Coaching can be a tough job. You are the team lead but you have to let them play. There is a prise balance between giving direction and letting a team play their game. You can but prepare a team to your best ability but on competition day, you must trust you team enough to let them perform.
The majority of coaches’ impact therefore is in practise. Athletes, performers, practise their skills in order to be able to perform well in competition. Now a coach guides the practise and teaches their athletes all they know in order to help them be best prepared and capable of giving their best performance.
When coaching a group there are three main things to remember:
Players must feel confident
Players must feel supported
Players must feel motivated.
So how does a coach help with all three?
Well coaches are very significant in manifesting confidence in athletes. For example a coach must realise the individual difference in players ‘emotional-switchboard’. By that I mean certain things gets an athlete going emotionally. Now although emotion may not be a readily welcome word in sport, (especially male sports) I mean emotion in this context as the internal set of reactions that can be ‘switched-on’. And a coach has access to that ‘switchboard’ if they pay attention to the signals that make known what works, what will ‘switch-on’ an athletes emotions.
An athlete must be in an optimal state to perform at his best. That is, they must have enough adrenaline to feel excited and ready but not too much they are nervous and anxious.
Coaches can see signs in players that will illustrate the best ways to get the best out of them. For instance some players work off negative feedback, no for a coach that means pointing out the areas an athlete may benefit from working on. Now you could do this in two ways, scream and shout or calmly point these out. I would always opt for the first as the latter elicits an emotional reaction that could sway towards nerves and anxiety when the player next tries to perform.
Another example may be players who take negative feedback badly. They need to know they are valued because if they hear that they are not performing as a coach wishes, they will be very hard on themselves, and you guessed it this can elicit an emotional reaction not beneficial to peak performance.
Now these two simple examples are not an exhaustive list of individual preferences and personality quirks that determine the ‘right’ way to coach a player to optimal performance. What they do illustrate however is that a coach must have an intimate knowledge of his players, who they are, and what makes their emotional switchboard light up.
If a coach achieves this they have their best team performing for them. Quite simply coaches must invest time into the players that mobilise their teachings and it is there that a coach’s real success lies.
For more info contact:
Ashleigh Drew - ashleigh.drew@yahoo.co.uk
Be your Best!
Monday, 18 May 2009
Friday, 24 April 2009
Competition Anxiety
Many athletes in a variety of sports experience anxiety before competition. These nerves are you reaction to competition and if you are someone who suffers from this; you’re not the only one! But they can easily be changeD by thinking and behaving differently
Why do we get nervous?
Well, if you think about it the only difference with competition is that we are being judged. In training sure our coach may judge us, hell, we may even judge ourselves but there is no consequence, as that in competition. Namely – Loosing, or more accurately, just NOT winning!
Now there are two things wrong with our body’s decision to turn on the jitters and nervousness when faced with competition and, once you know them, you’ll be able to tell your body the next time you feel the nervousness coming on “Hey. There is no need for nerves. I can do this, I will do this.” That simply. No seriously it is.
The first thing that is wrong with our nerves
There is no reason to be nervous. Easy to say I hear you cry but it is, I’ll explain to you why. When we think about our competition we are thinking about all the things external to ourselves: the judging people, the crown, the opposition, the list can go on. What we forget I that our performance is controlled by US. We are the athlete.
By this I mean, you have trained for this moment, for competition, and you’ve trained well. You have beaten PB’s (Personal Bests) and made your coach proud or even exceeded your expectations. This IS WHO YOU ARE: THE ATHLETE.
Now when you start to let your body get nervous and fill up with adrenaline and jitters you’re forgetting yourself. You perform every time you practice. Competition is really no different, I mean it is what you train for, right?! You have to perform, you know you can perform. The only thing you have to do is forget anything else and concentrate and tell yourself “I can do this and I will.”
It sounds very easy doesn’t it? Well it is but it does need practise.
You see you mind likes to be in control and you body likes to react. But if you’ve always let your body take over in competition situations, then your body will react automatically and your mind has kind of given up on changing anything with a ‘here-we-go-again’ attitude. So by practising your pre competition routine, mantra, what ever you want to call it, you help your mind remember it is in control and competition does not change that. So the next time you approach the competition you won’t have fear as you know there is no need to.
The second thing wrong with our nerves
That is the origin of our nerves. Nervousness before a competition usually means that the focus, as we identified earlier, is outside of ourselves. We either don’t want to loose, or let people down and we can’t be anything but THE BEST.
Now OK, I agree our long-term goal will always be to BE THE BEST. Otherwise we would never strive to be better. But that is exactly my point. In striving to be better that doesn’t mean we have to win every competition that comes our way and be invincible. It can’t mean that because frankly it is impossible, as humans are fallible, they can make mistakes. Thus when we come to competition, a far better short-term goal it to do better than last time. And I don’t mean beat that guy you didn’t, I mean if there is a measurable goal, maybe the score or how many tackles you made, or your race time, that is your REAL OPPONENT – YOURSELF.
Do you know another reason why this is helpful? Well, it tells you more about yourself. Don’t you agree that if you focus on winning or loosing there are no learning points apart from: to win, if you’ve lost, or to keep doing what you’re doing if you won? Now I don’t think we could reach our long-term goal if this was our approach. Better we have our short-term improvement oriented goals so we see which elements of our performance needs improving or that worked well and ultimately the next steps we need to make to become BETTER.
Now I AM NOT SAYING DON’T GO OUT THERE TO WIN. I am just saying don’t go out there to ONLY win but have yourself as your opponent and go out to IMPROVE and you will feel satisfaction even if you don’t happen to take the trophy that particular day but you’ll learn how to, for the next time.
Last Important reminder
Nerves are not all bad. In many cases you will find they actually enhance your performance and help you reach your optimal state of performance. This is true, but the nerves we talk about here are those that inhibit and mess with your natural abilities and only these nerves are those you should really fear. It is easy enough to tell the difference. And I am sure you have expectations on yourself that will still conjure a little excited anxiety before competition but the main thing to remember is it YOU ARE THE ATHLETE and only you matter when in that competition!
ashleigh drew - contact ashleigh.drew@yahoo.co.uk
Be your Best!
Why do we get nervous?
Well, if you think about it the only difference with competition is that we are being judged. In training sure our coach may judge us, hell, we may even judge ourselves but there is no consequence, as that in competition. Namely – Loosing, or more accurately, just NOT winning!
Now there are two things wrong with our body’s decision to turn on the jitters and nervousness when faced with competition and, once you know them, you’ll be able to tell your body the next time you feel the nervousness coming on “Hey. There is no need for nerves. I can do this, I will do this.” That simply. No seriously it is.
The first thing that is wrong with our nerves
There is no reason to be nervous. Easy to say I hear you cry but it is, I’ll explain to you why. When we think about our competition we are thinking about all the things external to ourselves: the judging people, the crown, the opposition, the list can go on. What we forget I that our performance is controlled by US. We are the athlete.
By this I mean, you have trained for this moment, for competition, and you’ve trained well. You have beaten PB’s (Personal Bests) and made your coach proud or even exceeded your expectations. This IS WHO YOU ARE: THE ATHLETE.
Now when you start to let your body get nervous and fill up with adrenaline and jitters you’re forgetting yourself. You perform every time you practice. Competition is really no different, I mean it is what you train for, right?! You have to perform, you know you can perform. The only thing you have to do is forget anything else and concentrate and tell yourself “I can do this and I will.”
It sounds very easy doesn’t it? Well it is but it does need practise.
You see you mind likes to be in control and you body likes to react. But if you’ve always let your body take over in competition situations, then your body will react automatically and your mind has kind of given up on changing anything with a ‘here-we-go-again’ attitude. So by practising your pre competition routine, mantra, what ever you want to call it, you help your mind remember it is in control and competition does not change that. So the next time you approach the competition you won’t have fear as you know there is no need to.
The second thing wrong with our nerves
That is the origin of our nerves. Nervousness before a competition usually means that the focus, as we identified earlier, is outside of ourselves. We either don’t want to loose, or let people down and we can’t be anything but THE BEST.
Now OK, I agree our long-term goal will always be to BE THE BEST. Otherwise we would never strive to be better. But that is exactly my point. In striving to be better that doesn’t mean we have to win every competition that comes our way and be invincible. It can’t mean that because frankly it is impossible, as humans are fallible, they can make mistakes. Thus when we come to competition, a far better short-term goal it to do better than last time. And I don’t mean beat that guy you didn’t, I mean if there is a measurable goal, maybe the score or how many tackles you made, or your race time, that is your REAL OPPONENT – YOURSELF.
Do you know another reason why this is helpful? Well, it tells you more about yourself. Don’t you agree that if you focus on winning or loosing there are no learning points apart from: to win, if you’ve lost, or to keep doing what you’re doing if you won? Now I don’t think we could reach our long-term goal if this was our approach. Better we have our short-term improvement oriented goals so we see which elements of our performance needs improving or that worked well and ultimately the next steps we need to make to become BETTER.
Now I AM NOT SAYING DON’T GO OUT THERE TO WIN. I am just saying don’t go out there to ONLY win but have yourself as your opponent and go out to IMPROVE and you will feel satisfaction even if you don’t happen to take the trophy that particular day but you’ll learn how to, for the next time.
Last Important reminder
Nerves are not all bad. In many cases you will find they actually enhance your performance and help you reach your optimal state of performance. This is true, but the nerves we talk about here are those that inhibit and mess with your natural abilities and only these nerves are those you should really fear. It is easy enough to tell the difference. And I am sure you have expectations on yourself that will still conjure a little excited anxiety before competition but the main thing to remember is it YOU ARE THE ATHLETE and only you matter when in that competition!
ashleigh drew - contact ashleigh.drew@yahoo.co.uk
Be your Best!
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Confidence and Motivation
Sometimes an athlete's motivation can take a knock or an athlete finds it difficult to get motivation back after a lost game or competition.
Guess what? Yes that's right, it is all about your thoughts and behaviours. Change those and you're onto something.
Motivation is best if it comes from inside yourself, the most important form is enjoyment. People may not really believe this to be true but most importantly if you enjoy what you are doing you will be positively motivated. Much more so than if prizes or winning is your motivational focus. But it can be difficult to work this out on your own because of course you want to win, and you should, BUT if we're motivated by self-improvment it's all the better for our performance and ultimately our winner chances in any case!
Now a sport psychologist, like me your on-line psychologist, can help you master self-motivation and get back to enjoying and performing at your best.
Confidence is linked with motivation in my opinion, and many other acedemics in this area. You must be motivated to work and have confidence in your abilities. If you're lacking in confidence your motivation can drop. It can be hard to regain your self-confidence but with a little clarity and a technique I like to used called rational emotional therapy (posh description for reality check) it can be done.
Obviously each athlete is different and there are things a psychologist can help you with you may not even be aware of, but you work together and ultimately work toward giving you the capability to regulate your motivation and confidence without the help of a practitioner. I want you to Be Your Best.
If you want help with your motivation or confidence please contact me:
ashleigh drew - contact ashleigh.drew@yahoo.co.uk
Be your Best!
Guess what? Yes that's right, it is all about your thoughts and behaviours. Change those and you're onto something.
Motivation is best if it comes from inside yourself, the most important form is enjoyment. People may not really believe this to be true but most importantly if you enjoy what you are doing you will be positively motivated. Much more so than if prizes or winning is your motivational focus. But it can be difficult to work this out on your own because of course you want to win, and you should, BUT if we're motivated by self-improvment it's all the better for our performance and ultimately our winner chances in any case!
Now a sport psychologist, like me your on-line psychologist, can help you master self-motivation and get back to enjoying and performing at your best.
Confidence is linked with motivation in my opinion, and many other acedemics in this area. You must be motivated to work and have confidence in your abilities. If you're lacking in confidence your motivation can drop. It can be hard to regain your self-confidence but with a little clarity and a technique I like to used called rational emotional therapy (posh description for reality check) it can be done.
Obviously each athlete is different and there are things a psychologist can help you with you may not even be aware of, but you work together and ultimately work toward giving you the capability to regulate your motivation and confidence without the help of a practitioner. I want you to Be Your Best.
If you want help with your motivation or confidence please contact me:
ashleigh drew - contact ashleigh.drew@yahoo.co.uk
Be your Best!
Sometimes when it comes to the mental side of the game athletes, performers wonder what they can do, or how they can change their minds to help their physical performance.
The truth is they are intrinsically linked, that is to say, you can't perform without using your mind. Just think about it: Perhaps you are a nervous player. You get nervous not because of your physical ability - you practise everyday if you are professional - so there is no reason you would get nervous before a competition, if you've practised for competition all week and you know you can do it. So what is it? It's how you THINK about competition that makes you nervous.
Even then the anxiety or nerves you may have before a game are effected again about how you feel about being nervous. For example I know Rugby Union players who are sick before they go on pitch. For these guys though, their nerves are positive, they have to get this nervous to be in their 'Optimal' performance zone. They go out on pitch and play their best game of rugby.
However for others, those nerves can hamper concentration or focus and ultimately performance. But they needn't....
So what can we do about that? Well changing the way you think about these things can be easy with a bit of help from your on-line Psychologist. By helping you go through and shape new thoughts around nerves and improve your competition performances so nerves are never a problem again!
Now if you are an athlete and dedicated to your physical practise you will understand that the mental training we will go through requires a similar dedication. And once you master your mental game, there will be no stopping you.
ashleigh drew - contact ashleigh.drew@yahoo.co.uk
Be your Best!
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