Sun Sachs

Elite Sports Coaches and Mental Fatigue: What You Need to Know

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We all know that athletes and other working professionals encounter mental fatigue. It’s in part why breathing exercises and guided meditation have become so popular over recent years. And in the elite athlete population, there’s never been so much emphasis on mental skills training and other psychological practices to improve mental performance.

Yet, there’s very little known about the effect of mental fatigue on elite sports coaches. Sure, they coach the best athletes in their individual sports, but this doesn’t mean they are immune to mental fatigue, burnout, and other stressors.

So, this blog post will highlight the findings of a relatively new study on mental fatigue in elite sports coaches, and then we’ll provide some tips on how coaches can reduce mental fatigue and improve their readiness to perform (and overall wellbeing).

Key takeaways:

  • Elite sports coaches also experience mental fatigue 
  • Very few sports teams optimize mental fatigue in coaches
  • More attention needs to be paid to coaches, their wellbeing, and mental fatigue

What does the science say?

A recent study in the Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance investigated mental fatigue in elite sports coaches over a 16-week preseason period. Physical fatigue, readiness to perform, and mental fatigue were analyzed, alongside other psychobiological markers of stress.

The results found significant individual variability, but also a notable inverse relationship between mental fatigue and readiness to perform. If sports organizations and teams optimized mental performance and fatigue the same way they do athletes, teams could generate a potential competitive advantage at the elite level. 

How can coaches better manage their mental fatigue?

A substantial amount of research in recent years has focused on improving the mental wellbeing of athletes. For example, more sports teams than ever have psychologists, and athletes are taught mental skills such as visualization, self-talk and guided imagery. However, as the aforementioned research indicates, very little has been done in regard to mental fatigue for coaches.

Elite sports coaches are pivotal in the development and success of elite athletes and sports teams. And with the research suggesting high levels of stress, coaches are perhaps more at risk than initially thought. 

So, how can coaches reduce mental fatigue? 

Because there is such an overlap between elite athletes and coaches, it would make sense to apply similar mental and physical fatigue management techniques. Therefore, we recommend the following:

  • Regular monitoring 
  • Know the signs of overtraining & burnout 
  • Stress management 
  • Finding an effective support network

We’ll break down each of these methods in more detail below.

Regular Monitoring 

It’s well known that elite athletes continually monitor their physical and mental performance, including their level of stress, fatigue, and other cognitive demands. Numerous tests and questionnaires can be used to detect early signs of fatigue and stress. However, at Rewire, our athletes use a daily readiness assessment to track their physical and cognitive readiness.

The daily readiness assessment tracks several data points — including cognitive, physical, and emotional measures — to provide a holistic overview of your readiness to perform. Data points include heart rate, sleep, training metrics, reaction time tests, and questions to assess your current levels of stress and rest.

But with the overlap, it may prove beneficial for coaches to also use Rewire to better understand their daily readiness and mental fatigue. 

Know the Signs of Overtraining & Burnout 

While we often discuss the topic of burnout in relation to athletes, workplace burnout is also common and can affect elite sports coaches. Knowing the signs of burnout can help you avoid burnout while alleviating stress.

According to one study, “Burnout is a psychological syndrome emerging as a prolonged response to chronic interpersonal stressors on the job.”

The following symptoms — taken from the same study — are signs and side effects of burnout:

  • Overwhelming exhaustion 
  • Feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job
  • Ineffectiveness and a lack of accomplishment 

If you think you could be suffering from burnout, stress management techniques could prove useful — more on this below.  

Stress Management 

Elite athletes are known for their ability to successfully manage stress in highly competitive situations while still achieving peak performance. Coaches can take a page out of their own playbook on how to manage stress, adopting some of the strategies they — or the team’s psychologists — recommend for their athletes, such as:

  • Guided breathing exercises
  • Mediation 
  • Positive visualization 

In particular, box breathing and 5-10 breathing exercises can be especially helpful. 

The Rewire app includes numerous guided mindset and recovery sessions, including mindfulness and recovery, evening wind-down routines, and guided stress and anxiety relief sessions. 

Furthermore, the standard advice also applies: get plenty of exercise, eat a well-balanced diet full of nutritious foods, and take good care of your body and mind.

Finding an Effective Support Network

If you’re an elite sports coach, you likely already have access to a network of other coaches, sports psychologists, and professionals you can speak to. Finding an effective support network can help relieve stress, anxiety, and mental fatigue. 

Reduce mental fatigue & improve coaching performance

Elite sports coaches are not immune to mental fatigue, stress, and burnout. However, not enough is being done to support elite coaches. If sports teams were to better optimize the health, mental fatigue, and daily readiness of their coaches, they could potentially improve overall team performance.

If you’re a sports coach, you can use the Rewire platform to perform a daily readiness assessment, guided sessions to reduce stress and anxiety, and overall, gain better clarity on mental fatigue (and how to avoid it)

Book a consultation and find out how to best use Rewire for teams

Sun Sachs

How to be a Good Coach in Sports

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“A coach is someone who can give correction without causing resentment.” – John Wooden.

It doesn’t matter who you coach — whether a youth sports team, the starting line-up for an international event, or a track and field team at your local University, you want to do a good job — you want your athletes to succeed. 

The better at coaching you are, the better your performance from the individual athletes.

But how do you become a good coach? And what separates good from great?

This blog post will outline seven proactive ways to become a good coach, helping you get the most out of your athletes.

Key takeaways:

  • What works for one athlete may not work for another (adopt an individual approach)
  • Learn how to communicate effectively (and deliver feedback w/o resentment)
  • Adopt two-way communication with your athletes

Stay up to date with the latest research

A good coach most likely already knows a lot about their sport. But even the most knowledgeable coach should keep up to date with the latest research, coaching, and training techniques.

For example, you could attend workshops that discuss other training components, such as nutrition and psychology. 

Improving your skill set and remaining up to date with the research ensures you get the most out of your team. You can find marginal gains here and there, implementing new techniques when necessary. 

You don’t need to incorporate all of your learnings, either. But you can try, test, and learn to see what works best for you and your athletes.

Know how to motivate your athletes

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.” – Bobby Knight, former American basketball coach.

No athlete is motivated for every single training session — that’s just the way that it is. However, a good coach knows how to tap into each athlete’s unique motivators and goals, helping increase motivation and drive. For example, one athlete may respond well to a challenge or competition, while another may benefit from positive reinforcement or constructive feedback.

Find what works best for each athlete, and do that.

It’s your job as the coach to motivate your athletes and drive them toward success.

Listen to your athletes

A lot of coaches do an excellent job of instructing and guiding their athletes but often fall short when it comes to maintaining effective communication. Your athletes need to feel heard and understood, and you need to take on board what they have to say. 

To achieve this, strive to create an environment where athletes feel comfortable expressing how they feel. One way to do this is to be available. For example, you can stay late after training if they want to speak to you, and you can also incorporate an open-door policy.

Adopting open communication can help improve athlete performance, coaching philosophies, and more. Let’s use the example of an athlete who is experiencing sharp knee pain but is supposed to run laps…

If the athlete does not feel confident to confide in their coach, they’ll run through the pain and make it worse. They might even cause themselves an injury. Conversely, if the athlete feels like they can talk to their coach, they can express their pain and frustrations and adapt the training as needed.

Communication is a two-way street — you have to want to listen to your athletes and not just close the book on what they have to say, but take the feedback onboard.

Adapt your training to each athlete

While you may have a team of athletes, no two athletes respond to training the same. One athlete may need more recovery, and another might respond differently to a certain type of training (e.g., one athlete who runs 50 miles a week may improve at a rapid rate, while another thrives on a lower 30 miles a week training volume).

Instead of prescribing the exact same training to each athlete, adapt the training to suit their abilities. If you’re just starting out in a coaching role, finding what works best can take some time. But a good place to start is simply by speaking to your athletes — ask what type of training they prefer, how their recovery is after certain sessions, and so on… a lot can be learned from a quick conversation!  

Develop excellent communication skills 

Knowing how to talk to your athletes is a must-have skill. If you don’t know how to communicate effectively, then you’ll struggle to motivate your athletes. Furthermore, clear and concise communication is key during a game or competition — you give instructions to improve team performance.

Work on your communication and you’ll see a big return in how your team listens and implements your instructions.

Foster a positive team culture 

Building a positive team culture will help your team thrive. You could have the best players in the world, but with poor culture and zero team dynamics, they’ll struggle to perform consistently at a high level.

As a coach, aim to build a culture that you would want as an athlete. It’s your responsibility to create an environment where your athletes feel valued, motivated, respected, and a part of the team.

Below are a few ways you can start building team culture:

  • Encourage open communication
  • Set short and long-term goals as a team
  • Perform team bonding activities
  • Celebrate small victories

Prioritize rest & recovery

We touched upon this briefly already. However, no two athletes are the same, especially when it comes to rest and recovery. Despite this, measuring rest and readiness can be difficult — how do you know when to step on the gas and when to sit back and take it easy?

Rewire for Teams provides your athletes with a daily readiness assessment. We factor in a mix of cognitive, emotional, and physical readiness scores to determine how ready they are for training. As a coach, you can use these scores to decide what training sessions to do, for what athletes, and who might need a rest day.

“Rewire’s Readiness Assessment gives me really valuable insights into all aspects of my Readiness and allows me to make better training and recovery decisions.” – Laura Kline, Elite ultra runner & endurance athlete.

Find out more about Rewire for Teams.

Matthew Mace

How to Motivate a Team After a Bad Loss

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The whistle blows, and it’s game over. The other team won, they’re running around the pitch celebrating, and the only thing on your mind is worrying about how you’ll talk to your team in the locker room.

They don’t want to be there, everyone is disappointed, and the last thing you want to do is pick apart the game to understand what happened and why you lost. However, your role as a coach is to motivate your team and lift morale — so how do you do it?

This blog post will provide actionable advice to help you come back from a bad loss, including tips on improving motivation and others to improve performance in certain areas of your game. 

Key takeaways:

  • Focus on the positives 
  • Set new short-term goals
  • Lead by example

Focus on what the team did well

After a loss, it’s easy to focus on what went bad — maybe the team wasn’t working with each other, perhaps your possession was poor, or possibly the other team just played better than you. 

But instead of focusing on the bad, do your best to focus on the good. There are always positives that can be found, even in the worst of defeats. This is not something you need to do by yourself, either.

Make a team activity of it. After a loss, ask each player one thing they think went well, either as a team or an individual performance — it doesn’t have to be something they did well, it can also be a teammate.  

If you have eleven players, that’s eleven positives to motivate, inspire, and get you back on the pitch for your next game!

Analyze the performance and learn from the mistakes

While focusing on what went well, even after a loss, can be extremely beneficial, you still need to analyze overall performance and put together a strategy to learn from any mistakes.

For example, while your short passing may have been great — a positive to note down — perhaps your long passing could have been better. Make a list of things that didn’t go so well, and focus on adding these elements to practice sessions before your next game.

For the sake of example, let’s say you play football — your list of things to improve may look like this:

  • Short passing
  • Spatial awareness
  • Crossing from a corner
  • Applying pressure 

Focus on improving the weaker areas of the team within training, helping to improve performance for your next game. It’s a simple task, but a much-needed one.

Set new goals and get your team focused 

Once you have your two lists: one of the things the team did well, and another of areas that can be improved, it’s time to set new goals. And while you may already have long-term goals, short-term goals, i.e., for the next game(s), can help increase motivation and focus.

For example, you may set a goal for the team to control majority possession in their next game. If you know this is a weak area, then focusing on this will challenge your team to improve under pressure.

Even when things are going bad, and you can’t seem to catch a break, you can stack these smaller wins — you held majority possession, you improved your short passing, your crossing from a corner got better, and so on…

Over the next few games and weeks, you can turn weak areas of your game into not necessarily strengths, but stronger aspects of your game.

Don’t blame one player

At the end of the day, a team sport is exactly that: a team sport. 

You celebrate the victories together just as much as you celebrate the defeats.

As a coach, it’s all too easy to blame one player. But usually, this is not only not true, but if you were to blame one player, you’d knock their confidence and motivation. 

Instead, talk to all players…

Ask them what they think went well (and what didn’t go so well), and then you provide feedback on the same points. 

Try to give constructive feedback, such as: “Your short passing was great, but if we improve your long passing, we’ll control the field even better.” 

When giving feedback, do not blame one player. Instead, provide positive and constructive feedback to all athletes. Tell them what they can work on and what, if they continue to do, will result in great performances.

Foster a supportive team environment

Remind your team that you are not alone when facing setbacks — you win and lose together. You work on weaknesses together, and soon, you will win together.

Encourage open and honest communication. Allow players to express their concerns, frustrations, and ideas. Create bonding activities and experiences that allow players to get to know each other better, helping to grow as a team.

Inspire and lead by example

And finally, it’s important to lead by example. If you expect your players to stay late after training, you also stay late. If you want them to work on their weaknesses, you help them work on those areas.

If you expect (and ask) your players to be on time for training, you better be on time.

It’s easy to do, but you must stick with it. Plus, leading by example often helps foster a supportive team environment.

Leadership is a matter of having people look at you and gain confidence…If you’re in control, they’re in control.

Tom Landy, professional American football player and coach

To summarize 

A bad loss can kill the vibe of any team, bringing you down from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. 

You can feel it in the locker room, on the pitch, and in your next training session. But the sooner you can put the loss behind you, the better. You — and your team — must focus on moving forwards.

Set new goals, evaluate what went well (and what could be improved), and create a game plan to help your team come back stronger than ever.

Matthew Mace

How to Get Rid of Sports Anxiety as an Athlete

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Anxiety is common; it’s something we all experience from time to time, but others are more prone to anxious thoughts and tendencies. And athletes are no different — some of the most decorated athletes also have anxiety disorders, take Michael Phelps, for example.

Phelps was — and continues to be — extremely open about his struggle with depression and anxiety, despite being the most celebrated and successful Olympian in history. Mental health disorders and anxiety do not discriminate. 

In fact, one could argue that competing on the world stage invokes anxiety, and creates a pressure cooker-like environment. But what exactly is anxiety? Anxiety is defined as “an unpleasant psychological state in reaction to perceived stress concerning the performance of a task under pressure” [1].

And an estimated 31.1% of American adults will experience an anxiety disorder at some point in their lives.That’s approximately 311 people for every 1,000 adults. That’s a lot of people!

So, this blog post will highlight several causes of anxiety in sports, how anxiety affects performance, and tips to help you alleviate anxiety.

What are the causes of anxiety in sports?

To understand what causes anxiety, let’s first break it down.

Anxiety comprises two main parts: 

  1. Cognitive anxiety: worrying thoughts, uncertainty, and apprehensions 
  2. Somatic anxiety: physical activation, such as sweating and shaking

There are also different types of anxiety, including trait anxiety and situational anxiety. Trait anxiety is more permanent and part of a person’s personality. On the other hand, situational anxiety is a response to a situation that evokes an anxious response, such as a big game or an evaluation, or a competition of some kind where an assessment takes place [1]. 

Athletes and others often display common signs of anxiety, and they are easy to spot. There are the nail-biters, the excessive sweaters, the fidgeters, and those who are overwhelmed by negative thoughts.

Anxiety can be triggered by the most basic things in sports, from an intense game to a lack of preparation or self-doubt. There’s no one cause, but there are things you can do to alleviate and reduce your anxieties — continue reading to find out how. 

How does anxiety affect performance?

If you’re too anxious before competition, then your performance can be negatively affected. For example, self-doubt and other negative thoughts might impact your ability to focus. Your muscles can tense up, and you may struggle to get your mind in the right space.

When not controlled and without the right prevention methods, anxiety can be devastating. It can affect your performance, it can prevent you from doing your best, and at the highest level, it can mean the difference between a Gold medal and going home on the team bus a day early.

How to overcome performance anxiety in sports

So, what do you do if you feel extremely anxious before a big game, race, or competition? You know your performance will be worse, and your thoughts are running wild, but what can you do?

Knowing how to control your anxiety can help you eliminate negative thoughts — and replace them with positive statements and self-talk — and, ultimately, improve your performance.

If you feel very anxious before a game, race, or competition, then your performance can be affected. Knowing how to overcome performance anxiety in sports, however, can help you better control your focus for improved performance.

So, how do you do it? We recommend you try the following:

Focus on what you can control

The highest level of competition brings with it numerous distractions and external factors that are out of your control.

You can’t control the skill of the competition, the expectations of others, and for the most part, the outcome of the game. Focusing on these areas drains energy and may feed your anxiety.

Instead of worrying about things out of your control, focus on what you can control. That includes your training, mental preparation, self-talk, and visualization. Double down on what you can, and pay less attention to those things out of your control.

Create a pre-competition routine 

Many successful athletes follow a pre-competition routine. And they follow it to the letter — every single time.

Your routine is one of the main things you have control over, and it can be excellent at reducing anxiety and increasing focus. Look to include a mix of mental skills, such as positive self-talk and visualization, and other activities that help you stay relaxed, such as listening to music.

It takes time to find a routine that works for you, but once you’ve found something that works, it only gets better from there.

Use positive self-talk and reframe negative thoughts

Negative thoughts and self-doubt can easily creep into an athlete’s mind. These can heighten anxiety and decrease performance. However, self-talk and reframing negative thoughts can build confidence and resilience. It can also help calm anxiety and help you perform your best in those high-pressure situations.

Use Rewire to reduce anxiety and improve focus 

And finally, you can use Rewire to reduce anxiety and improve focus with our guided sessions, backed by neuroscience and used by Elite athletes. The guided sessions library includes sessions designed to increase focus, reaction times, and meditation and guided breathing exercises to reduce stress and anxiety. 

You can also track your readiness — a score based on a mix of cognitive, emotional, and physical measures to best optimize your training sessions for maximum recovery and performance.

“I’m a coffee guy, and it’s amazing what you can achieve by taking that 5 or 10 minutes and running through a Mindset Recovery session and just letting your mind and body relax. You just feel so much better afterward versus just trying to hit a cup of coffee and keep going.”

Timothy O’Donnell (World Champion Triathlete)

Find out more about Rewire for Athletes.

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Matthew Mace

Mental Preparation for Athletes: 5 Methods to Boost Your Performance

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Mental preparation is often overlooked — but knowing how to get in the right headspace before competition is key to accomplishing your absolute best. It can mean the difference between winning and losing, promotion and relegation, or even your spot on the team.

Without adequate preparation, you might find yourself scattered, unable to focus, and not performing your best.

One of the best ways to prepare for a big game or tournament is to create a mental preparation routine. Your routine can be as detailed or as minimal as you’d like — it’s all about finding what works best for you.

So, with this in mind, this blog post will explain what mental preparation for athletes is and how you can use it to improve your performance when it matters most.

Key takeaways:

  • Develop a pre-game mental preparation routine 
  • Learn how to separate personal life from sport
  • Use Rewire to improve your mental preparation 

How to mentally prepare for competition

If you’re an athlete, you’ve probably competed (or at least went to training) when you were not in the right headspace. You might have found it difficult to focus, and simple tasks that you usually find easy become hard and frustrating. And all of that is made worse because you know you’re capable, but your mind has other ideas. Not fun!

Many athletes choose to add a pregame mental preparation routine right before the competition. It allows them to consciously remove distractions and increase their focus. It’s like flicking a switch in your brain and letting it know that “It’s go time.”

And while the routines of Elite athletes are different between sports, they often share a lot of overlap. For example, a lot of athletes listen to music to psych themselves up, practice mindfulness or meditation, and perform visualization exercises. And these are just a few mental preparation techniques you can try!

Keep reading to find out more techniques — and how you can implement them into your pre-game routine to increase your focus and improve your performance.

1. Practice mindfulness 

Mindfulness is about removing distractions and focusing on the present moment. In sports, that means leaving your worries and anxieties in the locker room. You need to run onto the field with a clear head, armed with the right goals and limited distractions.

Focusing on the wrong thoughts drains energy and distracts you from your game. Your problems will be there once you’re finished! But hopefully, after a win or a successful performance.

So how do you practice mindfulness?

There are numerous ways you can add mindfulness to your mental preparation. For example, you could perform a guided meditation or deep breathing session. Or, if you prefer something more productive, you could do light stretching with the goal of narrowing your focus and clearing your mind.

Find what works best for you, and stick with it! Familiarity is a key part of pre-performance routines.

2. Visualize your performance 

Visualization is a very powerful tool for athletes. It’s used by the best of the best, and for good reason. However, how do you use it before competition? There is no right or wrong answer. You may choose to think through and envision your strategy, your technique, or how you think the game will play out.

You can focus on one specific thing, such as defending against an individual opponent, or you can visualize the competition as a whole and how you want it to play out. Practice a mix of techniques, and find what works best for you.

Practice the mental visualization skill in training before competition. Very quickly, you’ll see how powerful it can be! 

3. Practice positive self-talk

Often, many athletes unfamiliar with self-talk assume they have to talk to themselves out loud. And while some athletes do this, it’s not necessary. If it works for you, then cool! But if not, don’t worry.

You can also speak affirmations, cues, and mantras in your head. Besides, it’s more about thinking than speaking! But self-talk is powerful and can replace negative thoughts, e.g. “I can’t make this shot” vs. “I will make this shot.” It’s about retraining your mind and hitting the restart button to increase confidence and focus when you need it.

4. Understand that not all stress is bad 

Too much stress can be devastating — working against you rather than for/with you. However, a small and controlled amount of stress can help energize your performance. It can give you that much-needed rush of adrenaline and surge of confidence in the closing minutes of a game or the final few 100m of a race.

And while it can be useful, you must learn how to control and manage it. If you compete with too much stress, then this can cause anxiety or too high of arousal. And guess what happens? Your performance suffers because of it.

Recognize that not all stress is bad — but learn how to control it. Add some type of de-stressing activity to your routine, especially if you feel highly anxious, stressed, and worried.

5. Use Rewire to prepare and prime your mind for competition 

Finally, you can use Rewire to prime your mind and body for competition. Rewire uses evidence-based protocols from sports psychology to improve your mindset, reduce stress levels, and improve your mental resilience.

There are also visualization exercises — and other tools — to help you best prepare for competition. Whether you like to listen to binaural beats, perform reaction tests, or guided meditation, there is definitely something for you.

“I have been using the app for a few months. It has helped me set the proper mindset before workouts, disconnect before bedtime, and gauge my mental readiness on a daily basis.” – Matt Hanson (Professional Triathlete and Coach)

Find out more about Rewire for Athletes.

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