Why do some female athletes suddenly clam up, experience huge amounts of self-doubt and question their role within the team right before game time? Motivating your female athletes is a continual challenge for the coaching staff, but it’s a fight that can be won and this post will show you how.
Sports coaches can motivate female athletes by first creating an environment focusing on team chemistry and camaraderie. Provide clear, direct, individual feedback in a calm manner where you provide solutions instead of reminding them of their mistakes.
Now interacting with male and female athletes is a little different. The same strategies successfully used to win games and get boys “pumped up” will likely fail dismally for females. But instead of listing the difference between male and female athletes, this post dives into 6 ways coaches can motivate and excite their female athletes to reach the type of success you know they are capable of.
#1 – Focus on Team Chemistry and Camaraderie
Positive team culture and camaraderie is a non-negotiable in female sport.
Female athletes need to feel like they get along with each and every member of their team. While they may not necessarily “like” a member of their team, there needs to be a level of respect for everyone before you will see success on the scoreboard.
The team needs to feel like a team, almost “family-like” for your message as coach to hit home.
How do you do that? Here are some ideas:
- When doing partner work, make sure they pair with a new person each session.
- Allow for player input. For example, let them develop their own warm-up and cool-down where they can try different drills whilst listening to music.
- Support “catch up time.” Girls like to talk, catch up and discuss what’s been happening. During stretching or even for a period before practice allow for 10 minutes of chatter for a better session.
Girls must bond to battle, but guys must battle to bond
Team USA
- Alternate practice activities such as running around the local lake or swimming instead of x5 days of practice solely inside the gym. There could be issues here with elementary school-aged children so read this post to be reminded of your responsibilities as a youth coach.
- Regular team bonding exercises such as an Escape Room, High Rope course, cooking class (great for older athletes to boost their nutritional intake of healthy foods), 12-foot wall climb or a local fun run charity event.
These experiences are an incredible opportunity for you witness who is a natural leader. Who picks up their teammate and supports somebody else’s good idea? Who recognizes teamwork in others and who is selfless in achieving team success?
While these activities listed above can be effective, promoting a healthy, positive, motivational culture really does start with the coach.
You need to abide by your own high standards throughout the entire season, even if you’re going through a losing streak, which encourages the team to follow suit. Discipline, promptness, attitude and work ethic need to remain consistent across the entire team.
Girls will find motivation in a coach who doesn’t waver and “take the easier way out” by lowering standards. Reinforcing that you are in this together tightens bonds, gives them confidence and proves they belong.
#2 – Give Female Athletes the “Why”
Female athletes want to know the reasons behind your behavior and the choices you make as a coach. They want to know…
Why are you asking them to play this role in the team instead of another player which played in previous seasons?
Why are you changing the warmup when the old one seemed effective?
Why are we needing to practice passing for this extended length of time?
While not every athlete will agree with your reasoning, explaining the “method behind your madness” allows them to better understand the reasons behind your request. If it seems logical, you’ll get buy-in.
“This is “respect” to a female: to acknowledge their emotional standpoint, explain your own and help them understand the situation as a whole”.
USA Hockey
Success tip:
If you bench a player, tell them why. Use your assistant coaches to provide real-time feedback to any player who leaves the court.
#3 – Provide Clear Feedback, Calmly
Most people, both on and off the sports field like to know how they are progressing, right? We like to know if we are doing a good job and if our hard work is making an impact.
Interestingly, some like negative but constructive feedback whilst others hang their head, slumping shoulders unable to move on as feelings have been hurt.
When coaching female athletes providing, consistent constructive criticism is huge. Don’t assume they will resemble the person I just described with slumped shoulders and bad attitude.
Here are some tips to make your feedback impactful:
- When providing feedback in a group setting ensure you are focusing on team improvements rather than how an individual may have messed up. Addressing a particular girls mistakes in front of their teammates can make her feel inadequate, demotivating her well beyond just simply that game/practice.
- Make your pre and post-game “chats” short and sweet. As a female, don’t give us too much to think about as our brains are already busy. Allow us to focus on 2-3 main points of execution or take away thoughts.
- When giving feedback, look at your female team/individual player in the eye. It shows you’re listening and that you have a genuine, serious interest in wanting to make them better. If you need to use a “soundboard” before giving important feedback to an individual player or parent, talk to your spouse/partner or a close friend who respects your confidentiality. Practicing your speech is okay.
- Give written feedback. 3-4 short written dot points is an effective method for girls to be reminded of areas they can improve instead of dramatizing it (as we can do!) when we forget what the coach actually said. Using an app such as the ones we talk about here may be an effective, safe and transparent way to communicate.
“Women have to have a sense that you care for them above and beyond their (athletic) abilities.”
Anson Dorrance (source)
- Let them talk. During feedback sessions both as a team and individually allow them to tell you what they think is working and what isn’t. This allows them to take ownership of their game without simply being told.
- Use the sandwich approach when giving feedback. If you haven’t heard this before, let me explain. The two pieces of bread are the positive things they are doing well and the meat focuses on what they can improve on. The female will focus on the meat (we are quick to see our mistakes first), but the bread ensures your message doesn’t feel like a personal attack.
- Use examples both verbally, physically or through film, how players could perform the skill better next time. Don’t repeat their mistakes as they already know and instead give them tools for success they can use in the future. Here is a guide to the best video editing software and apps.
#4 – Have A Female Coach On Staff
Can a male-only coaching staff still see success in female teams? You bet.
But if you’re knocking your head against the wall looking for a different solution to help motivate your team, adding a female to your coaching staff may be effective.
In my experience, female coaches are tough operators. They don’t take any trash, like bad attitudes, and have serious consequences for athletes not respecting team rules.
Having a female coach is by no means a method to add “fluffiness” and “softness” to the coaching staff, but it can change the dynamic and spark ideas that can motivate the team others may not have considered.
Teams have a number of roles that require filling. There is no reason to not have at least one female on staff when needing to fill assistant coaches, specialist coaches for one particular area of the game, a team manager or even a team physiotherapist. Simply having an experienced, knowledgable female presence may help motivate your team in different ways.
On the flip side of the same coin, I should mention that some people believe that women can intimidate other women, even young girls, which demotivates them and impacts performance. (source)
To help explain this point, I refer to a post I saw on the Hockey USA website which discussed female coaches. It said that male coaches are automatically seen as being legitimate to both male and female players whereas female players and coaches alike need to “prove themselves” they are capable.
#5 – Create a Levelheaded Environment
Some female athletes have a hard time separating a loud voice (ie. when getting yelled at) from the actual message.
It gets lost among the noise and the negative body language, shifting the athlete’s focus towards, they are angry at me, and not about, how I can do it better next time.
As coaches of female athletes, we need to create a calm environment. Constantly yelling in a big booming voice to relay your seemingly important message will do more harm than good.
“A more Zen-like environment seems to be a more productive environment for females”
(source)
If you are frustrated and almost at the point of breathing fire, substitute the player, give constructive feedback, let them think about it for a minute or so and put them back on if appropriate. Ask your assistant coach to take note of this event, remembering to talk about it during the week at practice.
Standing with your head down, shoulders slumped or worse sitting silently, makes some female athletes feel like you don’t believe in them. You don’t have faith they can hit the ball or shoot the basket.
Think about your body language as girls care a lot more about your appearance than males do.
#6 – Set Achievable Goals
According to Team USA, “Female athletes have a hard time separating their private, emotional lives from athletic competition.” Some may view this as a lack of prioritization to win and compete but this may not be the case at all.
I once heard a great metaphor to help describe this.
A man’s brain is divided into neat boxes, one for sports, one for relationships, one for work, etc. They also have a “nothing box” where they can actually think about nothing.
Women, on the other hand, don’t have these boxes. Their brains look similar to your headphone cord wrapped in a big, intertwined knot. They also don’t have a box where they think about nothing.
This makes it pretty difficult for young women preparing for a big game or even midweek practice to separate themselves from a bad day, fight with a friend or an issue with mom and dad.
Setting achievable goals as a team is an effective way for coaches to help separate these emotions to keep their players focused.
Goals can be a simple as we lost that quarter, so let’s do X, Y and Z to win this one and let’s make 70% of free throws this season. To a little more involved such as:
- Team goals set at the start of the season
- Individual goals set by the player themselves in consultation with the coach
Coaches need to constantly revisit these goals. Have them written in the locker room to keep your girls focused with direction.
[VIDEO] – Though aimed at rowing coaches, this video gives a quick 4-5 minute on coaching female athletes.
Keep Reading:
- Why Do Coaches Get Fired?
- Why It Is Important to Respect the Sports Official
- Why Do Baseball Coaches Have Numbers?
Summary: 6 Ways Coaches Can Motivate and Excite Female Athletes
Some coaches get a kick out of coaching men whilst others find the challenge of coaching women and young female athletes much more rewarding.
If you’re currently frustrated and feeling lost about how to motivate your female sports team, I hope you found this post helpful.
Female athletes may seem like an emotional mystery, but once you create the ideal culture and “crack the code”, you will see the success you’ve been working for.
Have you got any further advice for coaching a female sports team?
Cheers,
Emma
Awesome post! Keep up the great work! 🙂