Kids in sports articles and tips for sports parents, young athletes, and youth coaches to improve mental performance in sports.
Do Your Sports Kids Not Get Enough Playing Time? Successful athletes often make sacrifices. Yet, one of the most challenging sacrifices for some athletes is accepting their role on the team. Players’ roles can frequently change due to injuries, roster shake-ups, changes in playing style, coach preferences, or a new … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Growth Mindset for Young Athletes Rather than focusing on instilling fear to motivate athletes, parents need to create a safe training environment for them, says Pomai Miyata, MGCP, and sports performance consultant and founder of ICE Mental Game. Fear-based training was common with old-school coaches and is often depicted in … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Easing Young Athletes Back into Seeing Friends and Teammates Sports kids may feel anxious about changing the routines they developed during the shutdown, says Elizabeth Englander, a Ph.D psychologist, researcher, professor and author of “The Insanely Awesome Post-Pandemic Playbook.” However, playing sports is a good way to transition to normal … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Teach Athletes Strategies to Control Their Thinking Are your sports kids anxious during stressful moments while they’re competing? Are they generally anxious as athletes? Why do so many athletes feel anxious during competitions? Two issues contribute to anxiety in sports. First, young athletes label themselves as anxious. When this happens, … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Encouraging Young Athletes to Learn “Superpowers” in Sports Young athletes can learn a number of “superpowers” by participating in sports–traits such as courage, resilience and character. That’s the message from Beth Brown, an educator with a Ph.D. in sports psychology and the author of the children’s book series, “Adventures with … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How to Separate Training from Competition What is a competitive mindset? Can young athletes learn to develop a competitive mindset? They can, but first they need to understand the difference between the training mindset and the competitive mindset. When kids are in the training mindset, they focus on improving the … Read Sport Psychology Tip