How to Control What is Controllable Do your sports kids worry too much before and during competitions? When they worry, they’re often trying to control issues related to performance that are outside of their direct control. These issues include getting injured, being benched by a coach, playing against a higher … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Help Your Athletes Close out Competitions Are your sports kids confident in their ability to close out games? Or do they get scared and play sloppily when their team is ahead? Teach An Aggressive Mindset Whether your kids play soccer, football, hockey or participate in gymnastics, they need to have … Read Sport Psychology Tip
The Importance of Balance in an Athlete’s Life Hernan Chousa is a former tennis pro and sports dad to a tennis player who is now playing at a Division 1 college. His son started playing early, and burnt out at age 15. He quit tennis for two years, then started … Read Sport Psychology Tip
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