17 11, 2015

Letting Go of Fear of Failure-Part IV

By | November 17th, 2015|Categories: Sports|Tags: , , , , , , , , |5 Comments

To close out my 2015 Prime Sport Alert! e-newsletters, I'm giving you a bonus of an in-depth four-part series on fear of failure among athletes. I recommend that you read them starting with Part 1 and progressing through to this final Part 4. As I noted at the end of Part III, a recent email from a reader asked the obvious question, “I now understand why my child keeps getting in his own way in his racing. He has a fear of failure! So, what can I do about it?” This question led to extending my Fear of Failure series and discussing ways in which athletes can let go of their fear of failure. Let me preface my thoughts by saying that there are entire books devoted to fear of failure and how to overcome it. Also, in severe cases, months of psychotherapy are required. My point is that, as with most things in life, there are no magic pills or quick fixes. At the same time, if you (as an athlete) or one of your children (as a parent) has a fear of failure, there are some things you and they can do to relieve the burden of fear of failure and begin to pursue success rather than avoid failure.

10 11, 2015

The Real Fear in Fear of Failure: Part III

By | November 10th, 2015|Categories: Sports|Tags: , , , , , |1 Comment

Mitchell Gunn with permission In the Part I in my series, Fear of Failure, I introduced you to the epidemic presence of fear of failure in sports these days. The article describes what fear of failure is and its causes. I also describe three ways that athletes attempt to avoid failure: they quit [...]

3 11, 2015

Fear of Failure – Part II (Total Failure)

By | November 3rd, 2015|Categories: Sports|Tags: , , , , , , |1 Comment

In my last post, Fear of Failure: Part I, I discussed the sad epidemic of fear of failure that I found to be rampant in America and that I see frequently in the young athletes with whom I work. I have discovered a new wrinkle to the fear-of-failure phenomenon that brings greater clarity to the problems [...]

26 10, 2015

Fear of Failure – Part I

By | October 26th, 2015|Categories: Parenting, Sports|Tags: , , , , , , , , , , |4 Comments

Fear of failure is the single most common cause of performance difficulties for the young athletes who come to me for help. Whether they experience low confidence and extreme negativity, pre-competitive anxiety, a preoccupation with results, or severe self-criticism, in most cases, when we dig deep enough, we discover a profound fear of failure at [...]

21 10, 2015

Placebos Can Make You Better

By | October 21st, 2015|Categories: Sports|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

There is a great article in The New York Times describing  how placebos can enable athletes to perform better. The argument is that believing that a pill or shot will boost performance (when it really just saline) causes us to tap into a reserve of energy (mental and physical) that propels us faster and longer. [...]

20 10, 2015

Is Praise Bad for Young Athletes?

By | October 20th, 2015|Categories: Parenting, Sports|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Please be prepared. I'm going to go on a bit of rant now. I just can't hold it in any longer. I see parents doing this constantly and it's killing me because they know not what they do and they are actually hurting their children's personal and athletic development. What am I referring to? It's [...]

7 10, 2015

Set Healthy Expectations for Your Ski Racer

By | October 7th, 2015|Categories: Ski Racing|Tags: , , , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Setting expectations for your young ski racer is an essential responsibility of parenting. Expectations tell your children what’s important to you and establish a standard toward which they can strive. But expectations can be double-edged swords. They can be a tremendous benefit to your children’s development as both ski racers and people or they can [...]

30 09, 2015

Brutally Honest Take on Sport Parenting

By | September 30th, 2015|Categories: Parenting, Sports|Tags: , , |0 Comments

As you may know, I'm pretty darned outspoken about parents of young athletes who are seduced by our hypercompetitive youth sports culture in which parents become overly invested (in terms of time, $$, and ego) in their children's sports participation. But nothing I have ever written is as brutally honest as this article written by [...]

14 09, 2015

The Challenges of Sports Parenting

By | September 14th, 2015|Categories: Parenting, Sports|Tags: , , , , |0 Comments

I was recently interviewed by a Canadian parenting magazine (thus the title's reference to Sidney Crosby) on the challenges of being a sports parents.  There are some interesting perspectives that the parents of young athletes will appreciate and learn from.

9 09, 2015

What it Takes to be a Champion

By | September 9th, 2015|Categories: Ski Racing, Sports|Tags: , , , , , , , |0 Comments

Jamie Astle, the father of the late racer Bryce Astle, recently described the qualities that he believed would have made Bryce a ski racing champion. His list is formidable and very consistent with my own ideas on the topic. Here's the list:   He embraced a positive attitude and was always able see the good [...]