Coaches: Focus on the Positive

In Today's Post, Paul Delivers Another Elementary Yet Powerful Coaching Tip That Can And Will Lead To You Becoming The Coach That EVERYONE WANTS TO PLAY FOR-- And All Organizations Want To Hire!

By Paul Lubanski

A terrific tip to pass along today involves one of the most effective methods for teaching and coaching successfully that any leader can embrace at any level--TimBits through the NHL.

It simply involves the elimination of the contraction DON'T from your coaching vocabulary repertoire.

Let me explain...

I recently sat and watched a portion of a high school football practice where the particular drill being executed was defensive-oriented in that it involved teaching one-on-one pass coverage. Throughout the exercise, the head coach kept screaming "don't get beat"- "don't get beat" at/to his young safety.

How intimidating-- and  how patently WRONG of the coach to do so.

For a million reasons.
Not the least of which is the following: Implanting that negative-seed  ( "don't get beat") in a youngster's mind is 1,000% counter-productive to the supposed positive-reinforcement-required "teaching"  task at-hand.

Why toss something mean-spirited like that out--at all?

It's plain bad-coaching any way you slice it, regardless of the sport, age or skill-level

It is akin to a school teacher telling his/her students prior to an important math test--"make certain you do not forget the most critical formulas needed to solve all of the equations!" Instead of: "we've all worked very hard to internalize, learn and memorize the required formulas to ace this test, now take a deep breath, focus intently and I know they will appear in your brain for application--I just know they will!"

So now let's pivot back to what the football coach should have been exhorting in that situation depicted above: "Stay strong, quick feet--win the battle!" Note the positive and very compelling encouragement that literally draws a picture of impending success in the mind's-eye of the player!

You see, doing as described above IS outstanding coaching. Again, doesn't matter what, where or who we are mentoring. In other words, ALWAYS focusing on the positive with zero hint of failure even remotely voiced.

In closing, let me take a second to crystallize and condense my sense of purpose and ultimately--my primary message in today's effort--which is thus: As a youth coach, it is incumbent upon you to learn to instruct your players as to what you "would like them to accomplish" as opposed to what "you DO NOT want them to accomplish!"

Again, doing as such provides an elementary roadmap for the imagined and real success of each individual player and of course, THE TEAM to navigate. In my mind, achieving these aforementioned goals are precisely WHY you and I should be coaching in the first-place.

Best of luck.

Paul


You can find Paul's delightful and entertaining children's books--"Bonky, a Moose and the Magic Hockey Stick" and "Just Leave it to Coopie" on www.amazon.com--keyword Lubanski.

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