Two Mental Skills Important for Success Trust and confidence are very important for young athletes’ success in sports and are interrelated. If athletes lack confidence, they don’t believe in their ability to perform under pressure. If they don’t trust their skills, they lack confidence heading into competitions. Let’s take a … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How to Keep Sports Kids Motivated For Cami Hawkins, CEO of Marathon Kids, an organization that provides resources for schools to start running clubs, motivating kids is all about setting small goals and celebrating success. In an Ultimate Sports Parent podcast interview, Hawkins described how the organization’s coaches set goals … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How to Use Mental Imagery to Boost Performance Mental imagery is a useful mental game skill that can improve young athletes’ performance. Many athletes have experienced success using visualization daily in their training regimes. Athletes say that visualization boosts confidence, improves focus, creates poise under pressure, improves consistency and makes … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How to Move on After Mistakes Many sports kids feel that achieving peak performance means that they must have a perfect performance or game. However, this mindset can hurt kids’ mental game and performance. These kids tend to have a hard time moving on after making mistakes, so they get … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Many young athletes experience trouble reading social cues from coaches and peers, says Caroline Maguire, author of “Why Will No One Play with Me?” and a professional certified coach who has worked with Olympic and other athletes. This can hurt communication with coaches and peers, make it difficult for kids … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Alex Molden, a former NFL player who is now a motivational speaker, high school football coach and sports parent, says that parents need to be more patient. Too often, they’re too focused on pushing their kids to the top as quickly as possible. “Kids have to find their path,” Molden … Read Sport Psychology Tip