In 2011, when my daughters were five and three, we joined the Sugar Bowl Ski Team. At that time, I wrote an article titled, “Momma, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be…Ski Racers.” In the article, as our family was just entering the ski racing world, I expressed considerable ambivalence about whether I wanted [...]
When most people in the sports world think of sport psychology, they think of mental training, that is, helping athletes prepare mentally to perform their best when it matters most. Mental muscles that help athletes strengthen include motivation, confidence, intensity, and focus. And mental tools I help athletes to put in their mental toolboxes include [...]
I’ve been involved in youth sports for—Yikes!—more than 50 years. As a child, I played Little League baseball and soccer, but my main sport was alpine ski racing (I know, not your typical suburban sport). Since then, I’ve been actively involved in youth sports as a mental coach. In these capacities, it seems as if [...]
Okay, my blog does sell some stuff, but I hope everyone sees that my online courses are a great way for athletes, coaches, and parents to do what they do better at an affordable price. With that said, the holidays are upon us and what better gift to give that special someone than the gift [...]
I was recently interviewed about the psychology of sports injury on Neil deGrasse Tyson's StarTalk Radio. My interview begins at 26:10 of the recording.
During the course of my ten years of blogging, I’ve been contacted frequently by sports and tech companies wanting me to endorse their products to my blogging and social media audiences. So far, I’ve turned down all offers, despite some very attractive inducements, except one, the Razor-Tune,an exceptional electric ski sharpening device that has made [...]
My last post, Sport Parents, We Have a Problem, clearly touched a nerve in the sport parent community with more than 12,000 views on Facebook alone, generating dozens of comments and my receiving many emails and messages in respond. The responses were 99.9% supportive of my perspective (one fellow spoke out quite vociferously against it). [...]
Like I said, sports parents, we have a problem. Want to know the problem? Well, look in the mirror. I don’t mean to insult you by indicting you as being the problem as an individual parent. I don’t know you or how you are with your children in their sports lives. I’m talking about the [...]
I’ve been thinking a lot about how important real commitment is to athletic success and how sports teams can measure commitment in athletes. Just about every so-called serious athlete is pretty committed to their sport, but are you REALLY committed? I could ask you to rate yourself on a 1-10 scale. I could also ask [...]
I get several phone and emails a week from parents of athletes who tell me that their young athlete is struggling and it seems to be “mental.” I then ask for more details about what kinds of specific difficulties their kids are having and they have a tough times explaining further. The most common response [...]
