How to manage the subjective habits

The main subjective interferences that a coach can commit when evaluating his or her athlete or team.

1. Stereotypes. Stereotypes are group prejudices that tend to reinforce specific characteristics of the group: “Italian teams play well only at home, while abroad they suffer their opponents.”
2. Influence of personal feelings. Sympathy and dislike are variables that must be controlled by the coach: “When that player asks me something I never know how to say no to him.”
3. Personal equation. Tendency to evaluate others in the way we evaluate ourselves, and consequent tendency to positively examine those who have the same characteristics as us and negatively those who have different characteristics: “I see myself in him as a young man”.
4. First impression. “First impression is what counts” is a phrase that is often said: It’s useless, from the first time I didn’t like it.
5. Halo effect. It consists in attributing a value to an individual on the basis of a single criterion or a single competence: “He cares so much about what he does, I didn’t expect him to make these mistakes.”
6. Contrast effect. When in a team or in a sports group made up of mid-level athletes, a young person arrives even slightly higher level, his evaluation risks becoming excessively positive and reducing the cohesion of the group: “That boy is definitely superior, he is wasted on us; for the skills he shows he should play at another level.