PREPARING TEAM FOR PRESSURE- The tradition for many football teams is to hold four fingers at the start of the 4th quarter. I assume to indicate when the game is on the line, we will win. Besides handling the fourth quarter, there are lots of “pressure situations” in sports- tie game with minute to go, kicking field goal with 3 seconds left to win, goal line stand in last minute, down 2 with 20 seconds in bb game, away game and other team puts on full court press, handling bad refs. What are things you did as a coach that you thought helped them handle game pressures?
Kathy Bresnahan- Iowa City West
I watched our local university football team fall apart this past weekend. After squandering a large first half lead, they only needed 20 more yards to attempt a game winning field goal against one of the best teams in the country however the drive failed after poorly executed third and fourth down attempts. Had this been a one time thing, it would be easy to say that it was a good effort - and it was - but this is third time this scenario happened this season.
When the game was over I found myself questioning if the players didn’t execute or did the coaches not put them in a position to win? If your team always falls short of your goal ; a conference championship, making it to the playoffs, or winning a state championship then you might want to look in the mirror. What are you doing to prepare your athletes to perform their best on the biggest stage?
I truly believe you must put more pressure on your team in practice than they will ever have in a match. Several times a week I would have a high pressure drill or dedicated practice. You can take the simplest of drills and by adding a time limit factor or some type of consequence, the simplest task becomes insanely difficult. The longer it takes them to finish the task, the more pressure the players experience. There would be times I wanted to end the drill before its completion but that would be defeating the purpose even at the expense of the rest of my practice plans
A real simple example. Half the players have a ball and one at a time they have to serve the ball, run to retrieve it, and serve again. If there were 8 kids in that group, they might have to make 17 serves without a miss.
The rest of the team is conditioning on the adjacent court. The longer the drill goes on, the more tired the servers become…similar to later in a match…and the more frustrated their conditioning teammates became.
So many good things can occur with this. Who are the leaders? Who keeps encouraging? Who calls time out in order to regroup? When the task is complete, roles are reversed.
Often in order to challenge the play of our varsity players verses our non-starters, instead of regular scoring, the varsity might only get a point if they got a side out on their first play of the ball. If they succeed, rotate one position. If they win the point but not on the first touch, the subs rotate. First team to rotate six positions win. We had many drills with various scoring adaptations that favored our bench players.
As coaches, figure out the best way to put added pressure in your practices. Even having them do an easy drill but it must be completed in 2 minutes, adds to the intensity of your practice. Of course we always had a visible clock showing the time running down or the scoring. It was interesting how often the players glanced at the clock or scoreboard, just like they do in a game.
Best of luck. Now if only our football team could start winning these games…,🥴
Greg Bennett- Lewistown
How a team handles “pressure situations” often tends be the difference between winning and losing a contest. Some of the things I recommend as preparation include:
1. Setting aside blocks of practice time to discuss and replicate potential pressure situations. I always had a strong belief that it is much better to “over-prepare” than to “under-prepare.” Some situations might only happen once during a season, or might never occur at all, but going over various scenarios, and installing contingencies for dealing with them, is always essential.
2. Simulate pressure during practice by adding obstacles such as noise distractions, time constraints, “nearly impossible” objectives, etc., in order to push overall stress to a “real game” level.
3. Always add group or individual competition aspects to practice activities, and stress the importance of accountability. (Make sure that there are actual consequences for task failure and rewards for successful execution.)
4. Never miss the chance to utilize teachable moments involving stress/pressure situations. Always take time, both in practice and during film sessions, to correct mistakes and to model proper execution.
5. Lead by example! Coaches who get flustered and “lose their cool” during pressure situations, cause their teams to act in a similar manner. Coaches that “take a breath,” maintain composure, and project confidence, field teams that are much more likely to overcome obstacles and achieve success.
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