This week we have the third of four special editions of the newsletter based on the themes from my (Sam) recently published journal article - Secondary School 1st XV Rugby Players’ Perceptions of the Coaching Environment: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

The first two themes were Coach Control and Power Dynamics and you can read those here:

Player Opinions of Coach Control

Power Dynamics between Coaches and Players

This week’s theme is Expectations - diving into how coaches’ expectations impact the experience and development of players.

Table of Contents

• Expectations - Help or Hindrance

  • Quote of the Week

  • An Even Deeper Dive

Expectations - Help or Hindrance

“I was just focused on not doing anything wrong because I was too scared… I didn’t want to get told off for doing something wrong. I wasn’t really thinking of what I could do to get better. It’s just don’t do anything wrong, so you don’t get told off.”

These words came from a 1st XV schoolboy rugby player during my research into players’ perceptions of their coaching environment. They capture a powerful insight into a player’s thinking, while highlighting a key theme that emerged from the focus groups: Expectations.

Expectations have the potential to shape performance. It would seem intuitive that high expectations help players reach their potential. Superbowl-winning NFL coach Pete Carroll would agree. In Win Forever, he explains that high expectations can push players to achieve more but only when they are realistic and paired with appropriate support:

“If those expectations are unrealistic, inappropriate for the individual player in question, or so overwhelming and long term that players don't have the opportunity to enjoy smaller accomplishments along the way, then we are just setting our players up to fail.”

Unrealistic expectations can erode confidence and self-belief. When players repeatedly fall short, they begin to lose trust in those setting the expectations and, over time, some even consider giving up altogether.

The players in our study described exactly this dynamic. Coaches’ expectations created performance anxiety and fear of failure. And when mistakes inevitably happened, they would spiral:

“Once the mistake’s made [it creates] self-doubt. They [the players] don’t brush it off…once they’re nervous, they do another mistake… another mistake…it all adds up. It’s frustrating and then they crumble.”

Some even considered quitting rugby altogether:

“Some boys [players] didn’t want to play anymore because of how they were being treated.”

This highlights a crucial truth. High expectations on their own aren’t the issue, mistakes are inevitable in any performance environment. What’s important is what happens next: how coaches react when players fall short. A supportive response can turn mistakes into learning opportunities. A punitive response reinforces fear and anxiety. Pete Carroll understood this well. Every pre-season he reminded his staff:

“Players will all make mistakes, and in the window of a few seconds after a particular mistake, we make the choice between yelling at the player or helping him learn from his missed assignment. It is in those few seconds that coaches can have most impact.”

Contrast this with the 1st XV players’ experience:

“You’re going to get an earful. You’re going to get yelled at [by the coaches]…they’re the first ones to give you an earful if something goes wrong, but sometimes they’re the last ones to give you a compliment.”

When high expectations are paired with low support, players become afraid to make mistakes. Their opportunities to grow, develop, and perform at their best are limited.

Lately, Dave and I have enjoyed using 2×2 matrices as simple frameworks to shape our thinking. As I’ve been reflecting on the theme of expectations from the study, one matrix keeps coming to mind - the Challenge-Support Matrix.

This framework maps the balance between the level of challenge and the level of support in a coaching environment. It provides a helpful way of understanding why some environments stretch players to grow, while others leave them anxious, stagnant, or disengaged.

It looks like this:

If we work through each quadrant we can see how these two factors interact with each other.

• Low Challenge x High Support: Players feel safe but aren’t challenged to take risks outside of their comfort zone. They are not sufficiently pushed to develop.

• Low Challenge x Low Support: Players are neither challenged nor supported, often leading to apathy, disengagement and minimal development.

• High Challenge x Low Support: Fear and anxiety dominate. Expectations are high, but players feel unsupported when they fail. The 1st XV players’ experiences—being “yelled at” and rarely receiving praise—fall here. Mistakes compound, self-doubt grows, and some players even contemplate quitting.

• High Challenge x High Support: This is the ideal quadrant for development. Players are pushed to grow but receive guidance and encouragement when they struggle. Pete Carroll’s approach of helping players learn immediately after mistakes fits here. Players feel safe taking risks because they have a safety net.

The impact of those types of environments on players within them can be seen below

Using this matrix helps you reflect:

1. Are my expectations realistic?

2. Am I providing the support necessary for players to take risks and grow?

The 1^st XV rugby players I spoke to made it clear that too often their environment caused fear and anxiety from the challenge being high but the support being low.

What would your players say about their environment if they were asked?

In 2016 Pete Carroll sat down with Michael Gervais on his podcast Finding Mastery to talk through his philosophy on how he supports his players to compete at the highest level.

Although it can now be considered a bit of an oldie, it’s definitely a goodie!

Want to discuss anything you’ve read? Email us at [email protected]. We’d love to hear from you!

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