underachieving

Question
I coach youth football in my residential area and i have a concern. The area where i come from is big on youth football, we always attract the best athletes but just continue to under achieve. Players from around here just don't have that mental toughness and lack a mean streak. This goes back as long as i can remember it was even evident when i was playing for the league. The other cities around us have it. why cant we? How can we as a coaching staff install that mental toughness and a mean streak???

Answer
Hello Justin

There's a difference between mental toughness and a mean streak.  To me, mental toughness has two parts.  The first part is being confident, motivated and focused.  The second part is being able to have the right arousal or energy level at the right time.  

On the other hand, a mean streak means being out of control.  These are the guys who, after they tackle someone, go over and jump up and down on their heads a few times for good measure.

To illustrate this, for several years I did protection training with my Doberman Pinscher, Apollo (he's in my picture).  Apollo's "game" was to go bite the guy in the big padded suit.  And to do that, Apollo needed a high level of arousal (plus that confidence, motivation and focus).  But, the rules of the "game" were that when I called out the key word, Apollo let go of the padded suit, and came back to me (and he did).  If he was out of control, he would have never let go.  He was really pumped up, but it was a game, it wasn't about being a mean dog.  After the training session was finished, the guy in the padded suit would go sit down and rest, and Apollo would go over to have his head patted and his ears scratched.  This was the guy Apollo was doing his best to knock over just 10 minutes before, but Apollo knew it was a game.  I've known athletes like this.  When it's time to play, they are maximally pumped up but still in control.

Regards your team, what do you specifically expect from your athletes?  Are you disappointed in them?  People get into self-fulfilling prophecies (coaches AND players).  Is it possible your players don't think you believe in them so they don't try their best?

Working both with individual athletes, and with teams, you have to allow for the different dynamics.  

For individual players, I first work on boosting their confidence.  When they believe they can do it (and I always base that on past successes they've had), then I work on building up their motivation to play their best.  Then, I can work on enhancing their focus.  This approach has worked very well with a variety of ages and sports.  I know lots of coaches believe in motivating based on fear, shame, guilt and embarrassment, but I've gotten lots of great results using positive motivation.

For teams, I work with helping them understand that they are "just as good as" as any other team.  What I'm talking about it as people.  When the players understand and believe that while skill levels vary, what happens in a game can change from moment to moment and even teams that seem unbeatable can lose, then the team confidence can grow.

There's a good example of this concept in the film "Hoosiers" where the small town coach has his team measure the basketball at the big fancy gym, so they know it's the same as their small town one.  This works in the real world as well (I use variations of this).  When teams believe they can do it, and if they believe their coach believes in them as well, it can be like flipping a switch and lighting up their potential.

Let me know how it goes.

Best regards,

David

David Kenward, The Mental Coach
Sacramento, California
http://www.thementalcoach.com