Kids sports psychology articles for sports parents, young athletes, and team coaches to improve mental game performance and consistency.
Feelings Can be Contagious in Youth Sports Athletes can pick up on others’ feelings–often negative–in youth sports. In fact, feelings can snowball from one player to another, either lifting the team up emotionally or dragging it down. That’s the message from Jess Woods, Ph.D, a sport and performance consultant, sports … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Helping Young Athletes Boost Resilience Resilience is an important trait for all athletes in sports. It helps them bounce back after losses, injuries and other types of adversity, says psychologist and former sports mom Kathryn Den Houter, author of “Resilience: A Workbook: Powering Through Adversity to Find Happiness.” To help … Read Sport Psychology Tip
How to Control What is Controllable Do your sports kids worry too much before and during competitions? When they worry, they’re often trying to control issues related to performance that are outside of their direct control. These issues include getting injured, being benched by a coach, playing against a higher … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Help Your Athletes Close out Competitions Are your sports kids confident in their ability to close out games? Or do they get scared and play sloppily when their team is ahead? Teach An Aggressive Mindset Whether your kids play soccer, football, hockey or participate in gymnastics, they need to have … Read Sport Psychology Tip
The Importance of Balance in an Athlete’s Life Hernan Chousa is a former tennis pro and sports dad to a tennis player who is now playing at a Division 1 college. His son started playing early, and burnt out at age 15. He quit tennis for two years, then started … Read Sport Psychology Tip
Two Mental Skills Important for Success Trust and confidence are very important for young athletes’ success in sports and are interrelated. If athletes lack confidence, they don’t believe in their ability to perform under pressure. If they don’t trust their skills, they lack confidence heading into competitions. Let’s take a … Read Sport Psychology Tip