Sports Parents Success Tips helping parents build confidence and resilience in their young athletes.
What Mental Game Skills do College Recruiters Look For? Recruiters and coaches look for a number of mental game traits when they’re evaluating athletes, says David Kmiecik, senior recruiting manager for Next College Student Athlete (NCSA). First of all, they look for athletes’ ability to recover from failure. “You’re going … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Taking Skills from Practice to Competition Trust is one of the most important factors that leads to peak performance in sports. When young athletes trust their skills, they’re performing or playing in the moment. They rely on the skills they learned to perform to their abilities under any circumstances. Rather … 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
How Getting Uncomfortable Builds Confidence Jack Canfield, co-creator of the popular “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series, peak performance expert and co-author of the new kids’ book “I Can Believe in Myself” was a guest on our Ultimate Sports Parent podcast recently. The father of four–who has been a … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How to Keep Athletes in the Game A sports parent asks: “My son is a HS freshman with huge potential in football but is not wanting to pursue it, he says he does not feel ‘passionate’ about it, even after being told by a few retired coaches and refs that … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Avoiding Comparisons to Boost Confidence in Young Athletes As sports parents, we all strive to be positive and happy role models for our children. Unfortunately, the stresses of sports can bring out the negative in us if we don’t try to keep an actively positive mind. The trap is that … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Reasons for Rising Dropout Rates in Sports Recent studies have shown a 14% drop off in soccer participation between the ages of 6-12, says Benjamin Dudley, executive director, Positive Coaching Aliance (PCA), Portland. We also see these kinds of numbers in baseball, football, and basketball all around the country. And … Read Sport Psychology Tip
What’s the Best Program for My Young Athlete? A sports mom asks: “I just wanted to know what the best program is for a 11 (almost 12) year old. I have a 12-year-old with confidence issues.” We often receive emails with these types of questions. Here at the Ultimate Sports … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How to Be a Supportive Sports Parent A sports parent asks: “How can I help my children really own their own sports experience?” Sports parents can sometimes forget that the sports experience should belong to their children. When parents are too intrusive, controlling, or over-involved, it undermines kids’ experience. Sports … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Communicating With Sports Kids After Games Sports parents often ask how to best communicate with their sports children after a game. This is a critical question; the messages that parents give their sports kids after a game can do wonders for their self-esteem and confidence, or on the contrary, do … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Helping Young Athletes Define Their Self-Concept A sports parent asks: “How do I help my child be more focused on his role on the team and not so worried about disappointing his teammates and others?” It’s common for sports kids to worry about disappointing others. Kids often seek social approval, … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Helping Young Athletes Overcome Negative Beliefs It’s common for young athletes to struggle with doubt and negative thoughts about their performance. They tell themselves that: This type of negative self-talk can be detrimental to your young athletes, and if it isn’t addressed, can lead to mental-game challenges. With each negative … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Helping Young Athletes Unlock Their Performance A sports parent asks: “I have a son who is a junior baseball player. To watch him warm up and practice, he looks the part and has already got some small college offers. He fits your description of a perfectionist and therefore lacks confidence. … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Building Your Child’s Confidence Through Sports Abby Wambach, two-time Olympic gold medalist and Women’s World Cup Champion, has some great insights into the world of sports parenting that illustrate the lessons we try to instill in parents. In a recent article with the Washington Post, she described growing up as … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How Perfectionism Can Lead to Fear of Failure A sports parent writes: “My child is a 9-year old figure skater. She is very passionate with her sport but sometimes she tend to get very frustrated when she performs poorly in her program. Also, when she is performing well, her coach … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Setting Team Goals as a Parent-Coach A sports parent asks: “As a parent and a coach, how should I handle performing both duties simultaneously to help all the kids as much as possible?” Being a coach and parent can breed many issues that you need to be aware of from … Read Sport Psychology Tip