The Importance of Communicating With Sports Kids
How you communicate with your sports kids is critical to building their confidence.
We recently chatted with Michel Langlois, co-owner of Prospect Communications, which helps parents, coaches and administrators develop more effective communication approaches. He’s also a former coach and has four grown kids who played many sports.
Langlois has lots to say about why nearly 75% of sports kids drop out of sports by the time they are 13—and how to ensure they stay in sports.
Kids’ decision to stay in sports and enjoy its many benefits—rather than dropping out—is a function of how much fun they’re having, he says. And young athletes have more fun if parents and coaches understand how best to communicate with them.
Here at Kids’ Sports Psychology, we are in complete agreement with Langlois. It’s your job as sports parents to ensure your kids are having fun. That means it’s your job to understand how to communicate with them—and how to choose coaches who know just how to pick their words.
Langlois offers some great tips for parents and coaches. First of all, he says, be sure you find out what motivates your kids to play.
Ask them what they love about the sport.
We’d like to add: Be sure to listen carefully. When you talk to kids, be sure to separate their motivation for playing sports from your motivation for having them play sports. You want to follow their lead.
We know a coach who, at the beginning of the season, asks parents and kids to complete a questionnaire about why the kids want to play sports and what the parents want from sports. And it helps this coach know how best to coach the kids.
Another tip from Langlois:
Be careful about how you give constructive criticism to young athletes. You don’t want to criticize them right after a mistake, for example. And you should be sure to load them with lots of positive feedback.
He quotes the Positive Coaching Alliance’s rule of providing kids with five positive, truthful remarks before offering one piece of constructive feedback.
If you’d like to learn more about how to communicate with young athletes in ways that build their confidence and ensure they stay in sports, we’ve got just what you need at Kids’ Sports Psychology.
For example, if you’re an exclusive member and you log into our site and search for “communication,” you’ll find articles, audio interviews, question-and-answers, and our Parents’ and Coaches’ Game Plans.
They include:
- “How Critical Coaches Hurt Young Athletes’ Confidence,” an article
- “How Do I Handle a Coach who Teaches in a Very Negative Way,” a question from a sports parent and our answer.
- “Good Coaches, Bad Coaches,” an audio interview with David Jacobsen, marketing communications manager for the Positive Coaching Alliance;
- Plus e-books written specifically for sports kids and different e-books for parents, videos, and more!
Join Kids’ Sports Psychology to improve your sports parenting skills and help your young athletes get the most of their physical talent!
Kids’ Sports Psychology
As we often mention, we receive much positive feedback about our programs. Here’s what came in this week during our interview with Langlois:
“Best wishes with all the great work you are doing!”
Help your sports kids reap the many benefits of youth sports with Kids’ Sports Psychology!
P.S. If you’re an exclusive member of Kids’ Sports Psychology, you can listen to our interview with Langlois by clicking here:
Expert Interview with Michel Langlois
Help Young Athletes Boost Confidence in Sports!
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What are parents and coaches saying?
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“Treasure Trove of Practical, Insightful Information”
“Kids’ Sports Psychology is quite a find. It’s a treasure trove of practical, insightful information presented in an organized, simple format that is so easy to use. It is exactly what I was looking for to help my daughter succeed in competition, as much as she succeeds during practice. Additionally, these concepts can be applied to all areas of her life and, as her parent, I can’t stress enough how important it is to me, that she develop confidence, and how valuable this resource is to that end. Thank you so much!”
~Stephanie Dobbs