by Dr. Alan Goldberg
Great coaches USE THEIR ATHLETES’ MISTAKES AND FAILURES AS VALUABLE TEACHING OPPORTUNITIES – They know that their athletes need to be relaxed and loose in order to play to their potential and that a fear of making mistakes will always undermine this relaxed state. To this end, the good coaches give their athletes permission to fail and make mistakes. They instill in their players the understanding that mistakes and failures are nothing more than feedback, feedback about what you did wrong and specifically about what you need to do differently next time. One of the bigger teaching mistakes that coaches make is to get angry and impatient with their athletes when they mess-up or fail. This response to your athletes’ mistakes will insure that they will make plenty more of them. Knowing that your coach gets impatient and angry when you make mistakes will cause you to worry about this while your performing. The best coaches teach that failure is feedback and feedback is the BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS!
