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How Does Stress Affect Performance in Sports?

June 5, 2023/in Mental Fitness, Mental Health, Science /by Matthew Mace

Not all stress is created equal — here’s what you need to know.

It’s normal for an athlete to feel stressed before a big game or a competition. If they didn’t feel stressed in the slightest, then one could argue that they were not prepared to give their best performance. This is similar to the inverted U theory and how athletes need to experience the optimal amount of arousal — not too much or too little — to perform at their best [1].

Too little stress/arousal and an athlete feels no sense of urgency or motivation to perform. On the other hand, too much stress can limit the athlete’s ability to focus and may cause them to choke or crumble under intense pressure. It’s all about finding balance!

This blog post will explain more about stress and how it affects performance in sports, beginning with more details on what causes stress, and tips to help you deal with stress in sports.

What causes stress in sports?

Everybody experiences stress, but athletes often experience it more than others. But why is this the case? Because it’s a balancing act — athletes need to balance training, competition, family commitments, relationships, and everyday life. And for college athletes (and other Elite athletes), you can throw school and work into the mix for a little extra chaos.

And let’s not forget the intense public scrutiny that comes with being an Elite athlete.

These stressors are compounded by competition, especially during a big game, whether that’s the NBA finals, the PGA tournament, or a football game that decides who gets relegated.

With so many external factors inducing stress in athletes (and coaches), controlling the internal has never been more important.

“If you do things to the limit, and don’t purposely go over that limit, then I think it’s fine to do whatever you want. So long as you enjoy it. That’s what’s important.” – Michael Schumacher.

How does stress affect sports performance?

Stress has a direct effect on sports performance. If an athlete feels too much pressure, the stress can get to them and cause them to freeze up, crumble under pressure, or make vital mistakes when it matters most.

It can also cause athletes to involuntarily tense up their muscles, leading to poor form and technique, may lead to cramp, among other issues.

To better demonstrate this intense pressure, let’s use the example of a presentation at work as it’s slightly more relatable for most people… it’s a slight diversion, but I promise it will be worth it…

You’ve been preparing for this presentation for a few weeks, rehearsing what you’re going to say, and running through the slides daily. But when it comes to actually delivering the presentation, you freeze up, you’re unsure of what you’re going to say next, and your mind goes blank.

This is the exact same thing that happens to athletes when they freeze up — but instead of not knowing what to say, they don’t know what to do, what play to make, where to pass, or what the next step is they should take. It’s like a deer caught in headlights. Athletes commonly freeze and choke, making crucial mistakes because of intense pressure.

How to deal with stress in sports

Okay, now that you know what causes stress and how it can directly affect an athlete’s performance, how do you deal with it? You can do numerous things to reduce stress and anxiety, from practicing deep breathing exercises and mindset recovery sessions to creating a pre-performance routine to increase familiarity and reduce stress.

Below you’ll find a list of things you can do to help deal with stress in sports:

Perform deep breathing exercises
Create a pre-performance routine
Practice stressful situations in training
Focus on getting the basics right (sleep, nutrition, etc.)
Visualize success

We’ll now break these tips down into more detail.

Perform deep breathing exercises

When people hear the words “deep breathing,” they often think of meditation. And while it can be a form of meditation, deep breathing exercises can also be used in those crucial moments; before taking a free kick, putting the ball in golf, or moments before toeing the line on the track.

Diaphragmatic breathing, also known as “belly breathing,” involves breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. Studies show that this breathing technique can be useful to improve sustained attention while better regulating stress [2].

Practice and perform this breathing technique to help alleviate stress and anxiety, whether that’s before competition or something as simple as reducing stress before sleep.

Create a pre-performance routine

The best athletes have a pre-performance routine that they follow like a horse wearing blinders. A set routine increases familiarity, reduces stress, and allows the athlete to get into the right head space and mindset to perform at their best.

You can create your own routine by eliminating activities that cause stress, and replace these with activities that increase focus and concentration. For example, this could include deep breathing exercises, listening to your favorite playlist, mentally rehearsing what the performance will look and feel like, and so on.

It takes time to find a routine that works for you. But begin experimenting by adding/removing activities to best reduce stress and improve your mindset leading up to the performance.

Practice stressful situations in training

A lot of athletes do not experience intense stress until it matters most — the final few minutes of a game, during a penalty shootout, or when they are tied on points on the last hole on the green.

A great way to reduce stress is to practice these stressful situations in training to increase familiarity. For instance, if you know your muscles tense, you feel anxious, and your palms get sweaty when taking penalties, practice this in training to reduce stress when it matters most. Practice goes a long way!

You can also add techniques such as deep breathing and muscle relaxation exercises during these intense moments so you have them in your toolkit — and know how to use them effectively — when you need them most.

Focus on getting the basics right

Although it may seem obvious, even Elite athletes need to get the basics right. We’re talking about sleep, nutrition, and recovery.

If one of these is out of whack, then stress may increase, and performance may decline. Get the basics right and then implement other techniques and mental skills, such as visualization — more on this below.

Visualize success

Visualization is a powerful mental skill that many elite athletes use. It involves picturing yourself performing successful skill performance, whether that’s scoring a goal, passing the ball to a teammate down the wing, or saving a goal.

Athletes use visualization to improve confidence, reduce stress and anxiety, and calm their nerves.

Try a Rewire Stress Relief Session for Free

Use Rewire to reduce stress and improve performance

Some level of stress is needed to improve performance. But too much stress — and not knowing how to control it — can cause an athlete to freeze, choke, or make vital mistakes when it matters most.

Rewire can help athletes reduce stress by tracking their physical, cognitive, and emotional states. Athletes gain access to science-backed protocols from sports psychology, such as guided breathing, pre-workout priming, visualization, and sleep protocols to improve performance and reduce stress and anxiety.

“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 how Rewire can help you

What is Visualization in Sports?

May 30, 2023/in Mental Fitness, Science, Training Tips /by Matthew Mace

“When I train, one of the things I concentrate on is creating a mental picture of how best to deliver that ball to a team-mate, preferably leaving him alone in front of the rival goalkeeper. So what I do, always before a game, always, every night and every day, is try and think up things, imagine plays which no one else will have thought of, and to do so always bearing in mind the particular strengths of each team-mate to whom I am passing the ball. When I construct those plays in my mind, I take into account whether one team-mate likes to receive the ball at his feet, or ahead of him; if he is good with his head, and how he prefers to head the ball; if he is stronger on his right or his left foot. That is my job. That is what I do. I imagine the game.”
– Ronaldinho, Professional Football Player.

Back in 2006, Ronaldinho, who played for FC Barcelona and his home country Brazil at the time, was interviewed on how he used imagery before the world cup in a piece for the New York Times Magazine; the above quote was his response [1]. It’s an excellent — and real — example of how Elite athletes use visualization in sports.

This blog post will explain what visualization is in sports, what it’s used for, more real-life examples, and tips to get started.

What is visualization?

Visualization involves creating vivid mental images of performance. For example, that could be something as simple as a pass, a free kick, a free throw, or a successful swing in golf. Practicing visualization and mental skills can help increase self-confidence, reduce anxiety before competition, and improve overall performance [1,2].

But why is mental imagery so powerful? When done correctly, visualization activates neural pathways in the brain — the same pathways that are activated during physical performance. Regular visualization practice can help strengthen these neural pathways to improve performance and lessen anxiety (alongside many other benefits discussed below).

What are the benefits of visualization in sports?

We’ve highlighted several benefits of mental imagery and visualization already, but other benefits include:

Improve confidence & focus
Reduce anxiety
Optimize muscle memory
Build mental toughness (visualize overcoming mental obstacles)
Improve goal setting

Visualization might also prove to be an effective mental skill for injured athletes. These athletes can mentally rehearse performance (even though they can’t play) and use visualization and other mental skills to set goals to help with their recovery.

There’s a reason why the best athletes use visualization — so why shouldn’t you do the same? Add visualization exercises to your training and see how it can improve your performance and mental preparation for competition.

And once you’ve got the hang of visualization, why not move on to other mental skills?

Examples of mental imagery

“Visualization lets you concentrate on all the positive aspects of your game.” – Curtis Strange, American Professional Golfer.

Mental skills and visualization are only becoming more popular. In recent years, every sports team has invested in a psychologist — or a team of psychologists — and athletes can be found practicing a cocktail of mental skills before practice.

So we’ve gathered together other examples of mental imagery and visualization, one from an Olympic gymnast and another from Tiger Woods. Let’s hear from Makalya Stambaugh, a 6x Olympic junior gymnastics champion:

“Visualization is something I use to calm my nerves. I did something like that before, but when I came to Oregon State, they really helped me hone in on those skills of actually picturing the bar routine, the movement, and think the exact same thoughts you would be doing it. That makes me more prepared and confident when I compete.”

And now, let’s talk about how Tiger Woods uses visualization — a skill he’s practiced since the very beginning of his career, taught when he was a boy by his Father. In the below clip, you can see how Tiger describes putting like taking a series of pictures and how this helps him visualize a successful shot.

   
  
 
 
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How to get started

So, now that you know Elite athletes apply visualization techniques to their sport, how can you get started?

We’d suggest keeping it simple to begin with. Before practice, focus on a skill you want to improve, whether that’s passing, shooting, putting, cornering, or whatever it may be. Visualize successful skill performance — what technique needs to happen to produce a successful outcome?

Imagine that, and if you’re off to a great start. Then, practice often and focus on different areas of your game to improve.

Take notes on how you feel and what effect you think it had on performance, anxiety, and confidence, and adapt from there. And while we would recommend practicing with a psychologist, the beauty of visualization and other mental skills is that they can be done anywhere by everybody… whether a junior high school football player or an Elite gymnast.

Use Rewire to improve your mental performance

Visualization is one of many mental skills that can help improve performance, reduce anxiety, and help athletes prepare for competition.

Athletes can also use Rewire neuro-science training protocols to build other mental skills, to improve resilience and focus, and reduce anxiety and stress in the lead-up to competition.

And, if you’re a coach, you can monitor your athlete’s readiness score — an aggregate score based on cognitive, physical, and emotional wellbeing — to better tailor performance, prioritize recovery, and get the most out of each athlete.

“Rewire’s latest platform makes mental strength training more accessible to athletes everywhere with easy-to-use tools to help them reach their goals.”
– NBA All-Star, Kyle Korver

Find out how Rewire can help you

FAQs

What does visualization mean?

Visualization is all about creating mental images and imaging specific scenarios. Athletes practice visualization to improve performance and confidence, and to reduce anxiety before competition.

How does visualization improve performance in sports?

Visualization can improve confidence, reduce anxiety, and improve skill-based performance, e.g., passing or shooting the ball.

What is an example of visualization in sports?

A golfer might imagine putting the ball — the direction it will go and how much power to apply to improve putting performance.

References:

Cumming, J. and Ramsey, R., 2008. Imagery interventions in sport. In Advances in applied sport psychology (pp. 15-46). Routledge.
Halvari, H., 1996. Effects of mental practice on performance are moderated by cognitive anxiety as measured by the Sport Competition Anxiety Test. Perceptual and motor skills, 83(3_suppl), pp.1375-1383.

How to Build Mental Toughness in Athletes

May 29, 2023/in For Coaches, Mental Fitness, Science, Training Tips /by Matthew Mace

When it comes to sports, mental toughness can be just as important as physical ability.

Athletes with a strong mindset are better equipped to handle pressure, overcome obstacles, and push through fatigue to achieve their goals. But mental toughness isn’t something that comes naturally to everyone. It’s a skill that must be developed and honed over time.

In this blog post, we’ll explore key principles and provide tips for building mental toughness in athletes, this includes goal setting, visualization, and adopting a stoic mindset. So whether you’re an elite athlete looking to gain a slight advantage, or a beginner who is just learning about mental toughness, you will find this post valuable.

So, let’s dive in and discover how to build mental toughness in athletes!

What is mental toughness?

Mental toughness refers to the ability to perform under pressure, cope with challenges, and maintain focus and motivation in the face of adversity, i.e. during intense competition.

But what makes up mental toughness? It includes a mix of psychological skills, such as an unshakable self-belief, a resilient mindset, perseverance, and the ability to control emotions in real-time (e.g. not being affected by a yellow card or a decision that did not go in your favor).

It’s widely understood that the best athletes are mentally tough. They know how to persevere and dig deep when the going gets tough. But it’s not only a skill for sports; it’s a skill for life.

So how do you build mental toughness?

How to build mental toughness

Some athletes are more mentally tough than others. That’s just the way that is. However, you can train and build mental toughness. Iron doesn’t become a sword until it’s beaten in the fire — don’t expect to become mentally tough without any work.

So how do you start beating on the iron and strengthening your mind? We recommend the following:

Set goals to improve mental toughness
Use positive visualization
Be stoic
Practice discipline
Use positive self-talk
Embrace failure as an opportunity to learn and improve

Set goals to improve mental toughness

Goal setting is an essential skill and tool athletes should develop to help build mental toughness.

By now, you’re most likely familiar with SMART goals — these are specific, measurable, and achievable goals that provide you with a clear sense of direction, purpose, and intention [3].

As a general rule of thumb, you should set both long-term and short-term goals. But a big mistake many people make is not aligning their short and long-term objectives. Some people prefer to label their short-term goals as an “action plan” — it’s how you move towards those long-term goals [1].

Let’s say, for instance, that your long-term goal is to break the 15-minute 5k time. In that case, your short-term goals, or your action plan, should be to break the 15.30, then the 15.15 times, and so on.

Achieving these short-term goals in pursuit of your long-term goals provide motivation, confidence, and help you stay on track to achieve your goals.

Goal setting is a critical component to build mental toughness in sports, whether you’re an x-country runner, a basketball player, or a pitcher in baseball. Well-thought-out goals provide you with the blueprint for overcoming adversity and move the needle toward success.

Use positive visualization

Positive visualization is a powerful, and often underused tool in the mental toughness toolkit.

Athletes can visualize and rehearse successful skill performance (and even scenarios) to improve their confidence and reduce anxiety. In fact, visualization is thought to reinforce positive neural pathways in the brain — it’s very difficult for the brain to tell what’s real and what’s not.

It’s why Tiger Woods is a big proponent of mental training and visualization. Here’s a quote from Tiger:

“In the year 2000 I won 12 times, including 3 majors and I only remember hitting one shot I would call perfect. It was a 3 wood on #14 in the third round of the British Open at St. Andrews. As with every shot, I attempt, I visualize that ball flight and the shot turned out exactly as I had planned.”

You’re essentially creating a blueprint of success — a roadmap you can follow and apply directly to your sport or skill.

Athletes can also use positive visualization to reduce anxiety — that includes pre-game and even mid-game nerves. The result? You can create a mentally tough athlete who has the tools on hand to adjust their emotional state on the fly, resulting in peak performance whether performing well in training, or in front of a crowd of thousands.

Be stoic

Marcus Aurelius once said:

“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.”

But what does it actually mean to be stoic? Stoicism is a philosophy that emphasizes self-control, discipline, and resilience in the face of adversity, e.g. relegation, not being picked for a team, losing despite training hard, and so on.

The guiding principle of stoicism is to accept the things you can’t control. And instead, to focus on what you can control (what is in your power) to develop inner calm and tranquility.

Stoics believe that by effectively managing emotions and focusing on the present moment, that we can overcome negative emotions and harmful impulses, and face challenges head-on.

For example, let’s say it’s halftime, and you’re losing by five points. An athlete with a stoic mindset see’s the situation for what it is. But does not experience that psychological quiver. Instead, they focus on what they can control and practice discipline to do their absolute best to overcome the obstacle in front of them.

Practice Discipline

We’ve discussed this above already, but discipline is an essential aspect of building mental toughness [2].

If an athlete does not have discipline, they’ll struggle to develop mental toughness. Take a moment to think about it: discipline is needed to set healthy habits and routines (e.g. waking up early to train, following a healthy diet, and avoiding distractions). If you can’t practice discipline, then you can’t cultivate a growth mindset, i.e. you won’t embrace challenges, seek feedback, or be open to learning new skills and techniques to improve performance.

Focus on improving your discipline, and you’ll set yourself up for success.

Use positive self-talk

Athletes can use positive self-talk to shift their mindset, focus on performance, and reduce negative thoughts. Often, athletes will speak affirmations, mantras, and cues to improve performance.

Many people think that self-talk is exclusively done aloud. But a lot of athletes speak to themselves in their minds — there is no right or wrong way to do it. However, you don’t have an actual conversation with yourself to reap the benefits.

Add mantras such as “Make the play,” “I deserve to win,” and “I got this,” into your game.

You can also add cues to enforce positive behaviors, e.g. “high knees” or “eyes ahead.” You’ll need to create your own cues and mantras for your sport, but adding this self-talk can help improve your game.

Embrace failure as an opportunity to learn and improve

Instead of viewing failure as a setback or a reflection of their abilities, athletes who adopt a growth mindset see failure/a lack of success as an opportunity for improvement usually come out on top.

This, once again, relates back to stoicism and resilience in the face of adversity.

Athletes can learn from their mistakes, failures, and shortcomings and refine their techniques, improve their weaknesses, and double down on their strengths. Embracing this mindset improves mental toughness and creates a mindset shift towards welcoming difficult things.

See failure as an opportunity to improve. It’s part of beating the iron in the fire — it will only make you stronger, so long as you embrace the process.

Use Rewire to develop mental toughness

Athletes can use Rewire to improve their mindset, manage stress, and boost mental toughness. The Athlete Platform is based on neuroscience, using brain-endurance training protocols to help you build mental toughness.

And if you’re a coach, you can use Rewire to enhance your athletes’ performance. You gain access to the readiness dashboard and can tailor sessions based on how “ready” your athletes are.

“With Rewire, you have a controlled environment and structure so that you can choose when you want to add mental training to your workouts and you can do it as often as you’d like.” – Laura Kline (Elite Ultra Runner & Endurance Athlete)

Find out how Rewire can help you

References:

Bailey, R.R., 2019. Goal setting and action planning for health behavior change. American journal of lifestyle medicine, 13(6), pp.615-618.
Fourie, S. and Potgieter, J.R., 2001. The nature of mental toughness in sport. South African Journal for Research in Sport, Physical Education and Recreation, 23(2), pp.63-72.
McCarthy, P.J. and Gupta, S., 2022. Set goals to get goals: Sowing seeds for success in sports. Frontiers for Young Minds, 10(10.3389).

How to Build Mental Toughness in High School Athletes

May 15, 2023/in For Coaches, Mental Fitness, Science, Training Tips /by Matthew Mace

Improve mental toughness in high school athletes to boost performance on and off the field. It’s a skill that transfers to adulthood and beyond — and one that can be taught. So it’s best to teach it early and set adolescents up for success.

High school coaches can add basic practices and tweak their current training style further to improve mental toughness, discipline, and performance. Continue reading for actionable tips and strategies you can implement to help your athletes become mentally tough.

Create a positive training environment

As a coach, you lead by example, especially when mentoring high school athletes. One of the best ways to teach mental toughness is to create a positive training environment that facilitates growth.

The environment says a lot about how you want your athletes to behave and learn.

Training should be fun — that doesn’t mean it can’t be challenging, but your athletes should look forward to their sessions. So how do you do this — how do you create a positive training environment?

Introduce team-building exercises, bonding activities, and fun minigames — these recommendations are also great for building team chemistry.

Also, practice what you preach. You should practice mental toughness (and be mentally tough) if that’s what you want to teach. Lead by example.

It’s all about communication

Many coaches adopt the “bully” mentality — they give drill after drill, instruction after instruction, and then wonder why their athletes aren’t improving. The issue here is that communication is a two-way street.

And yes, while these exercises may build discipline and mental toughness — to some extent, creating an open line of communication and working together may prove better. Athletes are more likely to talk to you when struggling, mentorship will become more collaborative, and performance typically improves.

In a high school environment, you can go a step further by hanging around after practice or letting them know they can talk to you about anything — not just sports.

Introduce competition and pressure to build mental toughness

A lot of high school teams and athletes deal with pressure almost exclusively in competition. This is usually a handful of times a season. But instead, why not create training scenarios that mimic competition during practice?

Doing so has many benefits. For example, you can identify (a) what’s going well and (b) what can be improved. This is an excellent way to build mental toughness. Let’s say an athlete loses motivation and then makes mistakes after a call that was not in their favor by the referee — you can practice these exact scenarios to help prevent the dip in motivation and performance.

Introducing competition is easy to do as well. For example, you can split your team into two, or if you coach multiple teams, you can have them play each other.

After the friendly competition, you can ask high school athletes (a) what they think went well and (b) what they think can be improved. Getting feedback directly from your athletes increases accountability. You can also cross-reference this feedback with your notes to implement new skills or even mental training to improve mental toughness and performance.

Teach basic mental training skills

Mental skills provide athletes with the tools to increase confidence and build mental toughness. It’s also a useful tool to improve skill, e.g., visualizing freekick technique.

Despite this, however, high school students are less likely to perform more advanced mental skills because they may seem “anecdotal.” So instead, try and teach the fundamentals so they can see how effective they are, and then build on their skills over months and years.

Basic mental skills include [3]:

Positive self-talk
Goal setting
Visualization
Mindfulness

We’ll explain each of these in more detail with examples of how to execute them with your high school athletes below.

Want more guidance on mental training? Read our blog post on how to create a mental training program for athletes.

Positive self-talk

Self-talk is one of the easier mental skills to implement. It can help increase confidence, reduce anxiety, and improve task performance. But when people think of self-talk, they often think of shouting affirmations in the mirror.

And while this is partly true, it’s not the only way to do it. For starters, most people don’t do that — if they do use self-talk, it’s usually done in their minds. It’s words, phrases, and cues that trigger an emotional response. For example, a cross-country runner might use self-talk cues such as “relax shoulders” and “high knees.”

The same runner might use self-talk during an event to break up the race into smaller bite-size chunks. Let’s say the race is 5 laps long — they might say to themselves, “1 lap left,” when there’s actually 2 or 3. You can trick your brain into perseverance, and this is a powerful way to build mental toughness.

Why not introduce your athletes to a basic self-talk script?

Goal setting

Goal setting is a tried and tested method of improving performance and mental toughness.

One study in adolescents analyzed the impacts of a 12-week core strength training program. Results found that those who combined goal setting with core strength training were more effective in improving fitness [1].

This demonstrates the impact of goals — they are a must-have.

But how do you set effective goals? We suggest using the SMART goal-setting principles [2]:

Specific: state exactly what you want to achieve or improve.
Measurable: how can you accurately measure progress?
Achievable: Is it possible? You need to be realistic.
Realistic: your goals should be challenging, but not impossible.
Time-bound: set a realistic timeframe to achieve your goals.

When working with a team, consider setting shared goals and actually setting these together. Don’t just make them your goals — sit down together and collectively come up with goals to work towards. This will also help accountability and improve mental toughness.

Visualization

Visualization is one of the more difficult mental skills to implement with high school athletes.

Instead of diving into the deep end, we recommend trying a simple exercise before practice: ask your athletes to visualize a skill they want to improve, imagining successful skill performance. For example, this could be taking a free kick, diving to save a shot in the top left corner, or successfully dribbling around a player.

This should improve focus within the training session, and add more intention and goal-directed behavior to get better at the skill they have identified.

Use worksheets or other written feedback methods, such as surveys or questionnaires, to track progress, i.e., if your athletes find these mental exercises valuable.

Mindfulness

When people hear mindfulness, they often think of meditation. And while this is one of the components, mindfulness also comprises other exercises such as deep breathing, relaxation, and even journaling to provide clarity.

While you can use visualization at the start of practice, you can use mindfulness at the end of practice. For instance, you can ask your athletes to jot down what they think went well and want them to improve in the next session. This is a simple way to increase accountability and allows your athletes to become intentional.

Improve mental toughness with Rewire

“Our coaches can see every night to stay on top of fatigue and readiness. So incredibly useful.” – Jez Cox, Head Cycling Coach, Oaklands Wolves

Coaches can use Rewire to help prime their athletes for performance, increasing mental toughness, focus, and readiness to perform at their best. You also receive insights into athlete readiness to help you make smarter training and recovery decisions.

Your athletes get access to the athlete platform — a science-backed toolkit that contains neuro-training exercises to improve mental resilience and mindset, and promotes mind and body recovery.

Find out more about Rewire for teams

References:

Lu, Y., Yu, K. and Gan, X., 2022. Effects of a SMART Goal Setting and 12-Week Core Strength Training Intervention on Physical Fitness and Exercise Attitudes in Adolescents: A Randomized Controlled Trial. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(13), p.7715.
McCarthy, P.J. and Gupta, S., 2022. Set goals to get goals: Sowing seeds for success in sports. Frontiers for Young Minds, 10(10.3389).
Röthlin, P., Horvath, S., Trösch, S., Holtforth, M.G. and Birrer, D., 2020. Differential and shared effects of psychological skills training and mindfulness training on performance-relevant psychological factors in sport: a randomized controlled trial. BMC psychology, 8, pp.1-13.

How Can Coaches Improve Team Performance? 8 Tips

May 8, 2023/in For Coaches, Science /by Matthew Mace

Michael Jordan once said, “talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.”

As a coach, improving team performance is no doubt one of your main goals. The better your team, the more likely you are to win.

But many coaches often forget that a team consists of multiple players. It sounds so basic. However, all the moving pieces (the players) need to work together for the team to perform at its best.

And while everybody wants to win, it’s talent and team development that is often the most rewarding and realistic to achieve. Everybody wants to improve, right?

This blog will highlight how coaches can improve team performance.

Key takeaways:

Coaches should better understand team dynamics to improve performance
Celebrate small wins & reflect on losses candidly
Use Rewire to help athletes achieve peak performance

How can a coach help a team?

Without a coach, you can still have a team.

But with a coach, the team is more likely to be better aligned towards the same objective, i.e., everyone has the same goal.

For instance, while a team wants to win (big goal), smaller actions such as athlete feedback and team dynamics are necessary to achieve the bigger goal.

A coach can help athletes get on the same train that leads to the final destination (big goal). While previously, they might have taken different routes to get there. This alignment is what makes a successful team.

So how can coaches improve team performance?

Organize sports team bonding activities
Celebrate small wins
Reflect on losses through a candid lens
Set SMART team goals
Provide custom feedback to your athletes (based on their skill level)
Listen to your athletes & support their individual development
Better understand team dynamics
Implement mental training with your athletes

Organize sports team bonding activities

One of the best ways for coaches to improve team performance is by organizing team bonding activities. This is especially true if it’s a new team, such as a high school sports team or a collegiate soccer team.

Your choice of activities will depend on the age group of your athletes. For example, if you’re coaching a youth sports team, then games such as tug of war, stuck in the mud, and relay races are great starting points.

But there are surprisingly fewer team bonding activities for older teams and adults. But a few ideas include escape rooms, social events, team dinners, and other non-sport activities.

Let’s use the Top Gun movie example — they might be fighter pilots, but they play beach volleyball to bond and improve their teamwork. Get creative with it!

Celebrate small wins

Don’t just celebrate the big victories — celebrate the small wins along the way. Make sure to involve all team members when celebrating key milestones, shared goals, and other events.

Acknowledging and celebrating these small wins is a great way to increase team morale, spirit, and performance.

Reflect on losses through a candid lens

Every team experiences losses.

A good coach can reflect on team performance with an honest and candid viewpoint.

It’s important to assess what went well, but, more importantly, what could be improved. Be careful how you deliver feedback — more on this later in this post — but be brutally transparent as to why you either (a) won, or (b) lost.

Set SMART team goals

By now, you likely know what SMART goals are. If not, don’t stress:

Specific: state exactly what you want to achieve or improve.
Measurable: how can you accurately measure progress?
Achievable: Is it possible? You need to be realistic.
Realistic: your goals should be challenging, but not impossible.
Time-bound: set a realistic timeframe to achieve your goals.

When setting goals as a coach, you should set these with your team. If the team is involved in the goal-setting process, they are more likely to commit to them.

As a coach, you may choose to discuss your goals with the team at the beginning of the season.

This is a great time to drive motivation and get everyone on the same page. It makes it that much easier to move the needle closer to your goals, whether that’s winning the league or avoiding relegation.

Make team goals a part of your pre-season preparation.

Provide custom feedback to your athletes (based on their current skill level)

Coaches can build on their team performance by improving how they provide feedback to their athletes.

For example, if you’re coaching multiple teams of different skill levels, you shouldn’t use the same feedback for both groups [1].

Instead, you want to tailor your coaching feedback to their individual skill level.

Let me provide you with a basic and easy-to-understand example. You have two groups:

Beginner-to-novice athletes
Elite athletes

Feedback for the beginner-to-novice athletes will look a little different — it’s likely to be more focused on basic skill learning, thus, less technical.

On the other hand, when providing feedback to elite athletes, you can be more direct and instructional — they know the basic skills, but they may need to apply them differently.

You can take a similar approach when providing feedback to your athletes. Provide custom feedback depending on where they are currently, not where you want them to be.

The better each athlete performs, typically, the better the team performs.

Listen to your athletes & support their individual development

It sounds so simple, but listening to your athletes can improve team performance in sports.

Naturally, some athletes will be better at some skills than others. Therefore, you want to find a way to complement each skill set for the best results.

Also, being there for your athletes, e.g., after training, can provide additional team bonding.

And if an athlete is struggling with their mental health or motivation for training, for example, then you can help them get access to the help they need.

Better understand team dynamics

If you can leverage and better understand team dynamics, you can improve team performance.

For example, in a team, all teammates have preferred communication styles.

As a coach, you must recognize these and pair accordingly. You might be able to address one player’s weaknesses while improving another’s strengths.

Get creative with it. But ultimately, the more your team works like a team, the better. It sounds simple — that’s because it is — but when done correctly, it’s incredibly powerful.

Implement mental training with your athletes

“Before every shot, I go to the movies.” – Jack Nicklaus

It’s no secret that the best athletes use mental training to improve their performance. For example, Elite Olympic swimmer Megan Jendrick, in preparation for the 2000 Sydney Olympics, stated: “I visualize my races every night before I go to bed. I visualize it with a stopwatch in my hand. Every night, my goal is to go 1:05:40, I just visualized it the other day, and on the stopwatch, my time was 1:05:47.” Jendrick went on to win gold that year.

The above is only one example of mental training, a technique known as visualization.

You can create a mental training program for your athletes to help improve their weaknesses and develop better skills and techniques.

No two mental training plans are the same. To get started, we suggest you read our blog post on how to create a mental training program for athletes.

Coaches can use Rewire to improve team performance

Coaches can improve team performance by following the advice in this blog post.

You can also take it a step further. Athletes can use Rewire to improve mental resilience, focus, and to enhance competition mindset, prep, and team performance, whether in cycling, golf, basketball, or any sport.

Here’s what Cody Parrent, Senior Director of ESports operations at Indiana Pacers, said:

“Rewire has changed the way our players and staff train, measure performance, and manage cognitive fatigue on a daily basis. This new holistic approach to readiness and recovery has enabled our esports athletes to perform at their maximum level and reach peak performance.”

Find out how Rewire can improve team performance

References

Otte, F.W., Davids, K., Millar, S.K. and Klatt, S., 2020. When and how to provide feedback and instructions to athletes?—How sport psychology and pedagogy insights can improve coaching interventions to enhance self-regulation in training. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, p.1444.