Ladies Gaelic Football

ladiesgaelic.ie // 45 PRACTICAL PSYCHOLOGY IN COACHING Volume 14 | Issue No 3 | PEIL Autumn Training a player in the psychological elements of sport does not just happen at the top level, it happens at every level, whether you are aware of it or not. For coaches of any sport at any level here are 3 areas to consider when trying to support players to develop adaptive psychological strategies for sport. FAILURE Michael Jordan, the greatest basketball player of all time, used the experience of failure as a tool to develop and improve. He was cut from his highschool basketball team and advised that at 5'11 he was too short to play and lacked the necessary skills. He didn't believe this. Instead he used this failure as a driver to develop his skills, speed, talent and attitude "Whenever I was working out and got tired and figured I ought to stop, I'd close my eyes and see that list in the locker room without my name on it, and that got me going again." (Michael Jordan) A successful team creates a culture which acknowledges that failure is inevitable, that it's an important component of learning and that it is directly related to your future success. Successful athletes face defeat throughout their careers but they don't let it stunt their development. Instead, they use it to drive them to success. Coaches must ensure that failure is used as a tool for growth not as a tool for shaming, criticising or stifling a player. Teaching individuals and teams to acknowledge their failures while giving them the tools to learn from them is a key ingredient for success. There's a saying, "You can't change the past, but you can ruin a perfectly good future by worrying about it." Taking on board mistakes and learning from them is necessary for player development. Mistakes such as missing a routine shot, pass or kick can be extremely frustrating and upsetting for any player. But all players at every level make mistakes. It is simply inevitable. You have no control over what has just happened, it is gone. You must let it go to prepare for your next opportunity. Coaches you can teach your players to mentally refocus on the next play in the moment. One simple tool; count to 10 and release your anger in those 10 seconds--don't suppress it. Let it out. But then it's over, no more dwelling, refocus on the next play. Mistakes can then be revisited at a later stage to see what could be done differently. Educating players is necessary to learn from errors. Telling them they made a mistake is not enough and often not necessary, they know this already. Giving them the knowledge to understand why they may have made that mistake and teaching them to skills to minimise future mistakes is what the player needs. Coaches and parents have a responsibility to cultivate a player's belief and confidence in their ability to perform. Here are some suggestions to support this process. • Help a player to pick one part of their game to improve at a time and use one thought, cue word or image to remind them of what they need to do. • Encourage your players to write down goals for each training session which will increase their level of preparation. Before a game review with them what they have done to prepare. This will help build self-belief and confidence. • Coaches hold tremendous power in a players' mind. Remember every interaction you have can potentially affect your players self-confidence either by building it up or tearing it down. The most successful players are bursting with confidence!!! I've had losses in my career before, and I've always come back stronger from those losses. I think it's important to feel those losses because I never want to feel like that again. (Katie Taylor) FORGET ABOUT WINNING, STRIVE FOR EXCELLENCE INSTEAD. When striving for excellence keep the focus on the team's process and away from outcomes. By focusing on process, you are paying attention to what a player can control e.g. techniques to make them stronger and faster, skills development to improve their performance, nutrition to make them healthier, statistics on their individual/team performance to support them to work on areas for development and tactical information to make them more knowledgeable. While winning is undoubtedly highly valued, focusing on winning is not the key to winning. In fact, the opposite is true. The outcome of a competition does not occur until the competition is over and if you are focusing on the end you are not focusing on what is happening. If you focus on the process the team have a much better chance of performing to the best of their ability because you are paying attention to things that will help them perform. If players are performing well, having fun, improving their skills, and giving maximum effort they are more likely to achieve the results they want. HE WAS CUT FROM HIS HIGHSCHOOL BASKETBALL TEAM AND ADVISED THAT AT 5'11 HE WAS TOO SHORT TO PLAY AND LACKED THE NECESSARY SKILLS. BELIEF We know that the mind of a successful athlete is trained to talk themselves into victory. Belief is such a powerful mental tool, it can bring teams back from the brink of defeat when the chips are down. If a team can reach into their memory bank of self-belief in crucial moments this mental strategy can get them over the line. When it comes to team sports it is not enough for a few players to believe. There must be a level of cohesiveness to belief. For this type of belief to exist players must value and respect, one another and their management team. The players must be fully invested in their team goals and mission. This cannot be switched on and off. It takes time, dedication, trust, honesty, communication, feedback between players and coaches, and overcoming challenges and adversity as a unit. Elaine Kelly, Dublin

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