What Should Sports Kids Focus On?
A sports mom tells us that coaches recognize her daughter, 13, who plays fast-pitch softball, could potentially be a Division 1 player.
But she’s got a big challenge to overcome—a mental game challenge.
In the sports mom’s words, this player gets too nervous on the field. As a result, she doesn’t get a lot of playing time on her elite team.
“My daughter told me that she feels that she has to prove something every time she is on the field because they will not give her playing time if she screws up. This of course makes it 10 times worse so how do we get her to relax?”
The sports mom has identified the problem, but isn’t sure how to tackle it.
This player’s challenges are her high expectations and her desire to show others she’s good enough to play in the field. As her mom says, she focuses too much on impressing others, on making mistakes and on what others think of her.
Focusing on others and on avoiding mistakes is a big mental game no-no.
And at times, it may seem like there’s not way out of the cycle:
The player focuses on making mistakes and on others, and, as a result, plays worse, then worries even more about making mistakes and what others think of her.
But there is a solution, and it’s found in mental game education.
This player—and the many young athletes like her—need to learn how to focus on the things that will allow them to perform well.
Worries about what others think are huge distractions that kids need to banish from their minds.
Instead of being distracted, kids need to learn how to become totally immersed in the process of playing or performing.
In order to do that, kids need to learn how to first, identify what distracts them, and second, refocus.
You should work with your sports kids to identify the feelings, thoughts, worries, or events that distract them.
Then you should teach them the three R’s of refocusing:
- They need to recognize that they are off-task.
- They need to regroup by banishing distractions from their minds.
- They need to refocus by concentrating on the performance cues for their next play or shot.
Focusing on performance cues is key here.
These cues are objects, feelings, thoughts, targets, communication from team mates or cues from their surroundings.
These are important things that they need to focus on in order to successfully complete a task.
For example, before athletes pass the soccer ball, they might focus on getting a signal from a team-mate that she’s open. Or, just before they shoot a soccer ball, they might concentrate on the corner of the soccer goal.
Such cues keep kids grounded in the present and focused on the process.
Related Articles on Youth Sports:
- The Role of Mental Game Skills for Sports Kids
- When Sports Teaches Life Skills – According to Abby Wambach
- Tips for Helping Athletes Transfer Sports Skills to Life
*Subscribe to The Sports Psychology Podcast on iTunes
*Subscribe to The Sports Psychology Podcast on Spotify
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.