Coaching

Parents, we need to be their greatest supportive coach. It is our job to be the coach that we always wanted. Our actions shape their beliefs. We are the greatest influence on our children’s lives and in their development, stability, attitudes, likes, and dislikes. Children watch everything we do and learn by modeling behaviors and beliefs about our

We can operate much better as parents when we know what it is that they want. Then we can ask, “Permission to hold you accountable and support your commitment?”

Mental toughness is a continuum. It’s not either I have it or I don’t. Mental toughness is how much. How much mental toughness do I have left after making mistakes or after a bad performance? The skills that will translate into life are guts, resilience, and the willpower to fight and never give up.

Let’s start with the end in mind. What is the goal of having our kids participate in sports? If the reason for playing is externally driven (such as a college scholarship,) then building mental toughness will be extremely difficult. Outcomes and external factors need to be the byproduct of sports, not the driver.

Parents who constantly should on their kids produce kids who should on themselves.

When our body language is negative, we are demonstrating and showing that we don’t think the result is going to turn out like we’d hoped. We don’t have confidence or faith in our child.

To define it in a healthy way for your child, emphasize that competition means against yourself, not anyone else. In this way you will be teaching your child not to compare themselves to others, which often results in low self-esteem. Teach them to have an audience of one and that is the only one that matters.

It’s not what we get from winning; it’s who we become. A focus on the process means noticing how we compete, what we do when we play our best, and knowing our own recipe for success. The process is also about who we are becoming, what we excel at, and learn from. The process means addressing effort, teammates, other people excelling, how we handle

Failure is never fatal. It may feel like it for a while, but it is only a challenge. Keeping athletics in the proper perspective for our children helps them keep their problems in perspective.