A Coach's Diary

Bill Beswick is a British applied sports psychologist, educator, and coach known for his work in team performance, elite sport, and coaching development. What is sports psychology? Beswick says a sports psychologist is someone who helps athletes, teams, and coaches improve their performance by helping them overcome mental and emotional barriers. His goal is to make better athletes and better people who are more able to write their own story in a positive and effective way. We all have barriers that we have to remove to become our best selves, and sports psychologists help us remove those barriers. But how? Beswick says he helps athletes change the way they think by giving them another language or framework they can use to talk to and coach themselves.  The Framework Beswick follows a simple 3 question framework: 1 - What do you want? 2 - How badly do you want? 3 - How much are you willing to suffer? Beswick’s three questions work because they cut straight to motivation, commitment...

  The most valuable lesson I’ve learned this week is the idea of It’s Only 1 Point by tennis great Roger Federer. In his 2024 commencement address at Dartmouth University, Federer said he won 80% of his matches but only won 54% of his points. This means the best tennis players in the world barely win more than half of their points, so they have to learn how to deal with an undesired result or failure almost half of the time. Federer said, “When you lose every second point on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot.” You learn every shot — good and bad — is only one shot and one point. Federer said, “When you are playing a point, it has to be the most important thing in the world. But when it’s behind you, it’s behind you.” He said this mindset is important because it frees you to fully commit to the next point — the most important point — with intensity, clarity, and focus. Federer then said, “The truth is, whatever game you play in life, sometimes you’re going to lose — a ...