| Author |
Message |
Casey Quinn (Cmq7661)
Junior Member
Username: Cmq7661
Post Number: 4
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Monday, February 22, 2010 - 7:39 pm: |       |
I am currently a collegiate athlete, and in the future, I hope to become a collegiate coach. If not though, I plan to fall back on coaching at the high school level. These days, athletes seem to becoming weaker and weaker, and I mean this on a mental level. Excuses are made left and right as to why some players can't perform certain tasks, and if we make the effort to push them harder, they take it personally and get bent out of shape. In the past, coaches could push players to such further limits, and it helped make the players better, because they were able to push themselves harder. How do we get todays athletes to put the excuses aside and push themselves? |
Aaron Jamery (Jams2407)
New member
Username: Jams2407
Post Number: 1
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 23, 2010 - 6:45 am: | |
I am in my second year of coaching and i have found this to be true at times. The biggest thing you can do as a coach is preach team first and mental toughness as often as you can. Once they have come together as a team you will be able to push them much harder. This cannot come all from the coach. You will need some of your veteran players to take a more vocal role and to not be afraid to get into someones face if they are slacking. |
Thomas Peppers (Coachpeppers)
Junior Member
Username: Coachpeppers
Post Number: 2
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Thursday, September 23, 2010 - 7:23 am: | |
I'm not sure if there is any merit to this or if it's all in my head or what...but I think a lot depends on the attitude you display when someone comes to you with an excuse about something. This first time I noticed it work was with my elementary kids. If they fell down and got a minor floor burn or something - and I didn't witness it to offer immediate reassurance - they would make a HUGE deal out of it. However, if I witnessed a particular student have an accident and responded before they did, they would shake it off - literally shake it - and get right back in the game. Once I noticed the pattern, I started doing it all the time and I would say I've cut back on the number of "booboos" in class drastically.
Then, I started applying this to my athletes. At the time, I was coaching high school shot and discus. Anytime they would get a "booboo", be it mentally or physically. I made sure I responded to it before they did.
The key to this is to respond to their misfortune before they do, so obviously you need to be totally dialed into what's going on in your classroom or practice. furthermore, not only do you need to respond to the situation first, but you must respond with positivity and assurance. It's hilarious how convincing you can be by simply telling a child who fell down "hey, you're okay!" with a smile on your face. It allows them to think, "hey, I AM okay..".
Not sure if any of you follow all of that but it works here in my neck of the woods. Leave the judgment at the door - they don't want to hear how much tougher your generation was anymore than we did when we were their age. |
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