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It’s hard to know what to say to your athlete after a game or practice. This guide helps parents chat with young athletes before and after games. Focus on encouragement, not pressure. Listen after games and ask about what they learned, not just the score. Build trust and a winning mindset!
Coaching young athletes oftentimes requires us to clarify or modify our language to accommodate developing minds. It is easy to forget or to assume they know what we mean when we use common cues in coaching. Here are some substitutes for some of the common mental cues we hear in coaching. If this feels like a resource to you, feel free to try some of these out!
We all have stress reactions to certain performance situations. Even before we can form the words to explain what is happening, these reactions begin somewhere in the body. Use this infographic as a starting point for identifying where in your body you feel your stress.
Our body responds physically to stress based on many points of information. Playing a sport is not inherently dangerous, but it can feel overwhelming at times. These times are when we might need breathe and give words to the experience that best serve that moment. The same energy we use to overthink, is the same energy we can use to calm ourselves and perform our best in that moment.