IntelliSport

Summary

When a team goes down 3-0 in a seven game playoff series, the trailing team’s season is usually all but over. In fact, only three NBA, MLB, or NHL teams have ever surmounted a 3-0 deficit to win a series.* Several mental factors contribute to a team’s inability to rebound from a 3-0 deficit. However, a coach can guide the team toward beating the odds by providing consistent positive feedback despite the deficit, maintaining expectations of victory among the athletes, and by keeping the team focused on achieving intermediate goals (i.e. winning the next game) along the way to overall victory.

Avoiding a Sweep

Nov 7th, 2009

In a recent article*, the authors identify three primary reasons why teams facing a 3-0 deficit almost never recapture the series. These reasons involve the psychological principals of self-efficacy, expectancy, and goal setting. Each of these principals, how to use them to help your team, are described below

Principal 1: Self Efficacy

Self-efficacy can be described as an athlete’s overall belief in his/her ability to succeed in a given situation. Positive feedback, through past success or teammates’ positive comments, can increase self-efficacy and thus performance. Negative feedback, through losing a game or teammates’ negative comments, can reduce self-efficacy and thus performance.

Coaches should strive to maintain a high level of self-efficacy in athletes. Because losing streaks can severely reduce athletes’ belief in their ability to win the next game, coaches should make sure to provide ample positive feedback. Coaches can provide this positive feedback by reminding athletes of recent successes, or by minimizing the importance of recent losses. This positive feedback increases athletes’ faith in their own abilities, and can increase the odds of coming back from a 3-0 deficit.

Principal 2: Expectancy

According to expectancy theory, athletes put forth their best effort if they expect that effort to lead to achieving a goal, such as winning a game. Research has shown that prior to a game or series, athletes are often over-confident in their expectation of victory, and thus are ready to put forth maximum effort. However, once the game or series begins, athletes feel more accountable for their performance, and expectations of victory decrease to a more realistic level. In particular, negative events, such as going down 3-0 in a series, drastically reduce athletes’ expectations of victory. Thus, effort is reduced, because the team collectively expects to lose the next game.

In this case, coaches should strive to maintain expectations of victory among team members, even in the face of a large deficit. Expectation of victory could be maintained by reminding the team of previous successes or by reminding individuals how they felt before the series began. Maintaining an expectation of victory will help athletes to put forth maximum effort.

Principal 3: Goal Setting

Goal theory relates to the different types of goals that athletes have, which include primary and secondary goals. For example, the primary goal for teams in a playoff series is winning that series. Secondary goals encompass the steps necessary for achieving the primary goal, in this case winning the next individual game. Thus, in a playoff series, a team must achieve 4 secondary goals in order to achieve its primary goal.

However, the way athletes think about and approach these goals can change giving recent success or failure. When on a winning streak, athletes maintain a positive, can-do attitude toward both their primary and secondary goals. They also don’t have to adjust their overall plan for achieving the primary goal, which helps maintain momentum. Conversely, when down 3-0, athletes often lose sight of secondary goals out of concern for failing to achieve the primary goal. Thus, in a playoff series, teams with a deficit forget to concentrate on winning the next game, out of concern for losing the whole series. Also, athletes facing a deficit change their attitude from can-do to fear of failure, which severely limits performance.

When facing a deficit, coaches should focus on maintaining a can-do attitude among athletes, and should keep athletes focused not only on the primary goal of winning the series, but also on the necessary secondary goals of winning each game along the way.

*Teams to overcome a 3-0 deficit were the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, the 1975 New York Islanders, and the 2004 Boston Red Sox.

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Material for this article has been drawn from: O’Leary, B. J., Van de Walle, H., & Weathington, B. (2008). Series Sweeps in Competitive Situations: The Line between Can and Can’t. Athletic Insight, March 2008. Athletic Insight - The Online Journal of Sport Psychology

By IntelliSport, describing the work of Brian O’Leary, Holly Vande Walle, and Bart Weathington

Implementation

• Coaches should strive to maintain a high level of self-efficacy in athletes. Because losing streaks can severely reduce athletes’ belief in their ability to win the next game, coaches should make sure to provide ample positive feedback. Coaches can provide this positive feedback by reminding athletes of recent successes, or by minimizing the importance of recent losses. This positive feedback increases athletes’ faith in their own abilities, and can increase the odds of coming back from a 3-0 deficit.
• Coaches should strive to maintain expectations of victory among team members, even in the face of a large deficit. Expectation of victory could be maintained by reminding the team of previous successes or by reminding individuals how they felt before the series began. Maintaining an expectation of victory will help athletes to put forth maximum effort.
• When facing a deficit, coaches should focus on maintaining a can-do attitude among athletes, and should keep athletes focused not only on the primary goal of winning the series, but also on the necessary secondary goals of winning each game along the way.