183 Sports Coaching: How Being Compassionate Can Help Your Athletes Perform Better

Supportive coaching is shown to be effective in having a positive influence on an athlete’s development, particularly when athletes are unsure of themselves, are less confident and lack mental toughness.  Feel free to check out today’s solo episode where I discuss compassion, mental toughness and high performance to help with the development of sports coaches and to improve the experience for athletes. Key Learning Points High performing teams such as The Lionesses recognise showing compassion is hugely beneficial to individuals and the team as a whole. Fear cultures and giving out “tough love” are thing of the past in miliary circles. In elite sport top coaches are well educated and are aware of the need to balance support and challenge with their players. Compassion can help us feel safe and protected leaving us better able to learn and develop. Sarina Weigman’s response to Lauren James’ red card in a recent World Cup match versus Nigeria is a classic example of compassionate coaching. As a coach how do you naturally respond to difficulties or mistakes? Dr Kristin Neff has many helpful resources on compassion. Google Professor Sophia Jowett’s work on the coach-athlete relationship and the relationship with performance and well-being.  Connect with David Charlton Sign Up to The Mental Edge Join David @ The Sports Psychology Hub Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn Relevant Podcast Episodes to Help Sports Coaches Ep039: John Fletcher – How to Develop Fearless Athletes Ep123: Richard Dorney MBE – Supporting People: What Can You Learn About Resilience From The Military Ep180: David Charlton - How To Work With Team Units To Improve Culture In Teams Ep181:David Charlton - How to Improve Teamwork using a 4Cs Mental Toughness Approach  Ep182: Doug Strycharczyk - An Introduction to Mental Toughness and Psychological Safety #BITESIZE Other Relevant Resources to Upskill Sports Coaches Blog – 5 Ways to Create a Psychological Safe Sporting Environment Blog – Mental Health Guidance For Coaches When Supporting Athletes Blog: How Coaches Can Help Athletes Deal with Mistakes Online Course for Sports Coaches developed by Professor Sophia Jowett - Empowering the athlete: The coach-athlete partnership Dr Kristin Neff's Work on Compassion Cath Bishop - Compassion can produce better performance – just look at the Lionesses