When Things Don’t Go Your Way

Today's blog was written by Emma Dashut a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching course taught by Play Like a Champion Today co-directors Professor Clark Power and Kristin Sheehan.

 

 

Alabama suffered a tough loss this past week. Being the number one ranked team they did not expect to lose to the number 4 ranked team, especially on such a rare last minute field goal return.

 

 

Auburn gets all the glory going forward, but where does that leave the Crimson Tide? Dealing with a loss is one of the most important aspects of sports.  In order for Alabama to have future success they have to be able to put this loss behind them and move forward. This is the true test of good coaches and good leaders.

 

 

Will the team be able to pull together and recover? This will depend on the actions of the coaches and captains. They can only focus on the past long enough to learn from their mistakes, but if they linger on it too long they may hurt team morale. No one played perfectly, and coaches need to refrain from placing blame on any one player or group of players. Football is a team sport; win as a team or lose as a team. The Bama coaches need to emphasize this as the team prepares for the future opponents. Pulling together in support of one another after the loss will get them much further than negativity will. Dealing with losing is an important lesson for coaches to teach young athletes. It is okay to be angry, but not to be a sore loser. No one wants a sore loser bringing the whole team down. Athletes need to learn to accept defeat when they are young so they are able to do it when they are older.  I hope the players of the Crimson Tide were taught how to handle a loss.