Youth sports psychology articles and strategies for sports parents of young athletes to improve mental game and performance.
Learn to Play “Under The Circumstances” Do your kids feel devastated after a loss? Some kids don’t feel satisfied in sports unless they win. They need to understand that numerous factors are outside their control when it comes to winning. These include the weather, teammates’ decisions and calls from the … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Interview With Jeff Long Jeff Long, founder of the Healthy Kids Running Series and a former Division 1 runner, says it’s important to keep kids moving during this time of high anxiety. “Stress levels are high, people are anxious and stressed, and now Mom and Dad are trying to do … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Helping Sports Kids Cope with Covid-19 It’s hard for sports kids to suddenly stop playing or competing in response to COVID-19. Young athletes might be saying: It’s understandable that sports kids are feeling upset. While they’re not playing, kids can focus on things that help keep their heads in the … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How Young Athletes Can Learn From Failure Losses and failure can sink sports kids’ confidence–but they don’t have to. For many football players, failure means throwing an interception in the red zone or fumbling the ball and allowing the opposing team to score. Missing a tackle for a big yardage … Read Sport Psychology Tip
When Self-Talk Isn’t Enough for Athletes Brad Donohue, a psychology professor and sports psychology expert at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is conducting some eye-opening studies about how motivational phrases help athletes perform. In one of his studies, coaches or peers said a string of phrases to runners … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How Expectations Hinder Confidence Perfectionists tend to have more confidence in practice than they do in competition. They also harbor what’s called fragile confidence. Fragile confidence means that athletes’ confidence rises and falls depending on how they are performing at the moment. At its worst, fragile confidence can increase and … Read Sport Psychology Tip