Youth sports psychology articles and strategies for sports parents of young athletes to improve mental game and performance.
Are You Helping Or Hurting Sports Kids Before Games? Just before a game, sports parents can significantly boost their kids’ confidence and focus—or they can rattle kids’ nerves. The hours or moments before a game begins can make or break your kids’ experience… If you spend a lot of time … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Sport Specialization For Kids Jack Malley, sports dad, coach, and author of “Meet The Lunatics Who Run Your Kids’ Sports Leagues,” says he’s made quite a few mistakes as a sports dad and coach. But allowing his kids to specialize was not one of those mistakes. For example, Malley once … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Sports Kids’ Fear of Failure Too often, kids think they shouldn’t make any mistakes in youth sports. In fact, up to 75% of the kids we work with are hard on themselves after a loss or mistake When they think they shouldn’t fail, they avoid making mistakes-which is a real … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Perfectionists and Performing in The Moment Perfectionism is a double-edged sword for young athletes. Perfectionists work really hard, but have trouble performing “in the moment” and going for it. When they make mistakes, they often dwell on them, which hurts their confidence. Here’s a classic example that recently came from … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Superstitions in Youth Sports Do your sports kids harbor silly beliefs about what makes them better athletes? For example, do they insist on wearing a red-striped headband and on eating chocolate power bars before games? This is common in young athletes, and can actually hurt their confidence and performance. Why? … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Perfectionism in Sports Hurts Confidence For example, perfectionist athletes expect a lot from their performance. Some of their expectations are unrealistic and make them think too much about results. This can lead to self-doubt when they don’t perform up to these high demands. Perfectionists also have a hard time feeling … Read Sport Psychology Tip