Dealing With Emotional Kids Before Competition A parent asks how to help her son recognize and name the different feelings he might have before a match and learn how to put them aside until later. This is a good question. It’s important for young athletes to understand how they’re feeling—and … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Helping Young Athletes Let Go of Mistakes When kids hang onto mistakes, they often end up experiencing low confidence, frustration and poor performance. When they dwell on their mistakes, they can’t focus in the moment or have fun playing sports because they become so angry with themselves. It’s especially important … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Help Young Athletes Cope With Pressure A parent asks, “What are two simple things that I can say to (my player) before the game that will help and not create stress?” Just before a game, tell your young athletes to avoid thinking about the score or the outcome. When kids … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Mental Training For Young Athletes A parent tells us that it’s hard convincing her 15-year-old daughter that she could benefit from mental training—specifically some of the materials on our website. The teen doesn’t believe in the value of efforts to boost her mental game. It’s common for sports kids to … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Young Athletes And Pregame Mental Preparation It’s so tempting, as parents, to give kids your top tips so they perform well in the game… This is because we want so badly for our kids to perform well, stay focused, and be confident about their performance. We can’t help but say … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Do Sports Help Self-Esteem? A sports parent writes: “My 12-year-old has always had low-self confidence and low self-esteem. My hope was that a competitive sport (baseball for us) could help him develop these but so far results (four years into the mission) are negative to neutral at best. How do … Read Sport Psychology Tip