Benefits of Mental Game Training For Young Athletes
Sports parents and children alike may be hesitant to adopt mental game coaching for a variety of reasons…
It’s common for a sports parent to think:
“If I encourage my sports children to work on their mental game, it might HURT their self-confidence because they think something is wrong with them.”
While this type of thinking shows that parents are trying to do their best for the child, it’s also a misconception.
With mental game training, young athletes will boost their confidence, improve their consistency, and benefit from an improved focus in practice and games.
Superstar athletes around the world all agree about the benefits of sports psychology and mental game training. Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Lionel Messi all tout the advantages of mental training and sports psychology.
Tiger Woods especially has been a fountain of mental training tips, focusing on improving over winning.
“No matter how good you get, you can always get better and that’s the exciting part,” he has said. He has also said, “Winning is not always the barometer of getting better.”
These are concepts taught in sports psychology that are integral to the way that Tiger Woods plays. Be sure to share with your sports kids these examples of how the mental game can help them improve mental toughness.
Your athletes can benefit by learning:
- How to take control of their confidence
- How to refocus when distracted
- How to let go of mistakes and have greater composure
- How to trust in their skills from practice in competition
- How to mentally prepare for a competition
- An much more!
Aside from helping in sports, mental game training will benefit kids in other areas of their lives.
Everyday, kids deal with many of the same issues in life that they do in sports:
- Coping with failure
- Lack of confidence
- Seemingly insurmountable workloads
Teaching your children how to deal with these issues in sports can transfer to their life! Confidence can grow not only on the field, but in the classroom and eventually in working environments.
Investing in the gift of mental toughness for your children will pay off for them not only in their athletic careers, but throughout their lifetime.
Related Articles on Youth Sports:
- Is a Strong Mental Game More Important Than Talent? Expert Opinion.
- How Toxic Sports Cultures Hurt Kids’ Mental Health
- The Link Between Sports Kids’ Mental Game and Mental Health
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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.