OOPS! Error handling

Mucking up, the dreaded unforced error,  is not always a sign of personal or athletic deficiency, but a predictable built-in feature of hockey, a sport characterized by rapid decision-making, high-pressure moments, and unpredictable changes of momentum. You know, it’s complicated. For athletes—and particularly for masters-aged participants (typically over the age of 35)—errors can trigger powerful emotional responses that challenge self-concept, performance consistency, and long-term motivation. 

The Anatomy of Emotional Responses

Every hockey player, regardless of age or skill level, will inevitably make mistakes; missed passes, defensive lapses, penalties, or moments of poor decision-making. Emotions triggered by such events are powerful and broad, ranging from frustration, anger, and embarrassment to anxiety and fear of letting down teammates or coaches. The culture of hockey, often built on ideals of stoicism and “mental toughness,” acts to impede or obfuscate emotional processing, sometimes leading athletes to internalize distress or adopt maladaptive coping strategies. This cumulative repression is unhealthy for the individual and the team.

Robert Vallerand’s research highlights seven basic emotions commonly experienced in competitive hockey: 

1. Fear

2. Anger

3. guilt/embarrassment

4. Surprise

5. Sadness

6. Happiness, 

7. and interest. 

These are mediated by physiological arousal (such as increased heart rate, sweating, and muscle tension) and cognitive processes (like worrying thoughts, anxiety or self-doubt). For example, a defender who accidentally causes a turnover leading to an opposition goal may experience immediate somatic symptoms (tight chest, flushed face) alongside negative internal dialogue (e.g., “I let everyone down”). Many times this is accompanied by verbal self admonishment and self pitying displays of negativity.

These emotional responses are not only acute and tiring but can accumulate over time, contributing to chronic stress and, if not addressed, mental health concerns such as burnout, anxiety disorders, or depression arise.

Self-Esteem, Anxiety, and the Role of Competition

The relationship between self-esteem and anxiety has a major role to play in how hockey players interpret and respond to mistakes. High levels of self-esteem arm athletes with psychological resilience, making them more likely to view errors as chances for growth, while heightened anxiety often leads to rumination, avoidance behaviors, or performance slumps (Smith et al., 1995; Rosenberg, 1965). These dynamics apply across age groups but can be particularly pronounced in masters-aged athletes who may grapple with age-related changes, social comparisons, and evolving self-concept.

Emotional Regulation

Effective emotional regulation is crucial to athletes wishing to maintain composure and perform as their best after making errors. Gross and Thompson (2007) define emotional regulation as the “automatic or deliberate use of strategies to initiate, maintain, modify or display emotions in a given situation”. In hockey, this might mean a goalie using deliberate breathing to regain focus after conceding a goal, or a striker  employing self-talk to combat frustration after a mistake.

Research from the latest sports psychology interventions recommends the cultivation of several regulatory strategies:

• Mindfulness and Present-Focused Awareness: Mindfulness training encourages athletes to anchor themselves in the present, reducing the cognitive “stickiness” of past errors and allowing for more adaptive responses.

• Breath Control and Somatic Relaxation: Techniques such as diaphragmatic breathing and progressive muscle relaxation reduce physiological arousal and help athletes regain physical and emotional equilibrium.

• Cognitive Reappraisal: This involves reframing the meaning of an error, switching perspective from “I failed” to “This is a good chance to learn and improve,” . This mindset may help reduce negative affect and support adaptive focus.

Example

After committing a foul leading to a green card, a player might use a brief mindfulness exercise and an internal affirmation—“Mistakes happen, I can recover”—before stepping back onto the turf, as recommended by coaches and sport psychologists.

Practical Interventions

Teams and organizations can further facilitate emotional regulation by:

• Integrating mindfulness and breathing routines into daily practice

• Encouraging open dialogue about emotional challenges

• Creating a team culture where mistakes are normalized and seen as essential to growth

Coaches and managers, in particular, are instrumental in establishing emotionally supportive environments. Modeling calmness after errors, encouraging reflective discussion, and explicitly teaching emotional regulation strategies can transform errors from sources of shame to springboards for resilience. You need to walk the talk every session, every game and interaction.

Cognitive Reframing and Self-Talk

Cognitive reframing—also known as cognitive restructuring—is the process by which athletes consciously alter the way they interpret mistakes. Drawing on cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), research demonstrates that substituting positive, realistic self-talk for negative, self-defeating internal narratives is the bedrock of elite performance psychology.

Negative automatic thoughts post-error (“I always screw up in big moments”) trigger discomfort, anxiety, and may lead to emotional shutdowns or diminished confidence. Cognitive restructuring interrupts this cycle, enabling the athlete to reinterpret events more constructively (“I made a mistake, but I’ve overcome these before; I can adapt this time too; it is not a problem, just another Saturday”). This practice is associated with increased confidence, enhanced motivation, reduced fear, and greater resilience on the turf

Common Techniques:

• Thought Diaries
  
  Players keep records of negative thoughts post-error, then analyze and reframe them using evidence-based alternatives

• Mantras or Reframing Triggers
  
  Short affirmations (“Next play,” “I will bounce back”) act as mental resets after an error.

• Generalization and Specificity
  
  Athletes are taught to distinguish between domain-general (“Mistakes are normal in all sports”) and domain-specific (“I need to improve my ball security in tight spaces”) reframing, promoting both broad resilience and targeted improvement.

Self-Talk in Hockey

The intense, public nature of hockey amplifies the risk of negative self-talk. Research by Hatzigeorgiadis et al. (2011) confirms that positive self-talk significantly boosts performance and emotional regulation in athletes. Coaches and mental performance consultants advocate for the deliberate replacement of self-criticism with constructive cues, focusing on both character (“You’re a battler”) and process (“Focus on hard work and learning”).

Applied Example

After a costly turnover, a player might silently repeat, “Focus on the process, learn from this,” engage in brief visualization of successfully executing the same pass, elimination, tackle or shot, then return to play with renewed confidence.

Coaching Interventions

Research consistently demonstrates that coaching philosophy and intervention are decisive factors in shaping athletes’ responses to mistakes. The best coaches:

• Normalize Error
  
  Coaches with at least half-a-brain (not many)frame mistakes as learning opportunities, not as failures or deficiencies.
  
  

• Promote Accountability, Not Shame
  
  Athletes are encouraged to accept responsibility for their actions, analyze contributing factors, and identify practical solutions in a supportive environment—avoiding unnecessary blame or self-criticism.
  
  

• Prioritize Growth Mindset and Process Goals
  
  Rather than outcome fixation (e.g., “Did we win?”), coaches cultivate a focus on improvement (“What can we learn from today’s game?”). This aligns with long-term athlete development and reduces fear of making mistakes.

• Use the “Feedback Sandwich”
  
  Feedback is delivered in a structure of reinforcement–correction–encouragement, ensuring that error correction boosts confidence and motivation.

Evidence-Based Coaching Strategies in Practice

Empirical evidence supports several coaching best practices, so stop guessing and copying and pasting:

• Augmented and Constructive Feedback
  
  Performance feedback is most effective when specific, process-focused, and timely. Augmented feedback—such as video review and task modeling—enables athletes to internalize technical corrections without losing confidence or developing negative self-images.

• Goal-Setting Coupled with Feedback
  
  Research finds that the combination of clear, difficult, and specific goals with ongoing feedback results in superior motivation and error reduction, compared to using either strategy in isolation.

• Simulation and Resilience Drills
  
  Coaches deliberately integrate drills emphasizing controlled adversity, challenging athletes to recover from simulated mistakes—a proven technique for building mastery and mental toughness.

The Coach-Athlete Relationship

The quality of the coach-athlete relationship—characterized by trust, clear communication, emotional engagement, individualized support, and respectful challenge—underpins effective error management. The 3+1 Cs model (closeness, commitment, complementarity, and co-orientation) is central. Athletes who feel understood and supported by coaches are more likely to view errors as targets for growth, not sources of shame—and are demonstrably more resilient in competitive situations.

Considerations for Masters-Aged Athletes


Masters-aged athletes bring rich experience and complex psychological needs. They may balance sporting ambition with health concerns, evolving physical capacities, and heightened self-awareness of error and vulnerability. Research shows that while anxiety about performance and fear of failure persist into later years, many masters athletes exhibit healthier coping strategies shaped by experience, increased self-acceptance, and realistic goal orientation.

Other age-specific psychosocial characteristics include:

• Greater Emotional Maturity
  
  Masters athletes often report better capacity for delayed emotional self-regulation and a rational approach to error analysis.

• Heightened Value of Social Support
  
  Team camaraderie, peer support, and family involvement are protective against anxiety and negative affect following errors.
  
  

• Variable Self-Esteem and Body Image
  
  Aging may bring increased self-doubt or sensitivity to social comparison, making constructive feedback and emotional support essential.

Interventions Tailored for Masters Athletes

Effective interventions for masters athletes combine physical, psychological, and social components:

• Realistic Goal Setting
  
  Goals are calibrated to balance ambition with self-care, emphasizing skill refinement, enjoyment, and health maintenance over unattainable standards.This can be done without dampening enthusiasm or discouraging aspiration.

• Injury and Recovery Management
  
  Emotional responses to errors are contextualized within broader health management and recovery plans, with coaches adopting an individualized, empathetic approach.
  
  

• Peer Support and Learning Circles
  
  Structured peer groups or mentoring relationships provide spaces to discuss error experiences, normalize challenges, and share adaptive coping strategies.

• Promotion of Resilience Narratives
  
  Stories of persistence, growth after setbacks, and long-term engagement are celebrated, helping older athletes see errors as part of a life-long journey of mastery and enjoyment.

• Problem-Focused Coping
  
  Athletes address the cause of the mistake directly by practicing relevant skills, seeking feedback, or adjusting technique.
  
  

• Emotion-Focused Coping
  
  Strategies include distraction, relaxation exercises, reframing, and seeking support to regulate the emotional impact of errors.
  
  

• Avoidance Coping: While sometimes adaptive in acute situations (e.g., a brief mental break post-error), chronic avoidance can be detrimental, leading to stagnation or increased anxiety.

Research shows that mentally resilient athletes typically use a balance of problem- and emotion-focused coping, with the ability to switch strategies depending on situational demands and personal stress levels.

Resilience

Resilience—the ability to “bounce back” from errors, setbacks, or losses—is universally cited as a key differentiator between elite and sub-elite athletes. Halden-Brown deconstructs resilience into four sequential steps—Acknowledge, Review, Strategize, Execute (ARSE)—a practical framework for converting error into opportunity and moving forward with confidence.

Applied Example: After mishandling a crucial pass, a player might:

1. Acknowledge the error and recognize their frustration.

2. Review the play, identifying what led to the mistake.

3. Strategize for future improvement (e.g., better communication, positioning).

4. Execute—reset mentally and prepare fully for the next shift.

Error Awareness and Adaptive Correction

Recent advances highlight the role of error detection and performance monitoring in the brain’s frontal cortex—regions linked to learning, self-regulation, and rapid adaptation. Athletes involved in “open-skill” sports like hockey, requiring constant adaptation and error monitoring, display more efficient error processing and corrective action than sedentary or non-sporting controls. 

Key neurocognitive functions include:

• Inhibitory Control
  
  The ability to suppress automatic or impulsive reactions, crucial for avoiding repeated mistakes or infringements
  
  

• Focused Attention and Working Memory
  
  Maintaining awareness, holding information, and updating tactics after errors—all vital for rapid recovery and learning.
  
  

• Performance Monitoring (“Oops! Signal”)
  
  The brain generates internal feedback after mistakes, helping athletes learn and adapt both in domain-general (e.g., “I made a mistake”) and domain-specific (e.g., “My backhand was weak in that scenario”) terms.

Enhancing these neurocognitive skills—via reaction drills, focus exercises, and mindfulness practices—can meaningfully reduce error frequency and support faster correction.

The Team and Social Context

Social support is a protective factor, buffering the negative emotional and psychological impact of errors and setbacks. Peer athlete support groups, formal or informal, offer safe spaces for reflection, venting, and problem-solving, combatting isolation and facilitating collective growth. Research on group dynamics stresses the importance of mutual trust, open communication, and diversity in supporting adaptive responses to setbacks.

In team settings, how errors are perceived and managed is strongly influenced by group norms and the broader cultural context. Teams that foster psychological safety—where vulnerability is accepted, and learning from failure is encouraged—tend to outperform those that enforce punitive or “perfectionist” standards. Celebrating effort, resilience, and incremental improvement strengthens both individual identity and collective cohesion.

Bibliography

Gross, J. J., & Thompson, R. A. (2007). Emotion regulation: Conceptual foundations. In J. J. Gross (Ed.), Handbook of emotion regulation (pp. 3–24). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

Halden‑Brown, S. (2003). Mistakes worth making: How to turn sports errors into athletic excellence. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Hatzigeorgiadis, A., Zourbanos, N., Galanis, E., & Theodorakis, Y. (2011). Self‑talk and sports performance: A meta‑analysis. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 6(4), 348–356. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691611413136

Rosenberg, M. (1965). Society and the adolescent self‑image. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Smith, R. E., Smoll, F. L., & Ptacek, J. T. (1995). Conjunctive moderator variables in vulnerability and resiliency research: Life stress, social support, and coping skills, and adolescent sport injuries. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(2), 274–289. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.2.274

Vallerand, R. J. (1997). Toward a hierarchical model of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 29, 271–360. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60019-2