After Performing Poorly Do Your Athletes Dwell on Mistakes?
Athletes always want to perform well and often feel expectations from you to do well.
Well-meaning parents want to improve performance by eliminating mistakes.
Imagine how that would play out in your athlete’s mind, “I missed three 5—foot putts, shanked two shots, landed in two sandtraps, and overshot the greens three times.” While identifying every mistake may seem beneficial, it is detrimental to their confidence.
When athletes fail to perform well, they can pick apart their game, relive mistakes, and feel bad about their ability. It is no different than someone else putting them down constantly.
And on top of that parents might point out everything their kids did wrong. After hearing such negativity, you would feel horrible and less confident.
Finding success after a competition, no matter how small, will keep your athletes’ confidence from tanking.
When you highlight your athletes’ successes, you keep their confidence high and help them to be motivated to work hard.
Highlighting their successes doesn’t mean turning a blind eye to areas of their game that need improvement.
After each game, give your athletes two things they did well, such as good effort or communication with teammates.
You don’t want to discount the positive and only focusing on their shortcomings. Next, help your athletes identify 2-3 things they want to improve in the next week of practice.
Related Articles on Kids’ Mental Game:
- Our Top Post-Game Confidence Tip for Sports Parents
- How Kids Can Learn to Make the Most of Mistakes While Competing
- When Athletes Only Dwell on Post Game Mistakes
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