Emotion Management
Easier said than done, am I right?
Being a coach can be really frustrating sometimes. Especially when your athletes are struggling, it’s easy to get emotional. It can feel like you’ve failed your athletes or that you aren’t doing your job right. Turns out for better or for worse we are all in the same boat in one way or another. You may not be the coach that’s flipping a chair, but you may be flipping that chair in your mind. Either way, we must handle and manage our emotions at some level so that it positively affects our athletes.
Something that often gets forgotten or overlooked is body language. Some athletes might not care that you have your arms crossed, but some athletes might think you are disapproving of them by doing so. Being aware of what your current athletes need from you whether it’s putting your hands to your side or behind your back or avoiding cringing when they miss a putt, will help your athletes feel less emotional labor so they are freed up to do their jobs (Nelson et al., 2013).
Also, consistent communication is always so key with athletes, so getting too “high” or too “low” can be detrimental to their overall well-being and how they feel about their relationship with you and possibly with their teammates. I’ve also found that at times when things might be more heated or I am showing frustration, that it’s helpful to explain to my athletes why this is happening so I’m not bottling it up, but so they also know it’s not because I’m necessarily mad at them, it’s because I’m just frustrated with the situation and trying to find solutions. Who knows, they might have the solution!
Emotion management and control are a constant wave of strategy change, working on making sure you don’t get too “high” or too “low,” and reading your athletes to see what they need to see and hear from you.
How do you management emotions with your teams? In what areas do you struggle with this? Comment below!
References
Nelson, L., Potrac, P., Gilbourne, D., Allanson, A., Gale, L., & Marshall, P. (2013). Thinking, feeling, acting: The case of a semi-professional soccer coach. Sociology of sport journal, 30(4), 467-486.