Playing aggressively is a key element of athletes playing up to their full potential. When they hold themselves back and aren’t playing aggressively, their play will suffer.
But what does it truly mean to play aggressively? And why is it that you may struggle with playing aggressively, especially if you know this type of play increases your performance?
I’ve gone into detail on both of those questions below, as well as a strategy you can use to play more aggressively during games.
What It Means to Play Aggressively
I worked with a water polo athlete whose coach told her she needed to play more aggressively.
She didn’t really like this idea. To her, playing aggressively meant hitting the other girls and playing more physically.
That can definitely be a part of playing aggressively, but it’s not the way I interpret it, or the way her coach meant it.
What her coach wanted was for her to get involved more. Be more aggressive with wanting to get the ball and wanting to score.
In short, her coach wanted her to play to succeed.
I think that’s a great way for us to look at this idea of playing aggressively. Playing more aggressively means you are playing hard to succeed instead of playing to avoid failure.
In the next section I discuss the negative impact playing to avoid mistakes has on your game. For now, just know it is the opposite of you playing aggressively.
The water polo player needed to get involved more and play to succeed. This meant taking more shots and working hard to get into an open position.
When she played to succeed, she played more aggressively and as a result, played much better.
The same is true for all the athletes I work with. When they play more aggressively, they play better.
Playing aggressively means you are giving full effort, playing hard, and most importantly, playing to succeed.
Here are some examples of what playing aggressively looks like for different sports:
- Attacking the rim in basketball.
- Swinging at fastballs early in the count in baseball and softball.
- Swinging full speed in tennis.
- Giving full effort in a swim meet.
- Going all out for tackles in softball.
- Working hard to get to the quarterback as a linebacker in football.
- Attacking the zone as a pitcher.
- Calling for the ball in basketball.
What Keeps Athletes From Playing Aggressively
Fear.
The number one cause of athletes not playing aggressively during games is fear.
Fear of mistakes, fear of embarrassment, fear of injury, fear of getting benched…any type of fear you are experiencing while you play is the reason you aren’t playing as aggressively as you’d like.
The most common fear I see in my work as a mental performance coach is the fear of failure.
Being afraid of making mistakes causes us to play to avoid mistakes. This type of avoidance mindset leads to timid play.
For example, there’s a soccer player I’m working with right now who struggles with always passing the ball back to the defenseman.
As soon as he is passed the ball, he quickly gets rid of it because he is afraid of turning the ball over. His fear leads him to play it safe and hold himself back.
He is one of the best players on his team and has great ball skills. Yet, he keeps himself from showing off those skills due to fear.
Since he was afraid of turning the ball over, he took the safe option. But the safe option did little to help his team win.
This is a common theme among safe options and ways of playing that stem from an underlying fear of mistakes.
They may limit mistakes, but they equally limit good play.
When you play to avoid mistakes, or avoid anything else you’re afraid of, this is where you find yourself holding yourself back and not playing aggressively. As a result, you underperform.
3 Tips to Play More Aggressively
If you currently struggle with playing aggressively during games, you need to take steps to change the way you play.
Remember, playing aggressively isn’t about being more physical, necessarily. It’s about having the mindset of wanting to succeed. Playing to go after what you want, instead of playing to avoid mistakes.
The three tips outlined below will help you take your game from timid to aggressive, unlocking the potential you know you have.
Tip #1: Shift Your Mindset
When you aren’t playing aggressively, we know that fear is at the front of your mind. Fear is guiding your mindset. We must change that!
As long as fear is your focal point, aggressive play will elude you.
You want to shift from a mindset focused on avoiding the thing you fear, to a mindset focused on getting the thing you want.
While these two mindsets may seem similar, they are drastically different in how they impact your play.
When you play to avoid failure, playing safe is the best option. Because playing aggressively and playing to win requires a level of acceptance when it comes to mistakes.
Even when you play your best game, you will likely still make some mistakes. Therefore, to play to succeed, you must accept the possibility of mistakes.
That cannot happen if avoiding failure is your main focus.
When your mindset is playing to succeed, to go after what you want, aggressive play naturally follows. Because you are fully focused on going out there and getting the success you see in your mind.
So for the first tip, shift your mindset from wanting to avoid failure, to playing to succeed.
Tip #2: Set the Intention of Giving Full Effort
When you play it safe, you will not give full effort.
Imagine a basketball player who’s struggling to play aggressively during games. She passes up open shots, doesn’t drive to the basket, and doesn’t fight for rebounds.
Would you say that she is giving her full effort out there?
Due to the fear she’s playing with, she will not be playing all out.
When you are wanting to play more aggressively, it’s important for us to shift your attention off avoiding mistakes.
We need a new goal.
The new goal you want to set is giving full effort.
If you want to play more aggressively, giving full effort and playing your hardest needs to be the number one goal on your mind. Even above the idea of playing aggressively.
The reason being, when you play all out and focus on giving full effort, you will naturally play more aggressively.
There is no way to give full effort without playing aggressively, since playing aggressively means you are getting involved more.
Set your intention to give full effort, and watch as that unlocks aggressive play for you.
Tip #3: Let Go of Mistakes Quickly
Something that can quickly kill any positive momentum you have during a game is failure. Making mistakes and messing up. It can cause you to second guess yourself and begin to hold yourself back.
However, we know that mistakes happen. Especially if you’re playing aggressively. They will occur, but when they do, they do not have to hold you back.
It all depends on how you respond to mistakes. Whether you dwell on them or you let them go quickly.
Our goal is to let go of mistakes as quickly as possible.
Learn from them if you can, then let go and move on. Refocus yourself onto whatever is next.
If you get skilled at moving on from mistakes quickly, you will find yourself playing more aggressively more consistently. Because you aren’t allowing one mistake to tear you down.
Final Thoughts
Aggressive play means you are getting involved more and playing to win instead of playing to avoid mistakes.
It’s easy to have fear hold you back and cause you to play safe and timidly.
But safe and timid play does not equal peak performance.
If you want to play your best, you must play aggressively. You have to give it your all out there.
That happens once you learn how to play more aggressively by following these three tips:
- Shift your mindset
- Set the intention of giving full effort
- Let go of mistakes quickly
If you’re currently struggling with a lot of fear while you play, one-on-one mental performance coaching can help.
If you’re interested in learning more about on-on-one coaching, please fill out the form below. Or click here to schedule a free introductory coaching call.
Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of success in all that you do.
