The following is an email I received from my friend
and colleague, Dean Benton, Performance Director for the Brisbane Broncos. This
reminded me again that I am not a punishment coach or a mental toughness coach.
Each of us has a responsibility to teach our athletes, that is implicit in
coaching. Teaching concentration and focus is part of what I do in every
session. Here are Dean's comments:
Just read your blog about mental toughness. I couldn’t agree
more. It pisses me off when coaches who think, simplistically, that smashing
players with copious amounts of conditioning will solve a myriad of problems
that underpin poor performance when it arises. Without doubt you cannot get
physically fit without being mentally tough and vice versa – I subscribe to this wholeheartedly.
However, using conditioning as tool to try and directly instill mental
toughness suggests the following:
Every training session has to be hard to be
beneficial
Athletes develop a negative attitude to the
training process
It breeds distrust between the Athletic Development coach and
athletes
Training (athletic development) should be seen as a privilege not
a burden. I find this simplistic remedy too common in the football
codes. It’s used when thinking and player/coach responsibility stops.
Tim
Vern you have focused on the physical actions to mental toughness used by coaches but what about the verbal “motivational tactics” actions used? From my experience coaches try to intimate the athlete or use fear tactics to get a result, which maybe fine if the athlete is getting paid to play.
Mark Day
I would also like to ask what tactics do you prefer Vern, including when repeated mistakes are occurring? It is not easy being a youth coach on some this…which all coaches should have to experience.