MINDSET MINDSET COACHING COACHING MANUAL MANUAL€¦ · mindset to a growth-mindset is to recognise...

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1 MINDSET COACHING MANUAL Promoting a positive learning environment in and beyond sport. Copyright © 2017 Winning Scotland Foundation MINDSET COACHING MANUAL Promoting a positive learning environment in and beyond sport. Copyright © 2017 Winning Scotland Foundation

Transcript of MINDSET MINDSET COACHING COACHING MANUAL MANUAL€¦ · mindset to a growth-mindset is to recognise...

Page 1: MINDSET MINDSET COACHING COACHING MANUAL MANUAL€¦ · mindset to a growth-mindset is to recognise fixed-mindset behaviours. Fixed-mindsets don’t come with a label attached however

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MINDSET COACHING MANUAL

Promoting a positive learning environment

in and beyond sport.

Copyright © 2017 Winning Scotland Foundation

MINDSET COACHING MANUAL

Promoting a positive learning environment

in and beyond sport.

Copyright © 2017 Winning Scotland Foundation

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BUILDING GROWTH MINDSETS TOOLKIT CONTENTS PAGE

SECTION PAGE NUMBER AWARENESS Welcome 3 About this toolkit 4 The value of sport in developing young people 6 Benefits of PCS Plus 8 Creating a positive learning environment 9 Coaching the whole child 10

UNDERSTANDING

Understanding Mindset 11

Fixed v Growth Mindsets 12

Mindset – The Key Behaviours 13

Mindsets Can Change 14

Mindset in Your Coaching 16

APPLICATION

Applying Mindset Theory to Your Coaching 17

Effort 18

Resilience 22

The Brain 29

Language 35

Developing Young People with a Growth Mindset 42

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WELCOME ABOUT PCS PLUS

PCS PLUS

PCS Plus teaches how to develop a positive learning environment in and beyond

sport, we educate the key people involved with a young person’s development

through a series of workshops and resources.

The new content will focus on five key areas:

• Mastery

• Confidence

• Mindset

• Life skills

• Values

These are all topics that research tells us are

increasingly important for young people

today and in the future.

As well as new content, we are also working to make materials more accessible by

delivering them in various ways, including online.

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ABOUT THIS TOOLKIT AWARENESS AND UNDERSTANDING

The manual is grouped in three main sections:

✓ Awareness

✓ Understanding

✓ Application

AWARENESS

This section of the manual outlines the benefits of PCS PLUS, the value of sport and

the impact that societal changes are having on young people. This section also

includes a glossary of terms that provides a comprehensive list of the terms used in

this manual

UNDERSTANDING

One of the core elements of PCS PLUS is coaching confident young people. In this

section, you will find the core principles of how to develop confidence in a young

person, along with: further reading, videos and web links

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ABOUT THIS TOOLKIT APPLICATION

Mindsets are a young person’s beliefs about themselves and the qualities that they think they have – this relates to areas such as sporting ability or intelligence.

Growth mindset is the belief that ability is not fixed but can grow if we:

✓ Expect the best from our self and others ✓ Set goals ✓ Put in effort and practice ✓ Reflect on mistakes and feedback, using a variety of strategies to overcome

Within this principle, we teach the influencers of a young person:

✓ To understand the difference between fixed and growth mindset traits ✓ That making mistakes are a great way to improve ✓ The importance of resilience and how this can be included within coaching

sessions ✓ That challenge and struggle are the best way to make the brain stronger and

smarter ✓ The most effective language to use when coaching

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THE VALUE OF SPORT IN DEVELOPING YOUNG PEOPLE

In Scotland today we are facing a rapidly changing society, one that is likely to transform the world of work, education and community through technological changes. This will significantly impact on how today's children and young people prepare for the future. The value of sport goes beyond the sports field and can have a significant impact on the development of the young person across a broad range of attributes.

SPORT HELPS TO IMPROVE

Education Performance: Attainment at school through increased commitment to

learning which includes achievement motivation and engagement in school.

Employment Opportunities: Improved physical and mental health leads to a positive

Identity which includes feelings of self-esteem, purpose, personal agency and positive

outlook

Personal Standards and Behaviour: Positive values which entails being caring, honest,

responsible, and disciplined.

Social Skills: Social competencies which include interpersonal competence, planning and

decision making, and conflict resolution.

Important Life Skills: Through sport young people have a fantastic opportunity to develop

many important life skills such as resilience, communication and teamwork – although these

skills will be learnt in sport, they will be transferable into everyday life.

SPORT HELPS TO REDUCE

Overweight and obesity: In Scotland 22% children aged 6 years old were overweight or

obese and 31% of children had three or more hours’ screen time on a typical weekday

Anxiety: Young people who take part in out of school sport have much higher levels of

social behaviour and personal and social responsibility than those who do not take part.

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BENEFITS OF PCS PLUS

PCS PLUS provides a comprehensive package of information and practical tools that can

improve the learning environment in clubs.

The impact on club leaders, coaches, parents and young people can be seen across key areas

and will have a positive impact on their ability to:

✓ Develop a positive learning environment

✓ Increase participation and lower drop out

✓ Improve touch line behaviour

✓ Grow volunteer recruitment and retention

✓ Provide quality coaching

✓ Develop club culture

✓ Deliver fun and enjoyable coaching sessions for young people

✓ Improve sporting performance

✓ Develop young people physically, socially and psychologically

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CREATING A POSITIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

The foundation for coaching success is creating a positive learning environment, along with a

positive culture that develops young people.

To create a sustainable learning environment all the key influencers in a young person’s

development must be involved: Coaches, Parents, Club Leaders and Teachers.

Creating a positive coaching environment is unique in developing young people in three

distinct ways:

✓ Physically

✓ Socially

✓ Psychologically

This is a different approach than the traditional physical only approach

By developing a positive learning environment coaches will intentionally develop the young

persons:

✓ Confidence

✓ Values

✓ Mindset

✓ Life Skills

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COACHING THE WHOLE CHILD

Traditional coaching tends to focus on the physical attributes of young people, sometimes with some attention given to social skills but rarely includes psychological. Coaching the whole child means developing the young person across all three attributes: Think about your last coaching session – did you intentionally develop the young athlete physically, socially and psychologically?

Physically

Physical Attributes

Health and Fitness

Technical and Tactical Skills

Socially

Behaviour and

Attitude

Values

Character

Psychologically

Confidence

Mental skills

Learning

Concentration

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UNDERSTANDING MINDSET

UNDERSTANDING MINDSET

Mindsets are a young person’s beliefs about themselves and the qualities that they

think they have – this relates to areas such as sporting ability or intelligence.

Mindsets are the young person’s beliefs on how to improve these qualities – are they

simply fixed traits, carved in stone and that’s that?

Or are they things that can developed throughout a young person’s life?

People with a fixed mindset believe that their traits are set in stone – they are born

that way and can do nothing to improve their qualities. They have a certain amount

of brain power and talent and nothing can change that. If they are smart or talented

then great, however if they aren’t, they are destined for mediocrity.

However, people with a growth mindset see their qualities as things that can be

developed through practice, dedication and effort. In some cases, they may be

smart or talented, but that’s just the starting point. They understand that

developing their qualities takes time, no one has ever accomplished great things

without years of dedication, practice and learning.

believe

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FIXED VS GROWTH MINDSETS

When young people believe that their levels of ability are limited (fixed mindset) this undermines their resolve, resilience and learning. But when they have a growth mindset and believe that their abilities can be developed, young people show perseverance and willingness to learn - what’s more, they achieve remarkable results even in the face of hardship and difficulties.

FIXED VS GROWTH MINDSET

No one’s mindset is totally of one type or the other. There may be few extreme cases but most people lie somewhere in between both. Moreover, mindsets do not always remain constant. People show different mindsets in different situations, depending on how they formed a belief about their abilities. Nevertheless, the first step in changing from a fixed-mindset to a growth-mindset is to recognise fixed-mindset behaviours.

Fixed-mindsets don’t come with a label attached however they tend to reveal themselves when young people are attempting something they find difficult. These are the moments that then the young person suddenly starts to feel board, tired, anxious, uncomfortable or even hungry, and want to stop trying. Such feelings may have a valid source, but rather than give in to them, coaches can use this as an opportunity question why the young player wants to stop and establish if their mindset is preventing them from progressing further.

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MINDSET THE KEY BEHAVIOURS

Young people display behaviours that may define their mindset, however it is important to remember that this can have an impact on their ability to develop in sport and life.

FIXED MINDSET GROWTH MINDSET

BELIEVE THAT

Talent is something you are born with therefore you tend to…

Talent is a learning process, not set in stone therefore you tend to….

EFFORT Believe things are easy if they have

talent. The danger is they don’t learn the benefit of hard work.

Believe anything is possible and see effort as the path to mastery.

CHALLENGES

Avoid challenges because they make players look less talented. But this

means that weaknesses do not improve.

Embrace challenges as learning opportunities whether you can do

them YET or not.

SET BACKS Give up easily in areas that they find difficult and stick with what

you can do.

Persist following setbacks and see them as part of the learning

process.

NEGATIVE FEEDBACK

Ignore constructive feedback as it undermines talent.

Learn from criticism and see it as an important

part of the learning process.

AS A RESULT Plateau early and under achieve. Maximise potential.

WHAT MINDSET DO YOU HAVE?

Complete the Positive Coaching Scotland mindset questionnaire to establish your own mindset – this can be downloaded from here.

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GOOD NEWS……. MINDSETS CAN CHANGE

The good news is that young people can change their mindsets, as a coach you can have an important influence on this process. Step1 – Encourage young people to hear their fixed mindset “voice.” The first step to explain what their fixed mindset voice sound like, discuss scenarios with the young person and explain that their fixed mindset voice is likely to come out as the approach a challenge, that voice might say:

• “Are you sure you can do it? Maybe you’re not good enough”

• “What if you fail — others will see you as a failure”

• “If you don’t try, you can protect yourself and not look stupid”

Step 2 - Recognise that there is a choice. How a young athlete interprets challenges, setbacks, and criticism is their choice. Discuss with them that they can interpret them in a:

• Fixed mindset as signs that they have a lack of talent

• Growth mindset as signs that they need to re think their strategies, put in more effort and take themselves out of their comfort zone.

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GOOD NEWS……. MINDSETS CAN CHANGE CONTINUED

Step 3 – Teach them to talk back with a growth mindset voice As they approach a challenge:

• FIXED MINDSET: “What if you fail — others will see you as a failure”

• GROWTH MINDSET: “Most successful people had failures along the way.” As they hit a setback:

• FIXED MINDSET: “This would have been easy if I was talented enough.”

• GROWTH MINDSET: “The best athletes in the world face challenge – keep going”

Step 4 – Encourage them to take the growth mindset action Over time, the voice that a young person listens to becomes their choice and impacts whether they:

• take on a challenge wholeheartedly

• learn from setbacks and try again

• hear the criticism and act on it is now in your hands. Encourage young people to practice hearing both voices, and develop their growth mindset.

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MINDSET IN YOUR COACHING

A person’s mindset can be determined by their attitudes towards 4 key areas:

Levels of ability are fixed from birth Everyone has potential and ability levels can improve with practice

and quality coaching ABILITY

FIXED MINDSET GROWTH MINDSET

Looking talented is most important

“The main thing I want when I do in sport is to show how good I am”

Learning is most important

“It’s more important for me to learn new skills than it is to be the best”

EFFORT

Hard work is negative

“When I need to work hard it makes me feel I’m not the most talented”

Hard work is positive

“The harder I work at something, the better I’ll be at it.”

TALENT

Helpless “I will spend less time on this skill

from now on” “I would try to cheat the next time”

Resilient “I will work harder in this skill from

now on” “I will spend more time practicing”

MISTAKES

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APPLYING MINDSET THEORY TO YOUR COACHING

This section of the manual is where you find the tools that will help you to recognise fixed /

growth mindset behaviours, but also to understand how you can apply techniques to your

coaching that develop young people with a growth mindset – one that they can apply to their

development in sport, but also in life.

You will be provided with tools and techniques that allow you to practically apply mindset

theory into your coaching practice.

The tools are designed to complement your existing knowledge and support your ability to

develop the player and the person.

THE TOOLS ARE GROUPED INTO FOUR PRINCIPLES

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EFFORT

Page Title Page Number

Applying Mindset to Your Coaching 20 Tools to Focus on Effort

• Effort breaks 21

• Effort Logs 21

• Achievement Awards 22

• Golden Bibs 22

• First on The Pitch 22

• Gold Band Awards 22

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APPLYING MINDSET TO YOUR COACHING EFFORT

Talent is nothing without effort. There are athletes in every sport that have been identified as being talented. They are told they are the best athlete in the team – but what does this really tell them? The key message is that they don’t have to work as hard as the less talented athletes, yet sooner rather than later they will come up against athletes who combine talent with hard work. There are hundreds of youth athletes who drop out of sport without fulfilling their potential because they did not get into the habit of working hard and were overtaken by those who did. Can you think of a talented athlete you have worked with that this applies to? Early developers may be the strongest at 15 years old, however with sustained hard work a late developer may be much stronger at the age of 18. It is only athletes with a growth mindset that can recognise that with time and hard work, they will become as strong (if not stronger) as the early developer.

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TOOLS TO FOCUS ON EFFORT

Encouraging young athletes to apply effort to their development will increase the likelihood of achieving their full potential. Use the following tools to encourage effort in your coaching

EFFORT BREAKS

Without warning, stop the training session and ask the athletes how much effort they are putting in - mark themselves out of 10. If it’s not a 10 ask them why not, reminding them that they are in control of the effort they put in. This also provides an opportunity to speak with athletes and establish if there is something bothering them and preventing 100% effort.

EFFORT LOGS

Effort logs can be used to monitor the effort put in by each athlete during your coaching session. Coaches may complete the log themselves or enlist the help of an assistant coach or injured athlete to help. Select some key areas such as effort, behaviour or attitude and mark the athlete 1 (extremely light) to 5 (extremely hard)

This will encourage the type of behaviour you want at your sessions. However, remember not to give the reward to the same athletes every week or others will become dispirited and feel that their effort is not being recognised. Download an effort log template from here

An effort log template can be downloaded from xxx

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TOOLS TO FOCUS ON EFFORT EFFORT AWARDS

ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

Provide young athletes with rewards for their achievements – these should be based on their effort not the outcome:

✓ Toughness – a athlete that has been determined to achieve success

✓ Glue award – the athlete that did their job well for the team

✓ Skill - highlight athletes that have improved skill

✓ Courage award – the athlete that has shown the most courage

GOLDEN BIBS

Many coaches choose to end their training sessions with competition – select the athletes that have put in the most effort (not necessarily the best athletes) during the session and ‘reward’ them with the golden bibs (these can be any colour). The athletes awarded the golden bibs then form a team in the end of session games. This tells the athletes that their effort has been recognized and are more likely to repeat during the next session / match.

FIRST ON THE PITCH

Challenge athletes to be the first on the pitch during a training session. Time the difference between the first and last athlete onto the training pitch and then explain that the first athlete is has already had more practice – meaning they have already improved. This encourages young athletes to focus their efforts and maximise their development time.

GOLD BAND AWARDS

Gold band awards are a terrific way to recognise when an athlete has challenged a weakness. When a coach feels an athlete has recognized a weakness and made positive steps to improve they can then be awarded a gold band. This tells athletes that having a weakness is acceptable and rewards them for the effort they put in to improve

Gregor Townsend explaining

achievement awards

Martin Miller explaining

gold band awards

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Page Title Page Number

Applying Mindset to Your Coaching 24 Tools to Develop Resilience

• Learning Pit 27

• Success Iceberg 28

• Embracing Mistakes 29

RESILIENCE

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APPLYING MINDSET TO YOUR COACHING RESILIENCE

Developing resilience in a young person will not only improve their sporting ability, but also their ability to deal with failure and setbacks – issues that can affect them throughout their whole lives.

There are three key areas a coach should focus on when developing resilient young athletes:

• Confidence

• Adaptability

• Coaches / Team mates

The coach’s role in developing:

CONFIDENCE

Confidence is developed through self-belief and optimism. How coaches communicate with young athletes and define success are important factors in building confidence.

Coaches should intentionally challenge young athletes to push them out with their comfort zone, yet insure they are there to support if / when mistakes are made. Support young athletes to be confident about making mistakes and seeing them as learning opportunities. Additionally, giving praise once they have achieved their goal is a vital coaching tool.

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APPLYING MINDSET TO YOUR COACHING RESILIENCE

ADAPTABILITY

Darwin said ‘it’s not the strongest of the species but the most adaptable that survive’.

Creating an adaptable and challenging environment prepares individuals for change. If they see this as ‘normal’ and expected they will cope when things become a challenge.

Coaches can regularly mix up their sessions, change the rules, and alter your session structure. Encourage athletes to think differently, find their own solutions to problems and make change and being adaptable an everyday occurrence in your training environment.

This helps young athletes feel comfortable in different situations – in doing so, building resilience

COACHES / TEAM MATES

Coaches should never under estimate their position as a role model to the young athlete, nor should they forget importance of team mates – both have a crucial role in developing an individual’s resilience. Knowing that they have your support and the support of their team mates is crucial.

Make sure they know you value them as athlete and as young person. Spend time with the young athletes to explain that whilst you want to win games / matches, their development is the most important factor – this might mean losing matches before they improve, however you will support them all the way.

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DEVELOPING RESILIENCE THEMSELVES

There are several ways that coaches can assist young athletes to develop resilience in themselves. This may range challenging them during training sessions to entering them into a more challenging yet competitive environment (such as playing up an age group or different level), where they are less familiar with the atmosphere and probable outcome.

By intentionally setting achievable challenge (but not without an initial struggle) this enables the young athletes to gain experience, work through challenges and find solutions which all help them to develop resilience.

By experiencing challenge creates a confidence in the young person that they can work through the difficulties and achieve a positive outcome – in doing so develops higher levels of resilience.

Coaches must consider how they will plan challenge within a session – this takes time and consideration, particularly with a group of varied ability.

As a coach, take time to plan training sessions and ensure athletes are all challenged.

By developing resilience, young people will:

• Understand that mistakes are great!

• Nourish the belief that ability can be developed

• Reframing challenges and setbacks

• Normalise mistakes and failure as learning opportunities

• Identifying alternative ways of achieving success

Watch how David Beckham shows

resilience

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TOOLS TO DEVELOP RESILIENCE IN YOUNG PEOPLE

LEARNING PIT

When coaching young people, challenge is the greatest way to improve an athlete’s knowledge.

Research has shown that where the challenge is just beyond an athlete’s current capacity but not out of reach, the greatest improvements can be made.

Young athletes have been identified as having a comfort zone, where the level of difficulty, challenge, and frustration vary considerably. Successful learning depends on a coach’s ability to

sustain the athlete’s enthusiasm by setting appropriate challenge.

Discussing the learning pit with athletes is a great way of explaining that challenge is a good thing. It takes them out of their comfort zone, into the courage zone, through the mistake-making zone,

and into the learning zone. Discussing challenge with the athletes and setting specific scenarios

during training sessions lets athletes understand the learning process, that mistakes are inevitable and with coaching they will improve. A graphic of the learning pit can be downloaded from here

COMFORT

ZONE

COURAGE

ZONE

MISTAKE MAKING

ZONE

LEARNING

ZONE

IMPROVEMENT

ZONE

SUCCESS

ZONE

THELEARNING

PIT

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TOOLS TO DEVELOP RESILIENCE IN YOUNG PEOPLE CONTINUED…

SUCCESS ICEBERG

It is well now that most an iceberg is under the water, meaning there is a lot hidden from what can be seen - success is no different. The amount of work involved before success can be achieved should not be underestimated by coaches, nor should they fail to speak to young athletes about it. Using the success iceberg coaches can explain to young athletes that it takes time before they achieve success, there may be short term gains, but to achieve their long-term goal takes time, effort and crucially, mistakes. Take some time to discuss the success iceberg with young athletes, you may even with to bring in older players who are further down the development pathway. Discuss with the athlete that the outcomes (medals, trophies etc) can’t be achieved without a lot of unseen work. A copy of the success iceberg can be downloaded from here

WHAT PEOPLESEE

Dedication

Effort

Mistakes

Failure

Disppointment

Hard Work

Sacrifice

Persistence

Scoreboard

Trophies

Victories

Points / Goals

WHAT PEOPLE

DON’T SEE

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TOOLS TO DEVELOP RESILIENCE IN YOUNG PEOPLE

EMBRACING MISTAKES Mistakes help a young athlete learn, however this is dependent on the coach understanding what type of mistake has been made. By reacting positively to mistakes, coaches create an environment where mistakes are part of the learning process. THE FOUR TYPES OF MISTAKES ARE:

• Eureka moment mistakes – when a mistake is made but the athlete realises what they did wrong and knows how to rectify it next time

• Stretch mistakes – where a athlete is trying a new skill but not quite there yet, with good coaching their ability will improve

• Big moment mistakes – during key stages of a match or when a athlete feels under pressure mistakes are more likely to happen. Making a mistake under pressure is inevitable and young athletes should be praised for trying a skill under pressurised situations.

• Sloppy mistakes – these are the only type of mistake that should be avoided. Sloppy mistakes often happen when young athletes are doing something they already know how to do, but do it incorrectly because they lose concentration.

Download the four types of mistake graphic from here and discuss this with young athletes making it clear that making mistakes is ok – this gives them something to learn from.

Gregor Townsend explaining

four types of mistakes

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THE BRAIN

Page Title Page Number

Applying Mindset to Your Coaching 31

Understanding the Brain 32 Tools to Develop the Brain

• Setting Appropriate Challenge 33

• The Power of Yet 34

• Challenge-o-meter 35

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APPLYING MINDSET TO YOUR COACHING THE BRAIN

Take some time to discuss the development process with young athletes – explain that it takes time, dedication and effort to reach their full potential. Ask the young athletes if they believe that people are born good at:

• Sport

• Music

• Maths Growth mindset research has shown that levels of talent / intelligence are not fixed from birth and require hard work. When coaches (and young athletes) realise that learning can grow their brain and increase their ability levels, they often become more interested and less afraid to do things that might make them “look stupid.” Coaches can help young athletes develop a growth mindset by teaching them about how the brain works. One way to teach this is to explain that through challenge, the brain can get stronger and smarter. Research has shown that when young people are motivated to face challenge, their brains increase in size, making them smarter, but also better athletes.

Understand neuron

connections

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UNDERSTANDING THE BRAIN

Coaches should take time to explain that the cells in the brain called neurons are each connected to thousands of other neurons. The strength, number, and location of those neurons affect how the brain works. Amazingly, these connections change all the time because of the challenges young people face. Certain experiences cause new connections to form or strengthen, making the brain smarter. In short, by playing sport and learning to deal with challenge, young people can not only improve in sport, but also increase their chances of being a success in life. Significantly, this requires the coach to plan challenge within their coaching sessions – take some time to review your previous coaching sessions – ask yourself, are the athletes you coach regularly challenged? (specific to their level of ability) By planning sessions properly, coaches can not only make young people better athletes, but also improving their overall levels of intelligence Significantly, when a young player understands how their brain works, they become a better learner.

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SETTING APROPRIATE CHALLENGE Remember that challenge grows the brain – coaches must ensure that they plan to appropriately challenge all athletes in their coaching sessions and importantly can be adapted dependent on how well the athletes handle the challenge. Use the coach’s checklist to ensure that coaching sessions are challenging young people

TOOLS TO DEVELOP THE BRAIN

Coaching Checklist

✓ How can I make a drill more challenging?

✓ How can the drill be simplified if required?

✓ Who do I want to group together for the drill?

✓ What do I say when the players are struggling?

✓ How do I record improvement?

✓ How do I build on this for the next session?

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THE POWER OF YET Developing in sport (as well as life) takes time and dedication, undoubtedly mistakes and setbacks will occur during this time – young people must understand that for learning to be successful they must show dedication and perseverance. To do this they coaches must work with athletes to explain that they are on a learning journey, and they can’t achieve their goal – YET By using language that suggests to the young athlete they are improving, but not there yet, the young athlete will retain their motivation to continue pursuing their goal. Use the power of yet planners to highlight areas of development, explaining that with persistence they will achieve their goals.

TOOLS TO DEVELOP THE BRAIN

The Power of Yet

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TOOLS TO DEVELOP THE BRAIN

CHALLENGE-O-METER The challenge-o-meter can be used to establish how challenging a task is for young athletes and encourage them to challenge themselves by stepping out of their comfort zones. Show the athletes a picture of the challenge-o-meter (downloadable from here) and ask them to rate their current level of challenge. Remember that no learning can happen if the athlete is not challenged enough (comfort zone) or is challenged too much (panic zone).

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LANGUAGE

Page Title Page Number

Applying Mindset to Your Coaching 37

The Power of Positive Praise / Feedback 38

Positive Praise – The Pitfalls 39

Building Positive Language into Your Coaching 40 Tools to Build Positive Language into Your Coaching

• Final Whistle De-brief 41

• Improvement Windows 42

• Positive Communication Cards 43

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APPLYING MINDSET TO YOUR COACHING LANGUAGE

The language a coach uses can heavily influence the development of a growth mindset in young people. Phrases such as "you can't do it...yet" have been highlighted to turn around attitudes towards challenge. Research has also highlighted the importance of using appropriate language when giving praise to young people. coaches who praise athletes for having ‘natural ability’ may foster a fixed mindset, while praising effort, hard work and persistence helps to develop a growth mindset in children. The language coaches use with young athletes impacts on how they see themselves, but also has an influence on how they believe others see them. Coaches that express low expectations through phrases such as “Don't worry about it - try an easier skill” reinforces neural pathways that say “I'm not good enough”.

Effective feedback in coaching environment is critical to achievement, and mindset research has shown that the nature of praise is a key part of that. Praising use of effort and persistence – “I see how you worked hard on that skill” can lead young players to perform at a higher level, as they obtain meaningful recognition for the effort they have put in rather than the outcome (whether they were successful or not).

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Providing feedback is a fundamental part of the coaching process and one that can be extremely satisfying to coaches – telling young athletes that they have done something well and seeing their reactions can be just as satisfying as winning a game / match. However, when giving feedback coaches must be truthful and specific at all times, often this means telling a young person that they need to keep working on a particular skill. It is important that coaches use growth mindset language when giving feedback and praise – use language such as:

• “Remember it takes time to master a new skill! Keep at it!” • “You are on the right track.” • “You are working hard. Have you tried this…” • “Keep going, you are getting there...” • “This may take some time and effort.” • “You haven’t failed unless you stop trying.” • “Mistakes help you improve.” • “No matter how good you are at performing the skill you can always improve.”

Using growth mindset language can also help build athlete / coach relationships as delivering feedback / praise as outlined above helps to create positive conversations that support the young athlete’s development.

THE POWER OF POSITIVE PRAISE / FEEDBACK

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POSITIVE PRAISE - THE PITFALLS

It is possible for coaches and athletes to fall into a couple of common pitfalls, leading to a false growth mindset.

Be careful when giving praise to young athletes – always ensure that praise / feedback is truthful and specific. When giving feedback and praise avoid:

• Praising effort alone and not results

• Telling athletes "you can do anything"

• Using ‘fixed mindset’ as a cover for poor coaching Having an awareness and understanding of these pitfalls can help coaches and young players to avoid them.

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Establishing a growth mindset culture within a club requires coaches to use growth mindset language and praise, however there is also a need to encourage young athletes themselves to use growth mindset language. See some examples below of language that might be used by young athletes in your club:

BUILDING POSITIVE LANGUAGE INTO YOUR COACHING

FIXED MINDSET “Talent is natural” “I already know how to do this” “We’ve done this before” “I don’t want to make a fool of myself” “I don’t want to try this” “This looks difficult” “I can’t be bothered trying” “What’s the point of working hard?”

GROWTH MINDSET “I work hard and try my best” “I can learn from my mistakes” “I want to have a go at this” “I’m getting better at this” “I’m going to try my best” “How I can improve” “How do you do this?” “Can you check I’m doing this right?”

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TOOLS TO BUILD POSITIVE LANGUAGE INTO YOUR COACHING

The importance of developing positive language within a style of coaching helps the young athletes develop and sustain a growth mindset – use the following tools to support this journey. THE FINAL WHISTLE DEBRIEF At the end of a competition or training session it is important that young athletes have an opportunity to reflect on their learning during the session. Call all the athletes together and ask them to tell you:

The final whistle debrief provides an opportunity to establish the young athlete’s thoughts on the competition / training session, establish a development plan and clarify anything they are unsure of – all vital discussions in developing young people with growth mindsets. A final whistle debrief template can also be used as a homework exercise for young athletes and can be downloaded from here

THE FINAL WHISTLE

3 Things you learnt during todays match /session

2 Things you want to improve on

1 Question you have

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TOOLS TO BUILD POSITIVE LANGUAGE INTO YOUR COACHING

IMPROVEMENT WINDOWS Improvement windows provide an excellent opportunity for young athletes to work on their individual weaknesses. Regardless of their weakness an improvement window is a 10-15-minute section of a training session where the coach allows athletes to work specifically on an area that requires improvement. By using improvement windows, this provides an opportunity for coaches to monitor improvement and for the young athletes to feel positive about addressing their weaknesses. POSITIVE COMMUNICATION CARDS It is not always easy to remember the correct language to use during the emotion of a match or training session, however the more coaches practice, the more likely it is to become embedded within their coaching language. Use the positive communication card to remind yourself of feedback and praise that can be used to develop a growth mindset. A positive communication card can be downloaded from here

Gregor Townsend discussing

improvement windows

POSITIVE COMMUNICATION CARD

• Remember it takes time to master a new skill! Keep at it!

• You’re not there yet, but definitely improving

• You are on the right track

• You haven’t failed unless you stop trying

• Great to see you challenging yourself!

• There is nothing wrong with mistakes – that’s how

you learn and improve

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DEVELOPING YOUNG PEOPLE WITH A GROWTH MINDSET

By attending a Positive Coaching Scotland workshop and reading this manual, coaches should have a better understanding of what mindset is, and how it can be embedded into their coaching. THE CONTENT IS INTENDED TO HIGHLIGHT:

• What PCS is and how it can help you • The importance of effort • That challenge and struggle are the best way to make the brain stronger and

smarter. • The most effective language to use when coaching young people

Coaches should use the information within the Positive Coaching Scotland programme to improve their coaching, and in turn produce young athletes that perform better both on and off the pitch, making them better people and better athletes. For further information on the Positive Coaching Scotland programme visit www.winningscotlandfoundation.org here you will find further information on how to:

• Develop a mastery coaching environment in your club • Develop confidence in young people • Understand how sport develops positive life skills in young people • Develop positive values in young people

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For further information on PCS Plus and our other programmes visit:

www.winningscotlandfoundation.org