Honors Program
Football Coaching Psychology: a look into the psychological effects of personalized coaching on high school football players at Lincoln North Star
Date of this Version
Fall 2019
Document Type
Media
Citation
Football Coaching Psychology: a look into the psychological effects of personalized training on high school football players at Lincoln North Star. Directed by Trevin Ball, performance by Trevin Ball, Lynden Bruegman, Cole Coffey, Jace Elliot, Justin Gruber, Matthew Kopplin, Caden Lill, DJ McGarvie, Rojelio Puentes, Colton Reed, and Caden Steiger. Ball Production Studios, 2019. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi14EDUJzg0&t=572s
Abstract
Many high school football athletes do not have the access or the opportunity to work with a coach one on one to develop skills necessary for their position in football. With dozens of kids on a football team, kids often receive little personalized attention at practices as the coaches are trying to preach the big ideas of getting everyone on the same page. The small mistakes and fine details that players make in practice often go unnoticed and players can form bad habits, costing them when it comes to playing time, due to the fact that they are being outperformed by other players. Because of this notion, it was hypothesized that by working with the receivers and quarterbacks at a local high school over the summer, it would be possible to not only see improvement in their football skills but also to see increasing confidence levels in themselves. In order to see if this could be done, a documentary was filmed over the summer as the high school athletes participated in voluntary workouts with personalized training led by myself. The documentary was broken into three sections: pre-program interview questions, the workout program, and finally, the post-program interview questions. To start, a set of three questions was asked to the entire group of quarterbacks and receivers at Lincoln North Star. These pre-program questions gauged the athletes' thoughts about their current abilities, what they wanted to improve on, and also how confident they felt about their current abilities. After recording their answers the program was quickly installed. Two to three times a week, June through August, for approximately two hours each day, the athletes would participate in voluntary workouts with position-specific and skill-specific drills led by myself. If the athletes were found to be making a small mistake during a drill, it was possible to take the time to teach them the correct way to do it and to ensure that they were able to make the changes and become confident performing the drills that way. Throughout the workout and training program, improvements in skills were seen as they were incorporating the changes made through personalized coaching. The athletes seemed to have more fun as they began to perform better each workout. After the completion of the program, the athletes were asked three questions which served as the post-program questions. Their responses to these questions allowed for the evaluation of how they felt about their skills after going through the program all summer, what they still wanted to improve upon, and finally how confident they were in their abilities. From the beginning of the documentary when the athletes were asked the pre-program questions, to the end when they are asked the post-program questions, there was certainly an apparent overall increase in confidence levels by each athlete.