The exchange takes place during a training session involving team sports coaches. One of them explains that one of his athletes came to him and said " he wasn't yelling at the girls enough. Another coach rebounds: " I too have been told that I should get angry more often! " These two coaches wonder: are they too nice?

Personally, I would rather tell them: "Be proud of yourselves! Proud of yourselves because self-control and refusing aggressive behaviour towards athletes certainly makes you better people.... and better coaches."

Because what exactly can a coach expect when he regularly yells at his athletes?

  • High levels of stress in athletes, especially in the most sensitive ones. In particular, too much stress can cause athletes to go into panic zones at inappropriate times and contribute to a gradual erosion of their self-confidence and motivation.
  • A deterioration of its relations with the athletes, which will affect the performance of the group in the long term. Who enjoys being shouted at?
  • Has a degraded image in the eyes of his professional entourage, who will note his difficulty in managing his emotions and will be alarmed by his repeated mood swings.

What if the solution was to get carried away sparingly? This is implicitly expected by journalists interviewing team coaches after a bad first half: "What did you say to them at half-time? The walls of the dressing room must have shaken." Would shaking the athletes punctually to make them react be an effective remedy then?

Nothing is less certain. Sometimes sportsmen and women approach a match in a light-hearted manner, taking their opponents for granted, and not putting enough effort into the match to be able to do better at half-time. In this case, raising their voice may be a way of boosting their self-esteem and provoking the expected reaction of pride in the second half. However, there are many other reasons for sportsmen and women to miss a first half: being under pressure, being tired, lacking confidence, coming up against stronger opponents, having difficulties in applying tactical schemes, for example. And in all these cases, being shouted at by the coach will be counterproductive.

Being able to give clear instructions or encouragement to the players will usually have a much more positive impact on the final result than shaking the dressing room walls.

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