Playing Time in Youth Sports A common complaint from sports parents: The coach doesn’t give my child enough playing time, and it hurts her confidence. When a coach doesn’t give a child a lot of playing time, it can really hurt her view of her abilities and skills. And that, … Read Sport Psychology Tip
The Benefits of a Mental Game What’s more important in youth sports? A strong mental game or physical talent? Linda Crum, executive director of Positive Coaching Alliance Colorado, says the mental game is more important—and gets more important as kids start playing at elite levels. At the younger stages, she … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Sports Kids And Negative Self-Talk Some sports kids get into a bad mental game habits: They call themselves names. It sounds like this: “I’m not a defensive player. I’m too skinny to play football. I’m a terrible point guard. I’m a choker. I’m the smallest kid on the team so … Read Sport Psychology Tip
When Kids Have High Expectations in Sports Sometimes kids don’t even understand that they go into a game or practice with big expectations that pressure them to perform well. For example, they might have a list of unwritten, unspoken “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts.” These might include, “I should never make mistakes,” … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Mental Toughness To Reach Your Goals Kirk Mango is a former Division I National Champion, 3-Time All-American, 3-Time Hall of Fame Athlete, and was selected in 2009 as #8 on Northern Illinois University’s Top 50 Huskies of All-Time list. In high school, however, his coach told him he wouldn’t make … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Social Approval in Youth Sports What your kids learn in sports often transfers to other areas of their lives. Take confidence, for example. If kids learn how to feel confident in youth sports–meaning, if they know how to identify and address confidence busters–this often means higher confidence in other areas … Read Sport Psychology Tip