At the start of the season, let your players know that:
- You will always be proud of them as long as they give 100% effort (regardless of the outcome on the scoreboard).
- You want each one of them to constantly strive to learn and improve.
This involves them comparing their own performance to their own
performance (i.e. Are they better than they were two weeks ago?).
- Mistakes
are an inevitable part of the game. If they are giving 100% and trying
new things (as they strive to improve), mistakes are bound to occur,
and your best players are those who find ways to quickly bounce back from mistakes.
- Teams that focus on giving their full effort, constantly learning and improving, and bouncing back from mistakes, actually win more than teams who consistently focus on the scoreboard.
- You want a team that focuses on the ELM Tree of Mastery (Effort, Learning and Mistakes) because players who do this well are less anxious on the field and have a greater sense of confidence in themselves and their abilities.
For a worksheet to help you introduce ELM to your team, Download: 
Introducing ELM Tree of Mastery to Your Team
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