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093 - Coach the Brain, Not Behavior
124 Plays27 days ago
Why do athletes execute perfectly in practice… but freeze under pressure?
In this episode of the Captains & Coaches Podcast, we break down one of the most misunderstood challenges in coaching: athletes aren’t always being defiant — sometimes their brain simply isn’t ready yet.
Coach Tex McQuilkin dives into cognitive development through the lens of sport, unpacking how athletes learn, why teenagers struggle with abstract strategy, and how stress can cause even elite performers to regress during competition. Using real coaching examples across multiple sports, this episode explores how coaches can shift from correcting behavior to developing decision-making, emotional regulation, and confidence.
Because great coaching isn’t just about teaching the play — it’s about developing the brain running it.
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Transcript
Introduction to Cognitive Coaching in Sports
00:00:00
Speaker
Action. Coach the brain, not behavior. Welcome the Captains and Coaches Podcast. We explore the art and science of leadership to the lens of athletics and beyond. Today was all about the brain and operational processing.
00:00:15
Speaker
My season's underway. We got practices every single day and games. We got stressful situations. We got a lot. We got to fit into practice so we feel like we're prepared Four games.
00:00:27
Speaker
Anyone that's coached any sport knows just because you covered something in practice doesn't mean you're able to execute it when stress is high in the game.
00:00:38
Speaker
What do we do as coaches? Sometimes we get mad at them for not remembering. Well, that's what this is going to be all about this episode. I don't know about the rest of you. I love to quote movies during practices. So the mundane, the stuff I've so said 10,000 times in my coaching career is still entertaining for myself.
00:00:59
Speaker
During huddles, I always think Anchorman. If I see a kid just gazing off into the abyss or just head down, not paying attention, I think of the scene, it's in the beginning of Anchorman when they're all in the the news conference room. They're all sitting around the table. Ron's got his feet up on the desk.
00:01:18
Speaker
The head of the the station comes in and he's giving him some news and he looks at Ron. He's like, Ron, are you listening? And Ron with his feet up on the desk just says, no So I laugh every time a kid is not paying attention, just reminds me of that scene.
00:01:35
Speaker
Well, just because they're not paying attention doesn't mean they're being defiant. Sometimes it just means their brain is not ready yet.
Cognitive Development in Athletes
00:01:45
Speaker
The science today we're going to be diving into the work of development psychologist Jean Piaget.
00:01:54
Speaker
Spelling. So check out this book. Definitely worth a read. So he's got four stages of development. The first two we're not going to focus on. First one is zero to two years old. Then you get into three to six and seven.
00:02:09
Speaker
There it is. Today we're focusing on stage three and four for Piaget, and you're going to understand where they are. And athletes that regress back, or if they're really advanced, but then they start to learn a new skill, a new play, or take on a new sport, they're going to revert back in their developmental stage.
00:02:29
Speaker
Well, us as coaches got to understand where they're coming from and meet them where they're at. So Piaget, going to get that wrong the whole episode. It's fine. Everything's fine. He helps us answer one of the biggest questions in coaching mistakes in youth sports with teenagers.
00:02:45
Speaker
We coach teenagers like they're mini adults. Big mistake that we make, we understand stuff. We try to break it down. Okay, this makes sense to us. And I'm to explain it to these teenagers with less coaching experience or sport experience than me, like it makes sense to me.
00:03:04
Speaker
That's a huge mistake. So we're focusing on these different stages of the brain so we can change and articulate our message to meet where their brain is at so they can still install the software we're trying to and then use their bodies to execute it.
00:03:21
Speaker
There's also understanding what we're talking about and then getting their bodies to execute it. All advanced stuff. So if you're coaching the body without understanding the brain, we will mistake development or mistake mistakes and development mistakes for disrespect.
00:03:41
Speaker
And when that happens, coaches punish athletes for something they literally, they can't process. They don't understand what we're talking about or execute it yet. And I've seen this at all levels.
00:03:53
Speaker
where coaches, they get heated, they start to yell for kids not understanding, and the kids get one chance, one rep, the next play to get it right or else, and they always, almost always, mess that up.
00:04:09
Speaker
And then they got to run for it. I hate training, trading, training, and practice time for... running, especially because the running technique is garbage. All right. So today we're going to give you how athletes actually process instruction, an inside look at how the brain works for teenagers and why athletes regress
Concrete Thinkers: Coaching Young Athletes
00:04:30
Speaker
under pressure. This going be a fun one. I'll throw as many different sport examples that I can at you.
00:04:38
Speaker
i'm trying to cover all bases i spent a lot of time in lacrosse as examples but i'll do my best to cover other sports to help make this as clear as possible to help you understand where my stages of my understanding of many different sports is right because great coaching it doesn't stop at the whistle great coaching develops the humans running the place all right we're going to be covering concrete versus abstract thinking and the reality coaches miss and piaget goes on to tell us that athletes move through stages of thinking and each stage determines where they are physically capable of learning and to help you understand that they're going to really good at something but then take on a new skill
00:05:30
Speaker
Just because they're really good at one other skill doesn't mean that they're developmentally, their brain is at that new skill. So this is a term in education called differentiation. So students, but also same students taking on new skills and understanding and grasping that is going to be very important.
00:05:49
Speaker
So the third phase for Piaget we're going to spend a lot of time in aiming to understand today is concrete operational athletes. This is age seven to 11 typically. These athletes, they can think logically, but only about things they can see, touch, or experience physically.
00:06:10
Speaker
the drill The specific drill we're working on, the play we're practicing, this moment in time, it's difficult for them to see outside of that.
00:06:21
Speaker
If we're doing and teaching a very specific drill, and us as coaches want to tell them, this is typically ages 7 to 11, but think of it as concrete thinkers ah for this episode.
00:06:35
Speaker
If we're trying to tell them where this is in sport, they may not have that understanding yet. Think about, they they understand the letters the the the clues on a ah board of Wheel of Fortune, but they can't and will quite necessarily piece together the whole phrase. They have the context clue they understand.
00:06:58
Speaker
They know that there's no F on the board. i'm going to pick F, but they can't quite solve the puzzle. They're just working within spinning the wheel, picking letters that are not present, and then aiming to to then get that play eventually.
00:07:14
Speaker
They thrive with rules, structure, and step-by-step instructions at this level of thinking. The coaching trap where we step outside of that, the rules, the specific scenarios, if this, then that. We tell them things like, hey, go create space or get creative.
00:07:34
Speaker
Read the defense. They're lost. Think of that Wheel of Fortune example. They they can't just put the puzzle together. they They understand there's a person in front of them, but they don't understand that they're a part of a whole play and so a whole scheme within here.
00:07:53
Speaker
Difficult. And to the concrete athlete, space, that that phrase means nothing. They need anchors, targets, landmarks. Instead of saying, find open space, say, sprint to the cone.
00:08:08
Speaker
All right. Now, the example, I'm going to use another lacrosse one, and I'll try to sprinkle in other sports here too. Lacrosse, if common phrase is inside out. It's a principle. We're going play defense inside out.
00:08:21
Speaker
um I love to tell kids to think about that giant ball, right, where you can grab it, and then it expands, and then closes. That'd be a visual to help connect my principle to my concrete thinkers because they don't quite understand well how inside out works for the game.
00:08:41
Speaker
To also use visuals and clear rules and right and wrong for my concrete thinkers to get them inside out, I put cones in front of the crease, which is the space in front of the goal. Think about the paint for basketball.
00:08:57
Speaker
that paint that's right in front of the goal, that dude stand outside for three throws, I draw that with cones on a lacrosse field to help them understand inside out. If they're guarding the man with the ball, they're out on the ball.
00:09:10
Speaker
Now, if they're not guarding the man, they need to run in and put one foot in the paint. That's right there. So it's very clear. Then we can start to help them understand, okay, now that you're in the paint, you're going to help with this person over here.
00:09:26
Speaker
You're two or backside, whatever it may be. So we're aiming to teach them to flow in and out. And I'm using visuals. They may not understand where the piece is connected to the game yet, but they know that if they're out on the ball, as soon as he passes it, they get their butt into the paint.
00:09:46
Speaker
Another example here is going to be volleyball for a concrete thinker. We got six positions on the field and then each serve you rotate for each change of possession. Again, I'm not 100% sure, just using an example.
00:10:00
Speaker
You rotate from spots one, two, three, four, five, and six, and then you rotate off the court. Now, Concrete, if you're in position one, this is your role, your job. You are the setter.
00:10:14
Speaker
And two, this is your role. And your role will change with each position that you are in the rotation. That's an example of concrete. If you get a bunch of football meat player football meathead players that go and start to learn volleyball, that's how they're going to learn it. Okay, if I'm here, my job is this.
00:10:36
Speaker
A lot of football education is very concrete. If this, then that. Know your know your role. One job. So think about when you've taught somebody as a concrete example, and maybe in your mind you think you're dumbing it down.
00:10:50
Speaker
I wouldn't put frame it as negative. You're just meeting them where they're at. Their brain right now for this particular skill, they may be a smart kid in the classroom, but they're learning a new sports skill for this time.
00:11:02
Speaker
We need to think of it in as concrete as possible. So don't frame it as dumbing down because they're going to think they're stupid. You are meeting them where they're at in their stage three of development concrete
Formal Operational Stage: Strategic Thinking in Teens
00:11:16
Speaker
examples.
00:11:17
Speaker
If this, then that. Here's your role. Cool. where they're at no problem. And if you ask concrete thinker to run complex tactics, that's like asking a fifth grader to solve calculus. I can't even do calculus right now.
00:11:34
Speaker
The kid is not stupid. You're being a poor teacher. It's not a lack of effort. It's a lack of cognitive hardware for them to process or execute using their bodies in in ah in sports what you're asking them to do.
00:11:50
Speaker
The next stage here is formal operational, a formal operational athlete. wouldn't name my business that, but that's the stage that they're in. This is going to be 12 plus years old.
00:12:02
Speaker
But remember, just because they're 12 doesn't mean that they're formally operational athletes. This is when they understand strategy. They can process hypothetical scenarios.
00:12:15
Speaker
Instead of staying locked into the drill, I can start to add where this drill exists in the sport. They're now ready globally to accept and make that connection. they They connect to whiteboard diagrams. If I'm called timeout I'm drawing a play, they're more likely to go out into the field and execute it.
00:12:37
Speaker
where, okay, there's 15 seconds on the clock. If that happens, we're going to do this play. So now it's scenario specific instead of just running the play, I can give them, okay, we got this much amount of the time on the clock. It's a two minute drill.
00:12:54
Speaker
So they can get very specific within that. And they can anticipate certain things happening versus react where I can give them, okay, a zone read route versus saying you are going to run this route no matter what.
00:13:09
Speaker
Okay. If the defense is in a zone, you're going to do this. Or if they are in this particular zone, you're going to do that. They are now ready for that. I'm not just talking. at a concrete thinker that just started to play wide receiver in football, giving him all these options, that's just me being a selfish coach. And now I'm getting mad at him for not doing what i you know that one of the four options I gave him because he's paralyzed with overthinking.
00:13:35
Speaker
So the chalk talks finally work. It's all finally clicking. Yeah, the kid had enough experience because he progressed into this mode. We can't accelerate that experience if we meet them where they're at.
00:13:47
Speaker
All right, now going back to the volleyball example, instead of the concrete locked in roles for each position, now I as a person have a role.
00:13:59
Speaker
Even though I'm starting in the back left, if I'm the setter or blocker, you don't know volleyball, work with me here. Then i can go from position six in the back. Okay, they served it.
00:14:10
Speaker
I can read and move and navigate around my whole teammates to get to my particular position. And now I'm ready. a new volleyball player knowing that and navigating across while you've got other people moving around you, while the ball's in the air, while coach is yelling something, whoa, there's a lot going on there.
00:14:31
Speaker
So think about the stage that they've progressed into through their experience and of practice times and reps and quality mentorship. That's more of a formal operational athlete.
00:14:44
Speaker
I will say this though, again, just because the athlete is 14 does not mean that they can think abstractly under pressure. They may default back to concrete thinking as soon as the stress gets too much or there's too many plays on their plate or the competition is just throwing the kitchen sink at them.
00:15:06
Speaker
Recall Sam Darnold's, it's like there's ghosts out there, quote from when he was on the Jets. Congrats to him. All right. So stress often resets development.
00:15:17
Speaker
And us as coaches and mentors, we need to motivate them back into the athlete that we believe they are to be. that they know and can execute the plays. So, i mean, this is almost at any level here.
00:15:31
Speaker
um So i just want you to think about with concrete development, teach through movement, very specific, if this, then that. If we're moving, we're learning.
00:15:42
Speaker
I love to tell the other coaches that we're working with youth lacrosse. Keep them moving. Us talking at these kids is not doing a lot. Now, later in their development, teach through conversation, strategy, film. They're finally in a position to learn.
00:15:59
Speaker
It's not just watching football because we love the highlights and the experience that we want our team to win. Now we're diagramming plays and breaking it down and seeing what the guard did and if the linebacker read the play correctly.
00:16:13
Speaker
And then what did the offense do if the linebacker read the play correctly? What was their technique in taking on that so so that that assignment in blocking? So we can get so much deeper once they're ready for this position. A concrete example for linebackers while we're thinking about it would be guard reads.
00:16:34
Speaker
If your guard does this, then you do that. If they down block, then you fill the hole. If the guard pulls, then you follow. Very simple. Then it can get more progressive and complex. okay With this particular zone or this team, we're not going to follow that. That team pulls that guard, and that's a distraction.
00:16:58
Speaker
They're trying to get you out of position, et cetera. So it gets more advanced. You can see how that works. All right. Our teaching style must evolve faster than our playbook and remembering who we are working with.
00:17:12
Speaker
So adding and another layer to this, if Piaget gave us the roadmap for how the brain develops, modern coaching psychology gives us a reality check, and our experience can double down on that. It's not a perfect progression through Piaget's ah cognitive processing development. Development is not smooth. Development is not balanced. Development is messy.
00:17:38
Speaker
So a term that I love to help us understand that and recall and remember this when we're in the heat of the moment of practice or a game, this is called domain specificity.
00:17:51
Speaker
So domain specificity tells us that an athlete might be have elite cognitive performance in one area, but still developing in another. And I see this every single year through lacrosse because in especially in Texas dudes get cut from baseball they get cut from basketball they are not right for football so then they still want to play a sport or they see their boys having fun so they come out and guess what it's lucky I speak football it's lucky I speak baseball and it can start to help make connections from other sports to get them to to execute and learn but knowing okay
00:18:32
Speaker
These guys need to be told exactly what to do. They're at a concrete level. I'm not throwing too much ah schematics and understanding. I'm realizing where they are in their athlete journey. They may be highly intelligent in the classroom, but right now they're concrete thinkers.
00:18:52
Speaker
I've also witnessed this this interesting phenomenon at the captain's level.
Balancing Leadership and Performance
00:18:59
Speaker
seniors junior captains they are super talented athletes on the team they've earned the respect of their squad so they are voted into captain they're very skilled they've had to worry about their own performance for a long time now all of a sudden there's a lot of social responsibilities there's a lot of expectations of them from coach to manage and communicate and to make sure that everybody's on the same page they personally
00:19:28
Speaker
have to work on emotional regulation, handling peer conflict, organization, social awareness. All of that is huge stress burden put on them.
00:19:41
Speaker
All the while, they still to maintain their high level of aptitude playing, learning the playbooks and executing on the field in the moments. Adding this stress and maybe not being the best communicator could drag down the confidence in their physical abilities and skills seen that too many times so helping give them tools and building but blocks that's what a lot of this podcast is so okay you're taking on a new leadership role and skill I'm going to put you in a possession position to succeed at the concrete level here's how to start leadership
00:20:21
Speaker
So that way you can build the momentum, confidence, and then put your own twist and style onto it that push that allowed your your teammates to to listen to you before, your style, your flow.
00:20:36
Speaker
So now how I've accomplished that, concrete examples. everybody i get a big circle of varsity and jv all together before practice and captains get the position opportunity to now speak and lead in these scenarios now for the first four weeks of practice i'm leading this and then helping them understand okay here's the best concrete tool that i can give a captain to lead a huddle pre-practice
00:21:09
Speaker
How was practice yesterday? What did head coach close previous practice out with? Well, we've got bookend it. Because if it was bad, we ran a lot, practice was tough, we need to correct that behavior.
00:21:22
Speaker
So now pre-practice, captains are going to recall what coach said and remind the team. This way, we so we can build skill on skill and keep progressing as a team skill-wise, behavior-wise, leadership-wise.
00:21:37
Speaker
So that's a concrete example. They don't have to get creative. They don't have to think about how to motivate and what to say. which then eventually could lead to them being quiet. This is, okay, I'm literally reiterating what head coach said.
00:21:51
Speaker
That's the best concrete example there. Then they can practice public speaking. I also encourage them, hey, bring a motivational quote to practice.
00:22:03
Speaker
So we got five captains. You can take one quote per practice to get your guys going. Leadership takes reps. Now, instead of getting creative and motivating themselves with their own words, they're using a famous quote from Phil Jackson, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, whoever it may be.
00:22:22
Speaker
It's a famous quote that meant something to them. It charged them up. Then we get it going. So they're not overly creative. They're being concrete. They're gaining confidence. And then as the season progresses, now we don't need the quotes.
00:22:38
Speaker
Hopefully they're still reminding us what coach said before practice, but they're really feeling it and getting creative. They know their guys and we really see this flourish and then progress into that next phase of operational thinking that Piaget talked about with their confidence and their leadership.
00:22:55
Speaker
And their play truly starts to take off. So that that is an example of giving concrete tools to a new task of leadership, a social emotional leadership dynamic that we hand off.
00:23:10
Speaker
All right. So domain specificity is what's that called? Just cause they're good at something else, we can't hold them the same expectation that they're going to be good at another thing that they just learned.
00:23:23
Speaker
It's going to take some time to get up there. They're allowed to be advanced in that one area and develop in another. That's okay. That is normal. That is human. We've got to also teach them not to have shame for themselves for making their mistakes and sucking at something that they are are brand new to.
00:23:41
Speaker
You're going to be good at, you're going to be really bad at something until you're not. That's the best tool that I give them as well. And uneven development. This is not disobedience. I love to hold the mirror up. If something's not clicking for them, I'm not going to default to running.
00:23:56
Speaker
It's going to be okay. What did I say? How did I say it? And go from there. I love to see frustration or regression. This is actually growth happening in real time.
00:24:08
Speaker
If I'm aware of it.
00:24:11
Speaker
Okay.
Understanding Regression in Athletes
00:24:13
Speaker
So just to... To close it down, remember, don't teach calculus to concrete thinkers. Development dictates instructions that you're giving as a coach. And regression is a stress signal, not a character flaw.
00:24:31
Speaker
It's showing frustration as a sign of progress. Where athletes are challenged but never overwhelmed by shame or keeping them motivated, And if we need to, we lead back to concrete examples to gain their movement confidence.
00:24:48
Speaker
Because we don't want to stay in analytical. If they don't understand, we can't just be putting more and more on them. They're going to fall behind and hopefully not quit the sport that they love and is contributing to their development as as young athletes.
00:25:05
Speaker
All right. So next practice, hold the mirror up. i Think about that problem athlete who's not paying attention, the Ron Burgundy of the group. Ron, are you paying attention?
00:25:15
Speaker
No. Ask yourself, are they being defiant or are they overwhelmed by the demand and they just can't process it yet? We give them instruction and their bodies are failing to physically execute what their their brains can comprehend.
00:25:32
Speaker
Don't hold that against them. So aiming to understand and now apply We need more reps. We need more opportunities. If we're moving, we're learning, and that's a good thing. Great coaching isn't just knowing the sport. Great coaching is knowing the brain, the emotions, and the human running the play.
Conclusion and Further Resources
00:25:53
Speaker
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of the Captains and Coaches podcast. If you want to learn more about these tools, Piaget, the development, and what is known as the zone of proximal development, how you can teach athletes just outside their ability and keep them progressing up, all while connecting them and make them better humans, I have an online course all about it. Head to listen.captainsandcoaches.com. If you want to support the cause, I've got some new merch out there.
00:26:21
Speaker
Check that out at shop.captainsandcoaches.com. And lastly, if you are a strength and conditioning professional and want to start a side hustle while you're at your institution and you got the logo to help with your marketing and want to put your programs out there,
00:26:38
Speaker
a major show sponsor, Train Heroic. That's the app that I use for all my programs. All the stuff I give to lacrosse guys is on there. All the stuff I do for myself and my own training is on there as well. Head to trainheroic.com slash captains for a 30-day free trial to start your business.
00:26:54
Speaker
If you're not looking for that, but you are looking for training, all my stuff's on there too. Link show notes. Cool. That does it for another episode. Thank you for tuning in. If you want, also, last shameless plug, sign up for the newsletter.
00:27:09
Speaker
newsletter.captainsandcoaches.com. All my show notes I deliver through the newsletter as well. That's it. That's all I got. Thanks for tuning in and helping us raise the game. And see you.