Youth sports psychology articles and strategies for sports parents of young athletes to improve mental game and performance.
Stay Confident After A Loss It’s easy to hurt your young athletes’ confidence after a game, saying the wrong things or talking too much about the game, especially if your team lost. Many kids link their self-esteem with their performance. We don’t want that to happen. Too often, parents say … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Help Sports Kids Focus Before Games Let’s say you’re getting your sports kids ready for a soccer game. But a number of unforeseen events pop up. First, you can’t find their uniforms, and have to borrow some from the coach. Next, you arrive at the game, and it’s pouring—even though … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Perfectionism In Young Athletes We recently received a note from a parent about how her 10-year-old’s high expectations lead her to give up when faced with adversity. This is common when a child, like this softball player, has achieved success. She has pitched many perfect games, including at state playoffs, … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How To Improve Kids’ Self-Confidence One of the biggest challenges young athletes face before a game, parents tell us, is doubt about their abilities. In fact, that’s what we see, too. Just before a game, kids start telling themselves that they’re no good at making three-pointers, that they don’t think … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Help Young Athletes Develop A Pregame Routine Just before a game, a number of challenges hurt kids’ confidence. A big one among them, parents tell us, are worries about who will come to kids’ games to watch them perform. Young athletes worry about coaches, friends, girlfriends and boyfriends, parents, and … Read Sport Psychology Tip
The Importance Of A Pregame Routine For Athletes Let’s face it. Many kids join sports teams to be with their friends. That means they love to chat with one another. But you want them to feel confident and capable about their athletic abilities. And when they talk with friends just … Read Sport Psychology Tip