Coaching emotions and sports

If you look up the definition of high performance, you will find " faster" " better and more effective than others".

In USA and Canadian hockey, many coaches already have a head start on how this kind of thinking harms their athletes, their environments and the sporting community.

Despite hockey's sometimes violent behaviour, the culture is no longer one of comparison, and they have come to define it as maximising the day-to-day potential of their athletes.

Only by changing this belief and mental program does the competition and environment become healthier, and more ethical.

There are several steps and behaviours you can adopt to start having a healthier sport environment with athletes and a healthier sport community.

The first step is for athletes to trust their coach, many don't care how knowledgeable the coach is but rather if they truly care about them.

2023 was a year of several changes, and Cristino Ronaldo in my opinion was a pioneer in changing mentalities, where the athlete no longer has a passive role and just a performer, and starts to have a voice where he expresses his needs and values.

Communication is one of the points that several coaches ask me to change, they know that a more positive communication, and with flexibility to various points of view is an open door to teams with more performance and results.

Realize and recognize that sometimes it does not matter what the coach says, but how their athletes will absorb that information. In this situation several behavioural techniques have had a great impact on the closeness between my athletes and their coaches.

As my attendance is online when I introduced various challenges and feedback, it always became easier for them to express themselves in writing, until I changed that reality and challenged them to say what they feared most to their coaches. That close connection with the coach made them feel special, the coach listens to me he talks to me about how I feel, and he has time for me individually and that makes me more motivated.

No athlete performs at a high level in an environment where they don't feel safe and accepted. It is important that we are all appreciated for who we are and for our differences. And for that to happen self-knowledge was key, having these tools allowed my coaches and athletes to understand why many acted in a certain way.

What is non-negotiable?

Deviant behaviour, bullying or any kind of disrespect. Here it is fundamental that these rules are clear and in writing in contracts or in the minutes of parental meetings.

Promote an enthusiastic environment

Being an enthusiastic person or coach implies understanding your own energetic vibration and the environmental climate.

If we have a negative vibrational field, we cannot expect our athletes to react in a positive way.

Receive and welcome when they arrive

Be practicing what you talk about and expect in the other, both in the ring and in your personal life.

Lose or win, there is always faith in tomorrow.

To motivate an athlete we often need to think and act like coaches, but think how the athlete will execute as a player.

This implies listening more, than talking, and giving several opportunities to receive feedback in order to be able to improve what we are often not aware of.

Catarina Cardoso

Local pro goalie opens up about mental health 'These things do not just become fine on their own like when you are stuck inside your own head there is no getting out'