Fear of Failure for Young Athletes Elizabeth Pecsok, a coach at Oregon Gymnastics Academy (OGA), says coaching kids with special needs is all about helping them attain their personal goals and feel successful. She provides one-on-one coaching to kids who have ADHD, autism, sensory challenges and other issues. “I focus … Read Sport Psychology Tip
A Dad’s Frustration with His Athlete A sports dad says that his 11-year-old daughter is an accomplished table tennis player in Australia who recently ranked second in the Junior State Championship for kids age 11 and under. “Lots of parents and kids seem to have the impression she is good … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How to Communicate With Young Athletes The words parents and coaches choose when communicating with young athletes can boost kids’ confidence or deflate it, says Ganon Baker, a sports development coach who has worked with teams internationally and also played basketball in Iceland. When talking to kids about a … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Why Do Girls Drop Out of Sports More Often Than Boys? Nancy Lough, a professor at the University of Nevada Las Vegas, says that girls drop out for numerous reasons–and some are related to gender stereotypes. “If you think about it from a social standpoint, there are a lot of … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How Young Athletes can Cope with Stress The pressures of modern youth sports are creating stress related mental health issues in young athletes. But there’s a non-traditional way of addressing this stress. That’s what we learned during a podcast interview with Bradley Donohue, a psychology professor at University of Nevada, … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Do Parents Pressure Kids to be Superstars? In the world of youth sports, we focus too much on “the next big thing”, creating high expectations. Eighth grade basketball player Elijah Fisher has been described by his coach at Grassroots Elite (Canada), “Elijah could be the best player to ever come … Read Sport Psychology Tip