As an athlete, I had the unfortunate quirk to dwell on my mistakes. If I missed the defensive tackle and the other team scored or tripped over my feet and lost the ball and the shot on goal, I replayed those mistakes in head over and over. I struggled to let go of the past and move forward in the game.
And as a coach I want to develop players who do not beat themselves up over past mistakes but instead are able to think about the next play. But how do you do that? How can we develop youth players who are capable of moving on from their mistakes and on to the future? The answer, like so many on this blog, is that it starts with culture.
One way to do that is to consider building a mastery climate, where players are encouraged to learn from their mistakes see themselves as capable of continuing improvement. It requires helping players learn to use positive self-talk to recover from their mistakes. Through positive coaching, you can help your players stop living in the past and move forward to the next play.
The Sideline Fix 
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