3 Tips to Help Children Enjoy Their Sport

Parents are often in touch with me asking how they can support their children before, during and after competitive events and training sessions.  They invest a great deal of time and effort for their children in sport, making many sacrifices and want to support their son or daughter the best way they can.

3 Tips for Parents to Help Your Children Enjoy their Sport 

1. Your motives may be different from your child’s.  Children play sports for many reasons:

• The social aspect
• The competition
• The challenge
• Because their friends do
• Because their mum or dad plays the sport

Gaining an understanding of why your child participates is a good move.  Their motivation may be very different from yours which could cause some issues down the line and spoil their fun and enjoyment.

Get your children to take this QUIZ and you take our PARENTAL QUIZ and then compare notes.  It will open up a nice conversation and help you get a feel for what is going on in your child’s mind.

2. Intrinsic Motivation is What you Should Encourage.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within and is cultivated by your child’s love of the sport and competition.  They love the feeling they get from competing, the challenge of improving and being the best they can be – helping your child recognize how they feel when they are in love with their sport is a helpful thing to do.  Supporting them to get in tune with emotions that they experience such as:

Laughter, happiness, joy, excitement, frustration, anger, commitment, challenge, determination

A little reminder of what not to push them towards – extrinsic motivation – and being overly concerned with prizes, praise from yourself or coaches, money and acclaim.

3. Check How You Communicate After Training or Competing

When emotions are running high after training or competition, it is easy to offer advice to your child on what they should be doing better or what they need to do next time round.  Take a deep breath and hang fire with that advice until things have calmed down.  Focus on giving positive feedback and support, picking out some things they did well, this will fuel their confidence.

Please forward this email to any friends, coaches or parents who you think may appreciate this article or for regular updates supporting parents and youngsters in sport sign up to “The Mental Edge”.

You many also have some questions about one 2 one Sports Psychology Coaching for your child with a Leading Sport Psychologist, David Charlton, based near Newcastle upon Tyne – Face to face, via the telephone, SKYPE or online via email are available.