Soccer coach consulting with players

Get Buy-in From Selfish Players

When it comes to coaching in sports, finding the right motivation for your players is important. There are cases where extremely talented players find themselves underperforming because of their selfish streak.

As a coach, you’ve got to figure out how you can get that buy-in from these selfish players. Once you do that, you can get them to perform well again:

  • Talk to them:

If you can talk to them directly about their issue, then half your battle is won. A lot of selfish players need a bit of guidance to help them understand and taking them to the side can do the trick.

Ensure that you don’t make it sound like you’re blaming them, but just letting them know that they can do much better with teamwork.

  • Set targets:

One way to get selfish players to act more for the team is by setting them targets which they need to hit, which involves the team. You can give them a target of say 10 assists by the end of the season.

If they can do that, you’ll gradually see them becoming more team-oriented and reducing their selfish play.

  • Showcase potential:

Another great way to motivate selfish players is by showing them their true potential if they weren’t so. 

You can tell them all about how much they can achieve if they actually put their mind to it, and how the team benefits from the same too. 

Use these techniques and notice how selfish players begin to respond better and integrate themselves into team play!