Sports kids need to learn how to respond–not react–to setbacks, said Dayton Hansen, chief operating officer at ICL Academy, an online school that aims to help students pursue passions such as sports.
Rather than reacting with emotion, they need to take a step back and use deep breathing and visualization to help them respond thoughtfully, he said. When they learn how to do this in sports, they’re likely to transfer this skill to other areas of their lives, he said.
Related Kids Sports Psychology Articles:
- Helping Athletes Respond Better to Criticism
- Are Losses Devastating or Motivating for Your Athletes?
- How Sports Kids’ Expectations can Become Pressure
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THE FOCUSED SPORTS KID (DIGITAL DOWNLOAD)
“The Focused Sports Kid” helps sports kids who get easily distracted and can’t maintain their focus in competition. In this program, you and your athlete learn concentration-boosting strategies to help young athletes develop laser focus during competition. “The Focused Sports Kid” is two programs in one. You get a manual and Audio program for parents/coaches, and a PDF workbook and audio programs for young athletes.
“We just completed the first ten tips, it has helped tremendously for (our daughter) and us. We’ve learned to keep our behavior and comments in check. She’s letting mistakes happen and not worrying about them, she’s now just moves on to the next play with the same attitude as before the mistakes. She’s playing more aggressively all game. Her coach even mentioned that whatever we are doing, keep doing because it’s working.” ~Scott, Sports Dad