Helping Young Athletes Avoid Comparison

Run Your Race: Helping Young Athletes Avoid the Comparison Trap

A Question for your Kids

I’m sure as a parent you will have caught your child scrolling through social media, comparing themselves to teammates or athletes online? Maybe they’ve said things like, “I’ll never be as fast as them” or “They’re miles ahead of me.”

How to overcome this you could redirect their focus asking; What mental qualities did you display when you performed really well at…… What are the key ingredients that make up a PB or a great performance?

Improves:

Self-Belief
Perspective

When children and teenagers learn to run their own race, they start valuing effort over ego and progress over perfection. This approach helps them develop consistent habits, focus on themselves (a hallmark of mental toughness), and creates a sense of satisfaction that isn’t dependent on likes, times, or scores.

Directions for Parents

As a parent, your influence is huge in how your child frames success and self-worth. To help them avoid the comparison trap:

Ask reflective questions such as, “What did you do better this week?” instead of “Did you win?”
Model self-compassion share times when you focused on your own improvement rather than comparing yourself to others.
Limit comparison triggers before big events especially in the 72 hours before competition as this the worst time for scrolling through other athletes’ feeds.
Reinforce effort by celebrating discipline, the dirty work and showing up, even on off days.

Ideas for Kids

Keep a short training or mindset journal. Each day, write one sentence about something you improved or learned.

Unfollow or mute social accounts that make you feel “less than.”

Helpful Resources

Final Thought:

Every athlete’s journey is different. When your child learns to “run their race,” they’ll not only perform better they’ll enjoy their sport more, too.

If you would like to share your experiences as a sports parent or get insights regarding kids sport psychology, you may also wish to join David in The Sport Psychology Hub.

Best Wishes

David Charlton

Online Sports Psychologist for Kids who supports many youngsters and sports parents so that they have more fun and get the most from their talent across the globe from USA/Canada to Great Britain and Ireland to UAE, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, using ONLINE Video Conferencing.

Managing Director – Inspiring Sporting Excellence

Host of Demystifying Mental Toughness Podcast

Founder of The Sports Psychology Hub

Author of Conversations for Kids

With over a 15 years experience supporting athletes, coaches, parents and teams to transfer their skills from training to competitive situations, under pressure.

E: [email protected]