By Lori Gano-Overway
(September 9, 2023)

Goal setting is one of the most effective mental skills that coaches can teach athletes that will not only enhance their athletic performance but also help them achieve in life (Weinberg & Butt, 2014). For coaches to help athletes become effective goal setters they not only need to teach athletes how to set goals but also teach and model the on-going process of goal setting. This brief article will move beyond the setting SMART goals by showing how coaches can embed the goal setting process over the course of the sport season.

Pre-Season Goal Setting Meetings

To start the goal setting process, coaches meet with the athletes during the pre-season to plan the goals for the season. Coaches can have a team meeting to discuss the team goals for the season and seek input from the athletes. However, for goals to motivate athletes and direct their effort each athlete needs their own set of individual goals. Therefore, meeting with each athlete to discuss their goals is essential. Prior to the meeting it may be helpful for athletes to record their own goals. During these meetings, coaches help athletes develop goals to ASPIRE toward (Gano-Overway & Carson Sackett, 2022). That is, coaches want to engage in the following actions (noted by the ASPIRE acronym) during the goal setting meeting:

ASSESS with the athlete what is possible for the year. Coaches need to consider current abilities, team needs, team goals, time and resources available, and the commitment level of the athlete. Once there has been an open and honest conversation about what is possible, coaches can help athletes make sure their goals align with the following goal setting principles.

SPECIFIC and measurable goals are set. Setting specific and measurable goals to help everyone be able to clearly identify when they have been achieved. For example, a “do your best” goal does supply a specific action the athlete can take but there is no way to measure its achievement. However, setting a goal to increase your first serve percentage by 5% in tennis by mid-season is specific and measurable.

PERFORMANCE and Process goals drive action. While having goals that focus on the outcome (winning the conference) is a useful starting place, outcome goals do little to direct effort or focus attention. Thus, coaches want to set goals that highlight the specific performance needed from the athlete during practices and games. Doing so will help to focus their attention and efforts on achieving that goal and help them see how they are contributing to the team. Plus, the question that athletes often ask is: How can I get better at X? or How can I achieve this goal? Therefore, each performance goal should have at least one process goal or activity the athlete needs to engage in to achieve the performance goal. For instance, setting a goal to increase your first serve percentage by 5% in tennis by mid-season is a performance goal but it needs a process goal, like spend time in each practice working on the consistency of your ball toss by doing one or more of the following drills – accuracy and consistency drill, toss height drill, toss pose drill (See this website for some examples of performance and process goals in running).

INCREMENTAL plans will help achieve the performance goals. In other words, set up short-term goals with specific timelines to make sure athletes stay on track. Here is a worksheet that coaches might find useful in creating and monitoring short-term and long-term goals with athletes.

REALISTIC and challenging goals are important. After going through the process of setting a specific and measurable performance goal and corresponding short-term performance and process goals, coaches want to make sure it is realistic for the athlete to achieve in the time allotted and it supplies enough challenge to motivate them throughout the season. Further, it is important to gauge how committed the athlete is to the work necessary to achieve the goal. It will be important to rework the goal if it does not meet these criteria.

EVALUATE whether the goal is achieved by its target date and whether the process goals are helping. This is the critical process often missing in the goal setting process. This process begins with coaches recording athletes’ goals to check over the season. Additionally, coaches can have athletes post their goals in a place where they will see them before and after every practice (e.g., locker, sport bag, smartphone home screen, etc.). Seeing their goals can help provide athletes with the extra motivation they need for the day and remind them how to best use their time and efforts during practice to help them achieve. However, evaluation also involves checking in with athletes throughout the season.

Mid-Season Check In

While having the athletes check their own goals throughout the season can be useful and teach athletes an important life skill of being accountable for their own improvement, it is important to check in with athletes. For some athletes, this will remind them they set goals as their attention and motivation may not be aligning with the goals they set. For all athletes, it is good to see their progress. Therefore, setting periodic check-ins throughout the season is encouraged. Some coaches monitor their athletes’ goal progress once a week, others do so bi-weekly, others structure meetings based on the short-term goal timelines, and others check in at the mid-point of the season. Each coach needs to find what works best for them but at a minimum it is important to check in at the mid-point of the season. This is often the point when many athletes struggle with their confidence, motivation, and focus. Thus, revisiting the goals can be helpful.

During the meeting, Evaluate the progress the athlete has made. If they have achieved their short-term goal, offer congratulations and praise (this will go a long way to improving their confidence). If they have made progress but are not quite there yet, again honor the improvement they have made. Then check in with how the process goal is working (e.g., Did the tennis player do the drills each day in practice as outlined in the process goal?). If they have not fully committed to their process goal, you can encourage them to continue their efforts and remind them how greater improvement can occur with greater consistency in completing their process goal. If they have committed to their process goal and have not made progress, consider new strategies to re-direct their time and effort (e.g., maybe they need a pre-serve routine). As you can see, having this check-in meeting can build confidence, improve motivation, enhance focus, and ensure that athletes are not wasting time the whole season on strategies that are not working for them. This also models for athletes how they move from setting a goal to achieving a goal.

End of Season Meeting

An end of the season meeting provides coaches another opportunity to Evaluate athletes’ goals. An end of the season meeting provides an opportunity to:

• review the season highlighting the athletes’ strengths and the improvements they have made;
• help athletes see how their individual goal progress contributed to the team accomplishments and get their feedback on how the season went and ways to make it even better next season;
• outline what might be useful for athletes to do in the off-season to continue to advance their goals; and
• consider how goals can be applied to other areas of their life as it can help them develop as a whole person and encourage them to achieve in other areas of their life from academics / career to engage in their communities.

As Hall of Fame football coach, Tom Landry noted many years ago, “Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.” Therefore, setting SMART goals is only the first step. Coaches also need to collaborate with athletes to assess where athletes are and what they want to achieve AND to continue to evaluate how athletes are doing in relation to their goals throughout the season. Tennis superstar, Venus Williams is quoted as saying, “Set realistic goals, keep re-evaluating, and be consistent.” This is the key to good goal setting and by teaching and modeling this process, athletes will learn an important life skill that they can apply inside and outside of their sport.

References

Gano-Overway, L., & Carson Sackett, S. (2022). Let’s Get Smart and Set Goals to ASPIRE. Journal of Sport Psychology in Action, 13, 230-244. https://doi.org/10.1080/21520704.2021.2007192

Weinberg, R. S., & Butt, J. (2014).  Goal-setting and sport performance:  Research findings and practical applications.  In A. G. Papaioannou and D. Hackfort (Eds.), Routledge companion to sport and exercise psychology:  Global perspectives and fundamental concepts (pp. 343–355).  Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

A modified version of this article first appeared in the Fall 2023 VHSL Coaches Corner Newsletter.