Learn how to be an affective sports psychologist with parents and their young athletes by following the MGCP certification system
A Guide for Mental Performance Coaches Article Summary: Over controlling or snowplow sports parents raise pressure and reduce enjoyment for young athletes. You see the effects in fear of mistakes, tension, and sideline dependence. As a mental performance coach, you must manage parents with clear roles, communication rules, and boundaries. When you do, athletes play freer and develop stronger mental …
Sport Parent Communication Can Affect Athletes Last week, I worked on the skill of “proactive confidence” with one of my athletes… Part of this lesson on confidence is to discuss what things can undermine confidence, which I call “confidence killers.” I learned that out of six confidence killers for my athlete, his parents take part in two of them. These …
How Do You Work with Young Athletes? How do you work with younger athletes (ages 8-12) and what tools are helpful when working with them? This is a question from a mental coach who completed my survey last fall. I’m sure you know how challenging it is to work with very young athletes on the mental game–if you have had …
How to Work with Sports Parents A mental game coach recently asked the following question in a survey: “How do you work with athletes who have emotionally involved parents?” With very young athletes, the parents are the ones that typically hire me to work with their child… You want to involve the parents in the mental training process–over involved parents …
How to Involve Sports Parents We work with more and more young athletes today than every before. More sports parents are involved in their kids’ sports performance. And they are realizing the value of mental training too. They see their kids performing like stars in practice only to under perform in competition. So a recent MGCP graduate asked my how …