The use of compassion in elite sports holds significant promise for both athletes and overall performance, according to a study involving Danish high-performance coaches.
The use of compassion in elite sports holds significant promise for both athletes and overall performance, as shown by a recent study with Danish high-performance coaches.
It might seem contradictory to discuss compassion in the intense world of elite sports, where resilience and toughness are typically emphasized.
However, a new study examining the perspectives of 12 Danish high-performance coaches reveals this notion is overly simplistic. The coaches provide insights into the role of compassion in their interactions with elite athletes.
According to Emilia Backman, the study’s lead author from the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Psychology, most coaches—many of whom lead national teams—agree on the advantages of integrating compassion into their coaching practices.
“All the high-performance coaches recognized that compassion leads to positive outcomes in their sports settings. Many already incorporate it into their coaching in some fashion,” she explains.
Despite recognizing the benefits, the coaches voiced concerns about practical ways to apply compassion effectively and understand its implications.
Reorienting the focus in sports
In the context of sports, compassion goes beyond simply being kind. It serves as a psychological approach that enables coaches to acknowledge athletes’ feelings of disappointment and hardship, helping to mitigate their distress.
This structured effort to ease the suffering of others is still a relatively unexplored area in sports psychology, particularly when compared to ‘self-compassion,’ which involves athletes being kind and understanding towards themselves during tough times, according to Emilia Backman.
“Through this study, we’ve shifted the perspective from focusing solely on the individual athlete to exploring compassion within the broader sporting environment. Our goal is to understand how compassion can aid athletes, particularly regarding sustained performance improvement,” Backman states.
In the study, the 12 coaches across 10 different sports noted several advantages to implementing compassion, including:
- Helping athletes avoid an excessive connection to negative results
- Encouraging human connections and shared understanding between coach and athlete
- Promoting unity and collaboration in a competitive environment
- Establishing trust that empowers coaches to encourage athletes towards better performance
A needed nudge for athletes
Even with their positive evaluations, many coaches remain uncertain about the practical implications of compassion, as they must balance the emotional needs of individual athletes with competitive pressures.
Emilia Backman emphasizes the necessity of refining compassion as a versatile tool that can adapt to different sports contexts and scenarios.
“Compassion isn’t merely about sitting beside someone in tears, gently reassuring them. Sometimes, being compassionate means pushing your athletes to strive harder. The challenge is finding the right balance between support and encouragement,” explains Backman.
She also aims to dispel the misconception that compassion connotes weakness, which some coaches have noted as a concern. However, the interviews indicate that this perception is not universally true.
“Acting with compassion requires wisdom, strength, and dedication—qualities that are anything but soft. While compassion may focus on emotional aspects, integrating it into coaching isn’t simple or ‘soft,’ nor does it conflict with achieving sporting performance,” Backman insists.
Compassion in tough situations
Another challenge mentioned by coaches is the potential for compassion to seem inappropriate in tough situations. For instance, can a coach express compassion after deciding not to include an athlete in a competition or training session?
Backman argues that a compassionate approach is still viable, allowing coaches to convey respect for athletes and consider their feelings, even during challenging discussions.
“It’s a contradiction because compassion typically aims to enhance well-being, while performance may seem secondary. Nevertheless, these concepts don’t have to be mutually exclusive,” she notes.
Raising awareness of this issue among more coaches and sports organizations remains a challenge.
“Nevertheless, I see sports organizations in Denmark moving toward a greater emphasis on athletes’ well-being,” says Emilia Backman.
She is hopeful that the principles of compassion will become integrated into more training programs. Positive steps have already begun, as Team Denmark, the national elite sports body, has included compassion in its elite coaching initiatives, which supported this study.
