mental coaching Archives - Page 2 of 3

Katie Warriner about the confidence of teenage girls

Confidence drops sharply in girls between eight and fourteen, sometimes by as much as 30 per cent, and studies with over a million participants show it can stay lower into adult life. Warriner puts this down to a more interdependent mindset, where girls define confidence through relationships and constantly seek harmony. She recommends teaching young players some basic neuroscience so doubts feel normal, plus Pippa Grange’s book Fear Less. Watch the full masterclass: Confidence: a choice and a skill.

Katie Warriner about what is confidence

Katie Warriner, performance psychologist with GB Hockey, keeps her definition simple: confidence is your answer to the question, can I do it? A clear yes means confidence is high, uncertainty makes it wobble. She also warns against treating confidence as a feeling, because feelings come and go and sit outside your control, and self-doubt does not stop you being confident. Watch the full masterclass: Confidence: a choice and a skill.

Joy Jouret about power

Power comes in three forms in Joy Jouret’s view: position power that arrives with the title of coach, personal power built on expertise as a former international, and information power, held by whoever controls the video and the data. Her point is that a coach should hand those out rather than hold all three, and should switch tactics, from socialising and persuading through to imposing, depending on the decision. Watch the full masterclass: Building a powerful team.

Ben Bishop about trust

Trust becomes automatic only when relationships are real, robust and reflective, Ben says, and that starts with an environment where players can share thoughts, concerns and emotions without fear of a negative response. His on-pitch test is simple: a well connected player passes to an open teammate without hesitation, and every time that pass does not come, the relationship and the trust behind it erode a little. Watch the full masterclass: Off ball skills.

Ben Bishop about character

For Ben, character means the good teammate who is coachable and will do anything for the team, and he wants a critical mass of them in a squad. His example is Thomas Briels: left out of the original Tokyo selection, he stayed ready, played seven of the eight games, and threw himself in front of a shot for a deflected goal. That selflessness rubs off on teammates. Watch the full masterclass: Off ball skills.

Ben Bishop about off ball skills and youth selection criteria

Character belongs in youth selection at under 15 and under 18, Ben argues, because traits left unaddressed become much harder to correct by under 21. He suggests picking your best 30 on field performance, then actually talking to them, and watching for signs like whether a player chases back, abuses the umpire or ignores the coach’s direction. Between two equally skilled players, the better character gets picked. Watch the full masterclass: Off ball skills.

Ben Bishop about self awareness

Self awareness, for Ben, is a player recognising mid-game that things are not going well and choosing to shift behaviour, using time off the ball or a spell in the dugout to regulate before the next involvement. The same applies on the bench: a coach with good self awareness stays calm and balanced, makes better decisions and talks to athletes more effectively. Watch the full masterclass: Off ball skills.

Ben Bishop about awaking and rebuilding certain behaviour

Asked how to awaken these behaviours in players, Ben starts with selection, picking people who can share experiences, then showing examples the squad relates to, like the Golden State Warriors building a critical mass of high character players. When trust breaks down between two players, he is blunt: it does not get forgotten, so put them in the same room and facilitate the conversation, or bring in someone who can. Watch the full masterclass: Off ball skills.

Ben Bishop about dealing with the unexpected loss

An unexpected loss without video footage does not rule out a proper debrief, Ben argues. Give an assistant or a hockey-minded parent one job during the game, watching only the defence or only the strikers, then debrief from several perspectives instead of your own view from the dugout. He also questions the premise: go in confident you will win because you will do specific things correctly, not expecting it. Watch the full masterclass: Off ball skills.

Shane McLeod about implementing team first

Culture starts with the environment, Shane says. Belgium built an Olympic Room lined with photos chosen to show their players dominating Holland, Germany and Australia, then ran simple trust exercises such as speed dating rounds of structured feedback. He also facilitated an open conversation between two players over a lingering Indian league grievance, arguing that issues discussed honestly deflate, while those swept under the carpet resurface in pressure moments. Watch the full masterclass: Ask Me Anything with Shane McLeod.

Shane McLeod about the mental coach

Shane takes the mental coach role on himself, partly because he enjoys observing how players react and partly because it removes any buffer between him and the group. A psychologist sitting between coach and players ends up relaying messages, which he finds ineffective. He prefers the specialist to work on him instead, as one did in New Zealand, so that he can do the job better with the players. Watch the full masterclass: Ask Me Anything with Shane McLeod.

Tag: mental coaching