These next two articles will be dedicated to helping coaches instill confidence in their players. I will show two different views of the subject – and it has been 20 years since this column had those two articles.

I think confidence is one of the most important things for an athlete – and actually for almost every endeavor.

Breeding Self-Confidence

The greatest builder of self-confidence in any player is having successes. Successes are the highest form of positive feedback. So, what is success, then? Success has a great range for a player. In other words, there are many levels of success. It can be as simple as perfecting a move or a shot in practice. It can be the more impactive action of scoring a goal in a game. Many successes add up, however, no matter if they are small or large. Then as a coach, providing opportunities for successes to players is what will best help build their confidence. The higher the self-confidence, the better the player. The better the player(s), the better the team. Actually, the more self-confident a player, the more self- confident a person. 

There are several items (to chew on) that help build self-confidence. Some of these are “opportunities for successes” mentioned in a previous column.

• Proper drills that progressively teach skills. Progressive teaching of skills allows players to gain skills in increments with less frustration (very anti-confidence  building). 

• Providing positive encouragement. Coaches must remember to praise and encourage. It is too easy to get into a negative habit when correcting and teaching. It is natural to watch for and comment on wrong actions and to forget to praise good actions. At the same time, corrections and demonstrations that help overcome poor performance are very positive in themselves. 

• Positioning players to highlight their best assets. Players must carefully be put in the proper positions so it is the easiest for them to succeed. This not only is best for their confidence but is best for team performance. As an example, I only put players at the center position if they can be good defensemen in their own zone. I expect that as a top priority from my centers. A totally offense oriented forward may not be able to reasonably do this – so will have a problem being a  successful center. 

• Giving players game experience that can build self-confidence. I always want to put players in a position of having a good chance to succeed in games. That goes for individuals and teams. Individuals that are overmatched don’t gain confidence any more than teams do. 

• Setting some reasonable goals that can be achieved. It is always a trick in goal setting not to undershoot too much, since the goals would be too easy to achieve and not really confidence building. It is also important not to overshoot or the goals cannot be achieved – and confidence destroying. 

Overall, we could define self-confidence as a lack of (or lower) anxiety about a situation or situations. We could also call it the willingness and ability to flexibly handle challenges. These types of definitions sometimes put a different light on self-confidence for coaches and make it easier for them to deal with the subject. For example, I always remind my team that they are not going to gain any new skills or improve skills to any degree in games, so they can concentrate on the other two aspects that I always stress (effort and responsibility). Players should therefore not have anxiety about skills. They can concentrate on their jobs and putting out a good effort. Since effort is not an anxiety item either (they can choose to work hard), then the anxiety items have been cut down from three to only one (responsibility). 

In the end, the coach is trying to move players to a positive view of what is in front of them. I once read (can’t remember the author) that confidence is to some degree a choice. The confident athlete can transition the “I can’t” to “I can” and the “I won’t” to “I will.” The coach plays an important role in that transition. Players get used to successes if coaches can help provide enough of them. 

John Russo, Ph.D., is the founder and now mentor to the Upper Midwest H.S. Elite League. Hailing originally from Sault St. Marie, he was the first recruit and two time captain for the U of Wisconsin Badgers. He has been the recipient of the prestigious Peterson Award by Minnesota Hockey and the Snooks Kelly Award by the US College Hockey Coaches – both for exceptional development of hockey on a regional and national level. He is a (national) level 5 certified coach and has over 50 years coaching and training experience from mite to college levels. His Coaches Corner columns have appeared in Let’s Play Hockey each year since 1986.

A version of John Russo’s articles can be found in his chapterized book called “The Best of 26 Years of John Russo’s Coaches Corner”. It has been described as must read for all youth coaches and his Golden Rules can be found in dressing rooms throughout North American and many foreign rinks. Go to russocoachescorner.com for more information and ordering.