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| Psychology |
Coaching Excellence
by: Dan Freigang, Ph.D.
Caldan
| Experienced players, coaches, the research and common sense all agree that the ability to communicate effectively is the most important skill for a coach to possess. Communication skills help good coaches to get better and allow players to make breakthroughs. Communication is the key skill for business executives and is also the key for successful relationships. This month we will look at how improving your coaching communication skills can improve the motivation of your players.
What Does a Great Coach Sound Like?
At the recent Washington State Youth Soccer Association Fair former National Team Coach, Tony DiCicco, gave an example of how coaches can communicate effectively. Tony was working with a group of young women he had just met. The first thing I observed is that he learned their first names and used them immediately. The use of first names is important because you can make immediate connections with people. It was evident Tony was coaching people and not techniques. Every verbal communication was directed to an individual with intent. There were few wasted words. In fact, there was often silence as the players experienced the skill. The flow of the skill was left uninterrupted as the women experienced the game.
What Does a Great Coach Look Like?
How much of our communication are words? Only about 30%. That means that 70% is non-verbal, such as facial expression, gesture and posture. You can say a lot with your body and it’s easier to communicate. The French national team coach, Aime Jacquet, gave a fantastic session in Philadelphia in February coaching a group of U-15 boys. He was energetic, clear and the boys learned from a coaching master. The trick was Aime didn’t speak English. He communicated with his face and hands with a great deal of precision in his demonstrations. We often over-coach by providing too many words that players forget and this results in boredom. The great coaches pick their words very carefully and use them sparingly. As well, great coaching can utilize strong non-verbal communication to help learning and self-confidence.
The Use of Humor?
Another striking observation from the Washington State Youth Soccer Association Fair is that Tony DiCicco can be very funny. Tony utilized humor frequently to guide the training session. Tony had both the coaches and players at ease and paying attention. When players are relaxed and focused they learn and perform better. The use of humor is important because people are drawn to pleasant interactions. This session was held in a hotel ballroom with giant chandeliers. Balls were flying everywhere nearly hitting the expensive fixtures. The players were performing at a high tempo occasionally skinning themselves on the unforgiving carpet. Tony utilized humor to guide the session and keep the team focused and motivated. He could have stopped the session to correct players’ mistakes, but he chose to let the skill evolve while he utilized hilarious remarks to keep everyone engaged and focused. Tony’s humorous comments did not come across as sarcasm, but rather as a guided correction without stopping a play. The session flowed nicely and both the players and audience came away informed and motivated.
The Use of Criticism?
Correcting technique is part of coaching. We have to find smart ways to help players improve. Tony is an experienced senior coach who never stopped play when a player did something wrong. This is a skill Tony has learned. Constant criticisms can be devastating to players. When we are coaching young people, the goal is to build self-esteem, self-confidence and help players to internalize motivation. All coaches want to have players coach themselves. The self-confidence you need to coach yourself is learned and built gradually over the course of a career. If a player experiences constant failure or too much criticism, they will experience negative emotions, practice are at half speed and eventually lose interest in the game. You have seen the cycle of a destruction stall a player’s development and take the joy out of the game. Often the player will perceive the coach being negative toward them or think they are being unfairly singled out. Players tend to close their ears to this type of criticism. When players become isolated, they become emotionally fragile and their confidence is poor. This is a bad cycle for players to enter. If a player’s motivation is decreased then even simple skills become difficult. Players can feel this loss of touch and confidence decreases. This negative cycle begins to feed off of itself and can be very difficult to break.
Are You a Negative Coach?
If you were to ask a coach if they communicate with positive or negative instructions, most coaches would indicate they are primarily positive communicators. For example; a coach may say that their communication content is 80% positive, 20% negative. If you were to ask their players the same question, they may respond by stating the coach is 40% positive and 60% negative. These differences between players and coaches perception are common and illustrates how we need to observe, and train our communication skills. The best way for coaches to learn their style is to employ observation tools.
Observation tools are frequently utilized when training working professionals. Teachers, doctors and many other professions employ the use of observation tools to improve communication. It’s really not that difficult. The use of audio, videotape and peer review are common techniques to identify and develop skilled coaches. Frank Smoll, a sport psychologist presenting at the Washington Fair spoke about the role of positive coaching. He indicated positive coaching helped players to enjoy the game and continue to improve. Its good advice to train and develop sound communication skills.
Why does Positive Coaching Help?
Most coaches have adapted the popular role of the coach as the central leader and motivators of the team. This is the traditional role our sport culture has adopted from formal business and military organizations. The old time role of the coach was to make all the decisions and centralize authority and information. This model served its time, but is being replaced by a more effective design. Business has adopted a flat and more flexible design with less authority on the leader and more responsibility on the individual. Most effective teams are now powered by “all” the players maximizing their roles to perfection. When the team goals, individual roles and communication are clear, the team can take on the world. It’s exciting to see these “empowered” teams play and are fun to be around.
The Coach as a Role Model
That brings us back to Tony DiCicco again. The U-15 girls were charged up and motivated to learn from a national team coach. Tony responded by being prepared, professional and a master communicator. When coaches are skilled, they provide expectations for players technically as well an example of how adults are supposed to act. Coaches are central role models. When children are young, the family is the primary source of support and information for the youngster. At this stage the parents are role models. When players reach age 11-12, the peer group begins to take a more central role as the primary influence. As coaches, you are often placed in the situation where you are perhaps the most influential person in some players’ world. This is a fantastic responsibility for the coach. Depending on your choice of words and behavior, you can influence a player to become more confident and take control of their motivation, or you can destroy a player’s self-esteem to the point where they give up training and quit the game.
The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
One of the most powerful tools you have as the coach is the principle of the self-fulfilling prophecy. When you provide positive information to a player they build a healthy self-esteem and actually believe they are what you say they are. They begin to act the way they think. If you tell an 8-year-old player, they are great shooters they are more likely to go home and practice shooting in the garage because they think they are good at it. That’s because you helped to shape a young persons’ image about themselves. Reality is what they think and they think they are great shooters. The self-fulfilling prophecy can work negatively as well. If you tell players they are slow, fat and stupid, don’t expect them to come to practice early to be abused. They will tend to avoid that situation. We all want players to be happy, skillful and motivated.
Now its game time.
Lets see what you have learned by taking this true or false quiz.
| 1. Most of our communication is nonverbal.
| True | False |
| 2. Humor is a desired trait in skillful coaching.
| True | False |
| 3. Coaches often overestimate their communication effectiveness.
| True | False |
| 4. Constant coaching corrections make players tough.
| True | False |
| 5. The coach should be the central leader of the team.
| True | False |
Answers 1=True 2=True 3=True 4=False 5=False
Upon earning his Ph.D. in sport psychology, Dan Freigang (Dano), worked in player development in professional hockey and is currently in private practice in Salt Lake City. His energies are currently directed toward the soccer world where he serves as a national staff member for both the USSF and NSCAA. He has made contributions to over fifty NCAA teams and hundreds of soccer clubs within the United States. He also serves in an educational capacity for numerous national sport governing bodies. Dano invites your comments and inquiries.Caldan
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