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By: Cindy Bristow
Nobody likes mistakes, but understanding how to practice so mistakes ultimately lead to wins can help lower your blood pressure, and make them tolerable.
The old saying goes that practice makes perfect (or a version of that concept) and yet does it? This past weekend the world?s top pro football players were on display in the Super Bowl and yet there were plenty of mistakes. But how can that be? These athletes have practiced for years ? over 20 in most cases ? so surely by now all that practice (or perfect practice if you prefer) should make them perfect. And yet even in Payton Manning?s case, that wasn?t the case.
Why doesn?t practice make perfect or perfect practice make perfect? The answer comes in the form of two main elements:
1.The Opponent ? The opponent has practiced just as hard and as long as you have, and their entire focus is to make sure you fail. Perfection and even Success isn?t something that happens simply because you practiced hard and showed up. Your opponent is working for their success just as much as you?re working for yours, so often times our Opponents are the reason for our failure more than we?re the cause.
2.The Elements ? The other perfection stumbling block lies in things like the weather (think Super Bowl), the crowd, the press or media (if you have any), your parents or family, the umpire?s calls, and the pressure of the outcome.
Both of these things are constantly working to hijack your notion of perfection, and usually with great success. Why then, do we as coaches get so mad when our players make mistakes?
And more importantly, when they do make them, does our response have anything to do with success?
Recently I spoke at the Be the Best Softball Clinic in Cherry Hill, NJ and Patty Gasso was also speaking there. For those that don?t know, Patty is the Head Coach at University of Oklahoma, who are the defending national champions. Patty was talking about practice and she made what I thought was a brilliant statement:
??I can tolerate mistakes ? I don?t like them but I can tolerate them. Mistakes are necessary to grow. If you get on them for every mistake you?ll get a team of careful ? and careful doesn?t win!?
She went on to say that ?you can?t run a soft practice and then expect intense effort in a game?. How we practice is how we play, and yet too many times we practice one way and get mad when our players don?t play another.
Patty?s right when she says we?ll get ?careful? if we get mad at our players every time they make a mistake. Most girls are very worried about doing exactly what we tell them so they play careful as it is. If we pile mad on top of that we?ll be lucky to get 50% of what our players have in them.
Fortunately, there are some things we can do to help our players learn to better handle their mistakes, and, to help us learn to respond to them better:
?Get an Error Recovery Process for your Players. This is a short, quick, process they?ll go through each time they make a mistake so they know how to get themselves right back into the action. If you don?t have one, then this article might really help ? What?s Your Error Recovery Process?
?Cool It. The biggest place this will have to happen is in you. Your reaction following a mistake is the key to whether that player tries again with that same intensity, effort and speed. If you stay calm and help them work through it then your player will likely try it again ? and each time she does she gets closer to owning that skill. But, if you get mad when she bobbles the ball or doesn?t make the play then game-over and she?s back to safe.
?Stretch Them. This means that instead of doing things you?re used to in practice that your players can easily do, start making things tougher. I don?t necessarily mean Navy Seal Training tougher but try making the things you currently do more challenging. For instance, if your players take groundballs each day start stretching their range ? first to their forehand side and then to their backhand. Use cones to mark their current range and see if they can exceed that. Stretch your players to the edge of their abilities so that it?s possible for them to achieve what you?re asking of them with more effort. But, if it?s too far past their skill level it can actually backfire and discourage them. Staying the same usually means staying safe ? which is another way of saying careful.
?COMPETE. This is big since you?re practicing to get better to compete in a game, so how can you do that without competing? Competition makes things exciting, challenging, fun while also making your players pay closer attention and often think ? all things that the game requires as well.
If you aren?t sure how to add competition, here are a couple drills that take simple skills like throwing and catching and hitting and make them competitive:
?Triangle-Square: the simple skills of throwing and catching made harder by the need to concentrate and pay attention in this team drill.
?Beat the Clock: Another team drill that takes throwing accuracy under pressure and makes it the theme.
?Net Bombs: Is an individual hitting drill that really challenges hitters to drive the ball up the middle!
These are just a couple ways that you can not only help your players recover quicker from their mistakes, but help your reaction to them as well. Patty said you ?can?t run a soft practice and expect intense effort in a game? and incorporating these 4 things into your practices will ensure your players are more intense in games.
Nobody likes mistakes, but understanding how to practice so mistakes ultimately lead to wins can help lower your blood pressure, and make them tolerable.
The old saying goes that practice makes perfect (or a version of that concept) and yet does it? This past weekend the world?s top pro football players were on display in the Super Bowl and yet there were plenty of mistakes. But how can that be? These athletes have practiced for years ? over 20 in most cases ? so surely by now all that practice (or perfect practice if you prefer) should make them perfect. And yet even in Payton Manning?s case, that wasn?t the case.
Why doesn?t practice make perfect or perfect practice make perfect? The answer comes in the form of two main elements:
1.The Opponent ? The opponent has practiced just as hard and as long as you have, and their entire focus is to make sure you fail. Perfection and even Success isn?t something that happens simply because you practiced hard and showed up. Your opponent is working for their success just as much as you?re working for yours, so often times our Opponents are the reason for our failure more than we?re the cause.
2.The Elements ? The other perfection stumbling block lies in things like the weather (think Super Bowl), the crowd, the press or media (if you have any), your parents or family, the umpire?s calls, and the pressure of the outcome.
Both of these things are constantly working to hijack your notion of perfection, and usually with great success. Why then, do we as coaches get so mad when our players make mistakes?
And more importantly, when they do make them, does our response have anything to do with success?
Recently I spoke at the Be the Best Softball Clinic in Cherry Hill, NJ and Patty Gasso was also speaking there. For those that don?t know, Patty is the Head Coach at University of Oklahoma, who are the defending national champions. Patty was talking about practice and she made what I thought was a brilliant statement:
??I can tolerate mistakes ? I don?t like them but I can tolerate them. Mistakes are necessary to grow. If you get on them for every mistake you?ll get a team of careful ? and careful doesn?t win!?
She went on to say that ?you can?t run a soft practice and then expect intense effort in a game?. How we practice is how we play, and yet too many times we practice one way and get mad when our players don?t play another.
Patty?s right when she says we?ll get ?careful? if we get mad at our players every time they make a mistake. Most girls are very worried about doing exactly what we tell them so they play careful as it is. If we pile mad on top of that we?ll be lucky to get 50% of what our players have in them.
Fortunately, there are some things we can do to help our players learn to better handle their mistakes, and, to help us learn to respond to them better:
?Get an Error Recovery Process for your Players. This is a short, quick, process they?ll go through each time they make a mistake so they know how to get themselves right back into the action. If you don?t have one, then this article might really help ? What?s Your Error Recovery Process?
?Cool It. The biggest place this will have to happen is in you. Your reaction following a mistake is the key to whether that player tries again with that same intensity, effort and speed. If you stay calm and help them work through it then your player will likely try it again ? and each time she does she gets closer to owning that skill. But, if you get mad when she bobbles the ball or doesn?t make the play then game-over and she?s back to safe.
?Stretch Them. This means that instead of doing things you?re used to in practice that your players can easily do, start making things tougher. I don?t necessarily mean Navy Seal Training tougher but try making the things you currently do more challenging. For instance, if your players take groundballs each day start stretching their range ? first to their forehand side and then to their backhand. Use cones to mark their current range and see if they can exceed that. Stretch your players to the edge of their abilities so that it?s possible for them to achieve what you?re asking of them with more effort. But, if it?s too far past their skill level it can actually backfire and discourage them. Staying the same usually means staying safe ? which is another way of saying careful.
?COMPETE. This is big since you?re practicing to get better to compete in a game, so how can you do that without competing? Competition makes things exciting, challenging, fun while also making your players pay closer attention and often think ? all things that the game requires as well.
If you aren?t sure how to add competition, here are a couple drills that take simple skills like throwing and catching and hitting and make them competitive:
?Triangle-Square: the simple skills of throwing and catching made harder by the need to concentrate and pay attention in this team drill.
?Beat the Clock: Another team drill that takes throwing accuracy under pressure and makes it the theme.
?Net Bombs: Is an individual hitting drill that really challenges hitters to drive the ball up the middle!
These are just a couple ways that you can not only help your players recover quicker from their mistakes, but help your reaction to them as well. Patty said you ?can?t run a soft practice and expect intense effort in a game? and incorporating these 4 things into your practices will ensure your players are more intense in games.
