CATCHING ATHLETES DOING RIGHT

In sports, coaches are whistle blowers. Many feel inadequate as if they are not doing their job unless they constantly blow the whistle catching an athlete doing something wrong and correcting it. Aside from continually breaking the "flow of play", the whistle is like reinforcing the athletes waiting for the hammer to drop as they focus on mistake, errors, setbacks which makes them tight ,tense and tentative resulting in the action for which the whistle is being blown. Emotionally, the athletes become disgruntled with the process of practice and develop fear of being caught doing something wrong.

What would happen if your culture was a culture of "catching them doing something right"? I remember a coach telling me that an athlete was not listening to the feedback after repeated whistles and the coach was getting upset and impatient with this kid. Motivation for improvement became nonexistent. I suggested to the coach that she could try blowing the whistle whenever she saw this athlete doing something really good, even if it took forever. That day, she tried my strategy. The next day she continued but did it several times. Not only did the athlete start to feel better, more involved and valued, the coach ,herself, began to enjoy practice once again. One week after the start of the new approach, it was the coach's birthday. When she entered the office that morning, there was a huge bouquet of roses on her desk with a note that said: "Hey coach, I just want to tell you how much I am loving Lacrosse again and appreciate your being positive with me. Makes me feel valued and important and motivated to work hard". Guess who sent flowers?

The whistle is an effective coaching and teaching tool. Just remember to stop practice when you see something right happening. This will increase your effectiveness as a coach and, at the same time, increase the enthusiasm of your athletes as they become motivated to listen to you and go the distance as well. It will get the athletes to focus on doing something right rather than fearing doing something wrong.