Articles for sport parents and youth athletes to learn the best tips on how to focus, build stable confidence, let go of mistakes, and stay resilient through challenges.
How do your athletes respond to constructive criticism? Do they reject it outright or welcome it from coaches? Why do some athletes reject corrections or constructive feedback from their coaches? Athletes are afraid of constructive criticism for several reasons: They feel they are negatively being judged. The criticism confirms some … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How Young Athletes Can Learn From Failure Losses and failure can sink sports kids’ confidence–but they don’t have to. For many football players, failure means throwing an interception in the red zone or fumbling the ball and allowing the opposing team to score. Missing a tackle for a big yardage … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How to Communicate With Young Athletes The words parents and coaches choose when communicating with young athletes can boost kids’ confidence or deflate it, says Ganon Baker, a sports development coach who has worked with teams internationally and also played basketball in Iceland. When talking to kids about a … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How can Young Athletes Learn from Ninja Warriors? Lisa here from Youth Sports Psychology and Kids Sports Psychology. This week, along with my 10-yr-old, I was an audience member for American Ninja Warrior, where I witnessed astonishing feats and plenty of fails. Ninjas have specific challenges in sports: It’s an … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Flow and Peak Performance in Sports For young athletes, finding flow is critical for their enjoyment and peak performance in sports… When kids experience being “in the zone,” they are focused, confident, and fearless. Athletes in a flow state perform on “autopilot,” feeling as though performance is almost effortless. In … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Comparisons Hurt Athletes’ Confidence When we surveyed parents, we found that 23% said that kids judge how their teammates are performing instead of focusing on their own play. Focusing on others’ play will distract your young athletes from their own game, and can become a major confidence killer. In the … Read Sport Psychology Tip