Positive Parenting in Sports by Former Major Leaguer Jack Perconte

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Whether a child should play travel ball in a particular sport or not and at what age to begin playing is often a tough call for parents. In my latest book Raising an Athlete, I spend a whole chapter discussing this dilemma. There are four key things that can help determine

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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

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Often when working with athletes I will sense a reluctance in some to try what I suggest. They may even blurt out, “My dad told me to do it another way,” or “My coach told me to do this” or even “My friend says this works for him.” I usually respond [...]

It would be great if parents could afford to buy every child exactly what they wanted for Christmas and on other gift giving occasions. As most people know, this is not always possible. It is important that parents explain

Success – The old saying “nothing succeeds like success” does make sense. Without positive results in sports, most kids will not want to continue, and that is understandable. Success is sometimes hard to define though and just as important is what I call “the feeling of success.” Often, success is judged by

Love of the Game – Love is the first word that comes to mind when I think of the letter L. The term is often loosely used by parents when speaking about their kid’s interest in a sport. “He/She loves to play” is a common statement and, when true, it is a great thing. The problem [...]

 
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 [...]

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