Coach to the Correction

Coach’s Can Do...

The brain learns well from bad experiences, but not so well from good experiences. This is called the negativity bias of the brain. A bad experience triggers a survival instinct as a danger, and the brain locks it in in order to protect you in the future. This bad experience, (or in this case ‘bad’ performance, turn, jump, landing) develops into a strong neural pathway.

When we are instructed not to do something the brain has no instruction of what to replace the mistake with. We have reinforced the neural pathway of the unwanted behavior and it is likely we will repeat it whether we want to or not.

When we focus on the positive or what went well, the brain has a hit of dopamine which helps create a new neural pathway. The brain learns that it feels good when you repeat this behavior. It will try to guide the body to do it again. When you tell the brain what TO DO, it has something to act on.

When coaching to a correction, instruct what you want your athlete to do, not what they shouldn’t do. For example, “Try to get more pressure on the front of the boot”, rather than ‘“get out of the back seat”.

Studies have shown that simply focusing on what is working improves overall performance.