Maldaptive or Adaptive

The ups and downs of perfectionism
By Phoebe Dey

Every athlete dreams of the perfect performance, but how that perfectionism is attained is critical, says a University of Alberta researcher. Dr. John Dunn, a sport psychologist at the U of A who researches motivation theory, found that athletes who perceive undue pressure from parents and coaches will suffer in the long run.

Dunn studied 174 teenage football players to investigate the idea of perfectionism in sport. He created a tool that measured several components of perfectionism, such as perceived parental pressure, setting personal goals, and feelings about making mistakes during competition. Dunn found that two types of perfectionism exist: adaptive (healthy) perfectionism and maladaptive (unhealthy) perfectionism. In other words, there is a good way to try to excel, and a poor way.

Dunn found that athletes with an adaptive motivational pattern tended to set moderately high personal standards, and at the same time they recorded low perceived parental pressure, low concern over mistakes, and low perceived coach pressure. In contrast, athletes who had high personal standards and high perceived parental pressure, high concern over mistakes, and high perceived coach pressure had the most maladaptive motivational patterns in the study.

"Maladaptive perfectionists can still achieve high levels of performance, but these people are motivated by failure and by fear of messing up," said Dunn, lead author of a paper just published in the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. "With that negative motivation comes anxiety and stress. That person is often drained and rarely feels a sense of satisfaction of doing well. In the long-term, that person is at risk of burning out."

Currently, many parents and coaches set standards that many athletes are actually unable to meet, said Dunn. "We should challenge athletes, but the standards must be achievable," he said. "If they aren't, we run the risk of the athletes not achieving the goal, and they will never find satisfaction in anything they do. We want them to come back more and more but if there is no satisfaction in the sport, they won’t.”

Dunn cites athletes like Wayne Gretzky and Tiger Woods as examples of healthy perfectionists. Looking at their practice behavior and the pure joy they receive from their sports shows they have their heads on straight and are motivated by positive factors.

"Tiger Woods may not have shot the best round of his life to win a major tournament, but when he is asked, he is still happy he won," said Dunn. "A maladaptive perfectionist would not be able to enjoy that victory because he would be concentrating on a missed putt."

Dunn's other research projects include the examination of the relationship between perfectionism and anger in high-performance male youth football and hockey players and between perfectionism and body image in Canadian female figure skaters.

FreebNotes:

The same might be said for coaching styles as well. We all know that it starts at the top and runs downhill, correct? So if you are one who coaches out of fear, lots of pressure and concern over mistakes, you may be setting yourself and your team up for constant failure. As Wayne Dyer would say, "Always striving, but never arriving, " never finding any satisfaction in what they are doing.

There is a delicate dance that you must do when dealing with the developing psyches of young athletes. And what does this study have to say about all the highly competitive, pressuring youth coaches across America today.

I have a running argument with little league baseball. To me, summertime is time for playing baseball. Just as football is for the fall and basketball for the winter. But regular season for little league is over in June because of putting together the All Star team for the championship run, leaving the vast majority of kids alone at home.

And then there is the 'All Star Syndrome.' A soccer coach was having trouble at one of the school's I coached at with the parents whose kids were riding the pine - very little playing time. They just did not have the skills to make the varsity field. But they played on the All-Star Select Team!" They had traveled all over the West: SLC, San Diego,LA, PDX, SEA etc. Now they were on the bus to Molalla to play back-up. Many of the kids were burnout or fed up with the whole soccer scene before they made high school.

Back at it

Most of you know I suffered a computer crash which made things very difficult, especially on the road.

We have a new computer and the road problems, "they say," are corrected so we can get back to be more regular on the upkeep of this site.

Feel free to post your comments.

Explosive Stance.

At the BFS clinics I conduct, I have an exercise I demo with the offensive line that you can do with your line coach and men. Take the five O-Linemen and put them on the baseline in the gym. Have them get in their offensive stance with their toes on the line.

Then, without moving their feet, have them stand up and then do a standing long jump. Be sure to mark how far they went.

Next have them return to the base line, only this time have each of them assume a jump stance. If they do not know what that is, have them place their big toe in their arm pit – no wider.

Then have them jump again. Note what happens. Everyone invariably jumps farther, sometimes significantly farther.

The point is, if you want to be more explosive off the line, narrow you stance. We would tell our kids that we wanted them to be uncomfortable in their stance so they could step comfortably.

Narrowing your stances will improve your line play, especially when you are using the same jump stance everyday that you power clean in the weightroom.

One more thing, Another big improvement can be made if you teach your center to be more explosive. Over 90% of the centers in high school ball snap the ball first them they step to block. This always puts them at a disadvantage. The defense keeps their eyes on the ball, while the center snaps, the defense moves and will be striking the center and knocking him back.
Now I played center in high school and college and quickly learned that to gain an advantage, I needed to be stepping while snapping the ball. Any center can learn to do this and it give a HUGE advantage to your center which then transfers to the rest of your line.

Think about it. Who knows more on when the ball will be snapped than your center. So if you can get him to step forward while snapping, he would be first off the line. He becomes the apex of the of your line’s movement. What was once a liability is now and asset.

To improve your line explosiveness, narrow down their stance, And get more weight on their down hand. You get about the right amount of pressure on that down hand when the arm is perpendicular to the ground and the hips are slightly higher than the shoulder blades.

On The Road Again

11 On 11

Hear what others say about BFS’s Be An 11 Program:

“Thanks again for coming up to spend time with our athletes today. It was an ELEVEN!!!” Coach Mike Glennie

"Reaffirmed the Reason I Entered Coaching 25 Years Ago.” Coach Al McFarland

"Every School in the Nation Should Schedule a Be An 11 Seminar Today! It is Without a Doubt the Best Thing that has Happened to Our School.” Coach T. Cox

"Be An 11 Has Changed My Life! I WILL BE AN 11!” Katie Heinlen, Athlete

BFS’s Founder and CEO asked me to help develop our Be An 11 Seminar and Guidebook in part because I developed and taught a Be An 11 type class in three different high schools over a 20 year time period. Be An 11 is needed now more than ever in schools nationwide.

I have developed a one hour Be An 11 message for your athletes to hear called “11 on 11” – Eleven points on Being An 11 gleaned from a coaching career spanning five decades.

I will be traveling from Oregon to Ohio and back late May and early June. We will be traveling along I-90 & 94 and I-70 & 80. If you are within 50 miles or less of one of these interstates, we can swing by and present to your team or school’s athletes. Schedule it as an in school field trip or in the evening so parents might attend as well.

The normal, full Be An 11 Seminar carries a $1700, but since I am in the area the cost for this special 1-hour presentation is just $5/per athlete, 25 athlete minimum. In addition, if you decided to schedule a full, three hour, Be An 11 Seminar after this one hour intro, the amount of this 1-hour “11 On 11” presentation will be deducted from the Seminar’s $1700 fee. So if you would have 75 of your athletes attend at $5 each, that $375 would be deducted from the $1700.

We could also meet and discuss other BFS Program material, or we could schedule a time for an EQualizer clinic for your staff. You, the members of the EQualizer Football Group are the first to hear of this opportunity. 800.628.9737 ex 603 rings through to my cell phone 24/7.

The time slots are limited, so call or email to schedule a time right away.

2 Minute Stop The Clock Play

HITCH PASS

THE HITCH PASS IS USED PRIMARILY IN TWO SITUATIONS: (1) WHEN THE SECONDARY IS PLAYING "OFF" THE WIDE RECEIVER AND (2) THIS IS OUR "STOP THE CLOCK" PLAY FOR OUR 2 MINUTE OFFENSE.

THE HITCH PASS IS A QUICK PASS. THE QB GETS THE BALL, TAKES ONE POSITION STEP, AND DELIVERS THE BALL TO THE WIDE OUT. THIS PASS MUST BE COMPLETED BEHIND THE LOS TO ENABLE THE BLOCKERS TO DELIVER THEIR BLOCKS ASAP. WHEN THE BALL IS COMPLETED BEHIND THE LOS, THERE IS NO OFFENSIVE PASS INTERFERENCE.
THE WIDE RECEIVER TAKES A STEP WITH HIS OUTSIDE FOOT TO PLANT, TURNS AND STEPS BACK TO RECEIVE THE BALL FROM THE QB.

THE JOB OF THE SECOND RECEIVER IS TO BLOCK THE WIDEST SECONDARY DEFENDER. THE EXACT BLOCK USED DEPENDS ON HOW THAT DEFENDER PLAYS HIS POSITION.

THE THIRD RECEIVER IS RESPONSIBLE FOR SEALING THE SECOND SECONDARY DEFENDER. THE FB IS TO IMMEDIATELY DRIVE THROUGH THE OUTSIDE SHOULDER OF THE DE.

THE 2 MINUTE SITUATION

EVERY OFFENSIVE DAY, WE PRACTICE OUR 2 MINUTE OFFENSE. THE SE HITCH PLAY IS USED TO "STOP THE CLOCK." AT THE END OF ANY PLAY WHERE THE CLOCK CONTINUES TO RUN (OR WILL START WHENEVER THE CHAINS ARE SET FOLLOWING A FIRST DOWN) THE TEAM WILL LINE UP ON THE BALL WITHOUT A HUDDLE AND THE QB ON THE SNAP IMMEDIATELY DELIVERS THE BALL TO THE SE WHO IS POSITIONED 1 YARD IN FROM THE SIDELINE.

IF THE PASS CAN BE COMPLETED, THE SE WILL CATCH THE BALL, MOVE UP THE SIDELINE, AND WHEN FIRST THREATENED, HE WILL STEP OUT OF BOUNDS TO STOP THE CLOCK.

THE PURPOSE OF THE PLAY IS TO STOP THE CLOCK, FIRST, LAST, AND ABOVE ALL OTHER THINGS!

IF THE SE IS AT ALL COVERED AT THE SNAP, THE QB IS TO THROW THE BALL HIGH OVER THE SE'S HEAD OUT-OF-BOUNDS TO STOP THE CLOCK.

THE TEAM WILL THEN RE-HUDDLE TO GET THE NEXT PLAY FROM THE SIDELINES.
POSITIONING IS IMPORTANT ON THIS PLAY. IDEALLY WITH A RIGHT HANDED QB WE WOULD BE ON THE RIGHT HASH FOR ALIGNMENT. IT IS THE JOB OF THE QB AS THE PREVIOUS PLAY ENDS, TO DETERMINE THE ALIGNMENT FOR THE "STOP THE CLOCK PLAY." FOR RIGHT HANDED QBS ANY PLAY THAT ENDS NEAR THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELD OVER TO THE RIGHT HASH, THE QB WILL SHOUT, "RIGHT, RIGHT, RIGHT!" THE TEAM WILL LINE-UP IN A DOUBLE SLOT RIGHT FORMATION AND RUN THE PLAY. IF THE END OF THE PLAY IS NEAR THE LEFT HASH, THE QB WILL SHOUT, "LEFT,LEFT, LEFT!" FOR DOUBLE SLOT LEFT ALIGNMENT. WE DO NOT WANT THE BALL IN THE AIR FOR TOO LONG ON THIS PLAY. EVERY SECOND COUNTS. TO THROW THE BALL FROM THE LEFT HASH TO THE RIGHT SIDELINE IS TOO FAR AND TAKES TOO LONG.

This play has been very good to us, especially in the 2 minute drill. We have driven the ball down the field successfully with time running out on the clock because we have practiced the drill at the end of every offensive practice.

We put one minute on the clock, ball on the -30 yard line and we have one time out left as if we have just received a punt and are starting the last drive of the game to win.

Whenever the clock stops after a play, we will huddle and send the play in from the sidelines as we normally do. If the clock is running, or if the clock is about to start because we just made a first down, we employ this hitch play to gain some yards and then the R'er is to get out of bounds and stop the clock.

REMEMBER: THE PURPOSE OF THE PLAY DURING THE 2 MINUTE DRILL IS TO STOP THE CLOCK.

Always tell the QB that it is better to throw the ball away than to take a sack which keeps the clock running. Throwing the ball away means we have not lost any ground, and we can huddle up, collect toughts and complete the next pass called.