Making your Teammates Better

Positive players are leaders who have a positive impact on those around them

 

Making Your Team-Mates Better

Positive sandwich

Positive players help others around them to get better. Often that means giving feedback on their performances and a positive player does this in a way to build confidence in his/her team-mate and not drain their confidence. The positive sandwich is a simple technique that can help you give constructive feedback.

The constructive feedback can be given along with praise. For instance if a team-mate played you a short pass you could say “Well done, that’s the right pass” “play it a little harder next time” “Keep going you’re doing great”. This sandwiches the correction in between 2 comments of praise which will keep the confidence of your team-mate high and the desire to try again next time.

Buddy system

Partner yourself with one of your team-mates during training or a match, when you see your partner doing something well – tell him!

If perhaps he makes a mistake, encourage him to try again and praise his effort to try

Keeping your buddy’s confidence high often only needs a bit of encouragement. Hearing praise from a team-mate builds a positive environment and teammates that work together for the benefit of the team.

Think of a time you made a mistake and a team mate shouted abuse at you for making the mistake – how did you feel? Give praise and encourage.

Positive feedback

It is easy as a team-mate to identify things that a team-mate has not done so well but a positive player picks up things that his/her team-mates do well and tell them about them.

During a game or training pick a team-mate to watch. This could be a team-mate who plays in a similar position or a team-mate you believe needs a boost in confidence. Look for the positive things players do. Whenever you see one, take a mental note. Remember to look for verbal as well as physical actions. Try to identify 3 / 5 points per match or training session. At the end of the match or training session, share your feedback with the player. Positive feedback is a great way to encourage team spirit. Something as simple as saying “well done? can have a massive impact on your team-mates performance.