Positive Feedback for Kids

Learn the power of positive feedback on sports kids confidence and progress in athletics.

Motivate Kids with Growth Mindset, Not Fear

Building Confidence in Athletes

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

Parent Communication with Sports Kids Who Lash Out

Youth Sports Psychology

Communicating With Sports Kids After Losses What exactly is going on in the minds of young athletes when they throw a bat after striking out, storm out of a gym after a loss, or cry when their team suffers a big upset? How should you deal with this behavior? First … Read Sport Psychology Tip

How To Give Constructive Feedback to Sports Kids

returning after injury

It’s no secret that many young athletes aren’t very open to constructive feedback during games. That’s because they often take it personally. They think that what you say about their performance as athletes reflects on them as people. What does this mean for you as parents and coaches? It’s your … Read Sport Psychology Tip

How Sports Kids Deal with Constructive Criticism [Interview]

Video of The Week

Handling Criticism in Youth Sports Lisa Cohn of Kids’ Sports Psychology interviews coach James Jackson and Dr. Patrick Cohn about how kids handle criticism in sports today. When coaches don’t communicate well during games, kids take well-meaning constructive feedback personally and generally don’t learn or improve. Watch the video below … Read Sport Psychology Tip

How Sports Kids Handle Constructive Criticism

Video of The Week

How Sports Kids Deal With Criticism Dr. Patrick Cohn, co-founder of The Ultimate Sports Parent discusses how kids handle constructive criticism in sports. In this youth sports psychology video by Dr. Patrick Cohn you’ll learn: How kids handle criticism in sports today. Listen to the interview with Coach James Jackson and Dr. Patrick Cohn … Read Sport Psychology Tip

When Sports Kids Rely on Others for Confidence

Youth Sports Psychology

Sports Kids’ Confidence Sources Do your young athletes seek approval from their peers and coaches in order to feel confident about their abilities in sports? That’s true of Miguel, a 20-year-old who has played basketball recreationally for many years. He says that when his confidence sinks, he counts on his … Read Sport Psychology Tip

Building Kids’ Confidence With Online Practice Help

Youth Sports Psychology

Ways to Build Sports Kids’ Confidence Do you ever wish your kids had the opportunity to communicate with their coaches or review their skills outside of practice so they could improve faster? If you had this opportunity, and were careful about helping your kids use it in ways that were … Read Sport Psychology Tip

Teaching Young Athletes to Be Resilient—in Sports and Life!

Youth Sports Psychology

Sports Kids And Moving on After Mistakes or Losses Does your young athlete say things like, “I can never hit a good one,” or, “I’m always a terrible player,” or “Things never work out for me” after a tough game or competition? That’s a red flag, says Tamar Chansky, Ph.D., … Read Sport Psychology Tip

The Youth Coach Who Yells–But the Team Wins

Focus on Fun For Your Athletes

Here’s a really tough question for sports parents…. If a youth sports coach yells at his young athletes a lot, but his teams always win AND his team members generally seem happy, is he a good coach or a bad coach? That’s a question recently posed in a blog that’s … Read Sport Psychology Tip

How Parents Can Improve Communication with Sports Kids – of All Abilities

Youth Sports Psychology

Communicating With Young Athletes We recently checked in with sports dad Michael Wood–chief fitness officer at Koko Fitness Inc.– about his daughter’s making her high school basketball team as a 6th grader. This was a double-edged sword for Wood… On the one hand, he was happy she had the opportunity … Read Sport Psychology Tip

The Importance of Positive Feedback for Young Athletes

How Choking Hurts Athletes’ Performance

Rewarding Positive Behavior in Youth Sports Just how important is giving positive feedback to young athletes? For our Ultimate Sports Parent Radio show, we recently checked in with baseball coach Rob Gelphman about this topic. He says giving kids compliments, especially for making small achievements, like fielding a ground ball, … Read Sport Psychology Tip