Background on Myself: *******

4 yrs. HS Varsity Bowling Team Graduated 2012

Didn’t know what I really wanted to do Community College

Volunteered to be JV Girls Coach *found what I want to do for the rest of my

life.

For me this is more than coaching. This is my legacy. I want everyone to

remember me as the coach who built amazing strong programs with even stronger

athletes. I want my athletes to look back at their time with me and think “this was

the point in my life where I realized my potential as an athlete.” You see there are

bad coaches, there are good coaches and then there are great coaches. But I think

there is one more level beyond great coaching that includes those who leave behind

legacies. And that’s what I want to do. I want to build my legacy. And to do that as

a coach it starts with my athletes. Now, I can stand here and say that these few

years volunteering as a coach were all I needed to persuade me to follow a career

path into coaching but that would be a lie. ******

You see, 2 years after I graduated high school I was recruited to bowl for this small

school called Olivet College and you might think Olivet College? Where is that

even at? It’s about 30 min south of Lansing. A town so small we have only one

stop light and our fast food is subway. I started looking into Olivet and realized

there was no bowling program! How was I supposed to bowl with no program? I

started talking to friends and family and the coach at Olivet and a plan started to

form in my head. This was my opportunity to get back on the lanes and compete

collegiately, before I began my coaching career. One thing I’ve noticed over my 3

years at Olivet is the differences between competing, then coaching and then

moving back into competing. The mindset is completely different. I’ve caught

myself a few times thinking “okay if I was coaching me what would I say right

now?” getting the opportunity to compete again really solidified my decision to

become a coach. I know what it’s like to be an athlete trying to motivate yourself

and I know what it’s like to be a coach motivating your team. The balance between

the two is what has sparked my curiosities about coaching the mental side of

athletics. I’m now completing my senior year of college and will be graduating

with a Bachelors of Arts in Sports Psychology while Minoring in Coaching.

I get lots of questions asking what is Sports Psychology because I’ve never heard

of it. What I always tell people is I’m basically a counselor for athletes. I focus on

the mental aspect of athletics versus the physical component. As I enter my last

few months of college I’ve been asking myself what type of coach am I going to

be? How am I going to teach my athletes the skills that I’ve learned over the years?

Sports to me mean more than just winning. I want my athletes to be successful on

and off the field. I also want my athletes to be confident enough in their own

abilities that they won’t need me. And I know you’re thinking: “Bailey, that

doesn’t make any sense. If your athletes don’t need you then you’re out of a job.”

Fear not because I plan on coaching for a very long time. What I mean is I want

my athletes to be self-reliant. I don’t want bowlers turning around to me asking

how many boards to move their feet for every spare. I want my athletes to be

confident in their own abilities and actions. So, how do we do that? How do

coaches coach confidence? I started doing some research on this topic and came up

with a few ideas on how we, as coaches, can build our athletes’ confidence levels

through our own behaviors and actions. ********

OVERVIEW

What is Confidence?

Definition throughout my presentation this is the definition of confidence

that I will be referring to.

****

At the beginning of every season we as coaches lay out our expectations for the

year. Usually, these expectations are universal for everyone on the team; however,

as the season progresses our personal expectations of certain athletes develop.

I came across a paper written by Mageau & Vallerland that described how

coaches’ expectations can influence self-confidence in every athlete. Within their

paper they explained that low expectations (from the coach) will result in low

performance from their athlete.

When we as coaches watch or evaluate our players; we develop an expectation of

what that athlete can accomplish within the season and beyond. This expectation

that develops is sufficient enough and sometimes strong enough to change our

behavior toward that individual athlete. Examples of coaching behavior

manipulated by low expectations include:

Nagging small details emphasizing mistakes

Question commitment of athlete to team/sport ignore successes

The perception of low expectations (from the coach) will begin to affect the

athlete. This individual begins to adopt behavior that we would see common of a

low-performance athlete. They know the bar is set low and instead of trying to

reach past they settle for what is expected. ** Important to note within the context

of their paper Magaeu & Vallerland describe that despite the actual potential of the

athlete the perception/expectation from a coach weighs heavier on behavior than

their real potential ** Behavior of an athlete participating in a low-expectation

setting include:

Feelings of “never being able to do anything right” no motivation

Fighting to prove worth preoccupation with coaches opinion =

distraction from task … they realize that they aren’t expected to do much so they

don’t focus as much attention on the task at hand.

*****

In contrast to low expectation = low performance Mageau & Vallerland concluded

that a coach with high expectations will see high performance from that athlete.

Again, this is regardless of actual potential for that athlete. Our high expectations

toward an athlete can result in our behavior changing around that individual.

Behaviors of a coach with high expectations would include:

Increased amount of verbal communication encouragement (V&NV)

Constructive criticism one-one help

These high expectations will influence the behavior of an athlete. Behaviors of

athletes who participate in these high-expectation settings include:

Pride in accomplishments relaxed approach to mistakes (more willing

to learn from them) high confidence/motivation eagerness to be @

practice & put in time and effort

Expectations from both athletes and coaches can interfere with confidence and

communication on both sides. We need to be aware of what our expectations are

and how it may impact athletes. *******

Another study that was done compared coaches’ feedback and their athletes’ levels

of self-perception (perceived competence, expectancy for success and self-

confidence). As we give feedback our athletes will internalize the information and

use it to evaluate their actions. 100 junior high softball players and 5 coaches

participated in this study. The results yielded some interesting information. The

effectiveness of coaching behavior depends heavily on the situation in which the

behavior was given. Practice behaviors were more influential and important to

athletes than game day behavior. This means that athletes are most likely paying

attention during practice; even though some days I’m sure it does not feel like it.

Our practice behaviors carry a lot weight with athletes more so than game day

behaviors.

The second part to this study requested that the athletes rank themselves from most

skilled to least skilled on the team. The players who were rated as having the most

skill saw greater gains in their self-competence than those listed towards the

bottom (as having little skill or ability). This is important because coaches’ positive

responses’ were identified as negative behaviors toward competence. Constructive

feedback from coaches was more positively associated with gains in competence.

I’m not referring to a simple “good job” being bad. The study noted that praise in

excessive amount was perceived as demeaning to low skilled athletes. A perfect

example would be when a new bowler hit pins or keeps the ball on the lane instead

of throwing in the gutter their coach may start yelling good job! Basically that

coach is saying “good job you didn’t fail”. As coaches we tend to give our highly

skilled players more constructive feedback than those perceived as having little

skill. Low skilled athletes saw excessive praise as inappropriate and not helpful

because the praise given carried little to no informational/constructive feedback.

*********

So, let me ask you this. By a show of hands: how many of you have used one or

more of these phrases in your career as a coach? WAIT Alright, so most if

not all of us have said something like these. *********

READ FIRST BULLET we need to make sure that we are giving all our

athletes the same constructive feedback especially the athletes we perceive as low

skill (freshman, new bowlers etc.) How do we make sure our feedback to an athlete

is constructive so they don’t feel belittled or to keep things equal between every

athlete? *********

There is a method called “The Sandwich Method” that was designed to improve

performance through coaching feedback. We start with the bun which would equal

our opening statement. We want to start feedback with a positive statement. READ

HITTING MARK. The “meat of the conversation is the constructive feedback we

want to teach the athlete. READ KNEES BENT. To finish the “sandwich” we end

with another positive statement. READ FORM. By following this method we will

have greater success with giving feedback to our athletes that will be more

constructive and positive.

This method works really well in practice environments because we have enough

time to work through every “layer”. During game situations there may not be

enough time to go through this whole process. Simply going straight to the

positive/constructive feedback will be okay. Things change so quickly during game

situations that quick conversations are better to keep athletes focused on the

current frame/game. Even though our feedback is verbal our athletes are going to

pick up on our non-verbal (physical) behaviors.

******

Physical behavior has more influence than we realize. As coaches we use body

language to communicate with our players and can even convey our emotions

without having to say a single word. While displaying these emotions, through

body language, athletes will perceive and interpret our behavior. ******** While

watching and absorbing our behavior an athlete will try to recall if he/she has

experienced/seen this behavior before. Whether or not an athlete is familiar with

the given behavior he/she will interpret the meaning behind the gesture and react

accordingly. After said athlete reacts to the physical behavior we as coaches

interpret/evaluate our athletes’ reaction. If we like their reaction (deem it

appropriate) we will continue to encourage and help the athlete. If we dislike the

reaction we are given we will sometimes interpret the response as distrust or

disrespect from the athlete. Most often this disrespect will result in punishment or

an emotional wall will be built between us and athlete. This wall can prevent

further encouragement which can result in low levels of confidence for the athlete.

This cycle of physical behavior, perception/recall and reaction was developed into

a flow chart by Frank Smoll & Ronald Smith. Smoll & Smith have created a

diagram that physically shows the relationship between a coaches’ physical

behavior and their athletes’ reaction/interpretation. **********

Explain: coach behaves = athlete perceives/recalls = evaluate & react =

coach perception of attitude = physical behavior

The cycle of communication between the coach and athlete happens quickly and

we often don’t realize we are responding to one another. When we communicate

with one another we “code” our messages with meaning. When I ask an athlete

“did you hit your mark?” it’s a coded message of “did you do what you were

supposed to?” the person receiving the message (in this situation the athlete) has to

“decode” the message and answer/respond to the original message. Sometimes

there are variables that interfere with how these messages are coded and decoded.

To effectively understand each other’s messages we need to know what variables

could interfere. These variables or interferences include:

The coaches’ individual differences

The athletes’ individual differences

The situational factors (circumstances of play)

Coaches’ Individual Differences: Coaching goals/motives – every coach has different goals and motives.

Sometimes these can interfere with communication Behavioral intentions – we as coaches behave in ways to help our athletes

sometimes our intentions are not perceived the way we want them to be thus causing misinterpretations

Instrumentalities – influence over entire team Perceived coaching norms/role conception – every area/school/program

has norms for their coaches that may not be the same in other programs. Being around others who have different norms may result in perceptions being different

Inferred player motive – as coaches sometimes we think players are part of the program for specific reasons. Sometimes our reasoning for a player being part of the team is not the same as their reasoning for being there.

Self-monitoring – also known as self-awareness: being aware of our own actions while coaching

Sex – men and women have different ways of communicating and that can interfere with perception

Athlete Individual Differences Age/Sex – male vs female and young vs older athletes all perceive things

differently Perceived coaching norms – if any athlete has competed under the same

style of coaching they will expect that type of coaching wherever they go. This can cause miscommunication if they move to another program or school where the coaching norms are different

Valence of coach behaviors – emotional compatibility with coaching behaviors. If an athlete is more quiet they would not communicate well with an outgoing/loud coach

Sport-specific achievement motives – some athletes expect to achieve certain accomplishments within sports arenas. Sometimes trying to achieve these goals will interfere with communication

Competitive trait anxiety- trait anxiety is the athletes’ genetic traits regarding anxiety. This would be what they are predisposition to

General/athletic self-esteem – how confident is an athlete in themselves on and off the field?

Situational Factors Nature of sport – some sports are fast paced, others physical and others

mental all will change communication abilities Level of competition – younger athletes may not communicate as well as

older athletes Practice vs. game – practice situations are more open to communication than

game day situations Previous success/failure – previously succeeding or failing will impact the

ability to communication effectively because emotions may get in the way if they are strong enough

Preset game/practice outcomes – there may be specific outcomes that we as coaches want accomplished

Intra-team attraction – how well does the team get along with one another?

What all of this boils down to is that perception of behavior is (coach or athlete) is

more impactful than the behavior itself. ******

In order to assess athletes’ perceptions on selected/specific coaching behavior

Kenow and Williams developed a Coaching Behavior Questionnaire (CBQ). This

questionnaire uses 28 statements concerning five different aspects of coaching

behavior and measures an athlete’s perception and evaluative reactions to both

positive and negative coaching behavior. When taking the questionnaire the

athletes rate the statement on a 1-4 scale (1=strongly disagree / 4=strongly agree)

READ PPT!! *****

Kenow & Williams put the CBQ into application. They assessed female basketball

players from non-scholarship programs. The athletes not only completed the CBQ

but also measured the athletes … read ppt

trait=genetic state=situational somatic=physical.

Athletes who scored high in trait/cognitive anxiety and low self-esteem were more

likely to perceive their coaches’ behaviors negatively.

Athletes who scored low in trait/cognitive anxiety and high self-esteem are more

likely to perceive their coaches’ behavior positively.

Despite our actions being right/wrong every athlete will perceive our behavior

differently. Athletes who have high anxiety (either genetic or situational) may need

additional attention when it comes to communicating effectively. One time while I

was coaching during my first year I had an athlete refuse to talk to me for an entire

practice. I have no idea what had happened but there was no communication going

on between us. Once practice was over I called this athlete over and asked them if I

had done something to upset them? Immediately, this athlete broke down and said

No! I thought you were mad at me because I did so bad a practice yesterday.” Now

I’m really confused because not only was I not mad but this individual was

shooting above their average the day before. I asked why do you think I’m mad at

you. And you know what their response was? They said I waved at you in the

parking lot and you didn’t wave back or say hi to me when we got inside. Okay,

now I’m really surprised because I never saw them in the parking lot and we didn’t

get a chance to say hi before practice began. Needless, to say lesson learned about

behavior and perception. This athlete thought I was mad yet I was just going about

my daily routine. As coaches we need to be aware of how what seems normal and

passive to us may come off and anger or being upset because athletes will perceive

it incorrectly. **********

Perception of behavior can be so different from person to person especially if the

relationship between those two people is a coach-athlete relationship. Often we see

discrepancies between how coaches’ perceive their own behavior and how

athletes’ perceive the same given behavior. Another study was done using the

Coaching Behavior Assessment System which compares the differences in

perception of behavior. The assessment breaks down reactive and spontaneous

coaching behaviors into 12 categories. In this study 81 professional b-ball players

and 8 head coaches took the assessment to see how the coaches’ behaviors were

perceived. **********

The results showed that READ 1 ST BULLET than what their athletes recalled that

behavior being. READ 2 ND BULLET . The coaches also claimed READ

BULLETS 1-3; however, players said that these behaviors did not appear as much

as coaches thought. Coaches also claimed that they ignored mistakes of players but

the athletes claimed otherwise. These four categories listed were the only ones

with significant differences in how coaches perceived these behaviors compared to

how athletes perceived the same behaviors. *********

This study shows that as coaches we need to be more self-aware of our behaviors.

I’ve coached at a few bowling tournaments and let me tell you my personal

behavior was not at the top of my list of things to worry about. Usually I was

thinking: “okay is everyone here?” “did we forget any equipment?” “how are the

lanes playing?” “why are these two arguing?” “Oh jeez she stepped over the foul

line.” And I’m sure there are plenty of other things to worry about but we need to

be aware of our behaviors especially because our athletes can interpret things

differently than how we mean for them to be. The best way to become more self-

aware is to talk to those around you. Assistants, athletes and parents can all be

resources that will help us become more aware of how our behaviors are being

perceived by our athletes. ********

I bet you’re wondering: how do I take all of this information and implement it into

my coaching style? The first thing to remember is that you are HUMAN! Coaches

feel emotional during practices and competition more so than athletes. The key is

keeping our emotions and behavior consistent every day. This includes practice

and game day situations. By keeping our behavior the same there will be little

room for mis-interpretation. If you’re calm, angry, nervous, excited, anxious or

happy it’ll show if you let it. Athletes can read our emotions. There’s a phrase that

I started using my first year of coaching and it not only kept my emotions in check

but it kept my athletes in check. No matter the situation I would tell my athletes if

I’m not upset you don’t get to be upset. You’d be surprised how annoyed athletes

would get when I would remind them after a bad shot that they couldn’t be upset

because I wasn’t. It may seem silly but it worked. I knew they were looking to me

to see how I reacted so they could react accordingly. I didn’t want their emotions

to get in the way of their ability to bowl.

Keep lines of communication open with your athletes. A simple tool to use to make

sure athletes understand what you’re saying is to ask them repeat your instructions.

There were many occasions where I would ask an athlete to repeat my instructions.

You can’t imagine how many times they weren’t able to repeat what I said. The

line of communication was severed and we needed to get that back. Asking an

athlete to repeat your words will help if there is miscommunication because they

will tell you what they heard and it could be different than what you said. When

this happens you know that they perceived your instructions differently. This

doesn’t always mean they weren’t paying attention when you were talking. They

could simply have miscommunicated what you were trying to say. Younger

athletes may take more time to process the information you’re telling them. Make

sure to give them time to process and respond with their own thoughts.

We can also use the phrases “bank this information” or “remember this feeling”

during practice so that they can build a connection between their movements

during practice and game day situations. The closer make practice situations

similar to game day the easier it will be for our athletes to make the connections

that we are trying to teach them. It is hard to practice knowing that during

competition it will be louder and more compact with all the bowlers. Encourage

your athletes to really focus on their body movements during practice because even

though everything around them may change their movement will not. If they can

rely on their own consciousness movements hopefully they will feel more relaxed

and comfortable during tournament or match play.

From all this I have learned that I need to really get to know my players. There are

so many different variables that could alter their perceptions of what I’m saying. If

I am able to get to know my athletes more than just what is on the surface we may

be able to work past some of the variables and eliminate others. I want to teach all

my athletes that they have the ability and potential to be great. I want to give them

the opportunity to stand on their own and be confident in doing so. I want to coach

a new generation of athletes to be not only confident in who they are on the field

but who they are off the field. It’s important to make sure we are aware of our

behaviors around our athletes and I’m going to work on really challenging myself

to see my own behaviors from their point of view. ********

So, in conclusion:

We want to make sure as coaches we are building up our athletes’’

confidence. Our expectations can influence our athletes to either reach for their

best or fall below their potential. Our ability to give feedback will be vital to our

athletes’ self-perceptions. Non-verbal behavior will play an equal role to physical

behavior when communicating with athletes. How our athletes’ perceive our

behavior may be different than how we intended the behavior to be taken. And

finally: EVERY ATHLETE IS DIFFERENT! One style of coaching will not work

for every athlete. We need to be open to change and make sure that we are building

our athletes’ confidence up so that they can perform at their best now and always.

Thank you very much for being here and allowing me to speak to you today. I have

enjoyed this experience so much and will cherish it for a lifetime. At this time are

there any questions or comments that you would like to bring forward?