Mindset
‘I can’t.’
Anyone else so used to hearing this that you can see it in an athletes eyes before they’ve had a chance to move their mouth? The pain is real. Then you’re in a situation that’s less about coaching a skill and more about coaching the brain. Hello darkness my old friend.
I’ve tried to get my three year old to walk with her hands out of her pockets, my ten year old to make his bed and a teenager to standing tuck. Regardless of age, the brain is stubborn and once it’s sent its message of negativity down the autonomic nervous system (ANS) you have a fight, or flight, on your hands. It’s not all doom and gloom, though. There are strategies to help an athlete overcome their anxieties; I’m yet to find a strategy that works with three year olds though- send help.
When an athlete starts thinking and saying ’I can’t’, they often jump into the “I have a block’ territory. Now, I don’t want to disregard the block out of hand; they may well have one but before you let them start throwing around the B word you might want to look at what type of mindset they have. There’s lots of great information out there that a Google search can help you with. I’m going to save you some time by focusing on the main two: fixed mindset and growth mindset. A quick skim over the words tells you pretty much all you need to know.
Fixed Mindset
Find value in their status as a capable athlete
Become disillusioned quickly
Practice negative self-talk ('I can't!')
Growth Mindset
Embrace challenge and learn from failings
Appreciate that progress is a journey
Practice positive self-talk ('I got this!')
Now ask yourself which one is more likely to block. When an athlete starts hitting you with the “I can’t’ talk it might be worth pulling them aside and helping them to reset. Their quantifiable approach is going to cause them setbacks, blocks, and may turn them off from the sport altogether! We all know how much of a positive impact our sport can have on young people, particularly female athletes. So losing them from our gym would be nothing short of a disaster.
We also have to accept that we may be a contributor to this problem. Cheerleading is a sport that rewards perfection. Anything not resembling it is criticised on our scoresheets. So what do we often do? Allow this to influence our coaching style, which impacts the way an athlete perceives development. Hands up if you’ve had a moan when the formation has been off, if the timing hasn’t been right in the standing pass, or if little Susie’s legs in her walkover look more like she’s cycling. We’ve all done it.
Athletes come to Cheerleading because it’s a way for them to express themselves. Instead, our ‘must be perfect’ approach harbours the fixed-mindset as the norm, which won’t help athletes who are anxious about learning new skills. Just imagine the damage this could do to an athlete with a growth mindset! Creating an environment where shortcomings are treated as the next obstacle to overcome, rather than a failing that will hold us back, will go a long way to creating the positive atmosphere needed for athletes to grow. Practice won’t necessarily make perfect, but it will make progress.
The people who look up to us imitate our behaviour. So if we demonstrate the fixed-mindset, they will copy it. If we want our gyms to be a place of growth, we have to be the example.
We can do this by:
Acknowledging our own shortcomings and plans to improve going forward
Talking more about the bigger picture than the snippet of information from a disappointing practice
Speaking more positively about what happened, or will happen in the future
This way we can help facilitate a culture where athletes are more capable of growth because they won’t fear failure, or not being the best. Instead they will see that their potential is dictated by their work ethic, of which picking yourself up for the eight time after the seventh fall is part.
Thank you for reading.
I created the below poster of AEC. If you would like personalised one for your gym, I’d be happy to do so, for the price of a coffee :-).
Further Reading on this subject.
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