Kim McCullough

It’s all in your head

Details

Last Updated on Thursday, 17 January 2013 17:01

By Kim McCullough, M.Sc, YCS

As a full-time hockey coach, I’m constantly looking for ways to give my teams and players an advantage. I recently read an amazing book by Carol Dweck called “Mindset “and I want to share a key concept from the book with you as I know it will help players, parents and coaches alike to take their mental game to the next level. 

In “Mindset,” Dweck focuses on the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. In a nutshell, players with a fixed mindset think that every game they play has to be mistake-free. In their minds, anything less than perfection is unacceptable. They do not look at mistakes as an opportunity to learn, they look at them as a sign of weakness.

Quite often these players have a lot of natural talent and haven’t had to work too hard to get where they are in terms of ability. Coaches and teammates often tell them how good they are. And while some of these players may be cocky, it’s not always the case. Whether they are cocky or not on the outside, they are extremely hard on themselves with their own self-talk.

When you have a fixed mindset and everyone tells you how good you are, making mistakes means that either everyone is lying to you or you really are bad. When these players are told they need to work on something, they see it as a sign of weakness. These are players who get frustrated with themselves very easily and seem to believe that talent is a fixed thing – you either have it or you don’t.

These players can be extremely successful – but only up to a point. As they reach higher and higher levels, and the chance of making mistakes goes up and up, they tend to question themselves and their ability more and more. 

On the other hand, players with a growth mindset don’t see mistakes as a sign of weakness or a lack of ability. They see it as an opportunity to learn and grow. 

Typically, these players aren’t “naturals” and have already had to fight and claw to get to the level they are at now. These players definitely believe in the quote, “You don’t always get what you wish for; you get what you work for.”

These players are always looking for ways to get better – no matter whether they are having a lot of success or they are struggling. Their physical performance may change, but their growth mindset always stays the same. These players always want to be better and are willing to do the work needed to get to the next level. 

The interesting thing is that players with a growth mindset can be just as hard on themselves as those with the fixed mindset – the difference is how they choose to react to the challenges in front of them. The fixed mindset players try to hide their weaknesses while the growth mindset players work diligently to improve them. 

As a coach, it is critical to know which players on your team have a fixed mindset and who has a growth mindset. Players aren’t always 100 percent one or the other, but most teams have at least one or more players who fall into the fixed mindset category. 

These are the players that we must reach out to and help them understand and hopefully adopt more of a growth mindset. After all, hockey is a game of mistakes, and if these fixed mindset players can’t react well after making a mistake, it will have a negative effect on their play as well as that of the team. 

Immediately after I finished reading this book, I’ve started to speak to my players and team differently. We will all benefit from adopting more of a growth mindset, especially as the playoffs and tryouts approach and every becomes so laser-focused on performance outcomes. Growth mindset players, coaches and teams honor the process – they know that lasting success takes a lot of work and embrace that opportunity to learn instead of running away from it. 

A player’s mental TV is fully under their own control. As coaches, we must teach players that it is important to change the channel from the fixed to growth mindset. 

For a specific step-by-step plan to take your mental game to the next level, visit www.totalfemalehockey.com/products/mental_performance_plus. Kim McCullough, MSc, YCS, is an expert in the development of aspiring female hockey players. She is a former NCAA Division I captain at Dartmouth and played in the National Women’s Hockey League for six years. She is currently the Girls Hockey Director at the PEAC School for Elite Athletes in Toronto and is the Founder of Total Female Hockey.