I’ve talked about before, youth sports are a multi-million dollar industry in the United States. Coaches have status and resources never experienced before. All this comes at a cost.

More and more athletes specialize in one sport at a an early age, which means they have much less diversity in their extra-curricular activities. This means less diversity in the challenges they face, the skills they are trying to learn, and their adult mentors. If a kid is spending the majority of their out of school time at one activity, that one activity has to give them all of the things they need.

If one sport has to be the complete extra curricular activity for young athletes, coaches need to know EXACTLY what they need to do to keep kids happy and participating. I’ll be breaking down what those steps are in upcoming posts but for now, just remember: regardless of how talented or skilled a youth athlete is… they’re still a kid.

6 year old with all the raw talent? Still a first grader.

Hyper-dedicated 11 year old? Still a fifth grader.

16 year old with a verbal commitment to an NCAA team? Doesn’t have a driver’s license yet.

Coaches will be most successful when they focus on the kid first, and the athlete second. 

And an amazing thing that happens when you do this: the kid becomes a better athlete.

Think about it: sports require a ton of mental skills. Oftentimes we focus on the negative parts of emotions and mental skills in sports: fear around a specific skill, or “attitude” that is a discipline problem. But there are a ton of necessary mental skills that coaches can purposely and deliberately build up in athletes. Some examples:

• Managing stress: Balancing the commitments of training, school, travel, friends, family, competing, injuries, and recovery.

• Confidence: training new skills, and being prepared for competition

• Empathy: supporting teammates in times of success and struggle, treating competitors with respect

• Reflection/introspection: understanding why you are scared or angry or distracted and how will you move past that issue

• Self management: what corrections do you have to focus on, how will you get over your fear, what do you need to do to focus?

In the future expect in-depth looks at how these skills help athletes, and specific activities and drills to build these skills in the young athletes you coach.

Coaches: Have you focused on teaching mental skills to your athletes? Which mental skill do youth think is the most important for athletic success?