Coaches love routines right up until the routine stops working. Then we become amateur meteorologists, air traffic controllers, and hostage negotiators all at once. A bus is late. A gym changes.
Warmups get shortened. A starter is sick. The tournament director decides Court 6 is now Court 14, which apparently exists in another zip code. Suddenly the plan that looked so clean at breakfast is being held together by athletic tape and optimism.
That is sport. Change is normal. Uncertainty is normal. The problem is that we often expect athletes to adapt to change without ever coaching the change itself.
For some athletes, especially athletes with ADHD, autism, anxiety, or other differences that affect attention, regulation, or transitions, an unexpected change can create more than mild annoyance. It can consume enough mental bandwidth that the athlete arrives at the actual performance problem already behind.
That does not mean we protect athletes from every surprise. It means we should think about whether our response to change helps them adapt or simply adds another layer of chaos.
Predictability Is Not the Same as Rigidity
I think coaches sometimes hear the word predictability and picture an environment where nothing ever changes. That is not realistic, and it would not prepare athletes very well. Sport is basically a long series of things refusing to happen the way we drew them on the whiteboard.
The useful version of predictability is simpler. Athletes know what stays the same when other things change. Maybe the venue changes, but the pregame check-in stays the same. Maybe warmup gets cut from 30 minutes to 18, but the first two actions remain familiar.
Maybe a lineup changes, but the communication process does not. In other words, the routine becomes an anchor instead of a prison. This is one reason I wrote about leading through change. Good leadership during disruption is not about pretending everything is fine.
It is about making the next useful step clear enough that people can act. The National Autistic Society’s guidance for sports coaches notes that unexpected change can create significant anxiety for some autistic participants and recommends clear communication, preparation, and attention to individual needs.
That is not an argument for making sport perfectly predictable. It is an argument for not adding mystery when clarity is available.
Coach the Transition, Not the Emotion
When a routine breaks, the first thing coaches often notice is the athlete’s emotional response. Maybe they get quiet. Maybe they get irritated. Maybe they ask the same question three times.
Maybe they suddenly look unfocused. The temptation is to coach the emotion: “Relax.” “It’s not a big deal.” “You have to be ready for anything.” Those phrases may be technically true and practically useless. A better first move is to coach the transition.
What changed? What did not change? What happens next? What does the athlete need to do in the next two minutes?
I like a simple three-part structure: Here is what changed. Here is what stays the same. Here is your next job. If our warmup is shortened, I might say, “We lost ten minutes.
We are keeping our first passing sequence. Skip the second serving block. Your next job is shoes on and ready at the baseline in two minutes.” That is not babying anyone. That is usable information.
Some Athletes Need a Preview, Not a Promise
There is an important distinction between previewing what is likely to happen and promising that it will happen exactly that way. Coaches can get trapped here. We are afraid to share a schedule because we know it may change.
So we share nothing. That makes little sense to me. Weather forecasts change too, but I still like knowing whether I should carry an umbrella. You can say, “Here is the current plan.
If something changes, I will tell you as soon as I know.” That sentence gives athletes information without pretending you control the universe. It also builds trust because the coach becomes a reliable source of updates rather than the person who announces changes while everyone is already sprinting toward the wrong court.
This can be particularly useful for neurodivergent athletes who benefit from advance notice, but it helps everyone. Athletes are better at adapting when they know what they are adapting from.
Do Not Confuse Surprise With Training
Coaches sometimes manufacture unpredictability because we believe it builds resilience. We change drills without warning. We alter consequences. We suddenly move practice times.
We create pressure by withholding information. Then we call the resulting discomfort “mental toughness.” I am not a fan of that approach. If the goal is to train adaptability, train adaptability. Create a drill where conditions change and athletes must read the new information.
Change the scoring. Change the opponent. Change the available options. Make the uncertainty relevant to the sport.
But making an athlete guess whether practice ends at 6:00 or 6:45 is not sophisticated pressure training. It is scheduling. That distinction matters. We should challenge athletes with meaningful uncertainty, not administrative confusion.
Build a Change Protocol
Teams can create a simple process for disruption. It does not need a laminated flowchart, although I admit I would enjoy that more than most people. Start with one communication channel. Where will schedule changes appear?
Text group? Team app? Whiteboard? Email?
Pick the place and use it consistently. Then establish one phrase that signals a shift. Something like, “New plan,” or, “Reset the plan.” The wording is less important than the consistency. Next, identify the few routines that remain stable even when the day gets weird.
For my teams, that might be the first moments after arrival, our pre-match check-in, or the way we communicate the starting lineup. Stable routines reduce the number of decisions athletes have to make while everything else is moving.
Finally, ask athletes what part of change is hardest for them. Some struggle with not knowing. Some struggle with rushed transitions. Some are fine until the physical environment changes.
Others barely notice any of it. A diagnosis can help us ask better questions, but it cannot answer them for the athlete.
Adaptability Needs Something to Push Against
There is a reason balance drills work better when the athlete has some sense of where the ground is. Adaptability is similar. Athletes need enough stability to recognize what changed, choose a response, and move forward.
That is why routines matter. Not because routines should control athletes, but because good routines create reference points. They let us say, “This part changed, but you still know who you are, how we communicate, and what the next job is.” The goal is not to eliminate uncertainty.
The goal is to help athletes navigate it without wasting all their energy fighting the fact that it exists. This week, look at one place where your team commonly experiences disruption: travel, lineup changes, shortened warmups, facility switches, schedule changes, or even a coach arriving late.
Ask yourself whether you have coached that transition or merely expected athletes to tolerate it. You may find that the team does not need a stronger lecture about adaptability. They may just need a better handoff from the old plan to the new one.
Key takeaways: Predictability does not mean rigidity. When plans change, tell athletes what changed, what remains stable, and what happens next. Preview likely plans without pretending they are guarantees. Train meaningful uncertainty in the sport, and stop confusing avoidable confusion with resilience training.
Until next time, remember that changing the plan is normal. Making everyone guess the new one is optional.
