Heat or Ice for Sports Injury
I often get asked weather it is best to apply heat or ice to a sports injury. Although I am not a doctor, I believe the correct answer is that ice should be applied immediately to a sports injury until all swelling has disappeared (usually 2 to 3 days). After that heat or a combination of heat and ice should be applied. Checking with a sports trainer immediately after a sports injury is always advised, as well as the proper amount of rest until all pain subsides.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Positive Sports Tip of the Day

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Encouraging athletes to work hard and expressing how much you (parents) appreciate it when they do work hard is important. Not every athlete can be successful but letting kids know that they are winners because of their high degree of effort is what’s important. Reminding athletes that they can not always control the outcome but they can control their amount of effort and preparation is the key. What athletes usually figure out is that the increased effort usually helps determine success and as we all know positive outcomes make playing more fun.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Positive Parenting (Coaching) Tip of the Day

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    I have received this comment many times from parents over the years, “Would you make him a major leaguer.” I always respond with “only he can do that, but I will try to instill the correct fundamentals and impress upon him the importance of a great work ethic.” To avoid having regrets later and to reach one’s potential, a great work ethic is mandatory in sports and life. With that in mind, follwing are some of the statements that I often repeat to my students:
1. It is not the fast one out that wins in the long run but the steady methodical athlete who continually works at their skills.
2. An athlete can not always control the outcome but they can control their amount of effort and preparation, which usually helps determine the outcome
3. Keep positive images in your mind – think about that great  play you made and forget your mistakes and losses
4.  Everyone has the will to win – the winners are those that have the will to prepare to win. (Qoute is from some famous person who I am not sure)

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Sports Parenting Tips – Developing a Good Work Ethic

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Preparing to Aim Straight

Now is a good time to think about your kid’s sports schedules for next season so that your young athlete is prepared for each sport they may play. It is especially good to be aware of any sport that may require a tryout, especially as kids get ready for high school and travel team tryouts. Tryouts have a tendency to be done over a short period maybe for as little as a one day tryout. It is very difficult for an athlete to go out “cold turkey” (without a few weeks of practice) and make a competitive team. The exception of course is the ahtlete who has already established a name for themself in that sport or one who is a family friend of the coach. It is additionally important to be physically ready for the particular sport to avoid an early season injury at the tryout. For example, a baseball player whose arem is not in shape will be expected to show his stuff at the tryout and can easily hurt their arm at a tryout.
    Parents should find out try out dates and sport start dates early so they can have their kids prepared and injury free. Otherwise, you may be surprised when your child walks in and says they have a tryout the next day. 

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Preparing for Next Season

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Reprint from Jack’s Press Enterprise Blog – Southern California Newpaper
http://blogs.pe.com/moms/2009/09/not-so-harmless.html

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

Negative Gestures Hurt as Much as Negative Words – Sports Coaching

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Sports Coaching Tips

Burnout – Another common word when talking about yout sports. Burnout occurs when playing the game just stops being fun anymore. The causes of burnout generally occur in three ways – over-playing, over-sporting and over-expecting. Kids are often heading for burnout when one or more of these situations occur: 1. When they play one particular sport too often or too long in a year
2. When they get to playing too many sports at the same time
3. When their own or others’ expectations of their performance becomes over-bearing
Parents and players should do their best to avoid any of these three situations from occurring.

Additionally, parents can go a long way towards keeping the fun in the game for young athletes with these three things:
1. Attention – Showing support and enthusiasm for their kids’ efforts is priceless.
2. Approval – Recognizing improvement is inspiration to youth
3. Knowledge - Providing the “know how” builds confidence.
Much more about recognizing and dealing with burnout can be found in Jack’s book Raising an Athlete - How to Instill Confidence, Build Skills and Inspire a Love of Sport

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Burnout – Parenting Advice

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Parenting Advice

Winning – The first word that comes to mind when thinking of words that begin with W and sports is winning. It is often debated whether coaches of youth should play to win. I believe it is OK to play to win, even at ages as young as 8 years old. Does that mean allot of emphasis should be put on winning? Of course not, but playing to win is a good message for kids to understand. When coaches do not play to win they give the meassage that mediocrity is acceptable.
For kids under the agea of 12, I don’t believe any more than a 33% emphasis should be put on winning though, with much of a coach’s goal being to develop player’s skills and kids having fun. As long as these two latter points are emphasiszed there is nothing wron with playing to win, showing kids that they should strive for perfection and success.
How coaches deal with winning and losing is very important and hopefully it is in a positive, educational and gracious manner. Teaching kids how to deal with winning and losing are valuable lessons that kids need to learn and good coaches and parents are there to provide this instruction.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – W

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Coaching Youth Sports

Quit - An obvious word when it comes to the letter Q is the word quit.  One of the great things about youth sports coaching and life lessons that parents and coaches can teach youth is the idea that one should never give up in competition and in their pursuit of their goals. This obviously good advice but unfortunately reality gets in the way, especially when it comes to quitting a sport. The time comes for all athletes to have to decide whether it is time to stop playing. I always tell athletes that the decision to stop playing should be their decision and not their parents or their coaches. It is good to get their parents and coaches advice but ultimately the decision should be the players. The key ingredient to give up playing or not is the fun factor. If an athlete still enjoys playing, they should look for any and all opportunities to keep playing. This may mean finding a different team, league, level – usually an alternative is available. A never quit attitude on and off the field is a key to athletic success and an admired trait in sports to develop. A never giv up attitude will lead to few regrets later in life and to success in many fields of pursuit.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – Q

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Sports Coaching Book

Inspiration

-  This is an obvious word that initially comes to mind when I think of words beginning with this letter. Many parents get frustrated with their kids because they do not show much motivation to play to practice their skills. Often, motivation comes from within a players innate personality so that is hard to change with many kids. However, parents and coaches should not miss chances to inspire kids with words and actions. These words and actions may not help immediately or with that particular sport, but may help down the line with another activity in their child’s life. In my book “ Raising an Athlete” I discuss many ways of providing inspiration to kids.
Instincts - This is not as obvious a concept as inspiration but is an appropriate one when it comes to athletics. Some kids just seem to have good instincts at a particular sport and others not as much. The good new is that instincts can be developed. The biggest key to developing these is by playing actual game competition. Practice is always necessary for skill developmnet but insticts usually need game experience to develop them. When I grew up many of these instincts were developed at the local fields playing continaully in unorganized games with friends. Kids these days do not tend to play in unorganized atmospheres as often so these instincts sometimes are not developed as easily. This is where the increased degree of travel ball over the last 20 years has helped kids to develop the instincts of sport.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC,s of Positive Parenting in Sports – I

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Jack Perconte Sports Coaching Tips

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – G

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Positive Sports Coaching

Attention – Getting the attention of players can be difiicult. Their attention span is often short and when they are around teammates and friends it tends to be even shorter. A couple of techniques I use to help this situation was to allow players time to warm up and socialize with their teammates before giving a talk on what you wanted to accomplish at the practice session, instead of trying to get them to listen immediately at the start of practice. Secondly, I would ask questions about what I was teaching. I was often amazed at which kids were paying attention and which ones were not. Often, the ones paying attention were not the players who were looking directly at you. That is why a short question and answer session was useful. If players know they may be called upon to answer a question, they had a tendency to pay more attention.

 Believability – Parents and coaches must have some experience with what they are teaching youth if they expect players to listen and try what they suggest. If parents don’t know the “why” and have previous “experience” of doing something a certain way, then kids will have a hard time wanting to do it their way. When parents do not have that expertise they should research it (read books, watch video, ask other coaches) or have an experienced coach work with their child. Otherwise, kids will tune the parent out or tell them to be quiet when they play and practice, especially when a kid reaches a higher level of ball, or just an older age. Reaffirming in a positive manner at the appropriate time what the player’s coaches are teaching is good, though. Future posts will discuss things like “positive manner” and “appropriate time.”

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC’s of Positive Parenting in Sports – A & B

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