Critical Thinking and Teenagers

Coaching is a continual thinking process. It is always evolving and changing with the situations and scenarios that present themselves. Critical thinking is crucial to performance as a coach. The last few years of coaching have been challenging because I coach a difficult age group. I coach females aged 11-17. Gymnastics is a crazy sport once you factor in the developmental issues that present themselves during this stage of development. The hormone induced emotional rollercoaster, growth rate, and level of difficult skills needed to perform at the HP level, all combine to make a never ending challenge for the leadership team.

It is interesting for me to analyze the behaviour of my athletes, because I was their age and stage only ten years ago! I grew up in the club that I coach at. I always respected my coaches. I would work as hard as I could to learn. I would set goals, make plans and achieve them. I also fell on my ass, my head and the equipment many times. I never hesitated to get back up and go for it. I was always in a healthy state of mind while training and competing. I remember teammates who struggled with behaviour and gave attitude to the coaches, but as an athlete I never understood that. I always took personal responsibility for my performance. That might be because life wasn’t easy for me. I was used to gymnastics being hard to do and my mom didn’t put up with any teenaged excuses or moodiness. I have always been mature for my age and have shown emotional intelligence.

See LPI Report→

I am always striving to be the emotionally intelligent person this profession needs, but man is it ever hard on me lately. I focus on maintaining a consistent attitude while coaching. Every comment is well thought out. I try to be clear, concise, and honest. But I am still faced with teenaged females and they push me. Gymnastics is hard. Life for the average teenaged athlete in Kelowna…Not hard. So when the going gets tough they give up, or they make an excuse. This is where I must use my “thinking muscle” to come up with a way to get my athletes to work through the harder moments with a positive attitude.

My goal is to teach my athletes to be hardworking, dedicated and intelligent. I strive to have a safe environment. I want gymnastics to bring out the best in these young people and for it to create opportunities for them. For me, it is a little bit about the struggle and how you persevere through the tough times. I want my coaching to help athletes use gymnastics to learn life lessons. In my LPI report it is evident that my efforts in this area are noticed.

See LPI report →

Right now I am struggling with a few members of my team and how they choose to behave while working through frustrations. It is hard for me to relate to a shut-down teenager who doesn’t seem to want it. I totally understand “bad days” and that not every practice will be perfect, but I don’t understand disrespect to the coach or themselves. I always adapt and change the environment to create solutions for the athletes when it gets hard or when something isn’t working, but what are they doing to help themselves? This is where I am reflecting and using critical thinking to come up with a solution.

How do I get the athletes in this age group to want it for themselves? How do I get them to push through the tough times with a positive attitude?

For some athletes this comes naturally, but for others, it is such a huge challenge. I am trying to balance my “push” with “nurture”, but when the athletes choose to self-sabotage there is not that much I can do. I have tried all angles to keep the atmosphere productive, but I am still faced with “attitude” related challenges at almost every practice. Somehow, I have to come up with a way to teach the athletes to self-motivate and stay positive. They have to learn to develop a mental strategy to work through this. They have to be accountable for their performances and behaviour at all times. My rule is, “you must have a healthy mindset to flip and train.” Otherwise, it is not safe and I will not take that risk.

At the same time, I need to develop a personal mental strategy to work through this. It is crucial that I maintain my cool throughout these coaching moments. I do not want to create an environment where athletes think it is okay to talk back. I am striving to build a team that is respectful and dedicated. I am demonstrating these values by staying true to my heart and focusing on the positive. I will not cave to teenaged angst.

I will use the New Year to connect with my athletes and their parents. I have arranged parent/athlete/coach conferences with all members of my team to discuss the upcoming season. In the meetings, I will discuss the athlete’s progress and the goals for the training environment. Hopefully, open and honest conversations will lead to a more positive training attitude for some of my athletes. I want my athletes to be fully accountable for their decisions and behaviours; this includes how they treat all the people who support them. Clear communication with the parents regarding the athlete’s behaviour, will reinforce the benefits of training with a positive attitude.