{"id":2021,"date":"2013-10-10T15:42:37","date_gmt":"2013-10-10T15:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/?p=2021"},"modified":"2025-07-21T07:13:06","modified_gmt":"2025-07-21T11:13:06","slug":"do-you-distract-your-young-athlete-during-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/do-you-distract-your-young-athlete-during-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"Do You Distract Your Young Athlete During Competition?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Help_Kids_Overcome_the_Top_Distractions_in_Sports\"><\/span>Help Kids Overcome the Top Distractions in Sports<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2><div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 ez-toc-wrap-center counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #999;color:#999\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/do-you-distract-your-young-athlete-during-competition\/#Help_Kids_Overcome_the_Top_Distractions_in_Sports\" >Help Kids Overcome the Top Distractions in Sports<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/do-you-distract-your-young-athlete-during-competition\/#Why_not\" >Why not?<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-4' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-4'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/do-you-distract-your-young-athlete-during-competition\/#The_Focused_Sports_Kid_%E2%80%93_Our_Best_Program_For_Focus\" >The Focused Sports Kid &#8211; Our Best Program For Focus!<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n<p>Believe it or not, one of the top <strong>distractions<\/strong> can be you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among other things, kids say that their parents distract them when they&#8217;re preparing for or playing games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What? You may ask. Me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, your intention is to be helpful. &nbsp;You want to support your young athletes by driving them to their events and cheering for them while they play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yes, you should do all this. But watch how you do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Let&#8217;s start with the drive to the game. Less is best. You don&#8217;t want to remind your athletes of the mistakes they made the last game or how the refs screwed up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_not\"><\/span>Why not?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This type of negative talking will distract your kids when they should be preparing <strong>mentally<\/strong> for their games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They should be thinking of <strong>positive<\/strong> things&#8211;like all the great traits they bring to the game. As much as possible, leave the <strong>mental prep<\/strong> to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, Lisa&#8217;s son likes to listen to music before a game and doesn&#8217;t appreciate a lot of chatter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While you&#8217;re at the game, be sure to cheer for all the kids &#8211;not just your own. Be careful about yelling loud, possibly embarrassing your kids. Kids say that their <strong>parents<\/strong> yelling on the sidelines is a huge distraction for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Instead of <strong>focusing<\/strong> on their next move, kids get wrapped up in listening to their parents &#8211;and either worrying about pleasing them or feeling embarrassed by them. Either way, this sinks their <strong>confidence<\/strong> and makes it hard for them to play to their <strong>potential.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being able to focus is a critical skill for kids. &nbsp;They need to understand what they should be <strong>focusing<\/strong> on and how to overcome common <strong>distractions&#8211;including<\/strong> their parents, &nbsp;worries about what others think, bad weather, and equipment mess-ups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"The_Focused_Sports_Kid_%E2%80%93_Our_Best_Program_For_Focus\"><\/span>The Focused Sports Kid &#8211; Our Best Program For Focus!<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/focused-sports-kid-small-7.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"225\" height=\"250\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/focused-sports-kid-small-7.jpg\" alt=\"the Focused Sports Kid\" class=\"wp-image-11217\" style=\"width:167px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>If you&#8217;re interested in learning more about how to help young athletes <strong>focus<\/strong> in ways that boost their confidence and performance, check out our program, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peaksports.com\/the-focused-sports-kid-cd-program\/\"><strong>The Focused Sports Kid<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This program, which includes CDs and workbooks for athletes plus CDs and manuals for parents, helps parents and kids identify top distractions and how to overcome them. Parents learn how to help kids with distractions and kids get strategies for <strong>focusing<\/strong> in ways that improve their performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t forget, <strong>focusing<\/strong> is a skill that kids can learn&#8230;and learning to <strong>focus<\/strong> in youth sports is critical! Check out the program here:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Help Kids Overcome the Top Distractions in Sports Believe it or not, one of the top distractions can be you! Among other things, kids say that their parents distract them when they&#8217;re preparing for or playing games. What? You may ask. Me? Of course, your intention is to be helpful. &#8230; <a title=\"Do You Distract Your Young Athlete During Competition?\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/do-you-distract-your-young-athlete-during-competition\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Do You Distract Your Young Athlete During Competition?\">Read Sport Psychology Tip<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11217,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[547,191,173,548,251,117],"class_list":["post-2021","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-youth-sports-psychology-blog","tag-distractions-youth-sports","tag-sports-parents-tips","tag-tips-for-sports-parents","tag-young-atheltes","tag-youth-sports","tag-youth-sports-psychology"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11217"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}