Regaining Confidence After Injury
A sports parent asks:
“How do my children stay motivated while coming back from a sports injury? They tend to play very conservatively and find it harder to work as hard or be as enthusiastic when coming back from such an injury.”
Often when your kids are coming back from injury, they are a little slow, a bit unsure, and out of rhythm. In addition, confidence has to also return
All of this can make playing less enjoyable for your kids, especially if you have children who are perfectionists or whose motivation for playing is results-oriented.
For example, you may have a young athlete whose motivation for playing is to impress and please his friends and family with his play, a common source of motivation for sports children.
His lack of consistency while coming back from an injury will undermine his motivation. For sports kids, it can be hard to improve when first coming back from an injury.
Young athletes need to work on their mental game more than their physical game, overcoming fear of failure and perfectionism and regaining confidence.
However, small failures can add up and can feel huge to recently injured players.
If your kids are struggling to stay motivated, try to understand what’s at the root of it:
- A lack of success
- A lack of progress
- Outside criticism
- Perfectionism
- Lack of confidence
- A combination of all of the above?
If your sports kids are struggling with perceived failures or mistakes, tell them it’s okay to make mistakes, and that mistakes are a necessary part of learning and improving for the future.
Encourage them to let go of mistakes and to move on. Remind them that they’ll improve more quickly if they play intuitively and just “go for it.”
Related Articles on Youth Sports:
- Injuries and Self-Image in Youth Sports
- Coping With The Mental Side of Sports Injuries in Kids
- Parents: Helping Sports Kids Return to Sports After Injury
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The Composed Sports Kid
“The Composed Sports Kid” audio and workbook digital download program for young athletes and their parents or coach helps kids cope with frustration and anger in sports. Help your sports kids learn how to manage expectations and let go of mistakes so they can keep their head in the game.
The Composed Sports Kid system is really two programs in one–one program to train parents and coaches how to help their kids practice composure, and one program that teaches young athletes–ages 6 to 13–how to improve composure, let go of mistakes quickly, have more self-acceptance, and thus enjoy sports more!