Tag Archives: team sports

Self-Confidence

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Goldberg, A. (2015) Self-confidence. Competitive Edge. Retrieved from https://www.competitivedge.com/self-confidence

Confidence is a difficult thing to build. It takes time and effort. Particularly effort. And lots of it. As a participant, there are many things you can do to build confidence and many credos surrounding it.

  • Nothing replaces hard work
  • Remind yourself of yourself
  • Don’t compare yourself to others – Focus on you
  • Focus on what you can control
  • Dwell on the positive
  • Catch yourself doing things right
  • Be a good coach to yourself

 

As an educator, something that has become increasingly obvious to me is the notion of no matter what you do, you’re impacting a student’s confidence. Every single interaction influences confidence; whether it’s a look, tone, comment, or your body language, the students are watching and they care what you do. This is so important to keep in mind in a classroom and isn’t limited to just competitive activities. Students self confidence can be extremely fragile and as the adult in the room, it lies on your shoulder to model how to have self confidence. This is a very difficult task as we as educators aren’t handed bag of self-confidence as a resource and told “go forth and spread the good worth of self-efficacy”, handing out confidence from our confidence bag to those in need. Tough as it is though to bring confidence into the classroom, it is necessary thing and I will refer back to the credos at the beginning for inspiration. They are solid principles to build self-confidence from and if you can, you will set your student sup for success in self-confidence as well. To relate this back to competition though, these credos are the definitions of a good competitor. Self-confidence will feed to positive elements of competition and thus will support further growth of confidence. It is a cycle that, if possible to implement, can have a tremendous influence on an individual’s life.

Confidence and Performance

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Skinner, B. R. (2013) The relationship between confidence and performance throughout a competitive season. All Graduate Plan B and other Reports. Paper 285. Retrieved from http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1284&context=gradreports

 

When looking at sports, it is obvious immediately that sports is competitive. It’s working against others to achieve a task first. This is undeniable. Additionally, it has been discussed at length about how sports can be detrimental to an individual’s confidence. However, what is rarely discussed is how sports can have a hugely positive impact on a child’s confidence.

 

When looking at confidence’s influence in sports, it can be separated into two categories; traits confidence and state confidence. Traits confidence refers to a long-standing disposition that an athlete (or student) exhibits in a competitive task. This is more permanent character trait and make difficult to alter. A state confidence refers to the athlete or students mind frame “in the moment”. This can shift wildly and many influences can shift an athlete or student’s confidence during a task. A coach or teacher NEEDS to keep both of these in mind at all times as they impact the manner in which a student or athlete acts. Nonetheless, competition, and sports, can have a wonderfully positive influence on individuals. It acts as a source of personal accomplishments, is an avenue for verbal praise and motivation, and also plays a role in a positive psychological state with the proper framework. All of this however is depends on the facilitator. Under several studies, a coach or teacher’s confidence has a direct relationship to the participants under their care. A high confidence in the coach will result in a high confidence in their team.

 

Another key post to mention is the idea of resiliency. Sports and competition builds resiliency. While it may seem like high success and always winning would breed high confidence, it it actually incorrect. An athlete or student that faces failure and the succeeds, actually builds resiliency and a higher form of confidence. This “stumbling into confidence” method strengthens the student or athlete’s character and sets the student up for a greater deal of success in the future.

Play Ball: Collaborative Competition In Action

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When I view the relationship of competition in schools to collaboration among students, something that stands out in the forefront for me is how collaboration can permeate through team sports. This may seem like a contradiction and that many would argue that the two are mutually exclusive, however in the experience witnessing how some amazing educators have worked tirelessly to create a sense of collaborative competitiveness, I believe that it is possible. I believe it is completely dependent on the framework and presentation of the competition, and if it is done correctly can lead to an amazing atmosphere; one of enthusiasm, motivation, encouragement, growth, comfort, and a consideration of the feelings of the participants.

 

The scenario where I have witnessed this the most is during my practicum in the basketball program led by teachers and coaches from around the district. The structure for this is that the students are learning, and let me stress that they are LEARNING, how to play the sport. Inherit in this is competition as it is indeed a sport, however there are many other aspects to it that cross over with competition, most noticeably is the idea of cooperation. They are acting together as a team, communicating with peers, and working towards achieving a goal (winning the game). This is the definition of cooperation and one that is prevalent throughout team sports. However, more rare than this is collaboration within team sports. This is a much loftier goal as it requires collaboration among all participants, not just “your team”. Communication, working towards a goal, and trust are all elements that need to be shared between your team, your coaches, the other team, the other coaches, the referees, the spectators, everyone! Now how could this possible exist in such a competitive, no-holds-barred, free-for-all world like elementary basketball? Well it can, and here’s how. In watching the students engage in the sport, the coaches/referees conducted the game in a very unique way and one that didn’t reflect the “traditional” nature of competition. During the play, whenever there was a foul, the coaches/referees called the foul but didn’t simply continue on with the game. They stopped, drew all the players in regardless of which team they were associated with, and took the time to explain the play, what went wrong, and how to correct it next time. They demonstrated the concept and checked for comprehension with all the players. They then restarted the game and play continued with the coaches/referees continuing this trend of stop, collaborate, start, compete. This is a system that the students really responded to. It allowed them to participate in the traditional, competitive environment, however still leaving room for collaborative reinforcement of areas to improve on. Through this, you could really see the impact collaborative competition can have on the students. They were engaged yet exhibited sportsmanship, motivated to do their best yet respectful, honoured the process but showed that drive to succeed.

 

So can collaborative competition work? Absolutely! Is it effective? You betcha! Is it dependent on the framework you set up at the beginning of the activity and a prerequisites of skills the participants need to have before starting? Also yes. Regardless, it is a system that incorporates the best of both worlds and one certainly worth of exploring.

 

(Side Note: I know “play ball” is most often associated with baseball and this reflection was on basketball, but the title was too good to pass up)