Youth sports psychology articles and strategies for sports parents of young athletes to improve mental game and performance.
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
Boosting Confidence in Young Athletes A young athlete writes: “I am a badminton player and I am finding it really hard to not get shaky or lose confidence when in a game if I miss a shot, my coach keeps telling me that I am I good player and I … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Regaining Confidence After Injury A sports parent asks: “How do my children stay motivated while coming back from a sports injury? They tend to play very conservatively and find it harder to work as hard or be as enthusiastic when coming back from such an injury.” Often when your kids … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Helping Sports Kids Control Expectations If you’ve done a great job instilling in your sports kids a sense of right and wrong, they may have problems with a coach who appears to pick favorites. “Often, kids and parents alike will have perceived fairness issues, which can really take a toll … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Is Your Young Athlete a Perfectionist? A young athlete asks: “I’m 14 years old and have been playing tennis since I was 5. But 2 years ago I started to go to an academy. And at the same time I started to play tournaments. One of my coaches calls me … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Strategies to Help Sports Kids Overcome Failure Fear of failure affects sports children in all types of sports, but can be especially challenging in baseball, says Nova Newcomer, executive director, Friends of Baseball, in Portland, Oregon. “The tough challenge with baseball is it’s a failure-based sport,” says Newcomer, whose organization … Read Sport Psychology Tip