When we go to a sporting event, we don’t normally focus on the coaches. We are there to see the players. The other night while sitting at a high school basketball game, I sat back and watched the coaches. I was at the game to introduce myself to one of the coaches. I love to people watch, but during a game my focus is usually on the players. This night, however, something caught my eye and just struck me. So, I started watching the coaches more than I did the game.
What I noticed was that there were two drastically different coaching styles. While the one coach seemed to focus on the positive, the other coach seemed to focus on the negative. From that moment on, I couldn’t focus on the players anymore but watched the coaches the rest of the game. The first coach was praising his players and encouraging them. When he gave them constructive criticism, it was with a caring tone. The second coach only focused on the negative. If players missed a shot, he told them what they could’ve done better or different. He seemed to only focus on the negative.
