It’s important for both you and your young athletes to realize there’s a positive side to failing, facing adversity, or making mistakes. Defeat can sometimes motivate young athletes to try harder, to look at what they’re doing, and think about what needs improving.
Defeat gives kids the
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Confidence is a Choice
You always have choices to make prior to any competition. Confident athletes choose to focus their thoughts on things that help them feel confident. Great athletes enter competition thinking about why they deserve to win and they feel confident. The belief in their skill, work ethic in practice and
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The Self-talk of Champions
Every person carries on an internal dialog, which we call "self-talk." Self-talk can be positive - "I will run well today" - or negative - "I hope I don't embarrass myself and finish dead last today." Some athletes have positive self-talk and pick themselves up after a mistake, while other athletes
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Kids Who Can’t Cope with Mistakes
Does your young athlete have trouble coping with mistakes? Do your athletes check out during games because they can’t let go of mistakes? In fact, 35% of sports parents we surveyed said that their young athletes struggle with letting go of mistakes.
In order to be successful, your young athletes
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Simplicity is Key to Learning
Anything in life can become too complex. Take computers for example. Most of us use them every day, but we really do not know how they work inside the box. Your athlete' sports performance is no different. If learning a new backhand or beam routine becomes too complex for the student, nothing gets
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Beware of Negative Self-Labels
"You are what you think you are" holds true in sports! Negative self-labels are very unhealthy for athletes. Often they are very subtle and difficult to identify. What is a negative self-label? A negative self-label is a name you give to yourself (or adopt from what others tell you) that influences
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Kids Who Resist Mental Training
Parents, young athletes come up with a lot of reasons for resisting mental training. They’ll tell you that their coaches and peers will think they’re weak if they embrace mental training. They’ll tell you they’re already tough. Your athletes will say their coaches don’t think mental training is
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Do Your Athletes Delay Confidence?
Athletes are responsible for their own confidence prior to competition. However, some athletes wait until the competition is already underway to decide how confident they should feel. These athletes delay their confidence until they have seen positive results that indicate to them they are allowed
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