WHAT MOST COACHES (AND ATHLETES) DON'T UNDERSTAND ABOUT GIVING 100%

I recently ran into a friend and former college basketball player from Europe who now lives in the U.S. He was telling me about his first year in college. “As it turned out, our team wasn't that great, but we ended up winning the conference championship. In our very first practice, the coach started yelling at us and punishing us for not giving full 100% effort. Not 80%. Not 90%. He expected 100% from Day 1. And when the season started, if he saw you not giving 100% in a possession, he pulled you out. If he saw you miss a defensive assignment he pulled you out. If he saw that you didn't go after each and every rebound he pulled you out. It made us play hard and that is why we won the championship.”

This coach successfully caused his players to be mindful of the consequences of failing to give full effort. Not giving full effort is not only something one finds on college teams, but some years ago Joakim Noah took himself and his teammates to task for not giving 100% effort in NBA play … and these are highly paid professionals!!

Imagine if the surgeon who was operating on your mother or father was guilty of not giving 100% effort. Or the pilot flying the plane you were traveling on!!  

The fact is that there are few Kobe Bryant's out there who are so competitive they don't need anyone else to hold them to that standard of excellence. Truth to tell, most of us need the coach who is going to call us out on our effort.

However, I have more often seen coaches who pulled players out not because of their lack of effort BUT because of mistakes they made. And that is almost always on the offensive end.

In the course of my sport psychology work I have talked with MANY MANY players who are often seen glancing toward the bench to see if he can make out if the coach is pleased with him or not, fearful of being taken out of the game should he make a mistake.

These are frequently the same kinds of players who can light it up in practice but fall flat in games. One player I worked with could hit outside shots like crazy and dunk with authority … in practice … but in games could go 1 for 20. This is a terrific example of a guy with a good PHYSICAL skill set but not such a good MENTAL skill set.

Knowingly or not, coaches create and support this kind of mindset when they bench guys for mistakes (as opposed to benching them for effort).

When this happens, usually the the player's TRUE goal when on the court ends up being not so much to get the victory for his team but to avoid making mistakes that will get him benched. He becomes a TENTATIVE player who starts to second guess himself rather than an AGGRESSIVE COMPETITOR. His focus is too much in his head and not ON THE COURT!!! What coach would want THAT player out on the floor? And yet that is what coaches so often end up supporting.

HERE IS THE POINT:

If a player thinks he may get pulled out for messing up on the defensive end he is probably going to become more AGGRESSIVE and ramp up his GAME INTENSITY. If he thinks he is likely to get pulled out for messing up on the offensive end, he is going to become more SELF-CONSCIOUS and HESITANT. Physiologically, his muscles are probably going to tense up, so that his timing and his release will be off and/or he may hesitate for just that fraction of a second where he gives the defense the advantage as he tunes into that voice of doubt in his mind WHEN HE REALLY NEEDS TO BE FEELING CONFIDENT AND RELAXED.

When it comes to effort, there is NO excuse or reason to not be giving ones full effort! But when it comes to missed shots, a player will do better to look inside and re-adjust his mental state rather than looking to the bench to see his coach's face.

If a player isn't working on THAT skill set in practice along with his full physical effort, then he isn't TRULY giving 100%