{"id":33,"date":"2008-01-13T03:37:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-13T03:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/?p=33"},"modified":"2025-08-08T06:09:29","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T10:09:29","slug":"negative-feedback-a-confidence-buster-for-young-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/negative-feedback-a-confidence-buster-for-young-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"Negative Feedback: A Confidence Buster for Young Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Lisa Cohn and Dr. Patrick Cohn<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike, a sports dad to an 11-year-old who plays high-level baseball, is worried about his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confidence. Jim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s baseball coach often singles Jim out for making mistakes. As a result, the kids on the team also comment when Jim makes mistakes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike says Jim doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mind so much when the coach singles him out. But Jim is not so happy when the other kids pick up on this negativity and start offering their two cents about his mistakes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This situation can be a confidence buster for young athletes<\/a> if their parents don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t handle it well.<\/span> Young athletes often worry about what their peers think of them. If they worry too much, it can undermine their confidence and performance. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll often start playing tentatively. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be afraid to take risks. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be afraid of making more mistakes.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike took a smart approach: He reminded Jim that he generally contributes a lot to the team, and the coach and kids likely expect a lot from him.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He suggested that Jim find ways to turn this negative into a positive: Mike told Jim to take the feedback and use it as motivation to work harder.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When sports parents struggle with this issue, they should also consider having a frank conversation with the coach. If you do this, be sure to wait until after a game. Or make an appointment to see the coach. Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t approach the coach at half-time during a game if you are upset.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wait to cool off before you sit down with the coach. Be sure to be as positive as possible. You might say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I really appreciate all that you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re doing for the kids on these teams. I have one issue I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to discuss with you. I think it hurts my son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confidence when you single him out for criticism.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s important for sports parents to stress that confidence comes from within. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s based on what they can control\u00e2\u20ac\u201dhow hard they work in practice, their motivation and their past successes. It shouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be based on what they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t control\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe weather, the size of the ball they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re playing withopponents the team is playing against, or what others might be saying about them.<\/span> Young athletes need to focus on what they do well and try to push out of their minds worries about what others think of them.<\/span>What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more, you can remind your young athletes that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s natural to make mistakes in sports. No one is perfect. In fact, athletes learn from mistakes.
You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll learn:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*How to talk to a coach<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*When to find a new coach<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*How to motivate kids to do their best<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*How to communicate with your young athletes<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

*How to prepare kids for game day<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*How to help kids stop worrying about what everyone thinks<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*And much more!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Award winning parenting writer Lisa Cohn and Youth Sports Psychology expert Dr. Patrick Cohn are co-founders of The Ultimate Sports Parent. Pick up their free e-book, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Ten Tips to Improve Confidence and Success in Young Athletes\u00e2\u20ac\u009d by visiting <\/span>https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We welcome your comments.\u00c2 Please click on “no responses\u00c2 yet” or\u00c2 “responses\u00c2 so far”\u00c2 below to post your comment>><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Cohn and Dr. Patrick Cohn Mike, a sports dad to an 11-year-old who plays high-level baseball, is worried about his son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s confidence. Jim\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s baseball coach often singles Jim out for making mistakes. As a result, the kids on the team also comment when Jim makes mistakes. Mike says … Read Sport Psychology Tip<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4957,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,17,7,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kids-in-sports","category-sports-parenting","category-sports-psychology-for-kids","category-youth-sports-coaching"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33","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=33"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4957"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.youthsportspsychology.com\/youth_sports_psychology_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}