Written by Have you ever coached a team in a game where their brains or hearts were not in it? Maybe your team looked lethargic while playing or in a fog. Or has a team that you ever coached been down by what seemed like an insurmountable amount? In every single case that happened when I was coaching, the situation was because of me as the coach. It was not because of an individual athlete, outside issue, injury, or something catastrophic. It was because of their coach’s lack of preparedness, properly focusing on the athletes and team, and not always assessing the situation.
As a young coach, this happened a number of times. I could have yelled or screamed at the athletes and team to try and fix the situation but I knew even then that was a nonstarter. I had to assess what was happening, analyze why it was happening, and take ownership of the situation.
It was because I overtrained the team. I thought that the team needed extra training for that competition or maybe a future one a few weeks later. Or maybe I thought that the team was under trained and pushed them to their physical limits with nothing left in their tanks for game time.
I did not mentally prepare the athletes and team for the competition. As the coach I was so focused on preparing them physically or for a future game or competition that I neglected to get them ready for the game that day. I overlooked the signs for mental stress and did not address it with an individual athlete or a team. Maybe if I did see the mental strain, I may have thought that the athlete or team could work through it.
Or I did not take all of the athletes’ or team’s emotional health fully into consideration. There were some outside stressors that were plaguing the team or as a coach I was not meeting their emotional needs. Instead of having them physically prepare for the game, I should have attempted to address emotional needs.
Those have been examples of my shortcomings as a coach but if I let any physical, mental, or emotional stress enter the game, I would normally catch that the team was not remotely competing at their peak performance early on. I would then do one of two things: Call a time out, then maybe exhaust all possible timeouts depending on how long that I had to calm and refocus the team; or I would prepare a squad of athletes to replace the entire team that was currently playing. Obviously, the second action is a sport dependent action as some sports at certain levels will not allow this.
In either case, I would take the entire struggling squad away and speak with them for a few minutes. I would first begin with apologizing for my own shortcomings and would tell them that their lack of focus or energy was due to me and me alone. I would then refocus their thoughts, discuss concerns, and provide encouragement. I would express that they were mentally, physically, and emotionally ready to take on the rest of the game or competition and that they would address the game one possession at a time.
In almost all cases, this resulted in a complete turnaround of the entire team. The athletes and team had more confidence, would communicate with each other more frequently, and were ultimately more in sync. It was always amazing to watch the complete turnaround as they would always look like a different team. Many of these games, which originally looked like they were going to end miserably, resulted in a favorable outcome. I just always wish that I would have caught it before the game, or during practice, or at any other point when I should have as the coach. It was my responsibility, and not anyone else’s, as I was the coach.