⏳ Read Time: 4 min

Coaches are the individuals who have an impact on the next generation. There are over 500,000 coaches in the United States, ranging from youth to collegiate levels. Yet, they are one of the most underserved groups of leaders.

BETTER exists to fill that gap for coaches, athletes, and the leaders supporting them.

The best way for you to join in that mission? Forward this newsletter or share this link to another coach, athletic director, or athlete who needs it.

📌 In this issue:

• 🔁 Flashback Reminder: Leadership builds culture, which builds performance.

• ⚙️ Core Concept: Performance = Potential – Interference

• 👥 Anecdote: A coach who was great at skill work—but saw little game improvement until he tackled mental roadblocks.

• 🧠 Research Insight: Cognitive interference in sport—what studies show and why it matters.

• ✅ Five Action Steps: Remove interference to unlock hidden potential.

🔁 Flashback: Foundation Still Matters

Last time we explored how leadership shapes culture, which in turn drives performance. In short: Leadership → Culture → Performance. Now, let’s look under the hood at the performance piece itself—how your team's potential gets habitually eroded by interference.

⚙️ The Equation: Performance = Potential – Interference

The equation Performance = Potential – Interference was first introduced by W. Timothy Gallwey in his classic 1974 book, The Inner Game of Tennis. Gallwey was one of the first to suggest that our biggest performance problems aren’t external—they’re internal.

He argued that every player has two selves:

• Self 1: The analytical, critical voice in your head.

• Self 2: The natural, intuitive part of you that knows how to hit the ball.

When Self 1 gets too loud—second-guessing, overthinking, worrying—it interferes with Self 2’s ability to execute. Gallwey showed that minimizing interference, not maximizing instruction, is what unlocks potential.

Modern sports psychology has only deepened this insight. Research on cognitive interference confirms that intrusive thoughts and internal stress degrade performance more than most technical breakdowns do. Interventions like mindfulness, cue routines, and performance rituals can significantly reduce this interference and help players access their full potential.

Now compare that to your typical high school sports practice. It’s very usual to see coaches constantly barking out instructions. They’re focus is on inserting instruction, not eliminating interference for athletes.

Coaches often treat performance as a matter of skill, effort, or Xs & Os. But elite psychologists frame it like this:

Potential is what your team can do. Interference—such as pressure, self-doubt, or distraction—is often what holds them back.

🎯 Anecdote: Unlocking Mental Gaps

Over time, we’ve been increasingly invited to work directly with athletes. One story that stands out here is that of a former Freshman of the Year in the SEC.

They had hit the sophomore slump. They’re production was nearly 1/4th of what it had been as a freshman. They were a preseason pick to finish second team all-conference, but their stats were nowhere near where they’d been in their freshman year.

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How can Commanders QB Jayden Daniels avoid a sophomore slump? #nfl #commanders #jaydendaniels

The coaches told us that what was unusual was that they were practicing exceptionally well. It wasn’t something that was happening in all of their performance. It was only showing up during games.

They asked us if we had any ideas. Our answer? Try saying less. Only support them. This season is challenging them. Remind them you’re there for them and do what you can to free them up to be themselves.

In other words, stop worrying about their potential. Do what you can to help them eliminate the interference.

The player went on to score six goals in their final five regular-season games.

Now, there are multiple layers to this for coaches:

1. Leading Your Team: Every leader will naturally be drawn to what they can do to help their athletes, employees, and team eliminate interference. But there’s a bigger question to ask.
   Are you a source of interference with your athletes?
   What can you do to free them up? The coaches we see do this the best? They’re quiet. They’re pensive. They’re insightful. They ask more than they tell.

2. Leading Yourself: What will be less immediately appealing to coaches but much more impactful is to ask yourself about what interference you need to deal with in your performance as a leader? Where are you doubting yourself? Where are you not leveraging your passions, skills, and abilities? How can you free yourself up to be more like the leader you were meant to be?

🛠️ Putting It All Together:

✅ Five Action Steps: Reduce Interference, Reveal Potential

We’re going to include strategies that we’ve used with coaches and athletes, which you can apply both to yourself and your athletes.

1. Implement a Pre-Performance Reset

   • Create a simple routine (e.g., 5 breaths + cue word) used before key drills or starting lineups.

   • Reinforces focus and blocks out junk thoughts.

2. Track Interference Moments

   • Ask yourself or players after challenging sequences: “What thoughts were in your head?”

   • Write them down, then coach on tools to interrupt those.

3. Teach a Mid-Game Quick Fix

   • A single cue word like “Reset” or a physical trigger (tap wristband) can snap attention back when things get loud.

4. Train Mindfully

   • Integrate 5-minute mindfulness drills twice a week: focus on breath while holding a posture, or execute a movement slowly.

5. Debrief Around Interference

   • In team film or practice breaks, ask:
     When did the team play freely—when was it tight? What thoughts got in the way?

🏁 Conclusion: Clear the Clutter, Find the Flow

Your team’s potential is already there. The job of a great coach isn’t to constantly add—it’s to remove what’s in the way. Performance doesn’t just come from drilling skills. It comes from clearing interference. Lead with clarity, train with intention, and help your athletes find the space where their best can show up under pressure.

🛠️ Your Summer Playbook

The summer is an ideal time for high school and college coaches to establish their culture. Most people know what they want to do, but they don’t know how to do it.

They need a system.

The Culture Playbook is BETTER’s custom system, complete with tools that you can use with your team to establish a culture. It’s full of team exercises you can do with your team in very little time to help you establish your culture.

These tools are used by entities such as Microsoft, Google, and athletic departments like Mississippi State, Florida State, and thousands of high schools.

And you can see it all with no commitment. Coaches — access your free trial below.

🛠️ Want to win more? Know Yourself First.

Just last week, nearly 60 leaders signed up for our 5-day leadership course based on your Voice!

It will be sent to your inbox starting the Monday after you take the assessment and run for that week.

The assessment takes 10-15 minutes. Take it below.