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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Parenting Advice

ZEAL – Finally made it to the end of the alphabet. A synonym for zeal is enthusiasm and we all agree that enthuiasm form parents and coaches is necessary if they want their kids to enjoy sports. It is one of the key ingredients in developing love of the game in kids and a key for having fun for all. The problem comes in when we add the word over before zeal. Overzealous parents and coaches often take the fun out of sports for many, especially for young athletes. Signs of over-enthusiasm include bragging incessantly about one’s kids sporting activities, placing too much emophasis on a child’s games or development and giving false praise to kids. All of these signs of over-zealousness and usually this over emphasis is setting athletes and their parents up for a big letdown at some point in their athletic future. Zeal is great but over doing it will almost always lead to burn out.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC”s of Positive Parenting in Sports Coaching – Z

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Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

It’s All About “Perspective” – 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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Sports Coaching Motivation

Motivation – The first word that comes to mind with sports and the letter M is motiavation. Motivation is a lot like love because it can be developed and it can come at different stages of a child’s career. All kids are diferent  – some are naturally motivated whild others have little motivation. There is no magic formula for making an athlete more motivated. As mentioned, the good news is that it is  can be developed over time in athletes. Parents and coaches should look for opportunities to inspire their kids in sports with the hope that the motivation develops. This can be done in a number of ways with some being: Staying positive, smiling and showing them how proud you are of them when they try hard, being patient, keeping expectations realistic, telling them stories of inpirational athletes. Finally, maybe the best way to motivate an athlete is to give them the knowledge and practice habits that  give them a chance to succeed. Nothing motivates an athlete more than success.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC’s of Positive Parenting – M

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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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Sports Coaching Help

Development

When you think of the letter D when it comes to sports, desire and determination come to mind. However, the concept that should not be left out of the “D” conversation and the one I most associate with athletics is development. Obviously, every player brings different genes and athleticism to the game. But no matter how talented or un-talented a player is, development of ones skill level and athleticism is necessary to compete over time, and to have achance at athletic success. I was always amazed at some of my students who brought very little skill and athletic ability who worked hard and become very good players. At first I felt like they might ber wasting their time and their parents money, but I undersestimated some of these non-gifted athletically players went on to play all the way through high school. They possessed the desire and determination to develop their skills and that is what they did. One of my favorite sayings is, “No player who wants to work at it (devlop) is beyond hope and beyond a parents and coach’s time.” Additionally, even players who are the most gifted must develop or they will see an end to their careers sooner than it should come to an end.

Post from: Positive Parenting in Sports - Raising an Athlete

ABC’s Positive Parenting in Sports – D

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