Image by chemisti via Flickr
4 Things to Try When Players Want to Quit a Sport – Effective Parenting
It is never good to force young athletes to continue playing a sport when they feel as though they don’t want to or for them to continue only because you, the parent, wants them to continue. However, it [...]
Image by Slaff via Flickr
Keeping an Even Keel
Athletes need to have short memories because failure is a huge part of sports. Kids that are hard on themselves at a young age often will not survive sports as they reach more advanced levels. It is important that parents and coaches try to keep players on as [...]
Definition of Success
From a young age, parents should define success to kids as working hard and doing one’s best, period. Win or lose, good performance or bad, when athletes work hard and do their best, they should be made to feel they are a success.
Image via Wikipedia
Expect Success
Recently, I wrote that coaches (parents) cannot give athletes confidence because youth athletes can only attain it on their own. That is not meant to say that adults cannot help players find confidence. Some measure of athletic success is usually necessary for an athlete to gain confidence and athletes must be ready [...]
Image by Beniamino Baj via Flickr
Optimism
In my last post I mentioned that one cannot simply give young athletes confidence but they can give them hope. In my book Raising an Athlete I write a great deal about how athletes confidence comes and goes but good coaches are continually trying to develop optimistic kids. Good coaches [...]
Image by jfre81 via Flickr
Parents should not underestimate the influence that their child’s coach have on them There is no better motivator for a youth athlete than playing for a coach who is caring, inspiring and knowledgeable. Finding this type coach at the youth level can be difficult too and is often just the luck of [...]
Image via Wikipedia
Parents don’t have to give a big speech to inspire their kids and giving one is one of the best ways to alienate kids anyway. Giving short inpirational messages though at the appropriate time is “priceless” as the saying goes. Kids in sports and life encounter many
Image via Wikipedia
Parents often become concerned because their kids come home from practice and don’t appear very enthusiastic. “It was so boring,” is a common response. What to do? Good coaches know what to do – everything in sports require players learning how to do things quicker and faster. With this in mind, good coaches [...]
Following are parenting tips to help bring out the best in athletes and to guarantee athletic success.
1. Begin working on skills at least 6 weeks before the start of practice and gradually increase the work load each week leading up to the season.
2. Begin teaching basic fundamentals at a young age without being overbearing with [...]
Understanding - ”I understand that just because a skill is easy for me or appears easy from the sidelines, does not mean it is easy for everyone.” ” I play to win, with the understanding that player development and fun are of equal importance.” “I do my best to understand each player’s personality so I can determine [...]
Resiliency – Another one of my favorite words with regards to sports. If nothing else, kids who play sports learn to be resilient because of the failure which all athletes will encounter. Even the best players have to learn to deal with loss and failure and this usually builds up a resiliency that serves them
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 [...]
Hope – This is one of my favorite concepts that is so important in youth sports. It is so important because it is something concrete that parents and coaches can give kids that can make all the difference. You see, another person cannot give a player confidence for that is something they must attain on their own. But, [...]
Goals – I am not a big believer in short term goal setting when it comes to youth sports. Examples of short term goal setting would be saying you are going to average 20 points a game this season or hit 15 home runs this year. I know that probably goes against most self-help and how [...]
Confidence – Nowhere is confidence more important than on the playing fields of sport. Without confidence, players often lose their desire to keep playing, and at the very least they tend to play scared. Some players are naturally more
How to Instill Confidence, Build Skills and Inspire a Love of Sport -
