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1. Before an interview, make sure you do some research on the school, community, and possible connections to the decision makers
2. Six tips on how to present yourself and answer questions during the interview
3. Five tips on other considerations when interviewing

1. Before an interview, make sure you do some research on the school, community, and possible connections to the decision makers
2. Six tips on how to present yourself and answer questions during the interview
3. Five tips on other considerations when interviewing

By: Dr. Colleen Hacker

The popularity of growth mindset literature over the past few decades has had a positive effect on people's lives. However, a significant and potentially deleterious misconception has also emerged, one that suggests encouraging and focusing on effort and improvement are all that matter. Instead, as Dweck points out (2008; Dweck and Yeager 2019), the process and learning from successful and less successful strategies is critical to achievement. It is not enough to put posters about effort and growth on the wall or write down moments of your own effort achievements. Coaches, teachers, and employers have bought into a simplistic version of the growth mindset and often say "Don't worry; you'll get it if you keep trying" or "Great effort! I love that you went for it." Certainly, effort is necessary and essential, but it is not the only requirement of a growth mindset. Emphasizing effort without an effective strategy is a mistake that is eerily similar to that which we made in previous generations when we provided participation trophies. In that case, showing up equated to giving effort. In fact, Dweck (2015) commented that what keeps her awake at night is fearing that the mindset concepts, which developed as a counter to the failed self-esteem movement, would be used to perpetuate that same philosophy. Performers need a broad repertoire of effective strategies they can employ to learn and improve. It is good to try, but to give effort without thinking about what strategies worked or did not work does little more than improve self-esteem. Self-reflection and situational analysis are equally critical elements

A growth mindset does not mean that anyone can accomplish any-thing they want; it is not a self-belief model, and it is not cheerleading for yourself or someone else. Instead, a growth mindset is about generating multiple strategies for success and being willing to do the work, sustained over time to bring about change and greater competence. The value of Dweck's (2016) work is in the details. Performers benefit from developing a growth mindset because it encourages them to recognize the solutions that are useful and accurate, and it encourages them to always be willing to generate and implement new remedies or strategies for problems that have yet to be mastered.

Absolutely, appreciate the work you have put in so far, but, if you have not yet solved the problem, then ask yourself what you have tried, how it worked out (or not), and what you can try next. Imagine you are trying to solve a math problem but cannot seem to find the solution: What have you tried and what you can you try next? Now, think about trying to get past a pressing defense in basketball or racing a mile against an opponent you have not defeated before. What did you try before? What else can you try? How will you change your approach? What else do you need to practice? Where do you need to practice? That is the magic sauce. Developing the appropriate belief system or mindset is like a noun in a sentence. It matters, but without a verb, the sentence is incomplete. You must believe that you can improve, develop, and grow, and then you need to identify actionable steps that will bring about that growth (see the following worksheet).

Developing a Growth Mindset After Adversity

The purpose of this worksheet is to help you develop a growth mindset when faced with setbacks, rejection, or failure.

Directions

Answer the following prompts as completely as possible.

1. Think of a moment when you experienced a significant failure or setback. Describe that moment in detail: What happened? When did it occur? Where did it take place? Who was involved? Why was it a failure? How did it occur?
2. Using the example you described in the first prompt, describe three strategies you could have implemented that might have led to a different outcome or result. Answer the question "What could I do differently?" Identify who, what, when, where, how, and why for each strategy. Be as specific as possible.
3. Write down at least one person from whom you could solicit feedback for each of the strategies you identified and identify one question you might need answered before you implement this new technique or strategy.

From C. Hacker and M. Mann, Achieving Excellence: Mastering Mindset for Peak Performance in Sport and Life (Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2023).

By: David Emeott

Author of: Beyond the Finish Line: The Art of Transformational Coaching - Click Here

The parents' role is simple: encouraging their athlete and the team, being positive, and remaining present. The child needs their parents the most when things don't go as planned. When athletes fail, they experience a lonely moment, one where they need their parents' support more than ever. Their job is to be there for them-not to fix everything, but to let them process the emotions of falling short.

As a parent, I have attended countless competitions, traveling long distances to watch my children and their teammates compete in both high school and college. My mindset has remained the same, with two things particularly emphasized:

• I am there to support when support is needed.
• I know I am needed most when my kids fail.

When my kids win, they are surrounded by friends and teammates celebrating. But when they lose? That's when the car ride home feels the longest. That's when I am needed most.

It is not a parent's role to do the following three things:

• Criticize officials
• Criticize other athletes
• Criticize coaches (especially during an event)

There are a time and place for discussing concerns with a coach, and it is never from the stands in the third quarter. I have never met a player who enjoys hearing their parents yelling from the stands. I have often wondered what drives this behavior when I witness it. Is it a learned response? Maybe one time, they yelled "Shoot!" and their kid took a shot and made a basket, unfortunately reinforcing the belief that their input was necessary.

From a coach's perspective, I have seen how this unfolds. Almost every time, the athlete is embarrassed. Too often, the parents' vocal comments from the stands contradict what the coach is saying. And even when a parent's advice is technically correct, the athlete is left in an impossible situation, with two conflicting options:

• Do they listen to the coach, the expert the school hired to lead
  the team?
• Or do they listen to their parent, the person who has raised,
  fed, and provided for them?

It's a lose-lose situation. Coaching an athlete is a bit like co-parenting, because it takes a village more than just two biological parents to raise a well-adjusted, successful child. When two voices are in direct conflict, the young athlete is caught in the middle, and that rarely ends well.

As competitors themselves, coaches do everything they can to improve their chances of winning. I have never seen a situation where an out-of-control, disruptive parent made an athlete play better. I have never seen a coach put a kid in the game or offer a scholarship because a parent pushed them into it by yelling from the stands. I have never seen a parent criticizing another athlete
lead to more wins.

Most parents are passionate, and that's a good thing. But passion without purpose or control is a problem. Every parent has moments of feeling like their child should play more, that the coach made a bad decision, or that the refs blew a call. I have felt those things too. But I have also realized the following three things:

1. Everyone is doing their best, even if their best doesn't meet my standards.
2. If my child's current situation isn't good enough, there are options beyond acting like a fool in the heat of the moment.
3. If a coach is truly holding my child back from earning a full-ride scholarship, then I need to consider my options - a transfer, training differently, seeking additional coaching - but I need to do so with prudence and perspective.

The reality is that most kids aren't on the verge of a Division I scholarship, and the coach is probably less responsible for their future than you think.

In the same vein, it never helps to yell at an official. Coaches can sometimes work an official to get a call, but this is never helped by a parent's reaction. And criticizing another athlete? It is completely out of line for a parent to publicly berate someone else's child, and it almost always leads to unnecessary conflict in the stands.

A few years ago, college coaches started asking one question before recruiting an athlete: "How are the parents?" Without naming names, I've seen firsthand how much this matters. Early in the transfer portal era of college sports, I would casually mention to a college coach that a kid might benefit from "getting away from home” because their parents were overbearing and never satisfied. I didn't realize at the time how much weight those words carried: Coaches would immediately cool on that athlete, and the recruitment process would stop.

College coaches have had to make huge adjustments in the way they recruit. Club and AAU coaches have known this for years: You are recruiting the parents as much as you are recruiting the kid. If a player's parents are difficult, the chances of them transferring after a year or two are significantly higher. At the college level, coaches invest time and effort into freshmen and sophomores with the expectation of a payoff in their junior and senior years. If they believe an athlete's parents will constantly look for something "better," they are far less likely to offer a scholarship.

With the transfer portal and "name, image, and likeness" deals changing college sports, coaches are more concerned than ever about what parents will do when their kid isn't playing or is benched. One college coach told me that when they scout players, they also watch the stands to identify the parents. If they can't figure out who the parents are by the end of the game, that's a good thing-it means they aren't a distraction.

From time to time, coaches will need to step in and play the role of a parent. But I have yet to meet a parent who needed to take on the role of a coach in the third quarter.

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About the Author

David Emeott has served as the head track and field coach at East Kentwood High School since 2004, leading the program to eight state championships and a 2010 national title. Under his leadership, the team maintained a 100% graduation rate while competing at the highest levels. A passionate advocate for transformational coaching, he has mentored hundreds of student-athletes who have gone on to success in college, military service, and careers nationwide.

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By: Rainer Martens, Robin S. Vealey

Originally Published in: Successful Coaching

Provided by: Human Kinetics

Take this short true-or-false test to raise your awareness about giving feedback:

Questions

1. Save feedback until the end of practice so as not to disrupt practice time.
2. More frequent feedback is better than less frequent feedback.
3. When an athlete is making several technical errors, it is best to correct only one error at a time.
4. You and your assistant coaches should be the only people providing feedback in practice.
5. When giving feedback, do not tell the athlete what was done incorrectly—only provide feedback on
   how to do the technique correctly.
6. Give simple and precise information about how performance can be improved.
7. Frequent positive feedback, such as "Nice job!", is more important than lots of technical instruction.
8. Use sight and sound in providing feedback.

Answers

1. False—The sooner you give feedback, the more likely athletes will remember what the feedback pertains to and to practice correctly.
2. True, within reason—The more often athletes get useful feedback, the more they will try to correct their performance, and thus, the faster their learning will be. As athletes' technical skills improve, though, they need to learn to rely more on their own feedback and less on feedback from the coach.
3. True—Learning is more effective when an athlete attempts to correct only one error at a time, which means that you must decide which error to correct first. To do so, begin by determining whether one error is causing another. If it is, have the athlete try to correct that error first because this will eliminate the other error(s). However, if the errors seem to be unrelated, have the athlete correct the error that you think will bring the greatest improvement when remedied. Improvement will likely motivate the athlete to correct the other error(s).
4. False—Athletes, especially those who are a little older, should give feedback to each other (of course this feedback must be accurate).
5. False—In fact, feedback means to feed back exactly what was done. When athletes perform incorrectly, you should feed them back with what they did wrong. Then explain how to do the technique correctly.
6. True—Tell and show your athletes what they must do to correct errors. Be careful not to go overboard; give just enough information so they can concentrate on correcting one error at a time.
7. False—Positive feedback is good. However, specific positive feedback is much more valuable. Such feedback specifies what was correct and reinforces those aspects for all the athletes in a group. An example of specific positive feedback is, "Nice follow-through on that shot!" The same principle holds for negative feedback. If a player performs incorrectly, simply saying, "That was a terrible shot," is not helpful. The player already knows the shot was terrible. What is important is how to improve. A more effective approach would be to say, "Your shot was off the mark because you allowed your elbow to swing to the outside. Try keeping the elbow tucked in to your side."
8. True—People learn in different ways; some gain most from explanations of how to improve, whereas others need demonstrations. Both explanations and demonstrations should incorporate specific feedback. For example, you might demonstrate how a player performed a skill, explain what was good and what you believe needs more attention for improved performance, and demonstrate the refinement you would like to see. Show and tell your players how they can improve using specific positive and negative feedback.

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