Over the past seven years of coaching, I do not believe I have seen anything more devastating to a team or player's ability than lack of belief in one's ability. Individuals can move mountains and a player can carry a team through a tough game, if they believe they can do it. Teams that are the bottom of the standings can competitively play the top ranked team, if they believe. It is mind or physical matter. When a team is playing in an age or grade appropriate league or tournament, the difference between two teams is much less the physical difference than the mental difference. Competitive sports is 10% physical and 90% mental.
"If you can believe it, the mind can achieve it." - Ronnie Lott
Example of the destruction on disbelief:
This past week a freshman girls basketball swung the gamut from belief to disbelief with equally gratifying results and self-inflicted destruction. Early in the week because of gym availability the freshmen, jv, and varsity girls teams all practiced in the same gym at the same time. The varsity coach spent a significant amount of practice time with his team working to perfect the full, three-quarters, and half court trapping zone pressure defense. With a few minutes left in practice, the coaches decide to scrimmage. The freshman team[1] destroys the jv team twice and then proceeds to play the varsity team very competitively and squeaks out two more wins. This is a good varsity team that is currently at the top of their league and heading to the playoffs with a good seeding. The freshman team's four wins demonstrated power of self belief.
Fast forward a few days, the freshman team has a game against another local team from a slightly larger school. Late in the second quarter a productive offensive player leaves the game due to an injury. At half time, they are up by 10 points and playing well. During the break, one of the players starts whispering to the others that they are going to lose because so-n-so is hurt. The cancer of disbelief starts. Although the other players are not repeating the message, the seeds of doubt are being planted in the back of their minds.
The team played the second half of the game with a completely different team character. The rumor starter's play was abysmal so she sat most of the second half. But worse, when the team made a mistake or a call went the other way, the whisper tells the bench "I told you so, we are going to lose." Up by four at the end of the 3rd quarter, the pressure on the team is increasing while the defeatist cancer continues to be reinforced. During the fourth quarter, the team's execution that early in the week helped the freshman team beat the varsity team are no longer being executed with the knifing precision necessary for success. Mental error after mental error occur that earlier in the weeks scrimmages never occurred. Game over: lost by four.
Lesson learned for the players:
You must stand up and attack the whispers of disbelief immediately, head on, in such a fashion the garners team support and lets the coach know what is happening. It is difficult to stand up to a teammate and uncomfortable to forcefully confront another player, but it must be done for the success of the team. My recommendation is to loudly, maybe even excessively loudly, attack the message and not the player. Verbally attacking the message keeps the confrontation from being personal and usually draws the coach's attention to the what was said and not whose involved. Also, physically moving to center stage, like the middle of the huddle or standing up when the team is sitting, will draw the coach's and team's attention so that the cancer of disbelief can be address.
The script of the message could be: "We are not going to lose. We are going to win! Even though so-n-so is hurt, he/she will be cheering loudly on the sidelines for us. I expect you to be doing the same. We are going to win!"
Lesson learned for parents:
As a coach, I have confronted this situation far too often with young players. In the above situation, I was a parent. After the family arrived at home that evening, my daughter told me the story and I challenged her that if this situation every happens again to immediately confront the player for the sake of the team in the fashion I described above.
At the next game, several of the parents were talking about the events of the previous night, but none of us brought it to the coach's attention. Shame on us. The parent's discussing last nights events were discouraged by the negative comments, but none of us acted. A coach cannot correctively act unless they are aware of what is happening in the shadows of the team and, in this case, I do not believe the coach was aware of the situation. What I wished I had done and will do next time, is to quietly pull the coach aside and let them know what happened. It is now the coach's responsibility to address this with the team.
It is significantly better for the cancer of disbelief to be immediately address within the confines of the team. The issue can be quickly addressed, dealt with, and hopefully forgotten. For this to occur, one player must have the courage to stand up and be counted. As freshman in high school, player's should have the self-confidence to deal with these types of issues. At the younger ages of elementary and middle school, a little constructive parent involvement may be necessary for the teams benefit.
[1] In our area, freshman basketball is still considered a middle school sport so 7th and 8th graders can play on the freshman team. Although this is possible, most freshman teams, either boys or girls, will usually carry one or two exceptionally talented 8th graders to fill out the team and prepare for the next season. On the girls side this year, it is an exception. The whole freshman girls team is consists of 8th graders.
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