let the child’s abilities and confidence naturally unfold. Occasionally throw the child into a more difficult situation that both tests them and provides them with their opportunity to enjoy a heroic moment. Pick your spots. A good coach can see ideal opportunities for lesser skilled kids to succeed.
Read more...
Most kids naturally discover their talent as they mature. They gradually learn how to apply their abilities in a way that leads to both individual and team success. But problems can arise both in the way a child internally defines success and his or her understanding of how to achieve it.
Some young athletes erroneously view success in more selfish terms—am I dribbling the ball, scoring a goal, or am I otherwise the center of attention? They fail to connect the individual act to the overall goal. Still others struggle to find any path to success. They feel they can’t keep up and have no idea how to contribute.
Parents can also contribute to the problem when they push their child into situations for which they are not yet prepared to succeed. Parents may expect their child to play primary team roles and receive equal playing time—regardless of the situation. They fail to understand that there are times when equal playing time in a game does not provide the best developmental experience for a young child.
So, how does a coach help a struggling young player find his or her path to success?
Learning to succeed in team sports is a process that depends on a child understanding a few fundamental individual skills, how to connect and apply these to team play, and then having the opportunity to do so in a game situations that do not overwhelm the child. Opportunity does not necessarily lead to success. Giving a beginning athlete the opportunity to play quarterback in a football game, when he has not demonstrated the necessary skills in practice, will usually result in the player failing at the task. Worse, it may reinforce the child’s negative feelings toward playing the sport. Instead, you should look to provide a more realistic opportunity for the child to apply his or her existing abilities in a meaningful and successful way.
Several years ago, I coached a team that included a sixth grade girl named Becky. She was a shy, quiet girl who was reluctant to shoot the ball and generally unsure of herself and her basketball abilities. However, she moved well and was clearly athletic.
My approach with Becky was to first build her confidence by having her perform tasks that were well within her abilities. I also initially avoided placing her in game situations requiring extensive ball handling or the need for her to shoot the ball. Becky quickly learned how to play great defense, set screens and make good passes.
As the season progressed, her confidence grew and she naturally began taking some shots and dribbling when required. By the end of our season, Becky was a key player on our team, confidently playing the game of basketball with a smile on her face.
Sometimes the reward for a coach is not only seeing a player develop and find themselves, but also the proud look in a parent’s eye. Becky’s dad, who played basketball in high school (and obviously hoped that his child would also enjoy the sport), gratefully thanked me and my assistant coach after our last game.
Although you should generally fit opportunities and team roles to a child’s ability to handle them, don’t necessarily eliminate opportunity because the child may be less likely to succeed. Even if a child is less talented or inexperienced, providing them with a chance for their big moment (one that may last a lifetime) is sometimes the right choice.
Your goal is to always provide each of your players with a sports experience that results in a real, positive sense of individual success. Tailor their practice and game opportunities, progressing from comfortable responsibilities and skills to more challenging ones. Let the child’s abilities and confidence naturally unfold. Occasionally throw the child into a more difficult situation that both tests them and provides them with their opportunity to enjoy a heroic moment. Pick your spots. A good coach can see ideal opportunities for lesser skilled kids to succeed.
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