group. . Coach the fear | TYLER GODDING, Rob Price and Aryk Brown, from !eft to right, display the (trophies they won at the Junior Provincial Swim Meet, March 13-15, in Penticton. The boys sre with the Cheena Swim Club and won their prizes for winning first in points overall for their age NEWS photo Mika Waketield out of failure ONE OF the keys to coaching pos- itive thinking athletes is to create practice situations in which they are not afraid to fail. Jack Donahue, coach of the Canada’s nationa! basketball team, points out that ‘‘all athletes are go- ing to fail at times during a game. Players have to get used to the fact that things will not always go the way they want them to.” The coach who is always a perfectionist, who demands correct execution of skills every time, therefore runs the risk of creating two problem areas: the athlete will start to play it safe, and will develop a complex about failure. He will lose confidence in his abili- ty to perform properly and master new skills. NO BENCHING The coach is, of course, right to look for and demand proper per- formance of skills the athiete knows how to do well. But he should let the athlete know that failure to perform skills he is stil! learning, will not result in ridicule or benching. This is the reason for permitting failure during some practice situa- tions. You, the coach, are not ap- proving it; you're simply not con- demning it. Says Donahue: ‘‘Suppose I’m an athlete, and I’m trying to dribble the ball behind my back at full speed. This is a skill ] bave not developed yet. ‘‘l should be given the chance to do that under supervision, because when the coach watches me he can help me correct the parts of the skill that | am not doing well, and reinforce the things [I'm doing right. ATTITUDE “Even more important, he can give me the right attitude if it doesn’t work out — never mind, get on to the next thing, get back in the play, because that’s the way it has to happen in a game. {ff I make a mistake, [ can’t Iet it bother me. “This is particularly true of losing teams. The coach of a winning team can jump on an athlete who makes a mistake in a game. It probably won't change his or the team’s winning attitude, unless it happens to be a crucial play in a crucial game. *