Confidence in youth sports articles and tips for sports parents, young athletes, and youth coaches to improve mental performance and consistency.
Solving Problems as an Athlete Competitive sports have their fair share of ups and downs, and most players experience highs and lows during their career. When players are at a low point, they sometimes feel like they are the only ones who experience tough times. For example, if your young … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How do emotions affect kids’ competitive performance? Have there been competitions where a bad officiating call mentally knocked your kids off their game? There are six facts about competitive emotions: All athletes experience a wide range of emotions, more so than all other living things. Learning how to manage emotions … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Youth Athletes Need to Understand Mental Coaching Young athletes often resistant mental performance coaching because they don’t understand what it is… We know that athletes often have the wrong impression of what mental coaching is. Athletes often think mental coaching is therapy. They assume it’s only because something is wrong with … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Should young athletes quit or recommit to youth sports? That’s a question that Andrew Simpson and his associates ask young athletes who may be approaching burnout. Simpson, chief vision officer, Player’s Fitness and Performance, helped create a training program for these athletes. The program looks at ways to help athletes recognize … Read Sport Psychology Tip
As a sports psychology practitioner and founder of Maximize the Mind Mental Performance Coaching, Ashley Eckermann is fielding more and more requests from parents of kids as young as 7 or 8. Their biggest challenge is fear of failure, Eckermann said. Kids say they are afraid of messing up and … Read Sport Psychology Tip
What does it take for kids to perform at their peak during playoffs? Pressure increases a notch in the playoffs. A loss during the regular season is just a loss, just one game. However, in the playoffs, one game may be the difference between going home or going to the … Read Sport Psychology Tip