By Mike Herbert
(February 2, 2023)

There is a philosophy out there that coaching occurs in practice, but once the competition starts there is not much a coach can do. This is accurate to some extent depending on the sport and the amount of time available for instruction during competition. For example, soccer is played on a large field and typically there are no timeouts or breaks where a coach can make major corrections, it truly is a “player’s sport.” On the other hand, football stops and starts continuously giving coaches involved an opportunity to make corrections and offer suggestions continuously. Either way, major corrections are difficult to make during an event that requires coaches and parents to sit and watch helplessly from a distance.

Feeling helpless when it comes to your team or your child is not a very comfortable position to be in, but it actually is the best thing for development. Guided discovery is a teaching technique that requires a coach to provide some structure, but then sit back and let the “students” find their way. The only way this can happen is if we allow our athletes to fail. The same concept must be applied to competition. Coaches provide a “game plan,” communicate it to their team and then allow the process to take place, while not getting too upset or too excited. To release your athletes to the game and allow them to learn from their participation in the sport, consider the following strategies:

Withhold Feedback Early in Competition

A good leader knows that in order to make good decisions they must not get too emotional at any specific time. It is easy for an athlete to get excited, frustrated, or upset during competition, but when they look to their coach for guidance they need to see a calm face. Athletes don’t perform their best when there is a fear of punishment or retribution from their coach. We have all coached someone who constantly is looking to the stands for their parent’s approval or at times disapproval, this behavior creates a scared athlete who is afraid of making mistakes.

A good rule of thumb is to give yourself a time limit to start any competition where you are not going to give any feedback. For example, if you are coaching a youth basketball game with 8-minute quarters, plan on just sitting and watching for the first 3 minutes. Don’t provide any feedback, just pay attention to what the team is doing well, then make your first substitution and talk to the athletes as they come out of the game. It is difficult for athletes to process information during competition, so try to hold your comments until they are sitting next to you on the bench. Another approach is to always have an assistant coach you can bounce ideas off of. Make sure this person is sitting close to you during this time of silence so you can talk to each other about what direction or move you want to make next. Planned substitutions are also a great tool prior to the competition so you can focus on strategy and not try to remember who and when you want to make subs.

Allow Them to Make Mistakes

While we don’t want our athletes to make mistakes, if they are afraid of making a mistake then they most likely will make one. Coaches that are able to get the most out of their athletes tend to have athletes who trust them and know they are going to be supportive regardless of their performance. A child who is afraid of disappointing their coach or parent will ultimately disappoint them. The best environment for a child to grow and develop is an emotionally safe one. In order to provide a safe environment we must sit back and let things happen.

We feel helpless when an official makes a call we don’t agree with or an opponent is taking advantage of our kid and we can’t do anything to help from the sideline. The key is to build trust over the course of time so that our athletes are empowered to help themselves. Allowing them to make mistakes or even be “wronged” by an opponent without jumping in to fix the problem gives our athletes a chance to solve the problem on their own. Teach your athletes how to talk to an official appropriately and ask a question. This gives them ownership of the situation and an opportunity to advocate for themselves.

When a coach is secure in their team’s preparedness and abilities. If they have coached the team to handle adversity and make decisions for themselves, then an athlete will feel safe and compete with a certain level of confidence and communicate with their coach when they need assistance. If your athlete makes an error and comes to you as the coach to ask questions, you have done a great job building a relationship. The athlete that asks for help will be more receptive to change and correct their errors.

Building Trust Through Honesty

As a coach, we tend to want to correct everything that occurs throughout a competition, but there are good and bad times to do so. If one of your players strikes out to end an inning and you want to correct their batting stance, it might not be the best time to correct them as they need to prepare to go back out to play defense. There are appropriate times to make corrections to maximize learning, not to mention, they know they just stuck out, so they may not need to be reminded of it immediately. This is a great opportunity for you as a coach to remain quiet and just let them move on to their next task. Approaching them before their next at bat or in the dugout during the next inning gives them time to calm down from the failure and focus on the instruction. It also shows them that you as the coach are not going to yell and scream at them every time they make a mistake, thus building respect and trust.

Many times when we are corrected by someone else we get defensive, it is a normal response for an adult. Therefore, when we correct our kids we need to be aware of how we do it when we do it, and who is watching. All of these things play into our goal of changing behavior. Holding back during competition allows athletes to make mistakes and corrections on their own without ridicule. Imagine how well you would perform in your job if you knew your direct supervisor was going to be supportive no matter the error you may make. If your athletes continually look to the sideline for approval or disapproval after every possession, you are doing something wrong as a coach. A great tip for coaches is to provide time before or after practice for athletes to ask questions. Let them know you are always available during specific times to talk about anything that might be on their minds.

Remember Your Purpose

The purpose goes beyond making a better athlete, the coach has a purpose to make a better person. Thus, a coach on the sideline, implementing the concepts during competition, is teaching their team to grow into confident, selfless, and contributing members of society later on in life.