What does this tell us? First, that traditional uses of feedback were evident in these professional and elite competitive sports settings. Negative, coach controlled and movement specific dominated the coaching scenery. However, the study also gives these findings: More positive feedback was provided in winning quarters than in losing quarters and more controlling feedback was prevalent in losing quarters than in winning ones.
Wait…what?
Another study done in 2011 had 40 novice and 40 experienced basketball players shooting free throws. In the study, “Both groups responded faster to neutral and positive words than negative words.” It concluded by reporting, “It was concluded that directing attention towards positive emotion may have benefited sports performance by diverting attention away from execution of the primary task (shooting free throws), promoting automatic skill execution by experienced basketballers.”
Hmmm….
Let’s step back from the court and the pitch for a second. A 2020 study of the effects of teachers’ praise to reprimand ratios on elementary school students concluded the following: “A positive linear relationship was evident, showing that the higher the teachers praise-to-reprimand, the higher the students on-task behavior percentage.” In other words, the more praise students got, the more improvement they showed.
Let’s flip the script.
In some therapies in working with addiction treatment, often times confrontation therapy has been used and touted as a successful pathway to overcoming these toxic habits. But a 2009 study put that idea back in the drawer with leeches and bloodletting. “It is time to accept that the harsh confrontational practices of the past are generally ineffective, potentially harmful, and professionally inappropriate.”
And yet in so many sports, so many teams, coaches continue to berate, embarrass, ridicule and demean their athletes as an idea of motivation and “getting the best out of them.” Some coaches think certain athletes respond better to this kind of treatment. And even some parents, who maybe experienced this kind of coaching feel it did a world of good for them and thus, needs to be inflicted upon their child.
Take this kind of behavior and put it anywhere EXCEPT the sports arena. Your 10-year-old 4th grader misses a math problem and is forced to do pushups and gets a verbal tirade about how she isn’t trying and isn’t as good as the rest of the class. Your 13-year-old son is chastised by the waitress for spilling his soft drink on the restaurant table and is labeled a public klutz and not physically gifted enough to be brought out into public to eat. Your 16-year-old is going for her driver’s license and makes a small mistake on a left-hand turn in traffic. The instructor tells her to pull over, turn off the engine, get out of the car and proceeds to chide her in a loud voice just how ill equipped she is for driving and how her inattention to detail is going to cost someone their life someday.
Mom? Dad? You okay with these examples?
Then why is sport different? Coaches, the evidence is OVERWHELMING. Negativity, yelling and screaming, detrimental language and actions- they are game changers but in the wrong direction.
Some coaches are open to change. Some aren’t. That’s the paradox of every profession in the world. Sometimes a profession doesn’t require much change and in some, technology and science has driven a new path forward. And as these professionals’ option, they can take the new path or stay on the dirt road. It is their decision or in come cases, the decision of their superiors or even the public at large. How many coaches have lost their careers because a cell phone records a post game meltdown or a regrettable phrase falling on the ears of bystanders.
Not only is it just wrong and outdated, it can be a career killer!
As a parent, understand this generation IS different than yours. While you might not have had any options in your youth sport career because of opportunities or proximity to things, this generation has a plethora to choose from. Be selective when choosing a coach and a program. Negativity breeds negativity- understand that.No one can sustain their best being in fear all the time. Positive feedback, positive interactions, enhanced expectancies are all part of bringing the best out of athletes.
As coaches, we have to change. We have to realize that communication- the language we use and how we give it is the core to athlete development. Losing our cool, chirping the same things we did 5 or 10 years ago is paramount to malpractice. Take some time to be intentional with your thoughts and what you are saying to your athletes.
The science is telling us so.
As coaches, we have to change. We have to realize that communication- the language we use and how we give it is the core to athlete development. Losing our cool, chirping the same things we did 5 or 10 years ago is paramount to malpractice. Take some time to be intentional with your thoughts and what you are saying to your athletes.
The science is telling us so.
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