When Young Athletes Have High Expectations
Parents, be mindful of how you might harbor high expectations for your kids…
Understanding the effects of high expectations is one of the most important things you can do to help your sports kids before a game.
Here’s why: Just before a game, parents try to be helpful and boost kids’ confidence, but this can backfire because they express their expectations to kids in ways that cause them to take these expectations on as their own.
Your athletes’ ideas of how they SHOULD perform are already causing too much pressure!
Expectations are unwritten demands your athletes have about their performance. Athletes with high expectations think they should make five three-point shots, or be the top scorer on the team.
Truth is, these high expectations, even though they may sound like good ideas, can hurt kids’ confidence. That’s because it’s easy for athletes to become frustrated or lose confidence if they don’t meet their–or your–expectations.
Here’s an example: A softball player expects to be a perfect pitcher. In fact, in the past, she’s had many good pitching games. But when she makes a few mistakes and fails to be “perfect” in a game, she gets frustrated, loses her composure and starts to give up.
If she didn’t have these high expectations, the pitcher would likely enjoy sports more, keep her cool, and perform better.
We want you to learn more about the importance of keeping expectations in check just before a youth sports game.
Today we’re offering you a sneak peak at our new program, “10-Minute Pregame Prep.”
You can download the first session of the parents’ manual, which is all about keeping your and your athletes’ expectations in check before a game.
In the full program, you and your kids get 8 full pregame lessons–a manual for parents and a 10-minute pregame audio for your athletes.
Download the first parent manual here–in the middle of this page.
Available Now: “10-Minute Pregame Prep”
Young athletes and their parents and coaches tell us that sports kids often struggle with these pregame mental game challenges:
- They feel pressure to excel from expectations they feel from others
- They focus too much on the outcome instead of the process
- They fail to take charge of their confidence before the compete
- They don’t trust in their skills when they go from practice to competition
- They hang on to mistakes and dwell in them in competition
- They worry too much about what others think about their performance
- They tighten up and play safe when they feel pressure to succeed
- They interpret pregame jitters as harmful to their performance
“10 Minute Pregame Prep” will tell you everything you need to know about ensuring your sports kids avoid classic mental game pitfalls before a game, learn how to trust their instincts, and just go for it. It provides lots of advice for you, too…
With our program, you can stop wondering what to do and relax before your kids’ games!
Learn more about “10-Minute Pregame Prep”….
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“10 Tips to Improve Confidence And Success in Young Athletes”
Help Young Athletes Boost Confidence in Sports!
Do your young athletes:
- Criticize themselves often after making mistakes?
- Freeze up and look scared when faced with competitive pressure?
- Lose confidence after working with a negative coach?
- Perform like stars in practice but freeze up or play tentatively during games or competitions?
If so, check out The Ultimate Sports Parent!
The Ultimate Sports Parent will teach you powerful mental toughness secrets to improve your child’s success in sports.
Get proven strategies form leading youth sports experts!
The Ultimate Sports Parent: a 14-Day Plan For Kids’ Success in Sports
What are sports parents saying?
“The Ultimate Sports Parent Workbook Program totally changed our families approach to sports and I am so very grateful. My boys 7 and 10 are able to deal better with negative coaches, perform without fear, and focus way less results and focus better the process. One boy was amazingly able to regain composure and end the season with a positive attitude. I am on your web site all the time and am currently beginning The Confident Athlete series.”
~Sarah Bateman, Sports Parent
“We have purchased all of your CD’s, my child has gone through The Focused, Confident, Composed, and Fearless Athlete Programs. And I just listened to the Ultimate Sports Parent CD. I can’t tell you enough how helpful these have been. My child just played in a major competition and he maintained total composure, fought in competition mode not training mode, was totally confident. THANK YOU! I really believe that God lead me to your web site.”
~Sports Parent
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