Motivating Female Athletes for Success in Basketball.

Female athletes compete for different reasons than boys and require different kinds of stimuli to achieve

WITH THE POPULARITY of women's basketball at an all-time high, hundreds of young female athletes are beginning to dream of playing professional basketball.

Many of them are being coached by men who do not understand the many factors involved in motivating and coaching female athletes, and this can lead to much frustration and misunderstanding.

Budgets permitting, male coaches will often hire a female assistant to provide the much needed insight in dealing with female athletes. Once these factors fall into place, the male coach will have few problems coaching his athletes.

The three basic areas that must be addressed in motivating female athletes are camaraderie among the players and between coaches and athletes, a positive self-perception, and the realization that female athletes compete for different reasons than males and require different kinds of stimuli to achieve.

It must be understood that girls, skilled as they may be, view their general skills more negatively. It also used to be believed that girls were hesitant about participating in sports for fear of becoming too athletic or too muscular.

In their weight-training programs at Jeffersontown (J-Town), some of the girls expressed discomfort about working out with weights. They were distressed by the thought of becoming "too muscular" -- at the same time the boys were seeking to develop muscle mass to become better athletes and impress the girls!

The girls' coach must also understand that males look for an action oriented environment for competition, while females prefer a more meditative ambiance. They want to be addressed in a friendly and respectful manner and are turned off by yelling, screaming, and the throwing of objects.

Overbearing displays of emotion create a hostile environment that could cause sensitive athletes to drop out.

Coaches who believe in yelling should do it only sparingly and should direct it at the group rather than the individual.

It's possible that winning for winning's sake is less important for the average female and that she is more goal-oriented than the average male.

Girls are also different from boys in their need for nurturing a family-like camaraderie with teammates and coaches. It is important for them to feel comfortable with their teammates and coaches, and they have to be motivated to achieve.

Where male teams predicate enjoyment largely on playing time and winning, the most enjoyable kind of team for a female coach is a group of girls who get along well both on and off the court. The teams who have the best camaraderie are almost always the ones who are the most successful in terms of team unity and seasonal improvement.

Team Chemistry

The role of team chemistry has different shadings in female and male sports. Whereas it is an essential prerequisite for optimal performance in female sports, it is more a by-product of optimal performance among male teams.

During one season at Teffersontown, the girls' basketball team started the year with an exceptional team chemistry, sustained it throughout the season, and wound up with a very good record.

The boys team started with good chemistry and a winning record, but as the season progressed, the team chemistry declined and so did the won-lost record.

The girls' team chemistry was not an accidental thing. It stemmed from a very strong team ambiance the year before, in which the team had bonded with huge success.

This chemistry carried right over into the next season. The girls stuck together like a family. It supported the hypothesis that girls respond best to a family-oriented team environment that meets the needs of each individual.

Self Perception

Many female athletes tend to have lower levels of confidence than men. Their confidence depends on three things: nature of the task, need for clear and positive feedback, and social acceptance.

To enhance a girl's sell-perception, coaches must make certain she is comfortable with the nature of her task. The sport she is competing in must be gender-role appropriate. She must feel comfortable in it, just as a boy would be comfortable playing football, but ill at ease playing on an all-girls softball team.

Feedback

Females also need clear and positive feedback. Ambiguous, negative criticism will likely impair their self-perception. They are much more likely than boys to be disturbed by negative comments.

They respond very well to positive feedback as well as praise and encouragement. John Wooden believes that coaches should seek out private opportunities to praise athletes who need it.

Too many coaches are too willing to criticize and too reluctant to dole out much-needed compliments (quick to criticize and slow to commend). Many coaches contend that such verbal reinforcement is the key to success in coaching women.

At J-Town, individual meetings are used to enhance the self-perception of the basketball players. The meetings between coach and player tend to be sensitive and personal in nature. The discussion begins with basketball talk and then usually shifts to other areas of the athlete's life.

The coach always remains a good listener. Listening may seem rather easy, but it's actually very difficult. Coaches have to concentrate on listening, search for meanings, refrain from interrupting, and give the athlete full attention. They have to be sincere and make the athletes know they are interested in them as people, not just for what they can do for the team.

Female athletes need to be coached differently from male athletes. This may cause problems for coaches who have always coached boys. They may have little insight into the emotional and psychological needs of the girls.

In the December issue of Coach, women's national soccer team coach April Heinrichs warned that male coaches who had success with boys shouldn't assume they can easily make the transition to coaching girls.

Male coaches crossing over can increase their chances for success by observing a few simple rules:

1. Understand the differences in teaching and motivating female athletes.

2. Recognize the greater need for camaraderie among female athletes and understand the need to build a good team chemistry before expecting optimal performance from them.

3. Recognize the importance of self-perception among female athletes.

If coaches can fulfill the individual needs of their athletes, gender will not be an issue because the athletes will recognize their coaches as caring individuals who have their athletes best interest at heart.