This article is courtesy of Coaches Network

Coaches can often walk a fine line when trying to motivate their young athletes. Choosing the right words to get the most out of your players can be challenging when also trying to instill lessons that go beyond winning and losing. Janis Meredith of CouchUp.com outlines various ways that coaches can inspire their team without creating tension or emotional harm. Specifically, Meredith identifies five phrases that can put undue pressure on young athletes and should therefore be avoided.

1. “This is a MUST win!”

Even if your team is about to compete in a playoff or tournament game, it does not usually help to emphasize that winning is all that matters. Players already understand that it’s an important game that needs to be one if they want to keep playing, reiterating this probably wont help them. There is so much more to be gained from such a competitive game that focusing only on winning can keep your athletes from getting the most out of the experience. “They will play another season, other games, and reminding them that this is a “must-win” will not help them play any better; it will only help them worry all the more about messing up,” writes Meredith.

2. “Watch how (insert name here) does it! You can do it too!”

It makes sense to occasionally use players on your team as examples when trying to teach a certain skill or technique. Yet this type of tactic can also have a negative psychological effect on the other players. Though coaching tactics like this usually come from good intentions, they can easily do more harm than good. Try to avoid comparing players to each other, or singling out a certain person. Instead, motivate the entire team to get better together.

3. “You’re the best player out there! Go show them how it’s done!”

Even if the athlete is the best player on the team, telling them that they need to prove this can put provide unnecessary pressure. Meredith writes, “That mindset may work for older athletes, but for young athletes it is an unnecessary burden to bear.” Keep in mind that it is easy for young athletes to feel overburdened by pressure from their coaches, making it important to avoid singling out specific players. Provide this type of encouragement to the entire team and they will likely share the responsibility together instead of one person feeling like they have to do it all themselves.

4. “Remember what happened last game?”

Most of the time, players remember their mistakes and therefore coaches don’t need to provide constant reminders. Mistakes should be addressed in a way that athletes can learn from them, and one of the main responsibilities of coaches is to help in the learning process. Don’t let your players dwell on their mistakes by reminding them what happened. Instead, give them the knowledge and confidence needed to avoid those mistakes in the future.

5. “Destroy the other team!”

This puts the focus on the opponent instead of the actual performance of your own team. It may just seem like a classic way to motivate your players and get them fired up, but it does nothing to help them visualize succeeding. Encourage your team to play their best, regardless of the opponent. “The object of the game is to win (with integrity) and not to intentionally hurt opponents,” writes Meredith.

Instead of focusing energy towards these last minute motivational speeches, try to just encourage your young athletes to play their best and enjoy the game.

This article was provided by Coaches Network

As a coach, you strive to find the words that will help your athletes reach their full potential—not only as athletes, but as young adults.  In an article in Psychology Today, Meg Selig—author of Changepower! 37 Secrets to Habit Change Success—provides a few brief motivational messages that coaches have used in motivating their athletes to get the most out of their athletic experience.

Do it for love. Selig remembers when well-know figure skating coach Frank Carroll told nervous 18-year-old U.S. skater Gracie Gold the following message when she took the ice for a key performance: “Think about how much you love skating!” And she references a quote from legendary NBA coach Phil Jackson in his book, Eleven Rings: “Focus on something greater than yourself that you love and value, such as your sport or your team.”

Next play. This philosophy is emphasized by Duke University basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who prevents players from dwelling on their mistakes.  Selig cites a description by LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, who has adopted the “next play” philosophy, based on Coach K’s beliefs: “(Coach K) yells out ‘next play,’ because he doesn’t want the team lingering too long on what just took place. He doesn’t want them celebrating that incredible alley-oop dunk, and he doesn’t want them lamenting the fact that the opposing team just stole the ball and had a fast break that led to an easy layup. You can take a moment to reflect on what just happened, and you probably should, but you shouldn’t linger too long on it, and then move on to the next play.”

Aim for excellence, not perfection. Selig says this is a great motto for an athlete who gets bogged down by never being able to achieve total perfection. Accepting failures and glitches in one’s program is simply part of the process.

Why not you? Why not us? According to Selig, Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson always remembered his father’s question to him, “Why not you?” When he encouraged his Seahawks teammates, he transformed the saying into, “Why not us?”

Create the best possible conditions for success, then let go of the outcome. Selig quotes this statement from Phil Jackson’s Eleven Rings: “I’ve heard echoes of this statement in interviews by Olympians and other successful athletes. Once you’ve prepared mentally and physically for your game, then you are ready to do your best–and your best is the best you can do.”

Cultivate a learning mindset instead of a fixed mindset. Many young athletes believe that it’s talent that counts, says Selig, and as a result, they don’t put in the hard work needed to overcome deficiencies, hone a skill to excellence, or develop the mental strength and flexibility to bounce back from failure.  For these athletes, Selig encourages that the coach rewards effort rather than talent and reframe failure as an opportunity to learn.

Use setbacks as motivation. Can athletes use their failures as a springboard to success? Selig writes, “If you read the sports page, you’ll find that almost every sports team uses a significant loss to motivate themselves to improve in the coming year.”

Keep your self-talk encouraging. Selig emphasizes that positive self-talk must be geared to the athlete’s own and she offers these phrases as mantras for athletes to say to themselves: “I’ve done it before; I can do it again, “or “I’m going to trust myself,” or “Whatever happens, I’ll do my best.”

Are you tired of walking into practice and seeing lackluster effort from your players?  Have you had it with trying to get your female athletes to care about the team as much as you do??

Click here to find out more about Coach Dawn’s eBook: Motivating Female Athletes

Comes with a FREE PowerPoint presentation called Guarantee Your Success: Using John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success To Increase Your Team’s Cohesion.