The Emotional Rollercoaster That Can Sink a Season
Why talent alone doesn’t survive the grind of a season — not at this level.
Hey Coach
You may have a talented group.
But talent alone doesn’t survive the grind of a season — not at your level.
You quickly realise that your biggest job isn’t just building systems or selecting the right lines.
It is helping the team manage the psychological swings of competition.
The Rollercoaster
In a short tournament, the emotional shifts are brutal:
One big win and everyone’s buzzing.
One bad goal and you feel the whole bench tighten.
A questionable call and suddenly the red mist rises.
At Team Head Coach, we call this the emotional rollercoaster — the constant swing between dopamine when things go well, and cortisol/adrenaline when they don’t.
If you ride it, you’re in trouble.
Because just like in day trading or any high-pressure profession, you burn energy chasing the highs and fighting the lows.
The Shift
When you build your preparation not just around hockey systems, but around staying in the zone — especially in crisis moments.
You’ll start to embrace the reality that mistakes, bad bounces, and setbacks are part of the process.
Coaches who work on their breathing, body language, and mental resets can approach the next shift with composure.
It’s not about ignoring emotion — it’s about not letting it run the show.
Why This Matters for Head Coaches
If you want your team to perform consistently:
Know your deeper “why.” Winning matters, but the real driver is what winning represents — pride, respect, legacy, growth.
Stay off the emotional rollercoaster. Wins and losses are part of the process — don’t let either dictate your state.
Model composure. Your players will mirror what they see on the bench.
When teams achieve huge victories and make history, it is never just because of tactics.
It’s because, even when things didn’t go their way, they didn’t ride the highs or sink into the lows.
They stayed level.
That’s the difference between surviving a tournament and winning one.
📩 If you want more behind-the-bench lessons like this, get the Lead Beyond the Bench audio book
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