Youth sports articles and tips for sports parents, young athletes, and youth coaches to improve mental performance and consistency in sports.
Young Athletes Should Park Their Egos & Embrace Teamwork Syd Abernathy, a two-time All-American former Navy lacrosse player who was recently inducted into the Chesapeake Chapter of the U.S. Lacrosse Hall of Fame, says young athletes should be “serving leaders” who check their ego at the door, embrace open mindsets … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Visualization and deep breathing are powerful tools to help sports kids focus–and refocus. That’s the message from Dion von Moltke, a former professional race car driver and co-founder of Blayze, which provides one-on-one coaching for athletes. Visualization and deep breathing can help sports kids focus on what’s most important and … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Understanding Fight, Flight and Freeze Learning about the nervous system can help parents and young athletes better understand some of the feelings they experience, especially before games and competitions. “Our nervous system’s job is to protect us. Think about it as an early warning system, like an alarm system,” said … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Do Sports Help Self-Esteem? A sports parent writes: “My 12-year-old has always had low-self confidence and low self-esteem. My hope was that a competitive sport (baseball for us) could help him develop these but so far results (four years into the mission) are negative to neutral at best. How do … Read Sport Psychology Tip
The Line Between Motivation And Pressure For Sports Parents A sports dad asks a thoughtful question: “My biggest struggle at the moment is truly finding out if my son wants to train and practice to please me ’cause I’m his dad, or because he really wants to improve his skills … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How Your Athletes Benefit When You Support Their Coach A parent asks a very thoughtful question: “What are the coaches thinking and how do I access this information, not to aide my child, but to become a better parent/coach/cheerleader/technician?” Truth is, if you want to understand what your coaches are … Read Sport Psychology Tip