Getting the Most Out of Your Athletes

Have you ever wondered why some athletes pay attention in practice and games, and why others don't?

Or why some athletes improve, and others don't?

Or why some athletes reach their full potential, and others don't?

Yvette Jackson, a master teacher, says that we have to do three things to get the most out of our athletes:

1 - Affirm - Build on their strengths
2 - Inspire - Inspire and challenge them
3 - Motivate - Motivate them so that they believe in their ability to do anything

AIM - Affirm, Inspire, Motivate

One of our opportunities as coaches is that we have the ability to 'gift our athletes.' We have the opportunity to gift them with the ability to transform themselves so that they can transform their teams and the world.

It starts with having a fearless belief that our athletes have an enormous pool of potential bubbling inside of them, and we as parents and coaches have the ability to inspire and bring that out of them.

If your athletes aren't motivated, ask "What have we done to engage them and connect what we are doing to what they care about?"

Lead With Strengths

Start with identifying, talking about, and celebrating each other's strengths, and use those strengths as a base to build underdeveloped skills. Focus on enrichment and figuring out what they know and how and what to add to it. Science says that leading with strengths can improve energy, focus, and performance.

- What does ______ do the best?
- What does our team do the best?
- How can we do more of what _____ does best, and how can we do more of what our team does best?

Build and Expand on Experiences
When you teach something new, tell them why. When you introduce a drill or a skill or a play, give them context. When we teach a new move, we give them a player in the NBA who uses it, when they use it, and why they use it. We ask them if they have seen this move used in a game. We then show and model for them how to do it. Finally, we practice, practice, practice because research has shown that deliberate practice might be the most effective way to master a skill. 

- Start with what they know
- Build on what they know
- Connect what you are teaching to what they know and care about (tell them how this will make them better and how this will help the team win)

Gift your athletes with these 4 things:

1 - Engagement (get them excited to participate)
2 - Challenge (give them a challenge that they have the confidence and support to complete)
3 - Feedback (constant and ongoing feedback)
4 - Reflection (give them time for the learning to stick in file folders of their brains)

Finally, we all have those hard to reach and hard to motivate athletes. Yvette Jackson says, "We are all born to be motivated. As soon as a baby opens their eyes, they are motivated to learn. When we have someone who is not motivated, our first question should be, 'What have we done to engage them?'"

Engagement comes from an emotional state or response. Make them feel good about something, make it interesting, make it relevant and meaningful, and show them how this will make them better to get them engaged. Emotions are important; bring them out in a positive way by affirming their strengths and interest and connect them to what you are going to be able to do.

Go affirm, inspire, and motivate your athletes!

Intelligence is dynamic. It changes based on what it is exposed to. Change the input and the brain changes accordingly. Giving enrichment, belief in capacity, and the opportunity to share your culture and developmental level as a strength, then we can help our athletes THRIVE.

Click here to read Yvette Jackson's 7 High Operational Practices