Youth sports psychology articles and strategies for sports parents of young athletes to improve mental game and performance.
How to Deal With Distractions Sports kids struggle with a number of distractions. They include: These examples are external distractions. While external distractions are bothersome, they are not the most formidable challenge for athletes. Internal distractions are much more destructive and difficult to manage, particularly the “what if” trap. ‘What … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Do Your Young Athletes Focus Too Much on Mistakes? Do they criticize their performance instead of focusing on learning from their mistakes? And do they ignore what they did well? If so, your sports kids are likely perfectionists. They tend to be hard on themselves after they compete, which undermines … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Emotional Outbursts Lead to a Loss of Focus? You can’t take emotions out of the game. By nature, we are emotional beings. However, when young athletes don’t reel in their emotions, they will intensify, and their performance will decline rapidly. For example, Mary S. is a high school basketball player. … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Hypnotherapy Can Relieve Stress Lark Ericson, a certified hypnotherapist and life coach, works with a number of sports kids, and begins by explaining to them how hypnotherapy can help, she said during an interview with our Ultimate Sports Parent podcast. For kids who might be resistant to the idea, she … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Elite Athletes Aren’t Elite Just Because They Are Talented. Plenty of talented athletes have not lived up to their potential. Do elite athletes just have better coaching? Again, many athletes have risen to the top without the best coaching. And many talented athletes have elite coaches and still consistently under … Read Sport Psychology Tip
What is Choking? Some examples of chokers: Choking is under performing during pressure moments of a game or competition. The problem is not about kids’ ability to perform. It’s about performing under pressure. For chokers, pressure becomes overwhelming and interferes with performing in the moment. Just as problematic is kids … Read Sport Psychology Tip