Building Confidence Without Wins

Recently, I was asked by the coach of a winless basketball team about confidence. Her team was weary from the beatings they were taking and she was looking for ways to build their confidence even when her team wasn't winning on the court.

It's no secret that the best way for a team to build confidence is to win games. Winning cures everything. It builds confidence and team chemistry. Players start to believe in themselves and each other.

But what can be done when victories prove to be elusive? What, if anything, can be done for the winless team that has players who KNOW that they aren't very good?

It isn't easy. Confidence is built through accomplishment. The better the accomplishment, the more confidence one can attain. Confidence cannot be built up artificially through talk or by beating teams that you know you should beat. Saying "great job" 100 times a practice will have no lasting effect. False confidence will not serve a team well during crunch time. You have to achieve something you weren't sure you could do.

For the team that may not win another game, this must be done through goal setting. Time a drill in practice. Set a goal for how fast a three man weave drill should be completed up and down the floor. Set a goal for going mistake free in a drill for a set amount of time. Count baskets made in a shooting drill. When improvement in these drills can be shown, that will be a confidence builder. Goal setting can also be done during a game. Setting a halftime goal to out rebound a team in the 2nd half or cut down a lead during the third quarter are a couple examples. The goal should be difficult, measurable, and achievable.

It will not be easy, but I commend this coach for wanting to try. All coaches should care about their kids and want to provide as good of an experience playing their sport as possible. All too often, coaches at younger levels bail out on their players and go through the motions until the end of the year. Good coaches do not do that. Good coaches respect the game and never stop teaching.