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How to Overcome High Expectations on a New Team

  • December 1, 2018
  • Respect & Accountability, Trending
CoachesEducatorsParents

Young kid in lacrosse gear standing alone in front of a goal.Being the ‘new kid’ is tough, especially when joining a youth sports team that has been together for several seasons.

Even just one new player can cause a big shift in team chemistry and roles. This sometimes creates a high-pressure, high-expectation situation in which:

  • Returning players may feel resentment toward a newcomer who takes over their old position;
  • Teammates become frustrated if the new player’s ability doesn’t improve the team’s overall play;
  • A new athlete may ruffle some feathers by assuming a leadership position their teammates may feel is unearned.

Fortunately, how to deal with these new-team dynamics has been studied by sport psychologists, and their research shows several ways parents, coaches, and athletes can help minimize the pressure and maximize performance.

 

How Coaches and Parents Can Help

In the article Coaching Strategies for Helping Adolescent Athletes Cope with Stress sports psychology researchers Jenelle N. Gilbert, PhD, Wade Gilbert, PhD, and educational researcher Cynthia Morawski, PhD share ways coaches and parents can ease high-expectation stress:

Critique Skills, Not the Person

When offering critiques, make it about the athlete’s skills or technique, and not them as an individual. You should also shift the athlete’s focus to what they have control over (form, strategy, etc.) and not to outside stressors they don’t (others’ expectations, the final score, etc.).

Establishing individual performance goals with each athlete in a one-on-one coach’s meeting can also help create a more focused environment on overall improvement. An additional benefit of this meeting is that it provides an opportunity for the coach to build a stronger relationship with each athlete. As noted by Jenelle Gilbert, “When an athlete knows that the coach cares, the athlete is more likely to hear what the coach has to say and work toward getting better.”

Create a Supportive Team Environment

Youth sport coaches should do everything they can to make a new athlete feel welcome and part of the team. This can be done any number of ways:

  • Rotate starters and allow all athletes to play different positions and roles
  • Set team and individual performance objectives that aren’t win-loss oriented
  • Establish group pre-game routines and warm-ups
  • Keep a positive attitude, highlight things done well, and praise effort (not just results)
  • Organize team activities unrelated to the sport at-hand
  • When errors are addressed, make it about the team and not the individual

Remember the Person

A major stressor for young athletes comes when they only identify themselves as athletes.

Before practices and games, coaches should take time to ask about their team’s lives outside of sport. This indirectly communicates that the next two hours aren’t the beginning and end of the coach’s regard for them.

 

How Athletes Can Navigate New Expectations

It will take some time to feel out the expectations of a new team, coach, and teammates. Coaches can help expedite this process, but there are also things new athletes can do to make the transition easier:

Create a Commitment Checklist

After learning what the team expectations are, athletes can create a checklist (even just a mental one) of what good commitment looks like.

Items on this list could include doing 50 repetitions of a skill before practice (e.g., free throws, serves, etc.), volunteering to go first in drills, or even helping set up and tear down equipment. A checklist also allows athletes to focus on a routine instead of the pressure they might be feeling.

Positive Self-Talk

Athletes can learn to reframe pressure and expectations as good things that are there to help them try their best.

Cue words such as a personal motto or something as simple as ‘do work’ or ‘play on’ written on their equipment (such as a wrist band or the tops of shoes) can also keep an athlete’s mindset positive. Jenelle Gilbert acknowledges that “Writing positive self-talk statements may seem excessive, but an intentional approach is best, especially when learning or trying to change a habit. When athletes see the positive-self-talk statements, it can redirect their thinking and help them focus on what is important in that moment. And because the statements refocus them on their performance, any nervousness that they may be experiencing can be lessened.”

Say ‘Yes’

A common coping mechanism for athletes who feel out of place is to just ‘stay out of the way.’

Instead, encourage athletes to say ‘yes’ to every invitation, or make their own. This could mean sitting and eating with a group of teammates during a day-long practice, going to every team function, or (with the help of a parent) organizing an afternoon at a waterpark or arcade.

—

In the end, managing the expectations of athletes and teams, new and old, is all about communication and positivity.

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Hi. I’m Trevon, Trey, Jennifer. Team USA wheelchair basketball player, paralympian, and true sport athlete. Today, I want to talk to you about goal setting. And there are three things that I would like you to know. First, successful athletes set goals and a planned roadmap. Second, goals should be written down, assessed over time, and changed if necessary. And third, goals need to be challenging in order to be worthwhile. As a freshmen at Edinboro University, I was a part of a team that made the national championship game. And at that time I recognized I was the low man on the totem pole, but I felt in my heart that I knew my dreams were so much bigger than winning a national title. I wanted to make Team USA. I knew what achieving my lofty goal was not going to be easy and that I would need to work hard every day.

So, as a reminder, I created a pyramid of goals that I kept right above my bed. This pyramid reminded me of the accomplishments that I was working towards and visually represented my need to create a solid foundation underneath me before reaching the top. In the bottom roll of my pyramid of goals I listed goals such as obtaining my bachelor’s degree, becoming a scholar athlete award recipient, and becoming an All-American. The middle row listed winning a national title and playing for a professional team. And at the top row, the most challenging of them all, I listed becoming a gold medalist for Team USA.

By understanding that there are smaller stepping stones to achieving my ultimate goal of being on Team USA, I was able to stay motivated and to stay focused on completing the smaller stepping stones fully before moving onto the next one. Now I’ll be the first to admit that not every goal that I listed on my pyramid was accomplished, but seeing my goals every day when I went to bed, I was able to push through the days that I felt like doing nothing in hopes of achieving the bigger picture. Remember, create a clear goal roadmap, assess your goals often, and continue to challenge yourself. I hope that you never stopped dreaming big or reaching for the stars. And I look forward to seeing where your roadmap takes you.

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Hi, I’m Kara Winger, Olympic javelin thrower, and true sport athlete. Today I want to talk to you about body image and I have three things I’d like you to know. First, healthy thoughts often lead to healthier bodies. Second, there are varying body types and no one’s body is exactly like another. And third, true beauty goes deeper than the skin. As a multi-time Olympian, I’ve experienced a lot of variation and progression in my training. My coaches and I adapt to my training frequently, all with the goal of supporting my long-term success and health in the sport of javelin. I’m talking to you about body image today because sometimes even with the best of intentions and a common goal in mind, the changes you make to your training habits can prove to be detrimental if made for the wrong reasons. In the lead up to the 2012 Olympic trials, I was told in order to improve my performance on the field, I should try to become a leaner, skinnier version of myself.

So I changed my diet. I went along with what I was being told to do, even though I’d had great success at a slightly heavier weight and higher body fat percentage, and became much leaner than ever before. It seemed like a successful change at first, but I didn’t have nearly the results I’d had before. And I believe becoming leaner than my body naturally wanted to be was what caused my ACL to tear. In the end, it cost me heavily going into the 2012 London games. The takeaway for me, and hopefully for you, is that it’s important to know what works for you and your body and to not compare yourself to others. You should do your research and experiment with your diet to find what makes you feel the best, rather than focusing on what you look like. Today, if I feel like having a chocolate chip cookie, I have one, just not every day.

I’ve learned what a properly balanced meal for my body looks like and I recognize food as the fuel that keeps me throwing. I hydrate and allow myself time to recover. And I listen to and communicate with my body so that I can be the best version of myself. In the end, you are in control of how you see, treat, and respond to your body. We only get one and it’s amazing to discover how many things our bodies can do. Be a true sport athlete. Love who you are in this moment and get excited for all the places your body will take you.

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I started competing in Modern Pentathlon eight years after my older sister and three-time Olympian, Margaux Isaksen, began competing. I soon realized that people often compared the two of us. I would overhear spectators and teammates asking, “Who’s the better athlete,” and “Who’s going to beat the other.” Instead of letting outside pressures create a negative experience for us, I chose to practice winning and losing with grace and respect. I know that it would have been easy to let our hyper competitive mindset affect our relationship, but instead we decided to support and cheer for each other, regardless of our own performance. My experience of competing against and being compared to my older sister, taught me to focus on how to perform at my best, rather than putting wasted energy into wishing for others to fail.

I believe that sportsmanship reveals true character. So, no matter what situation I encounter during competition, I know it’s important to always treat people with respect and be a good sport. Remember, be a fierce competitor, find grace in all your victories and losses. And I hope to see you out there.

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You have the ability to affect even deeper change, to take what’s in your hands and do something even more extraordinary. You can be both the coach who provides the skills needed to win the game and the coach who helps them learn and succeed beyond the sport, to become all stars wherever they land in the future, and to enjoy their lives more now, because the confidence and courage they find working with you will stay with them when they need it the most. There are games to be won, lives to change. Coaches have the power to do both.

I’m Edwin Moses, and the lessons I’ve learned through sport have challenged me, guided me, and shaped my life forever. What kind of coach do you want to be?

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At first glance, dietary supplements look the same. They seem safe and healthy, but just because the label says a product is a dietary supplement, that doesn’t mean it’s safe. Unfortunately, you can’t tell whether a product is safe or not just by looking at the label. Most vitamins, minerals, fish oil, and other supplements containing nutrients are probably just fine, but supplements are not evaluated or approved by FDA before they are sold. Although it is rare for vitamins or minerals to be contaminated with drugs, there has been at least one case of a vitamin containing an anabolic steroid.

At the other extreme are products that contain drugs, stimulants, anabolic steroids, or other hormones. Even though these are not technically dietary supplements, many of them are labeled as supplements. For example, body-building products sometimes contain anabolic steroids or Selective Androgen Receptor Modulators, known as SARMs, or other hormones. Some pre-workout or energy products contain illegal stimulants like DMAA, ephedra, or other amphetamine-like stimulants. Weight loss products might contain prescription drugs like sibutramine, or hormones, like human chorionic gonadotropin, also known as hCG. All natural or herbal sexual enhancement products might contain hormones or Viagra-like drugs. Products like these can harm your health and career, but they’re for sale online, in some nutrition stores, and they’re labeled as dietary supplements.

When you pick up a supplement, especially one that promises performance enhancement, you don’t know if it belongs in the “Mostly O.K.” pile or in the “Dangerous” pile. After all, two products might look the same, but one might contain just amino acids and other legitimate ingredients, while the other also contains anabolic steroids. Because of this, FDA has issued a warning about certain categories of supplements: body building products, weight loss products, and sexual enhancement products. Be extremely careful when considering a supplement in one of these categories. We strongly recommend that you avoid products in these categories.

Even when FDA tests supplements and finds dangerous ingredients, companies sometimes refuse to recall them. Sometimes, they simply repackage their product and continue selling it under a new name. Just because a product is on a store shelf doesn’t mean it is safe. You need to do your research and be an informed consumer. The dietary supplement industry is enormous. Supplements that appear to be safe could actually be dangerous products in disguise. If you use dietary supplements without doing your research, you may be taking serious risks with your health and your career. Please visit USADA’s Supplement 411 for more information about dietary supplements.