Every Athlete Experiences Rough Spots or Slumps Many times, young athletes get in trouble when they focus too much on their most recent disappointing results. This trap is called being mentally “nearsighted.” They focus too much on their recent bad results or performance slump. They tend to expect to be … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Turn Negative Comments into Motivation What fuels your sports kids’ motivation? Wins, personal bests, rewards, awards and compliments are positive ways young athletes are motivated. When kids’ coaches, teammates or parents believe in kids, they will feel that extra spark and “go for it. But what if others don’t believe … Read Sport Psychology Tip
What Parents Need to Know About Concussions New concussion rules and regulations can build respect in young athletes for their opponents. In addition, the rules don’t hurt kids’ other mental game skills. That’s the word from Thomas Heiden, who played college hockey at Notre Dame and has coached many different … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Help Athletes Be Less Self-Critical Are your sports kids critical of themselves? After every mistake or bad game, do they put themselves down? When kids criticize themselves excessively, they experience fractured confidence, low motivation and underperformance. The criticism also creates a loop: they perform badly…they criticize themselves…their confidence and motivation … Read Sport Psychology Tip
What Mental Game Skills do College Recruiters Look For? Recruiters and coaches look for a number of mental game traits when they’re evaluating athletes, says David Kmiecik, senior recruiting manager for Next College Student Athlete (NCSA). First of all, they look for athletes’ ability to recover from failure. “You’re going … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Train Your Mind to Respond Well to Adversity This is something young athletes can achieve, but it takes practice. It doesn’t necessarily come naturally. Young athletes need to train their brains to respond automatically to challenging situations. To do this, they should consistently tell themselves positive, empowering messages. If they … Read Sport Psychology Tip