How to Coach High Achievers in Youth Sports

Casey Bass: Today in ClubHouse Gas, we are joined again by friend of the show and sports psychologist Crissy Rapp. We are going to talk about high performance players. The player in the league or on your team, who is just a little bit better than everybody else. We will talk about the characteristics that those players share and how to coach them, how to get the most out of them, and how to relate to them on your team. It's going to be a great show. So stay tuned to ClubHouse Gas. We are fortunate enough to be joined again by friend of the show Crissy Rapp. Crissy, thank you so much. Crissy Rapp: Thanks. Casey Bass: We'll continue expanding on this child player psychology stuff we have been talking about, kind of give them, coaches and parents the insight into their kids, and how they can help them more enjoy and be more productive in their sporting ventures. And today I want to talk about the higher achieving players. The players who, everybody knows when they walk on the field, that kid is good, that kid's got a lot of talent and that goes all the way up into the pros. Even there the guys who walk on the court, you see LeBron James, as oppose to the other nine guys, and you go, yeah, he is the one. Those players, for me as a coach always seem difficult to coach them. For me what separates the great coaches, the hall of fame coaches from just good coaches, are the ability to coach fantastic ballplayers. It's hard sometimes, and I think a lot of it has to do with the attitude, but also players who compete at high level, lot of times don't even know how they do, what they do, they just do it naturally. When you start breaking it down, it gets kind of touchy for them, and they kind of get out of their element. For you from a psychology point of view, how do you deal with these players? Crissy Rapp: I think the first thing to do, is just let them know that they can always improve. They can always find something to work on within their own game, even if they have been successful, they might not even be pushing themselves as hard as they can. They might be that athlete that's giving you 95%, and he has beaten everybody, but at the same time there is going to be another level for him. And that's something to keep in mind to him or her, is that there are other athletes that you might not have come across yet, but they are going to be right there with you, if not further ahead. So you need to keep pressing and keep trying to improve. Casey Bass: Is there a battle of control between the player and the coach? Does the player -- do you get to know all player and the coach who just wants the respect, they want you to listen, is that a kind of a formula that has to be worked out? Crissy Rapp: Again there is going to be some variation, but I think one big thing that comes to mind is that those higher achievers always have a high sense of control in their own actions. So they are not really going to make excuses. If they make an error, that's fine. They are going to make the error, but at the same time, they bounce back quick, and they have that sense of control, and they will take responsibility. So that's one thing that the coach has to realize that you don't have to push them in that regard, because they are responsible and they are aware of what they do well and what they don't. And the good thing is that you are not going get a lot of excuses from them, but it's been shown that high achievers have the high sense of control. Casey Bass: Right, and those are players that you maybe want to put into a leadership role, or are they just going to automatically take that role? Crissy Rapp: It depends, you might have the leader who leads by example, and he is out there busting this butt everyday, and he is a great athlete. You might have a great athlete who you wouldn't want so much to be a leader. You just want him to focus on himself and do his role, but if he is not coachable and that kind of thing, then maybe you wouldn't want to project that on to him. Maybe he would realize that he wants it, and then let him walk into that position, and kind of improve a little bit. Casey Bass: I just can't keep thinking all the pops and latest practice. I just keep thinking about Allen Irish Crissy Rapp: Allen Irish? Casey Bass: Practice man, do some practice. Crissy Rapp: Yeah. Casey Bass: Yeah really, you need to go. Crissy Rapp: Yeah you need to go. Casey Bass: Talk about self comparison versus social comparison. Crissy Rapp: High achievers, again, it's been shown that they don't really compare themselves to what other people around them are doing. They focus on themselves. It's the person that if they get up, and they get a bloop single that just falls in, it's not a great hit, they are going to be okay with that, but at the same time they know that they can do better. Whereas, somebody who is only concerned about getting that base hit, they're extremely happy with that, and they would rather get three of those, then solid at bats, where they are really driving the ball. An athlete that comes to mind is Tiger Woods. You hear in all of his interviews, he never talks about other people. He talks about himself and his game. If the interviewer tries to get him to, he is very good about keeping that positive and focusing on himself, and what he needs to do, and what he did well. And you just, kind of in this bubble ware, he knows what he is capable of, he knows where he needs to be, and everything else, he can't control it. So he is just worried about him game, and that's an athlete that I use as an example with athletes, with my young guys a lot, is to just try to take on that mentality, and it is hard to do, but it really does help. Casey Bass: The one thing that comes to mind when we interviewed Jeff Francoeur, about a month ago. It was Francoeur and Brian McCann sitting right next to each other, and there was a question about playing too much as a kid, and they had two completely totally opposite answers, and they played together as kids on the same team. Well, Frank said I was playing too much I got burned out and quit. Quit for entire year, played golf and McCann said, couldn't play enough, wanted to play more, and I just thought, well, how big - he had pressure from the parent. Yeah, these two guys who are buddies, best friends, grew up together, played on the same team just as much as each other, and one of them burns out and quits and the other one wants to play more and then they both end up on the same Major League Baseball team. Crissy Rapp: Two different examples I say, the big message there is, know your kid, know your kid, and you don't want them to just one day say, I am done, it's too much with no warning. I have had that before. A parent comes to me and said, I had no idea and he just quit. He hates it, what can I do? I said, well, I don't know if there is anything right now, you know, looking back they were signs and things that we could have maybe intervened to build the enjoyment back up, but it's just knowing that kid, and when they are getting to that point of still enjoying it, and not enjoying it. Casey Bass: Well Crissy, thank you so much, I really appreciate. I hope you come back and join us again, as well as you. That's going to do it for us today, we'll see you right back here next time, for another great edition of ClubHouse Gas.