I want to tell you a quick story about a coach whose success changed dramatically after learning the tools and techniques of mental coaching for his team.
Coach Brown loved the game of basketball and teaching his players the ins and outs of the game. He was dedicated to creating excellence in his players, so he made sure to study every drill and training he could get his hands on. He considered himself a real student of the game.
His Varsity High School team had always done respectfully well and he felt like he had the respect of his players and the community. He was pretty happy, but Coach Brown always had bigger dreams for himself.
He had always wanted to work at the collegiate level and had applied for coaching positions all over the country. He could not figure though why he never received offers. Finally, after not being hired yet again for a job he thought he was perfect for, he decided to really evaluate his skills as a coach.
He started by asking his players and their parents how he could improve his coaching. While everyone was highly complimentary of his style that emphasized hard work, the fundamentals, and conditioning, he picked up on the hints that he had ignored signs that some kids really struggled because of their difficult emotions.
He realized he had never taken seriously the mental coaching side of his job! Looking back on the last few seasons, he remembered how certain players didn’t seem to play to their fullest potential. At the time, he had just encouraged them to just try harder and condition harder – just what he had been taught as a player.
He realized he had brushed off some of his players’ negative self talk as simply a “weakness of the mind” and had believed that those players just needed to get over it.
Now he wondered how many games they had lost that could have been wins, if his team had played with the ease they do in scrimmages and pick-up games. He knew all about “performance anxiety in sports” from his days as a player, but he was taught that hard work was the answer and those that didn’t buy in…just naturally washed out of the system.
He began to think about all of the talent he might have wasted over the years with this attitude. He vowed to turn it all around and to learn about mental coaching to improve his skills as a coach.
He studied the famous coaches like Phil Jackson and John Wooden, known for their talent in coaching the mental side of the game.
He got excited when he understood the potential of coaching mental toughness to improve as a coach and to help his players.
Through a recommendation, he ordered the Mental Toughness Training program. First thing he learned in the mental training, was that being mentally tough does NOT mean you “just have to work harder.”
Coach Brown started incorporating mental exercises along with his regular drills in his practices. He learned what to do when players came to him expressing their fears and mental blocks.
He helped them see a bigger perspective to overcome their performance anxiety and learned to encourage them in ways that really mattered.
When he witnessed a player playing timidly on the court, he helped them shift their focus from feeling like they have to win to remembering all the reasons they loved to play the game.
Eventually after really committing to coaching the mental game, Coach Brown felt like he had answers for virtually every problem his players presented and became known as a basketball guru in his own right.
His team began dominating the region, but what turned out to be most important to him was when the parents and his players shared with him how he had positively impacted their lives way beyond basketball.
Welcome to the Winner’s Circle!
Craig Sigl, the mental toughness trainer