How to motivate a player that is in a bad period and isn’t performing well

January 1, 2015 Posted in Coaches, Website

For a number of different reasons, a certain player may not be performing quite up to the standard expected of them.
Often a period of poor performance is eventually overcome by a player and they’re back to their best in no time.
But when a period of poor performance is prolonged and even starts to affect the team’s overall performance,
you might have to step in as a manager and deploy your communication skills to try and motivate the under-performing player.

The Approach:
Oftentimes a players will be aware of the fact that they’re not performing quite up to standard, so half your job is already done.
The key to successfully motivating an under-performing player back to peak performance lies in the personal relationship you have with each player, as a coach.
In some instances, micro-management on a player-by-player basis is impractical, but if you do have a deep-running one-on-one, personal relationship with each of your team players, it’ll be easy to call the under-performing player to one side and find out what the possible cause of their compromised performance may be.
At the most basic of levels, calling the entire team together for a meeting and simply relaying that you’ve noticed a drop in performance in some players, communicating the need for each member to pull up their socks and make the contribution required of them.
When the group approach doesn’t seem to work, gently isolate the under-performing player and remind them of the reason they were selected to be part of the team.
Explain to them that nobody suddenly becomes bad overnight and if necessary, design a specialized training program for that specific player, with the main focus of that specialized training program going back to the basics of the sport.

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