“Compete-Learn-Honor”: A Psychological and Sports Science Evidence-Based Approach to Coaching and Player Development

This article describes the research that supports “Compete-Learn-Honor,” a psychological and sport science evidence-based coaching philosophy and player development approach to promoting emotional and physical safety, fun, and growth as a person and player. Compete-Learn-Honor (CLH) focuses on the mental-emotional game but enables task- and mastery-oriented rather than ego-oriented integration of all six general tennis performance components for periodization identified by the U.S. Professional Tennis Association: Physical, technical, tactical, strategic, mental, and environmental. The article describes how CLH is implemented, and reviews how CLH is rooted in the science of positive psychology and of creating a task- and mastery-oriented player development climate in sport that focuses on support for basic ABC needs of human motivation— autonomy, belonging, and competence, all of which has been shown to promote better athlete well-being and performance.