Coaching at every level of athletic participation has become very demanding and competitive. There is always pressure to out-do the opponent to win. Since all coaches are competent and knowledgeable, how can a coach develop an edge over the competition?

First, the coach must know and respect his or her athletes. He/she must not expect or demand perfection but instead realize that mistakes will be made especially in the early stages of competition.

Since people determine their self-worth by success, coaches need to build small successes into every practice by setting obtainable goals for athletes. When the goals are reached, the athletes will feel competent and will gain confidence in their ability to perform in competitive situations.

It is important for the coach to analyze his/her own behavior. Does the coach tend to over-react to the athlete's mistakes or get very anxious before games? If so, it is very likely that the athlete will imitate the coach's behavior.

When the athlete makes mistakes, the coach's attention would tend to focus on the errors and distract him for the rest of the performance. This lack of concentration would result in more errors and generally poor performance.

A visibly nervous coach also would affect the attitude of his/her players in the same way. A confident, relaxed coach brings a feeling of tranquility to the players. The coach should project a positive attitude and dwell on the strong points of the team, especially before a contest. This behavior helps the athlete to feel relaxed and confident, and develops a "winning attitude."

Since social behavior is learned, an unconscious defense mechanism used by the coach would soon start to be imitated by his players. If the coach constantly looks for excuses for poorly played games, e.g., blaming officials, the weather, the playing field, the players would inevitably pattern their behavior accordingly.

A team meeting should be held immediately following a game regardless of the outcome, to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the performance. This is not a time to blame one another for mistakes, but, more importantly, a constructive analytical session could help establish the skills that need work in the next days practice.

Sometimes a coach helps the team feel more at ease after losing a contest by honestly admitting his own shortcomings. It takes a big man to announce after a defeat that his team lost because he was "outcoached" by the opposing head coach. A team soon realizes that everyone makes mistakes and loses from time to time , but it's not the end of the world and imperfect performances can be improved.

Once a coach has developed the proper attitude and personality, he/she must then work on coaching techniques. A coach must guard against the common tendency to "coach as he was coached." With the availability of current research, there is no excuse for his practice.

An analysis of other coaches may reveal some valuable information, but ultimately a coach has to tailor techniques to his/her own individual athletes and their personal needs.

A coach's position in influencing athletes should not be taken lightly. The coach is a parent substitute and, in some cases, a hero. The coach must be very careful what he/she consciously and unconsciously teaches his athletes. It is important that the coach teach the athletes to help themselves.

Once basic skills have been taught and corrected by the coaching staff, athletes should be encouraged to provide their own feedback. Skills can be taught in such a way to encourage self-analysis and increase the sensitivity of the kinesthetic sense. Ultimately, the players will develop independence, especially if reinforced by the coach. Independence may be slow in developing, but once established, a player becomes confident in his own abilities and avoids looking to the coach for guidance when encountering various problems in a game situation.

In short, the coach helps the player to think for himself. In accordance with this philosophy, the coach must let the athlete perform without interruption during competition. If a coach yells at an athlete after every mistake during a contest, the player's attention is drawn to the mistake instead of ahead to the upcoming events of the game. This procedure is bad because the player's attention has been broken, and he/she will tend to ignore cues that help to anticipate a competitor's movements. Psychologically, the athlete also loses confidence by being reminded of errors. The players should instead be taught to put past mistakes behind and re-direct attention back to the present competitive situation.

A quality that can be closely related to independence is flexibility. The degree of independence an athlete demonstrates may depend to a great extent on the flexibility of the coach.

For example, if the coach encourages the quarterback to call his own plays but invariably ridicules the player's choice, independence will not result. The quarterback will become anxious upon calling plays, fear failure and ultimately perform poorly. Instead, the athlete should make his own decisions and determine for himself afterward whether they were good choices, or, if not, what would have worked better. Thus, independence is taught. Given an opportunity to make his own choices and mistakes, the athlete will develop confidence in his abilities.

The coach's psychological role in helping the athlete attain the highest level of proficiency in skill acquisition is paramount. The coach not only teaches the skills, offers corrections and stimulates motivation, he/she must also realize that the athlete's mind is as important as the body in attaining the highest possible skill level.

Even before an athlete reaches a point of frustration because performance doesn't seem to be improving, the coach should explain how skills are acquired and plateaus are reached periodically. With knowledge, the athlete will become less discouraged, and as a result, the time spent at each learning plateau can be minimized. Once the athlete is aware of the situation, he can deal with it. The coach should never underestimate the capacity and depth of the athlete's mind.

Another way in which the coach can appeal to the athlete's mind is in explaining what is expected of the athlete and why certain decisions have been made. When the player is aware of the game schedule in advance, and is told why practices are necessary when scheduled, he is able to understand the relevance of the routine and able to plan his academic and personal life accordingly. In this way, the athlete is able to direct his energies in accordance with the coach's expectations.

The coach, however, must guard against the tendency to expect more than what the athlete is capable of giving. Occasionally, an athlete will have an unprecedented performance that may never occur again. Realistically, the coach should know that under rare conditions an athlete will perform beyond his capabilities. However, if the coach feels that the athlete did it once and can do it again if he just tries harder, he is putting the player under undue pressure. Soon the athlete loses confidence because the coach has convinced him that he's not trying hard enough.

The psychological attitude of the players is imperative to efficient, competitive performance. Since each sport situation is different, the psychological preparation varies greatly from one sport to another. An athlete in many instances defeats himself if not psychologically prepared for competition.

Individual sports can be the most psychologically demanding. The athlete needs to be internally motivated since he isn't in a team environment. He must have the confidence and adaptability to adjust to any situation. When unsuccessful, he must objectively evaluate the reasons for his failure. Blaming external variables will not stimulate improvement, he must be able to analyze his own physical and psychological performance to decide what needs additional work.

Today's athlete has evolved into a very efficient individual who is constantly observing, evaluating and reacting. The athletic mind can become more and more valuable by developing total concentration on the immediate pertinent aspects of the position. This is only possible by initially overlearning the basic skills of each task.

By practicing the basics over and over, the skills are so well established that they come automatic and are executed without conscious effort during competition. The mind is then free to concentrate on the game situation and filter out any distractions that could interfere with performance.

The athlete must also discriminate in selecting cues concerning the situation in order to anticipate an opponent's next move. When the athlete is able to focus attention on the task, yet shift attention to a critical, unexpected event, his mind is in control of the situation. Thus, the combination of a well trained body and mind, and the right psychological preparation works together in developing total integration of an efficient, successful athlete.

Finally, the coach can help the athlete deal with anxiety. Again, the coach must appeal to the athlete's mind by identifying the signs of anxiety and explaining the detrimental effects of its existence. If an athlete is able to deal with anxiety once he experiences it or, better yet, if the athlete is able to alleviate anxiety before competition, he has come a long way in using the mind to control his body. The coach can teach and apply relaxation techniques to prevent anxiety and encourage mental practice before games to conserve energy and build confidence.

The coach's job is far from easy. He/she is not only a teacher who sits back during the game and watches the team perform as taught. The coach also helps each athlete to overlearn the basic skills; be confident and independent, and deal with anxiety. By training both the mind and body, the coach has done his/her part in aiding the individual to reach ultimate potential as an athlete.