Sports parents articles and tips for sports parents, young athletes, and youth coaches to improve mental performance and overall consistency.
Too often, sports kids see their identity as being athletes, said Tiffany Yvonne, founder of Playmaker Solutions, where she helps young athletes build emotional intelligence and confidence. When their identity is all about sports, they can quickly lose confidence if they make mistakes or lose games. ?”When you know who … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How Can I Improve Confidence and Identity in Young Athletes? Summary: When young athletes tie their entire identity to their sport, a bad game can feel like a personal failure. That’s when anxiety creeps in and performance drops. As a sports parent, you can help your child build the kind … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Do Your Kids Embrace the Underdog Role? Summary: When athletes see themselves as the underdog, they have two choices: believe they can win, or believe they’ll lose — and that belief often becomes self-fulfilling. Embracing the underdog role, rather than fearing it, helps athletes tap into their full mental and … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Young athletes often stop enjoying sports because they’re perfectionists, compare themselves to others or “mind read,” or make assumptions about what others are thinking, according to Jaclyn Ellis, a mental performance coach at Peak Performance Sports Related Kids Sports Psychology Articles: Table of Contents Toggle Related Kids Sports Psychology Articles: … Read Sport Psychology Tip
In this video, you will learn how to better the pregame conversations with your athletes to help them feel confident and prepared before they compete! Peak Performance Sports, LLC helps athletes and performers improve mental skills for success in sports. We work with athletes in all sports – junior to … Read Sport Psychology Tip
In this video series, Dr. Cohn and Georgia Miller, MGCP help sports parents improve their communication with young athletes so they can have more fun and perform better in games. Learn the most important tips we teach to sport parents. Watch to Learn More: Table of Contents Toggle Watch to … Read Sport Psychology Tip
A Slump or Losing Streak Starts as Nothing Unusual Every athlete and team occasionally experiences bad games or unproductive performances. So, what turns a few bad games into a performance rut? What commonalities trap a player or team in a cycle of under performance? If your sports kids can identify … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Mental Training for Youths We’ve received many questions from sports parents and coaches about how to introduce mental training to athletes… In this new video, Dr. Cohn helps parents and coaches introduce and explain mental training to young athletes. Unfortunately, we know that athletes resist mental training for the wrong … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Performance anxiety, mistakes and low confidence are some of the top challenges for girls who play volleyball–challenges that help them learn important lessons in life, said Leah Jantzen, a former Ironman and marathon runner who is now a mental health and performance coach at Ward Melville High School, Long Island. … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Sports parents need to show their young athletes that they care about more than the score and the win. That’s the word from Wayne LaMarre, clinical professor and director of the athletic training program at the University of New England. LaMarre is also on staff for the Women’s National Ice … Read Sport Psychology Tip
What is Stable Confidence Some kids’ confidence changes depending on the record or ability of their opponents. They only feel confident when they compete against weaker opponents and are less confident against tougher competition. Young athletes’ confidence sinks when they become “wowed” by their opponents’ record, skills or talent level. … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Former Mets Catcher on Making Mistakes For baseball players, making mistakes is the biggest challenge, says Josh Thole, former catcher for the New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays. Working with the makers of a new app, Players Way, he’s on a mission to help keep youth baseball players in … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Helping Kids Look at Pressure as an Opportunity What causes choking? Why do some young athletes choke while other athletes rise to the occasion? Most young athletes don’t like to hear the word “choking,” let alone admit that they choke. Yet, some athletes believe they “always choke” when the pressure … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Boost Confidence Through Good Communication For parents, connecting with young athletes is an important bonus of youth sports… Harley Rotbart, pediatrician, sports parent and author of the bestselling “No Regrets Parenting” says it’s important for parents to take advantage of the opportunities to boost communication with kids while helping them … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Think of Mistakes as Learning Opportunities There are numerous advantages to kids’ embracing a growth mindset in youth sports. Kids who have a growth mindset tend to see mistakes as opportunities for growth. They rarely say, “I can’t do this.” They generally don’t feel “stuck” but instead feel as if … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Help Athletes Welcome Friendly Competition Young athletes can reap many benefits from embracing friendly competition. Often, kids shy away from competing with their teammates. They feel as if they’re not as talented as their teammates or are afraid of being embarrassed in front of them. For example, a basketball player … Read Sport Psychology Tip