“The team that makes the most mistakes will probably win,” wrote the legendary basketball coach John Wooden in They Call Me Coach. “The doer makes mistakes, and I wanted doers on my team—players who made things happen.”
That can be an incredibly difficult concept for a Responsible Coach to convey to youth players. By the time they are on your team, some players may have been yelled at for making mistakes. Even if not, they may be so self-conscious or hard on themselves for failing to make plays that they stop really trying.
For example, you might see your players hesitate to finish plays that you look as routine or makeable. You can practically see the thought bubble: “If I don’t get too close, maybe it won’t really look like an error on my part.”
But helping a player overcome that mentality is one of the greatest things Responsible Coaches can do for their athletes, as players and as people. As players, of course, you want them to perform as well as possible, both for the good of the team on the scoreboard and for the good of the individual’s self-esteem. As people, your youth athletes will benefit – in school, business and personal relationships – from adopting the attitude that “failing” is not the end of the world, especially if they try their hardest.
You can start cultivating this mentality in practice. You can set up an “all-out” drill that encourages players to play as aggressively as possible with no fear of failure. This will require players to put out maximum effort and then reward them with praise for their all-out attempt, even if they fail.
Often, in this drill, it is best to comment only on the player’s level of commitment…nothing about technique. The only “criticism” might be along the lines of, “You’re a talented enough athlete, and I believe in your ability enough, that if you had fully committed, without fear, you could have gotten there.”
At older ages, perhaps 10 and above, you might explicitly explain the purpose of the drill and the attitude you are trying to shape. For example: “Some of you seem concerned with looking foolish or costing your team. But in the long run, you cost yourselves and your teammates even more if you let up on a play you can make.”
“So, keep in mind, in this drill, there is nothing at stake. There is no reason to pull up short. And if you can take advantage of being free from the fear of mistakes, you will gain a new understanding of your ability. Then, knowing what it feels like to go all out, sometime in a game you will see that you might not have tried for as aggressively, and you will know from what you learn in this drill that you can do it, and so you will do it.”
Translating this approach to your team, group of kids and circumstances, you can help even the most timid players over their fear of mistakes and help them become what Coach Wooden called “doers” – on the playing fields and beyond.
