As a Coach How and What Do You Reinforce
The best way to eliminate mistakes is not through punishment but rather to strengthen the correct or desired behaviors. Positive reinforcement focuses on improving rather than screwing up. Within positive reinforcement, mistakes are seen as information necessary to improve performance. Besides being able to understand why positive reinforcement effectively works it’s also important to choose effective reinforcers for your athletes. Not all reinforcers are going to have the same effect on everyone which is why it’s important to get to know yourathletes and what’s going to be most beneficial for them.
Choosing Effective Reinforcers
Reinforcers include the following:
- Social reinforcers: praise, smile, pat on the back, etc.
- Activity reinforcers: athlete assists to teach a skill
- Special outings: taking your athletes somewhere for a special practice session
Schedule Reinforcements Effectively
One of most common questions about positive reinforcement is how often and how consistently should it be given. This is important to ensure that rewards are effective. The sooner after a response a reinforcement is given, the more powerful effects on the behavior.
Initially, rewards should be continuous. Example: when beginning to coach someone, it’s initially important to continue to reward form, reps, sets, motivation, etc. It not only strengthens the desired response but it also provides frequent feedback and support for someone who is in the beginning stages of something new.
Once a behavior or skill has been mastered, reinforcement can be reduced to intermittent. Research has shown that behaviors reinforced on intermittent schedules persist much longer in the absence of reinforcement than do those continuously reinforced. Intermittent reinforcement increases the likelihood a behavior will persist.
Rewarding Appropriate Behaviors
Obviously you can not reward an athlete every time they do something right so you have to decide on the most important behaviors to reward and concentrate on them. One thing of importance to keep in mind is to reinforce effort as much as results. After all, the only thing people have complete control over is their effort; they have limited control in the outcome. So, besides reinforcing the successful people, keep the following in mind:
- Reward successful approximations-it is helpful to reward small improvements. This is called shaping and allows a person to get closer and closer to the desired behavior. It also sparks motivation and provides direction.
- Reward performance not only outcome-example: if an athlete is doing better Tuesday than she was on Monday although she hasn’t quite reached her goals, it’s important to reward based on an individuals own previous level of performance as the standard for success.
- Reward effort-success is in the eye of the beholder. Not everyone is going to succeed in ways that society thinks they should but it they are motivated and put forth effort that should be recognized.
- Reward emotion and social skills-people who demonstrate good sportsmanship, responsibility, judgment and other signs of self control and cooperation should be recognized and reinforced.
To really win, you have to get everyone to go beyond their capabilities. They must feel great about themselves. They must feel that their coaches and staff have total confidence in their abilities and feel that their weaknesses are small and strengths much larger & much greater. As a coach you do that by positive reinforcement, making sure that no one thinks negatively at any time.
Happy Wednesday!
Dr. Michelle
Photo credit: momgineering.blogspot.com
