Sports Parents: How to Know if your Athlete is Ready for Mental Training
Are you a Sports Mom or Sports Dad who has ever wondered if your young athlete is ready for mental training?
This blog is specifically for athlete parents: Sports moms & dads, this one is for you! So let's talk about how mental training can actually help your young athlete. So first of all, what the heck is mental training? 🤔
Mental training (and the field of sport psychology) is a lot more well-known now than it was 10 years ago when I was competing in college and playing professionally in Europe. Athletes today have a huge head start having mental training tools more readily available to them today.
Many parents and coaches understand the physical aspect of the game- getting those physical reps in with technical practice and getting stronger in the gym, BUT mental training is this side of sport where her confidence lives and anxiety thrives and often gets overlooked as a top priority for athletes.
Ignoring mental training can be detrimental to athletic performance and cause increased anxiety and cause performance to tank. Mental training allows athletes to navigate mistakes, injuries, tough coaches, high-pressure situations, and more. Every athlete I have ever worked with experiences what it feels like to be nervous before a game, to have pre-game anxiety, to navigate an injury, and to experience tough teammates or coaching situations.
Athletes who consistently practice using mental training are the athletes who are better able to bounce back from mistakes, regulate their emotions, and truly have a growth mindset.
Some of my favorite tools (visualization, breathwork, self-talk journal prompts) all are mental training tools that are proven to help athletes thrive in and outside of their sport. The reward of practicing mental training is that athletes level up their performance and the benefits can't help but spill over into every aspect of their lives-so cool right?!
So how do you know if your athlete is ready to start mental training?
If your athlete is starting to get more competitive in their sport and they are experiencing higher stakes that come with being on a travel team or playing club ball, then chances are they are feeling more pressure in their sport. With this pressure comes anxiety, fear of underperforming and not wanting to disappoint their teammates, coaches, and YOU!
These are very normal experiences that ALL athletes go through! I can remember even playing professionally when fearful thoughts and anxious feelings would creep in! If you have an athlete who spirals after mistakes, has negative self-talk, never feels like they're doing enough, and feels anxious, then mental training is a clutch next step for them in their sports journey.
Being proactive and starting mental training now, versus pulling the e-brake and scrambling later, will make all the difference.
I hope that this episode was helpful for your sports parents to help give you an idea of when to know if your athlete is ready to start mental training.
Until next time, Be Well and Stay Mindful 🌿
Kerri, Athlete+Therapist+Mindset Coach
