Resilience is as essential in life as it is on the sports field. Sometimes things don’t work out as planned, and then when life hits hard, you still need to have the resilience to stand up and fight back. This is a common scenario during any sports event. When one competitor or team is having an overhand above another, the ability to get up in the face of possible defeat is a skill which comes naturally for some and needs to be coached to others. Following are some advice from Olympic Gold medallists on how you can coach your athletes into being resilient in the face of defeat.
Personal Development is Key
It is essential to instil the concept with your athletes that it is vital that they compare their performance against their own. Comparing your achievement with those of others can be an unnecessary cause of strain and anxiety. These can hinder athletes from delivering their best results. In the end, it is about competing against yourself, improving your skills, techniques and performance and developing yourself into the athlete you want to be. As a coach, you want to do the same and compare an athlete’s performance only against their own and not that of others.
Handle Setback as Opportunities to Create Growth
Setbacks will happen. It is needed to happen. Without delays, you will have no reason to improve. It can be easy if delays are a regular occurrence, to get stuck in a negative place of being mentally defeated. Every setback can be analysed and be transformed as a learning curve. It is your responsibility as a coach to set the example of this during team talks.
Know Why You Want to Win
Determination is built from a clear vantage point on the end desire. The better your understanding is of why you want to win, the more attractive winning seems, and the higher the desire to win grows. As a coach, you must ensure that your team is convinced of why they want to win. They need to be able to experience a personal hunger and desire for achieving success to get up from a wrong position and march forward to be triumphant.
Creating Positivity
Sometimes a coach can find himself in a place of misery, stuck with a team who are not motivated at all. Every practice session is experienced as some form of obligatory punishment, and the entire course is riddled with negativity. A coach needs to be clear on the fact that coaching this team has been a choice made. This isn’t an obligation, and you had an opportunity to be here or not. The same goes for your athletes. They must remember that they chose to do their best and to deliver their best efforts. Always keeping in mind that what you are doing has been a choice that gives an improved sense of control over your life. This leads to a much more positive and productive outcome in the end.