I have a lot of pet peeves when it comes to young athletes in their training and competitive efforts. For example, it drives me crazy to see athletes not prepare themselves fully for a practice session (but you can’t do that in a competition!). Or, young athletes standing around and chatting it up before drills [...]
In this week’s vlog segment, I share with you seven important messages related to your children’s sports participation that you want to send them. These messages are so valuable because they will set the tone for how your young athletes approach their sports involvement. If your messages are about results, expectations, and pressure, three bad things [...]
I was recently interviewed by John Bennett, "The Travel Ball Dad," on a variety of issues and concerns related to raising young athletes. The interview explores how parents can best support their children in their sports participation, the challenges created by the "youth sport industrial complex," and questions and answers about when young athletes should [...]
Happy New Year!! And with 2018 just around the corner, many of us are thinking about the New Year's resolutions we want to establish in which we want to be a better us in some aspect of our lives. If your New Year's resolution is to be the best athlete, coach, or parent you can [...]
In my seventh of 12 vlog segments devoted to athletes and coaches, I examine the impact that frustration has on athletes in their training and competitive efforts. Frustration is typically defined an emotional reaction that arises when the path toward a goal is blocked and can’t be readily cleared. Common sources of frustration for athletes [...]
The day of a game is a stressful time for athletes and parents alike. Athletes are putting their efforts on the line and must accept that those efforts don’t always pay off in sports. Parents want the best for their children and it pains us beyond pale to see our kids not find the success [...]
In this week’s vlog segment, I share with you my insights into what you as a sport parent can do for yourself to make your children’s athletic experiences as positive as possible for both them and you. As you well know, what you think, feel, and do as an active participant in your children’s athletic lives, [...]
In my sixth of 12 vlog segments devoted to athletes and coaches, I focus on, well, focus in your training and competitive efforts. When I talk about focus, I mean two things. First, your ability to pay attention to things that help you perform your best including technique, tactics, your mind, conditions, or your opponents. [...]
In Part I of my two-part series on values in sports, I explored the essential importance of values as the foundation of your children’s sports experiences. I also described what I consider to be healthy and unhealthy values. In Part II of this series, I discuss how you can ensure that your young athletes embrace [...]
In my fifth of 12 vlog segments devoted to athletes and coaches, I describe the essential role that your physical intensity plays in your competitive efforts. When I talk about intensity, I mean the amount of physical activation you feel in your body before you compete. Intensity lies along a range from really low intensity [...]
