As a parent or athlete you’ve noticed it, and as a coach you may even have recognized it in yourself: the temptation and tendency to “overcoach” during competition. The desire to coach as well as possible, for wins and for life lessons, is an admirable trait of the Responsible Coach. But too often “coaching well” is confused with incessant instruction and “attention to detail” veers into micro-management.
Why does this happen? In The Double-Goal Coach, PCA Founder and Executive Director Jim Thompson describes the “Romance of Leadership,” a concept he first heard of from Jeff Pfeffer at the Stanford Business School. The idea is that coaches tend to feel that they should be making things happen. They are aware that others may perceive the “hands-on” coach as doing a better job.
Also, exercising authority can feel good, so coaches may succumb to that temptation even when letting players take the lead would yield better results. Plus, media images of coaches pacing the sidelines and yelling out plays leaves the impression that that is how big-time coaches succeed. Therefore, youth hockey coaches may fall into the trap of emulating coaches they admire despite the radically different goals and environments between pro sports and youth hockey.
Whatever the reason, coaches overly insert themselves into games, it often is better to let players make decisions for themselves during competition. A coach’s constant instruction can distract players, and eventually some players may tune out and miss the pieces of instruction or information that matter most.
To compliment this concept of letting players play, you can reference the ELM Approach, where ELM stands for Effort, Learning and Mistakes. Research shows that when coaches focus solely on the scoreboard, players' anxiety increases. Athletes spend more of their emotional energy worrying about whether they will lose. Higher anxiety causes them to make more mistakes because they play tentatively and timidly.
More importantly, overcoaching prevents players from thinking on their feet during a game. In turn, players lose the uniquely valuable opportunity to learn as much as possible about the game through their own trial and error. And, most importantly, that lost opportunity on the field means a squandered chance for players to apply their on-field understanding of cause and effect, self-awareness and continuous improvement to other aspects of their lives.
This does not mean that coaches should never correct players during a game. It is just a caution that many coaches overcoach without being aware of it.
Certainly, there are times during games when limited, simple correction is absolutely essential. For example, if one of your hockey players keeps his head down while skating with the puck; you might say “keep that head up with the puck” as he leaves the bench for his shift.
Filling Players Emotional Tanks is an important aspect to success, on and off the ice. By striking the right balance between specific, truthful praise and specific, constructive criticism. Educational research indicates a "Magic Ratio" of 5:1, five praises to one criticism, which fosters the ideal learning environment.
Many coaches find this hard to believe, because most of our own experience as youth athletes, sons, daughters and pupils has taught us that "coaching" equals "correcting," and therefore, praise is not coaching. But a Responsible Coach who fills Emotional Tanks corrects players correctly!
So, you may ask how to strike a balance between the instruction needed for in-game adjustments and the tendency to overcoach players during game action. One approach among many that you could take is to focus some attention toward players on the bench.
For example, instead of yelling across the rink, “Tim, see the forward, pass it up!” you might say to your defensemen, “Did you see how that play developed? Remember to keep your heads up the next time you’re out there and a forward breaks free.” (A great way to keep guys in the bench mentally involved in the game is to have them note what their teammates are doing well and which items need work in upcoming practices.)
If coaches let the players on the ice solve the challenges they face during game action, players will develop a deeper understanding of their sport. Plus, you may get to enjoy the “a-ha moment,” like so many coaches, when you find yourself saying, under your breath, “Don’t pass it now, don’t pass it there….wow, what a beautiful pass!”
In an effort to benefit millions of youth athletes, parents and coaches, this article is among a series created exclusively for partners in the Liberty Mutual Responsible SportsTM program (ResponsibleSports.com) powered by Positive Coaching Alliance (http://www.positivecoach.org/).
