Help Sports Kids Focus Before Games
Let’s say you’re getting your sports kids ready for a soccer game. But a number of unforeseen events pop up. First, you can’t find their uniforms, and have to borrow some from the coach.
Next, you arrive at the game, and it’s pouring—even though it was supposed to be a nice day. To make matters worse, a family’s dog won’t stop barking on the sidelines.
How do your sports kids handle such events?
Do they focus on how the uniforms provided by the coach are too small and complain about it? Or do they just put them on and hit the field running?
Do they whine about the rain and how it will make them run more slowly, or jog right out and enjoy the mud?
For many sports kids, unforeseen events like this are huge distractions.
They can’t take their minds off the ill-fitting uniforms, the mud, or the barking—and this affects how much they enjoy the game and how they perform.
But here’s the good news: Kids can learn how to improve their focus and avoid such distractions. Yes, focus is a skill, just like kicking a ball is a skill, and with practice, young athletes can improve their focusing abilities.
To overcome distractions, they can take advantage of the 3 R’s for refocusing.
They need to first Recognize the distraction. It’s a good idea for kids to know, long before a game, what things distract them so they can quickly identify them before a game.
Second, they need to Regroup — or stop thinking about whatever is distracting them.
Next, they need to Refocus on the task at hand.
In order to refocus well, they need to know the answer to the question, “What do I need to focus on to make a play, hit a good shot, or stay in the process?”
Related Articles on Youth Sports:
- 2 Pregame Tips to Help Young Athletes With Stress
- 7 Pregame Tips for Sports Parents & Kids
- Pregame and Postgame Tips for Sports Parents
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Help Your Young Athletes Improve Focus In Sports!
Are your young athletes easily distracted by people shouting on the sidelines? Do they obsess over their mistakes? Do they worry about what people think of them?
These issues will cause their concentration and performance to suffer!The Focused Sports Kid helps kids overcome distractions that can hurt their performance in sports.
The Focused Sports Kid program is actually two programs: one for sports parents/coaches that provides mental game tips especially designed for parents and coaches, and for young athletes, ages 8 to 12, that will walk them through 7 simple lessons in mental focus in sports.