Lionheart for Coaches - when the tiger is in the room

What does the tiger in the room mean for coaches?

So your athlete is in a room with a tiger and no, just leaving the room is not an option.

Replace the image of the tiger with what it stands for, a stressful, or maybe even trauma triggering situation your athlete has to face and no chance to back up and we are pretty much in an everyday situation for a coach. It doesn't matter which sport or discipline, there

will be situations where athletes will have to face stress and pressure, where they will have this famous one shot, simply because this is what sport is all about: Perform at your best when it matters and when the pressure is on.

Sure some athletes enjoy pressure situations and even strive for it and the coach doesn't have to do anything. Others worked hard not to choke and to perform well under pressure, others completely choke. But that is the point, what can you do as a coach when things go

wrong, when your athlete is in the room with the tiger but he is missing the game plan to face it. The bad news is, at the point where he faces the tiger and needs to act, you as a coach, you can't do anything. Sure you can do something on the way to the room with the tiger in it, go through a routine, calm the athlete down, fire him up, talk him through the game plan again, whatever you know as a coach your athlete needs.You can even take him out of the situation, restart and then bring him back in sometimes, if it is possible in your sport. But as soon as he actually has to face the tiger, when he is in the room and the door is closed, you as a coach are standing outside of that room. And if your athlete doesn't have the tools to choose the right strategy he will automatically fall back to one of the four F described in the chart above. He will either fight, flight, freeze or fawn and will show a reaction according to it.

You can try to do what a lot of coaches do… try to influence him from the sideline, cheer him up, motivate him, yell at him, whatever, it won′t help. You are outside of the room and yelling and hammering at a bulletproof window, it won't reach him, or even worse, confuse him even more. Sure you can run in and drag him out of this room if you see things go wrong, but that would be like pulling your skier out of the start gate right before he pushes out or pulling your player away from the penalty point, or call a timeout after the snap and replace the

quarterback.

But a) in most sports this is not allowed, b) it would look really stupid and c) won′t help your athlete in any way in this situation. You would just dissolve the situation. So all you can do is watch from that window with no control what is about to happen inside that room. You are just an observer.

But being this observer is the first step and the key to help your athlete to face tigers without falling into the four F. Because this is the crucial factor about the four F, athletes and coaches need to be aware of: Falling into the four F and showing behaviour patterns

according to it is nothing the athlete does on purpose, nor would he be aware of it. And most importantly, nothing of which he has control of, when missing the tools. Because showing those patterns is a sign of not having control over the situation. It is a reaction of a stress overload and the “reptile brain” survival mode kicks in. That is why being the observer is the most important thing a coach can do for his athlete. Because most of the time they have no idea what just happened, either. So you need to observe for him from an outside point of view, what is happening and detect the patterns.

Detecting and analyzing those patterns is not easy. In the chart above are mentioned several, most common behaviour patterns. But those are just the patterns. How the actual behaviour outcome might look like, totally depends on the individual athlete, the context, even mood and social setting of each situation. So it may be the same pattern and a different behaviour. Also, obviously, there are behaviours athletes show that might be the same and even have the same or similar pattern like a four F behavior pattern, but have a different reason and therefore need a different coaching intervention. At the end it comesdown to how well you know your athletes as a coach and to take this neutral outside observer position.

A good first indicator could be if the athlete does something, well let′s put it in coaching terms, really stupid under pressure and he answers the “what was that” question from the coach with an: “i don′t know”. Now, the most important thing for the coach is to stay in the neutral observer position, emphasis on neutral. Because of course, committed coaches get emotional about the performance of their athletes, from happy to frustrated. And obviouslyan athlete failing can be very frustrating. But it is important to remember, if it is a four F behaviour, he won't do it on purpose or has control over it, even inappropriate behaviour after the actual stress event, like being aggressive, crying, accusations, excuses, showing a lack of interest, all of it might still be a four F reaction pattern. Because maybe failing is part of the trigger. So that is why it is important to keep a blue head yourself as a coach, to keep observing. Your emotions are not important now, the athlete's are. He is or was in a stress overload situation and your emotion or reaction as a coach might trigger it even more. Stay compassionate but with a blue head and react according to what your athlete needs right now. If you must show emotions, don't get mad and disappointed at him, get mad and disappointed with him. Cheer him up, calm him down, leave him alone for a minute, anything that will get him out of this situation. Again, here it comes down again to how well you know your athletes. But the most important is: Keep YOUR blue head, stay relaxed and calm.

Don′t get sucked into the trigger situation, don′t be the trigger. Give the athlete the feeling that it is ok, that it is not his fault (it really isn't, that is the thing with the four F).

That you are in control of the situation, even though the athlete isn′t and you know what to do and how to fix it. How to turn him into a Lionheart.

If you want to know more about strategies and intervention for the four F as a coach, follow

our lionheart project posts or sign up for one of our lionheart online courses, or 1:1 coachings for coaches.

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