Repetition in Youth Sports To Build Confidence
Parents, do you know practice and repetition can boost young athletes’ confidence?
That’s the word from Dr. Vernon Williams, neurologist and medical director of the Kerlan-Jobe Center for Sports Neurology in Los Angeles.
“High quality repetition will help your brain learn patterns,” he says.
With lots of practice and repetition, the brain will internalize patterns and be able to predict earlier and earlier what will happen next, he says.
In other words, repetition can boost kids’ confidence by helping them react more quickly to what’s happening around them.
Here’s an example in baseball:
“The best hitters as pros don’t necessarily have the best reaction times, but have brains that can predict based on subtle clues,” he says.
“A baseball player may see a pitcher pitch over and over so the brain picks up how to recognize certain pitches,” he explains. “With practice, over time, he will recognize that this will be a curve ball or fast ball.”
Here at Kids’ Sports Psychology, we agree that practice and repetition have many benefits.
If kids practice skills over and over, their efforts become more “automatic.” This frees up athletes to play intuitively, without thinking too hard about each step.
Once kids get to the point where they can feel free to be intuitive, their game gets a big boost.
They take more risks and are more likely to grow as athletes.
At Kids’ Sports Psychology, sports parents and coaches can learn lots of ways to boost kids’ confidence. First of all, exclusive members can listen to our interview with Williams here:
What’s more, at Kids’ Sports Psychology, you’ll find plenty of eBooks, articles, audios and videos that will help ensure your sports kids make the most of their experience.
Related Articles on Youth Sports:
- How Social Media Hurts Sports Kids’ Confidence
- When Coaches or Teammates Hurt Kids’ Confidence
- One Trap for Parents That Hurts Kids’ Confidence
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